dhilowitz

Patreon Exclusive: Wooden Organ Pipe

Last summer, I was out for a walk with my family when I found this wooden organ pipe on the street. I knew immediately what it was because I subscribe to Look Mum No Computer's Youtube channel, and he's been resuscitating an old church organ with very similar pipes.I knew immediately I wante...

Patron Exclusive: Lofi Ukulele Sample Library

I sampled a ukulele using a Wollensak Reel to Reel recorder from 1959. The lower notes were produced by running the recorder at half speed. It has a sad, warbly sound that should be useful for lo-fi beats. I've also included a "shimmer" layer that gives it more of a pad sound.Video here:...

Patron Exclusive: Chord Organ & Friends Sample Library

My wife got my a chord organ, so I sampled it and then but it through a range of outboard effects. A video about the journey can be found here.Download the sample library here. (Please do not share this link.)UPDATE: I've fixed the issue with the background images. :)

Patron Exclusive: Cassette + Violin Experiments Sample Library

A video about these samples can be found here.A few weeks ago, I was walking down the street in beautiful, sunny Philadelphia when I passed a man with a bicycle cart sitting at a cafe–in his cart was a dusty old four-track recorder. I asked him about it and he said it was mine if I wanted it. I br...

Patron Exclusive: Lossy Algorithms Sample Library

I just finished making a video about Chase Bliss' very cool Generation Loss MK2 pedal. As part of that, I spent about a week making glitchy music, combining the Microfreak with the Gen Loss pedal. Since I liked a lot of the sounds I was playing with, I figured I would immortalize them in a quick...

Patron Exclusive: Japanese Vocal Synthesizer Sample Library

I made a video about the Pocket Miku: a unique vocal synthesizer from Japan. https://youtu.be/2hk-kOPdHAYAs part of that, I also made a bunch of sample libraries by feeding the Pocket Miku into the Hologram Microcosm. These are mostly cinematic pad sounds, but the sample libraries have ADSR controls...

Patron Exclusive: MINI GAN Analog Synth Sample Library

I recently purchased an analog synth kit from 1979. As soon as I had finished soldering the instrument together, I sampled it and turned it into a Decent Sampler instrument. As you'll see, it's a fairly basic analog synth although I did a bunch of controls that aren't on the actual unit:...

Patron Exclusive: Microcosm Experiments

This month's patron exclusive is a collection of sample libraries created using the Hologram by Microcosm. Hologram is a high-end effects pedal that rearranges and reinterprets sound using a variety of granular sampling, delay, and looping techniques.This library features 5 violin presets and 1 ...

Patron Exclusive: Moog Mavis + Experiments Sample Library

This month's Patreon-exclusive sample library is a recording of the Moog Mavis. The library consists of eight patches: the 4 basic wave forms (saw, pulse, square, and triangle), 2 lead sounds, and three experiments which consist of me running the Mavis through a Habit & Microcosm.Download here: ...

Patron Exclusive: Elastic Bass Sample Library

I made a bass instrument out of the mini bungie cords that I normally use for attaching my synths to the wall. Watch the unedited video above for a better explanation. :)

Patron Exclusive: Wind chimes sample library

I found these wind chimes at a porch sale last summer. I bought them and promptly installed them in my basement–a place where there is no wind. Sometime if I'm feeling restless, I jostle them as I'm walking by, and every time I do, I'm caught off guard by how nice they sound. I've ...

Decent Sampler 1.5.0 Beta

This is a beta build of Decent Sampler. It fixes a few small bugs and introduces a very early version of the preset inspector. This is a tool that lets you see what samples and groups are being used in an instrument. This is available by going to Developer Tools > Preset Inspector... menu item. Soon...

Trying out the new Donner B1: An analog synth for $152!

In this video, I check out the new synth from Donner. It's a 303-style analog synth for $152 ($168 minus 10%).More info here: https://shrsl.com/3itjnList price is $168, but it's actually $152 with promo code 'DavidH'

Composing music using a bicycle wheel

In this video, I combine a children's science kit with a bicycle wheel. The result is a makeshift sequencer.

