Collection of dark and eerie instruments, sounds and effects
Created and produced by Doug Rogers (EastWest) and David Fridmann (MGMT, The Flaming Lips etc.), THE DARK SIDE is the first of its kind: an unconventional, hip and exciting collection of virtual instruments, some dark and eerie, and some which have been purposely—and skillfully!—mangled, distorted, or effected out of all recognition.
THE DARK SIDE provides inspiration for all composers and artists that are looking for unique instruments, designed to work for everything from alternative to progressive rock, and of course, film, TV, and game music production.
THE DARK SIDE includes a vast, 40 Gigabyte collection, including dark and eerie instruments, and highly processed drums and percussion, basses, guitars, ethnic, keyboard, strings, and effected instruments, all organized into instrumental groups so you can create complete tracks.
To produce THE DARK SIDE, Rogers partnered with Grammy Award-Winning record producer David Fridmann, whose unconventional (and successful) work with the likes of MGMT, The Flaming Lips, Weezer, Mercury Rev, Saxon Shore, Ammonia, Ed Harcourt, Sparklehorse, Café Tacuba, Elf Power, Mogwai, Thursday, The Delgados, Low, Phantom Planet, Gemma Hayes, Goldrush, Tapes ’n Tapes, Hopewell, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Number Girl, Zazen Boys, Sleater-Kinney, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, OK Go, and Tame Impala etc. he had long admired.
The Concept for The Dark Side: Creativity without limits!
"THE DARK SIDE idea came to me when I was mentoring a young alternative group about some demos they sent me. To my ears, the tracks didn’t sound tough enough for their intended market, so I told them they needed to toughen up their sound,” said Doug Rogers, Award-Winning Producer at EASTWEST. “I looked around for sounds that could accomplish this and found absolutely nothing, even in our own vast collection. I saw this huge, gaping hole in the market that needed to be filled. Then and there, I decided to make it my next project after my recent pristine orchestral productions, a complete aural turn-around."
THE DARK SIDE user interface combines intuitive handling and functions as a plug-in instrument, without the need for a sampler. (Click to enlarge)
Rogers partnered with Grammy Award-Winning record producer David Fridmann. Fridmann’s “no rules” style of production was exactly what Rogers was looking for to help produce THE DARK SIDE instruments.
Once they got started, they were like bulls in a china shop: mass aural destruction was the name of the game. They turned traditional instruments into highly processed drums, percussion, basses, guitars, ethnic, keyboards, strings, and FX, all organized into instrument groups for easy audition and recall.
Rogers and Fridmann not only tapped into a wealth of recording and producing experience for THE DARK SIDE, but had the gear to match. Many individual instruments were processed through 5 or 6 effects units, some of the vintage and esoteric tube variety owned by the pair.
THE DARK SIDE distorted and mangled instruments are intended to be used with cleaner instruments to make them really stand out in a mix, or to disturb the senses. With today´s brick-wall limiting, distorted instruments may be the only production trick left to make an instrument stand out in a mix, a successful technique used often by Radiohead, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, etc.
As the project progressed, they realized the instruments would work for almost every style from alternative to progressive rock, and THE DARK SIDE name was chosen as a play on words between both styles of music. However, most of these instruments would be equally at home in Pop, Dance, Electronica, and even Hip Hop.
MIPA Award 2011 for "The Dark Side" !
Features
- Produced by multiple Award-Winning producer DOUG ROGERS and Grammy Award-Winning producer DAVID FRIDMANN (MGMT, Flaming Lips etc.)
- Many instruments have been purposely—and skillfully!—mangled, distorted, or effected out of all recognition (plus a selection of dark and eerie instruments).
- Easy to use browser displays all of your instruments. Interface automatically changes to display current instrument.
