Origins Review by Roger Hooper

ILIO Origins

Meet Dirk Campbell…

Not many sample libraries have their creator’s name in the title. I had first heard about Dirk Campbell when his library “World Winds” was released in 2002. After reading the accompanying booklet from “Origins”, I checked out his web site. Dirk was born in Egypt, raised in Kenya, and moved to England as an adolescent. After receiving a composition degree, he busied himself creating award-winning film/tv scores, stage productions, recording, lecturing, and later performing with the World Wind Band, among other endeavors. Dirk also studied with teachers in Greece and Armenia along the way, and is fluent on a staggering number of wind instruments. A lifetime of study and performance practice dealing with instruments originating from ancient Eastern and European cultures has preceded the creation of this library.

Getting Started

I used an Apple G4 computer with Logic Pro 7.1.1 and the EXS24MkII sampler instrument. “Origins” is compatible with either Gigasampler (PC) or EXS24 (Mac). Installation for the EXS involves dragging and dropping two folders from the install DVD: ORIGINS EXS Instruments and EXS Samples. The seven subfolders from the instrument folder go into the Sampler Instruments folder at: user/library/application support/Logic/sampler instruments. The EXS Samples folder goes into a folder at the same location, appropriately named EXSamples. I have a large ever-growing library of samples, so I keep my EXS samples on another drive. This process can be done by going to the Project Manager menu in LogicPro, selecting the EXS 24 Instruments folder, clicking on “function” and selecting “Move used files for selected EXS-instruments…” Choose the destination, and away you go.

Giga users will drag the Origins Gigastudio folder onto the drive used for their Giga libraries. A couple of clicks later, and it is time to “Rebuild Entire QuickSound Database.” This takes awhile, so go get yourself a latte…

The booklet that comes with Origins is a treasure trove of information. A brief history of the origin of the clarinet is presented as an illustration of how many of our modern instruments have their beginnings in antiquity. This is a pretty cool approach; start with the familiar, and state the links to the past. There is a complete table of the various abbreviations used in the program names (STR for “straight tone”; ”GRUP for “upward grace note”, plus many others), explanations about pitch names and mapping, pitch ranges (the instrument’s real life range is documented, although many of the ranges were extended), notes about tuning, etc. I’m a big manual fan: read it and you will learn; in this case, you will pick up lots of tips on how to think about the music you create with Origins, how the performer approaches the instrument, etc.. There are also pictures of the instruments, pictures of them being performed, interesting hieroglyphic-type illustrations, and occasionally witty commentary (more to come on that a bit later!).

The Sounds

Fanfare MP3

This excerpt was created using a Cornu (Roman war horn) performance sample, some low beater drums, and gongs.

There are seven subfolders of instruments for Origins: wind, wind (NL), stringed, vocals, percussion, pads & drones, and sound effects. The NL stands for “no loops.” The wind instrument samples in the first folder are looped so that the user can hold the notes out as long as desired. The same instruments in the NL folder are played with long, natural durations, then stop. The NL programs will yield a more authentic sounding performance. In any case, you get it both ways; something for everyone!

The wind instrument section offers a wide selection: ram’s horn, antelope horns, conch (these are beautiful), aulos (a double reedpipe that was known to be used in Egypt and Greece), balaban (a more nasal sound than the Armenian duduk), bamboo and bone flutes, cornu (Roman war horns), duduk (an instrument that is used in many scores today, according to Mr. Campbell), Tibetan dungchen, Welsh pibgorn, etc. There is historical info presented for each of these, the natural pitch ranges, whether they are blown on one end or transverse (blowing through a hole in the wall of the tube), etc. Mr. Campbell even tells us how he constructed the modern versions of some of the instruments used for this library as well as the differences, or lack thereof, between the original materials used and those used now. And by the way, it is highly unlikely that a several thousand year old wood flute would survive in an excavation of an old tomb (much less grass blades; more on them later), so Mr. Campbell made or had these instruments made based on drawings, historical writings, and even clay molds found in excavations (in the case of the cornu).

