Recording - December 2016 - 23

RealiTone is the brainchild of LA composer/
engineer Mike Greene. We've covered several of
his libraries in the past. Greene's products are
well thought out, and he's got a quirky side-
check out RealiBanjo and RealiWhistle if you
don't believe me!
RealiDrums uses the Native Instruments Kontakt
Player as a front end; the free player version works
fine. The main interface, clean and uncluttered,
centers around a graphic display of a drum kit.
Click on any of the elements of a kit-the snare,
say-and you'll have all 42 of the snares that were
recorded at your disposal. It's easy to navigate
through the constituent elements (including some
percussion) and build kits to taste, or you can use
one of the twelve kit presets that ship with the
application. Greene says that those who remember
the ancient Alesis DM5 will find the scrolling function familiar. I owned a DM5; he's right.
All of the drums were recorded with multiple
microphones and you can EQ the drums, but
there's a nice little twist here. Do you like to
spend time finding the sweet spot for each of the
drums in the kit you're using? Some engineers do;
I don't. RealiTone has already made the frequency and bandwidth settings that optimize the
sound of each drum. You simply decide how hard
to slam a given EQ setting. I like that!
MIDI controllers can be assigned to a number
of different parameters, including tuning. Had
enough of snares that sound like they're from the
Phil Collins era? If you're looking to have your
snare sit a bit more realistically in a track, try
assigning a MIDI controller to its tuning parameter. Drummers rarely hit the snare in exactly the
same spot twice in a row, and each area of the
head has its own sound. Subtly changing the tuning adds a dollop of realism that can be quite
attractive. For some reason, round-robin samples
don't ever seem to yield the same effect.
The Groove Generator is RealiDrums' greatest
contribution to the evolution of drum libraries. Mike
hired Tyler Timpe (great name for a drummer, right?)
to perform a series of loops, which are uniformly terrific. After recording a groove at what felt like its
"correct" level of activity, Timpe laid down the same
groove with a busier feel, and again more sparsely.
The Groove Generator includes a master
Complexity slider, plus sliders for all of the individual drums. Hit the Play button, start moving the
sliders around, and then hit the Play button again.
Every move you made has been recorded into a
MIDI file which can be dragged onto one of your
sequencer's tracks (it would be clearer if the Play
button turned red, say, when you're recording
data). This is reminiscent of the groundbreaking
advancement that Spectrasonics made with Stylus
RMX. The difference is that the RealiDrums data
you place on a MIDI track is the actual editable
note information, which is very cool.
Greene intended the functionality of the Groove
Generator to stop at this point. However, a number
of users-myself included-got intrigued with the
possibility of "performing" the Complexity function
by soloing one drum, moving its Complexity slider
around, and exporting this performance to a MIDI
track, then editing MIDI notes to taste. This is worth
the effort; there is something about having bits from
a drummer's performance in your track-one

where all of the drums were played simultaneously-that sounds different,
and better, than one simply input from a keyboard.
Greene's intention was to make a library that has great sounds and is
easy to use. He has succeeded. This library sounds terrific and represents
an outstanding value. Check out the video on the RealiTone site.-GE

reFuse Software Lowender
$69; www.refusesoftware.com

There are occasions where attention to detail is what makes a plug-in most
useful. To me, this is especially the case with subharmonic (bass) generators;
doing the wrong thing can get you in trouble faster than you expected, and
you can easily turn a good (but bass-lacking) mix into a pile of mud.
In my experience, most subharmonic generators seem to work best on
individual instrument tracks, where frequencies can be shifted around without causing too many negative artifacts. But recently I got a mix that was
sorely lacking in low end-and was available only as a two-track (live)
recording. It's midnight, and something's got to be done. Where to turn?
reFuse software claims to use analog modeling (on the company's website, they state "no FFT shenanigans!") in order to create the sound of the
plug-in; I'm not exactly sure what analog processor they might be modeling, but the result of the plug-in definitely hits a solid mark. The bass synthesizer has two frequency bands, with ranges that can be selected between
'classic', guitar, and bass. Often, you will have to combine an 'educated
guess' with some critical listening: which will be best for a tenor sax? How
about a bluegrass band master mix?
This plug-in quickly rewards poking around; you will hear the difference
between frequency selections, since they are different enough that you will
be able to make a good choice after a few seconds of monitoring. Once
you get a good subharmonic selection, you can turn your attention to the
"bass gate" and "bass output" sections, which allow you to tighten the
sound (especially useful when tweaking drum tracks) and either add or
reduce the harmonic content with the drive/lowpass combination. Finally-
and perhaps most importantly-the mix of bass synthesis to original sound
can be controlled with a single crossfader, providing an intuitive way of
nudging the sound into focus.
This plug-in came in handy in a couple of different instances. My first use,
on the troubled final mix, was quite a success. It was able to imply a deeper
sound to the track without adding low-end messiness. But it also was useful
in other circumstances-and especially with beefing up drum tracks. It is
easy to become entranced with a sizzling hi-hat track and forget the groundfloor rumble of the kicks and toms. Luckily, Lowender can save the day.
For my use, the $69 I spent on Lowender saved the day on first use.
Everything after that has been a bonus-and I've found myself using it plenty. Its balance of simplicity and tweakiness seems perfect to me, and I highly recommend it as a great way to bolster the low end of your tracks and
mixes. Rarely has a midnight purchase worked so well for me!-DDG

Roswell Pro Audio Delphos
$999; www.roswellproaudio.com

In May 2016, we looked at the Aurora condenser mic from Roswell Pro
Audio. The Aurora was a solid all-rounder, well suited to many recording
tasks, with a well-balanced neutral yet full sound reminiscent of late 1970s
and 1980s solid state condenser mics. While clean and open, it offered a
hint of modern vintage tone behind its grille.
Just in time for our Buyer's Guide, we are now looking at the next microphone in the Roswell line, the Delphos. In a nutshell, the Aurora has been
discontinued, renamed, re-dressed, and updated as the Delphos (a town in
RECORDING DECEMBER 2016

http://www.refusesoftware.com http://www.roswellproaudio.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - December 2016