- Perfect for pop (to toughen up the hook), alternative (everything you need), and, of course, film, TV, and game music production
- Included are 40GBs of highly processed drums and percussion, basses, guitars, ethnic, keyboard, strings, and FX instruments and sounds, all organized into instrumental groups
Auszug:
Abschließend
The Dark Side ist ohne jeden Zweifel eine interessante Library. Ich persönlich würde sie als optimale Ergänzung zu den Standardinstrumenten im jeweiligen Musikstil einschätzen. Besonders die vielen Effekt-Klänge sind eher unterstützender Natur als tatsächlich eigenständige Instrumente.
Für diejenigen, die gerne viel Zeit mit dem Feintuning der Instrumente verbringen ist The Dark Side eine wahre Fundgrube. Schon kleine Veränderungen können großen Einfluss auf den Sound haben und die Instrumente neu definieren. Die Library ist und bleibt allerdings samplebasiert; man kann also nicht so tiefgreifende Veränderungen durchführen wie bei einem Synthesizer.
Auch wer bei Synthesizern eher die Presets durchhört, bis er etwas Brauchbares gefunden hat, und nicht die Zeit oder die Lust hat, sich mit den zahlreichen Einstellungsmöglichkeiten auseinanderzusetzen, wird sich mit The Dark Side wohlfühlen. Die Instrumente sind sofort spielbar und klingen auch dann gut, wenn man keine einzige Einstellung ändert.
Das Produkt eignet sich für jeden, der experimentierfreudig ist und bekannte Pfade verlassen will, ob nun mit einzelnen Soundeffekten oder gänzlich ungewöhnlichen Instrumenten.
Jedem Nutzer möchte ich neben dem hervorragend geschriebenen Handbuch das Tutorial-Video von The Dark Side nahelegen, das auf soundsonline.com verfügbar ist. Der Produzent erklärt dort Schritt für Schritt die Entstehung eines offiziellen Demo-Songs und verrät einige Tricks und Einstellungsmöglichkeiten.
Auszug:
Fazit
Vorsicht und "drum prüfe, wer sich bindet" heißt es so schön! Hören und vor allem TESTEN vor dem Kauf! Thema Demos: Die klingen immer irre geil, das wissen wir alle. Weil sie von Freaks (positiv gemeint) gemacht wurden, die sehr gut und erfahren sind. Aber ob das Teil nach einem Stück Mist (dafür vielleicht die Gasmaske?) oder amtlich klingt, ist einzig und allein von der eigenen Kreativität abhängig.
Meine Kaufempfehlung kann ich aufgrund des relativ hohen Preises "nur für Profis" aussprechen. Zum einfachen Rumspielen ist das Teil einfach zu teuer. EastWest macht aber bekanntlich auch keine Spielzeuge.
Plus
•Soundqualität
•Soundvielfalt
•Übersichtlichkeit
•Optik/Design
•Installation
•Bedienung
Minus
•Lediglich der Preis verunsichert aufgrund der Konkurrenz
This library includes "Opus" as a Sample-Player.
Mac:
- macOS 10.13 or higher
- 64 bit
- Quad-Core CPU (Octa-Core recommended)
- 2,7 GHz or higher
- RAM: 16GB (32GB or more recommended)
- SSD hard drive (SATA or PCIe)
Windows:
- Windows 10 or higher
- 64 bit
- ASIO sound driver
- Quad-Core CPU (Octa-Core recommended)
- 2,7 GHz or higher
- RAM: 16GB (32GB or more recommended)
- SSD hard drive (SATA or PCIe)
Required Registration:
EastWest products require you to register with the manufacturer at www.soundsonline.com and with www.ilok.com to activate your license.
This product requires an activation!
You can either "soft" activate on your computer without addditional hardware or transfer the license to an iLok USB dongle which has to be purchased separately. The iLok dongle can be used to run the protected software on different computers. Your licenses can be easily manged using the iLok Licence Manager. To protect your investment against theft or loss we recommend the iLok Zero Downtime protection with TLC.
An internet connection on any computer and a free user-accout at www.ilok.com is required to authorize the product.
Please check with the software manufacturer which iLok version is required at least if you want to use a hardware iLok!