The sound of wind instruments evoked many a Hollywood epic as I played the conches, ram’s horns, cornu, etc. Picture Roman pomp and circumstance, Viking ships sailing into a fjord, the pyramids being built... That is one of the goals of Origins: to provide the composer with something authentic to paint the ancient world being depicted on screen. The wind instruments more than succeed on that count. Many are presented in different tunings (Cornu in Bb, Cornu in C, Cornu in F, i.e.), with different articulations: one will be piano, one will be forte, one will be a combination, etc. There are presets with pitch bends up, pitch bends down, straight, and so forth. The variety is good. With any sample library, though, the realism will depend largely on the usage. Practice is always a good thing! There are also many phrases in the library that are played by skilled instrumentalists from around the world (noted British baroque trumpet player David Blackadder among them), in addition to Mr. Campbell. Listening is good and critical to the growth of any musician, so check out Dirk Campbell’s work with the World Wind Band, his film excerpts, etc.

I mentioned the library “World Winds”; the winds in “Origins” are all new samples, 2.5 gigs worth. I also utilized a Yamaha BC3A breath controller with a Yamaha S80 keyboard. The EXS will allow you to route the BC3A to velocity, volume, any number of controller functions. I highly recommend using this unique controller; it helps to literally breathe life into your performance. The BC3A can be used with keyboards other than Yamaha, CME controllers and K-Series Kurzweil instruments among them.

Stringed Sounds

The stringed instrument group has lots of good stuff: vibrant glissandi of the Kantele, a Finnish instrument descended from the Egyptian lyre; the Kora, a double-strung harp from Western Africa, the strings of which are made from nylon fishing line. Dirk interjects quite a bit of wry English humor throughout the booklet (my friend Paul from England has a similar sense of humor, too; maybe we are too serious over here in the colonies). About the construction of the strings for the Kora, which was originally made with catgut, and now with nylon cord, he writes, “Catgut was pretty much the industry standard for stringed instruments until the invention of nylon cord, which possesses the musical properties of catgut without its disadvantages (difficulty of extraction from cats, perishability of material, smell etc.)…” (p.32)

The laouto is a Greek fretted lute, descended from the Arabic oud; the original instrument played the chords D, G, A and C. A program is made that stretches the pitches so that they can fit in any composition. The mouth bow is pretty interesting; it looks like it evolved from a hunting bow, and uses the mouth cavity as the resonator. It is the ancestor of the “Jews harp”. Velocity switching is used here to great effect; very fun to play!

Other instruments include the nyatiti, oud, rabab (from 3000BC Ceylon; it is referred to here as the earliest type of bowed string instrument; very zither-like), santoor (hammered dulcimer variant), siter (not sitar; a small Indonesian zither). These instruments are captured well; from the initial attack to their natural decay, the string resonance is heard; no sense that it is an electronic emulation.

Voices

As this product is geared towards certain types of productions, a large selection of voice samples is provided to accommodate the score: men and women singing various syllables, swooped notes, ritual chants, and a variety of odd vocal effects. Good stuff for horror films, depictions of ancient rites, etc. My personal favorite was the Shaman overtone singing; Mongolian overtone singing – very bizarre, but beautiful in its own right. Also, there are lots of screams, laughter, crying; the whole human experience is here. These vocals, like the rest of the library, are impeccably recorded. You could be working on a score, and the opportunity arises to add some vocal foley work; the producer needs the sounds of vocal turbulence in a battle. No need to worry about “what the neighbors will think”, since you won’t have to put up a mic and record your friends (or yourself) screaming in a frenzy to make battle cries!