Patron Exclusive: Granular Vocals Sample Library

This sample library was born of my experiments with tiny vocal fragments. The result is a series of seven dusty, somewhat unsettling pads that I think will work well in cinematic pieces. This Decent Sampler sample library works with the free Decent Sampler player plugin (available for Windows, Mac, ...

Keystep Pro: a fantastic hardware sequencer from Arturia

I made a video about the Arturia Keystep, which is the "pro" edition of their fantastic Keystep controllers. The Keystep Pro is more than just a MIDI controller, it's actually a full-fledged sequencer with a focus on hardware integration.

Decent Sampler users: I'm going to be spending this week working only on Decent Sampler features. Which feature should I focus on next?

Habit by Chase Bliss: A happy accident machine?

In this video, I check out the new Habit pedal by Chase Bliss. It's an experimental delay pedal that allows you to randomly re-introduce audio from the last three minutes into your current music. More info about Habit here: https://www.chasebliss.com/habit

The History of Chord Machines

In this video, I talk about about my love of the Omnichord OM-84 as well as the long history of fretless zithers. A sample library of this instrument can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-64536881?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creato...

Patron Exclusive: Omnichord Strum Strings Decent Sampler Library

I want to thank you all for becoming patrons. It really means a lot to me!For this month's patron exclusive, I've sampled the "strum strings" on my beloved Omnichord OM-84. I really, really love the sound of this sample library. I'm half way through shooting a video about this ve...

Decent Sampler v1.4.16 Released

I just uploaded a new version of Decent Sampler (1.4.16): https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/Changes from the last two version:1.4.16 Added SFZ importing. The rules apply as for EXS stuff: this will get you basic mappings, but extended features are not supported. Fixed a bug...

Electron Echo Mini Piano has been upgraded / ported to Decent Sampler

This classic free sample library has now been ported over to Decent Sampler. In the process, I added chorus and reverb effects, as well as a beautiful shimmer layer that I think really complements the sound of this diminutive synth.

I found this vintage reel to reel recorder at a thrift store and made a Decent Sampler library out of it

Download the free sample here: https://www.decentsamples.com/product/reel-to-reel-tape-piano/

Decent Sampler v1.4.13 Released

I just uploaded a new version of Decent Sampler (1.4.13): https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/Changes from the last three versions:1.4.13 Fixed a bug (introduced in 1.4.12) that was causing some DAWs to crash when a DecentSampler instance was added, removed, and then added ag...

Decent Sampler v1.4.11 Released

I just uploaded a new version of Decent Sampler (1.4.11): https://www.decentsamples.com/product/decent-sampler-plugin/Changes:- Added under-the-hood support for pointing bindings at multiple groups at once using the tags= attribute.- Decent Sampler now supports having multiple round robin groups of ...

Free Sample for Patrons: Metal Cups (Kontakt 5.3)

I found some metal cups in the trash and sampled them. Four round robins.

How To Remove Unwanted Frequencies From Your Samples + Christian Henson Rusty Gate Sample Challenge

Have you ever had an audio file that contained a bunch of extra frequencies in it that you wish you could just remove? Spectral editing may be for you. In this video, I show how to use spectral editing to clean up a sample so that I can make a Kontakt instrument–but not just any instrument:A few w...

Getting Started with SFZ: The Free Sampler

In this video, I provide a basic introduction to SFZ — a free sampling format that provides a lot of the same functionality as Kontakt.

Kontakt Tutorial: How to Do Modwheel Crossfades

In last week's video, I recorded my own voice and turned it into a free choir library. In this video, I work with those same samples to add modwheel crossfades to the instrument.

New video & new choir sample!

My friend Steve asked me to make a "mellotron-style" choir sample out of my own voice.Download it here: https://www.decentsamples.com/product/dave-choir-kontakt/Another, more substantial video is coming soon where I talk about how I did the modwheel crossfade in this instrument.