Produced by Spectrasonics

CD-ROM 645Mb
Roland, SampleCell, Akai/ Emu /Ensoniq, Kurzweil
Audio Version also available
Released 1999


Bizarre Guitar is from the renowned sample CD producers Spectrasonics, we looked at their Distorted Reality Vol 1 a while back (Volume 2 will be reviewed shortly). US based Spectrasonics have been around since 1994 and are headed by Roland's Chief Sound Designer, Eric Persing.

Bizarre Guitar was released in 1999 and is described as "If you like Distorted Reality, this is a library you will not want to miss. This unique collaboration between visionary artist Peter Maunu and Sound Designer Eric Persing, was over two years in the making and marks a new milestone in creative sound. Neither a traditional guitar multisample library or a collection of "riffs", Bizarre Guitar blazes a new frontier of Sound Design via guitar. It features the extreme contrasts of breathtakingly beautiful ambience beds to searing harmonic slashes, bowed guitar and unsettling washes."

First up I'd like to clarify that this release in no way is a regular guitar sample CD release !, "Bizarre" being the operative word a lot more than "Guitar". Indeed if it were not for the fact that the producers tell you that everything was guitar sourced originally, you'd have a real hard time believing some of the sounds weren't from a synthesiser judging on aural evidence alone.

We're reviewing the Kurzweil CD ROM version here, the other CD ROM versions are essentially similar. The CD-ROM version includes the Audio version too as a bonus which is good as it makes auditioning sounds a lot easier. Spectrasonics specialise in the CD ROM versions of their sampling products and do offer an upgrade from the audio to the CD ROM version if required. Like other Spectrasonics products there is more material on the CD ROM version of a CD, in particular in this case, a bonus section of Groove control loops and a collection of Multisamples.

The CD has been produced by Eric Persing and Peter Maunu. Persing as mentioned above is the main sound man at Roland who know a thing or two about synthetic music production and has worked with such acts as Michael Jackson, Bon Jovi, Celine Dion and Chaka Khan. There are a couple of pages about Maunu in the documentation, which includes some fairly heavyweight name checks of people he's worked with too, Heart, The Pointer Sisters, Wang Chung, Mark Isham etc. as well as a number of albums as part of Group 87.

The CD comes double shrink wrapped with a separate licence agreement inside the first shrink wrap. Much better than the ones you can't read until you open the CD which includes the line "By opening this CD you agree...". It's pretty standard except that the product requires a specific written credit in any liner notes.

The documentation is excellent, a 48 page booklet, and in this case an 8 page Kurzweil Directory. With lots of information on the producers, background, Groove Control information, format specific issues etc. The samples are all listed out individually, with their location, name, chord and BPM where appropriate. Very comprehensive indeed.

The producers suggest a minimum of 32Mb, you might be able to get by if you've only 24Mb, there are only two programs over this size. But otherwise you'll struggle to get the most out of the CD if you don't have this much.

As this is very much a processed sample collection, the list of processing equipment used is as long as your arm, a whole range of hardware and software gear has been used, from tape loops to vocoders and just about everything in-between.

The collection is broken down into the following categories - Eastern, Ambient, Loops, Bends, Drones, Stabs, FX, Swells, Sci-fi, Sweeps, Leads & Multisamples with a Bonus "Groove Control" section at the end. There's an OK demo track to start the Audio CD off, a good introduction into what follows. Eastern (23.1Mb) - The collection starts with some "Eastern" sounds, though not your usual sitar type sound, instead there are some totally laid back "Byzantium" riffs, at 80 BPM, and they don't even sound that fast, richly affected, slowly decaying guitarish sounds, followed up by some slightly sharper sounds, a little more metallic. Excellent start, ideal mood setting sounds.

Ambient (151.3Mb) - Further subdivided into the descriptive categories of Animajors, Animinors, Dark Edge, Cascaders, Heartland, SleepCycles, Yearnings, Exuberant, Lustrous, Majestic, Mournful, Soothing and Suspicious. So that's this section described then!. Not one of these sounds could you really attribute to sounding anything like a guitar, instead we have long sustained sounds that evolve and mutate, shimmers and shears, ethereal and sombre. How some of these sounds were extracted from a guitar base I'll never know, such a diversity of sounds too. From delicate glass sounding shimmers, to big walls of sound. Think the "Yearnings" ones are my favourite on the whole collection, very delicate light ethereal sounds but containing a lot of complexity, layer on a sparkly sound... maybe a distant vocal... On the CD ROM version there are further possibilities as a number of sounds can be endlessly mutated by use of the Modulation Wheel, filter sweeps and the level of effects can be altered to make sounds even more "alive". Excellent stuff, best section of the CD and it's the largest by a way, can't think there is even a single duff sound here at all, brilliant.

Loops & Licks (69Mb) - After the beauty of the ambient section we are jarred back into reality. The loops, some of which do actually sounds guitar like, vary from 50-130 BPM and vary from harsh, metallic grating riffs, to light synthetic rhythmic parts that could as easily have belonged to the Ambient section. Each of the loops generally is a single "guitar" part so these would be ideal for layering with other rhythm elements, the Arpeggiation loops are a little more complex, having a lighter layer over a pad type effect mostly. The edgy loops are particularly effective, ideal for hard metallic guitar edge to a loop, sound like they could be from a Mission track, the Headbangers are a bit of "The Axeman Strikes Back", where's my air guitar gone...

