Samples From Mars have released a new pack featuring samples from the Viscount R64, one of the more mysterious drum machines they’ve ever sampled. The pack is available at the intro price of $19.00, increasing to $29.00 after the promotion. The offer ends October 21st.
There’s little to no information about it online, and by some accounts there are less than 10 functional units left in existence (not to be confused with the later and more common model R64S). What we do know is that the R64 was released in 1980 by Viscount, an Italian, family-run manufacturer that began in the 1800s making accordions, and have since made everything from synths to bicycles.
The R64 has the functionality and limitations of a typical rhythm box, but sounds quite different, as it’s sample based rather than analog. 12bit PCM samples, sourced mostly from acoustic percussion, give the Viscount a punchy quality more akin to a Linndrum or Drumulator than a CR78. But unlike these classic EPROM based machines, the Viscount sports analog sounding cymbal samples, giving the unit a unique, hybrid flavor all its own…. Like a lo-fi Lindrum crossed with an 808.
Samples from Mars spent days jamming and figuring out our favorite loops and variations – ultimately recording all of the full factory patterns, and a bunch of stripped loops, tops, and breaks. In the process, they discovered a “secret” tuning pot and cymbal control inside the machine, so we made sure to capture various tunings as well.
Samples from Mars have also included “repaired” versions of 150 of the loops. The percussion pot on the Viscount has a particularly noticeable noise on some loops, which is certainly part of its charm, but was able to use some digital filtering to clean it up. The results are loops that sound nearly identical to the original, but without the noise – these loops will take to processing better, and layer more easily in a modern context.
What’s included:
- 560 Samples at 24 bit 44.1k
- 320 Viscount loops including Full, Tops, and Stripped
- 240 One Shots, with clean, color, and pitch variations
- Includes all 64 Factory Loops, in stereo, with additional stripped and tops patterns at various tunings
- 150 repaired (de-noised) loops
- 5 pitches for Bass Drum, Snare, Rimshot, Handclap, Agogos, Bongos, Hi Hat, Clave, Cowbell, and Percussion Combos
- Loops are stereo with original panning
- Round Robin Cymbals at 6 different tone settings
- One Shots organized into 5 16x hit kits
- 4 Ableton and MIDI Groove files
- Recorded though a Radial J-DI, API 1608 console, & Apogee Symphony MKII, and processed with an Overstayer NT-02A, API 2500 Compressor, and API 560 EQ
- 100% Hardware processing
- 850 MB Unzipped
For more information on Viscount From Mars, click here:
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