Percussion

Big bass drums and timpani, little hand drums, big gongs, little gongs…and everything in between. Everything is crisply recorded, lots of sustain and decay in the gongs and cymbals. These were recorded in the very ambient-sounding stone church St. John sub Castro in Lewes, England. There is a generous supply of these instruments: in addition to bass drums and timps, there are Burmese small gongs, Indonesian ceng ceng and Chinese chung hand cymbals, Chinese jin ban gongs, a variety of hand drums, tambourines, jingle shakers, cymbal scrapes, log drums, plus a selection of percussive sounds made from beating on a variety of scrap metal pieces. The singing bowl is quite beautiful. What does some of this (particularly the scrap metal) have to do with ancient music instruments, especially from the Near East and Gaelic cultures, you might ask? As this library is geared toward scoring certain types of film projects, Dirk Campbell has provided a sonic arsenal of sounds from antiquity, plus sounds that will enhance depictions of those times (not to mention Elfin kingdoms and other assorted fantasy lands). You need a full arsenal of colors to do this work.

I had a couple of minor quibbles in the percussion area. Some of the soft beater low drums have a bit of hiss after the attack, but in conjunction with other things happening in tracks I recorded, it was not noticeable. The other area of compaint (I hate to even call it that) is with the ambient drum programs. The recording at St. John sub Castro church is gorgeous; however, it would have been nice to also have a recording of these instruments in a dry environment, to be treated with effects of my choosing.

Pads + Drones

This library is not necessarily the first place I would go to choose pads; still there is some very usable stuff: flute-like pads, reed-like pads, etc. Apply some delay and reverb and other effects, and they can be very haunting, very beautiful. The drones have some interesting stuff, geared more to the fantasy realm: low ominous voices and the like. Not a whole lot of choices here, but then again, this is not specifically a vocal or string pad-type library. I looked at this folder of sounds as extra colors for the project at hand. Also, given the tuning nature of many of the wind instruments, and the fact that they are mono instruments, the use of them playing polyphonic chords could be a bit undesirable. Hence, the creation of the pad programs. In reference to using the Welsh hornpipe pibgorn in a polyphonic manner, Dirk Campbell writes, “…bear in mind that pibgorn chords defy the laws of nature and may cause civic unrest. If you want to play chords, please try the pad programs, which smooth the samples’ ethnic idiosyncrasies into textures suitable for keyboard pads.” (p.13 of the booklet)

Sound Effects

More foley stuff… The animal sounds are made with human voices (and sound like it); definitely geared towards fantasy work, I would think, especially “monstrous beasts” (please, not another remake of “The Island of Dr. Moreau”!). The grass blades (blades of grass that are positioned between the thumbs and blown) sound like bizarre birdcalls. I tried that with a couple of long blades from my yard; no success, just got a “taste ’o lawn”. The swords and armour offer a lot of clinks and clanks and other metallic hits. Layer them up in heavy ’verb, use them as percussion, add some sword fight sounds to a battle scene; these might not be the most used sounds in the collection, but are a useful foley tool, nonetheless. And, along with the rest of the library, these are recorded well; lots of shimmer and ring when the swords strike (think of battles in Braveheart, or old Errol Flynn movies…)

What About Licensing?

What if I want to create a track with one of the looped performances as a solo instrument? The license agreement states that the sounds “may not appear as free-standing sounds in a music or sound effects library or compilation.” (p.48 of the accompanying booklet). Also, from Ilio’s web site: “The sounds have to be used within a musical context, however, and cannot be presented isolated or ‘solo'ed’.” Having composed for film and TV, and using many sample libraries in the process, I know the drill: combine it with other elements and create something original; don’t solo the loops. Not a hard concept to grasp, and it is good to take the tools and make something new, something of your own. There is always a way to use the material in a creative way, and the right way as regarding the license.

Summary and Conclusion

I remember selling Ilio sample CDs and CD ROMS in the retail world when the company started producing them in 1994. Then, as now, they produced products that were (and are) aurally superior in every way, and many of these products have since become film and tv composers’ staples. “Origins” is another in a long line of top-notch products. Everything on it sounds brilliant, and it recreates an exotic and faraway world, all the while hitting a niche market like a home run out of the park. For $349 retail you can paint a musical picture of the ancient world BC and experience a distant time; a bargain price for such a journey.