Benders (17.8 Mb) - Just a small collection of one off sounds, eerie effects as much as anything, dropping off into silence, not bad at all.

Drones (33.9 Mb) - Related to the Ambient section though deeper and darker, real speaker shakers. Very menacing, if your looking to make an "Alien Landscape" track start here, excellent.

Stabs (5.6Mb) - Short section of guitar based stabs of sound, though as usual guitar in the loosest sense of the normal meaning

FX (34.3) - Whole range of short effects, from grating feedback effects, to metallic shears of sound, quick snatches of noise, laser fire, scratches etc. Some real nasty headache inducers here, continuing the theme really of most extreme sounds that can be culled from what was once a guitar sound. Have to say perhaps the weakest section of the collection for me, perhaps just a bit too grating in places. Still not bad, but other parts are better.

Swells (12 Mb) - Back to the beautiful sounds again..., slow haunting swell sounds, that build up before fading away again, very good.

Sci-fi (33.6) - More slow pad like sounds, though more abstract, atonal and just plain weird than the Ambient section sounds. Ideal for creating an "otherworld" atmosphere. Excellent.

Sweeps (17.7Mb) - Heavily filter swept sounds from scrapes, noise and ring modulation origins, as usual probably nowhere even close to the original sounds. Offbeat sounds, pretty good.

Leads (37.2Mb) - Quite light for lead sounds, the "Blue Sliders" mostly showing their guitar origin, whilst the Arabonic ones are more abstracted. Not your regular searing lead sounds by any means, but a little more upfront than the Ambient section certainly, some brilliant sounds though, very laid back, very evocative. Must have conjured up half a dozen track ideas just from this section alone, only wished there were more, what I liked best here was that there is mostly a definite guitar feel, but not your regular guitar sounds by a long margin.

Multisamples (52.9Mb) - Apart from this collection the sounds throughout are single sampled, so if you move too far from the original sound you start to get the usual problems (or interesting effects depending on your point of view). Here there are just a few more comprehensively sampled sounds, including a 32Mb Bowed Guitar program. The "Guitar Pad" and "Bowed Guitar" samples are particularly good...(This section doesn't appear on the Audio version)

Groove Control Loops (17Mb) - This isn't a new concept - basically a loop is broken up into it's individual elements - tie them together them with a midi file and then you can fiddle around with it to your hearts content in your sequencer/sampler, but without losing the key feel and sound of the original loop. Spectrasonics have whole CD's like this and it's rather like the Steinberg Recyle program concept, except here the sounds are specifically created to work in this manner. Very easy to use, there are just 13 examples here, it makes actually creating a track from a loop a great deal easier. Want to drop out an element, replace a sound, change the BPM, all simple using this method. This section hasn't been considered for scoring purposes.

Summary - Audio quality is excellent, there are no audio defects or artefacts to be found anywhere. Virtually every sample has been heavily processed, mostly would be fine right out of the can, you could even mutate them further if you so desired of course. Some of the sequential sounds go from the mellowest of mellow to ultra sharp sounds in a single bound, you might want to watch your speakers. Whilst Bizarre Guitar falls into the "Unusual collection of sounds" category it does retain it's musical background more than some. Compared to say the Spectrasonics release of Distorted Reality it's related, but more of a cousin than a brother. The whole collection oozes quality, the sounds are rich, complex and cover a huge range of styles and concepts, and I still am not quite convinced they're all guitar sourced, I'd swear there is some choral like sounds there... I'd certainly be interested in reading a "How to process sounds" book from these guys.

The sustained sounds, especially the Ambient and Drone, sections are brilliant. Whole range of sounds from the mellow ethereal gossamer lines, to deep melancholy, menacing, sub sonic soundscapes. The rest of the collection isn't that far behind either, a whole range of evocative sounds ideal for layering with other sounds or as a more key bedrock element of a track. CD ROM users will especially appreciate how the producers have just gone that extra mile to map things to the modulation wheel to produce even more variety of sounds and allow the introduction of subtle variation. Beware auditioning the CD ROM version though, way too many sounds just invite a 30 second doodle, then suddenly an hour has gone and you've only loaded up two programs....

On the downsides, nothing that I'd call downsides, observations perhaps. There a couple of really grating samples, not the thing to listen to with a hangover, maybe a few more uptempo type of sounds wouldn't go amiss, a lot of the collection gave a very laid back impression. Maybe also some of the sounds maybe needn't be as processed as heavily as they are, some of the very best sounds on the collection give a hint of a guitar base, whereas a lot of the sounds sound like they could have been created via a synthesiser. I think the appeal would have been notched up even higher if there were more sounds that couldn't be created via a synthesiser. Things maybe for a follow up volume.

Most anyone can make use of the material on this collection, from Kitaro style new age tracks to Nine Inch Nails industrial mayhem and all steps in-between. Whilst not everything will appeal to everyone of course, there is a gold mine of unique, inspiring and evocative sounds here. If your producing space, ambient, new age or filmscore, or anyone who uses any kind of pad sound I'd seriously recommend Bizarre Guitar.

Overall - Value for money 9/10 - Usability 10/10 - Documentation 10/10 - Sonic Quality 10/10. An excellent, unique and evocative collection of sounds - 9/10