Big Block: Soviet

Description

The Big Block: Soviet sample pack is the most complete and usable collection of vintage Soviet-era synthesizer and drum machine sounds available!

Inside are multi-sampled sounds from 20 Soviet synthesizers and drum machines, including their gritty tones, huge sweeping resonant filters, and fat, detuned oscillators. These machines are not perfect – sometimes the resonance will make you reach for the volume control, some have slightly imperfect tuning (which we’ve done our best to fix), and some are cheesy and a little noisy. We’ve captured them all in the peak of their glory, highlighting the best that they can do. We’ve also included some riffs, arpeggios, and performances that really show the synths off.

While the Soviet synthesizer and drum machine industry operated in relative isolation, it managed to produce a wealth of unique and experimental instruments that have since gained a devoted following among vintage gear enthusiasts and electronic music producers. These instruments, with their distinctive sonic signatures and innovative design elements, represent an essential and often overlooked chapter in the history of electronic music technology.

 This history is the essence of the Big Block: Soviet sample pack.

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The synthesizers and drum machines developed in the Soviet Union during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s were primarily analog-based designs, with some incorporating early hybrid analog-digital control architectures. MIDI was not yet a widely adopted protocol, and the Soviet engineers were focused on maximizing the capabilities of their analog circuitry and proprietary control systems.

Within the Big Block: Soviet sample pack, samples are 24-bit, 48-kHz. Samples have been edited and looped in Wavelab and subsequently edited in Izotope RX11. There are 1690+ 24-bit samples, and more than 540 presets – we made variations of each sound. Because of differences in the playback engines of the samplers we support, some variations differ across platforms. In any case,  the pack is organized by the vintage Soviet synthesizer that was captured. We’ve tagged each sound according to the table below – SY for Synth, PL for Pluck, DR for Drums, etc. You should be able to dial up the type of sound you are looking for quickly and efficiently.

The beauty of capturing these mostly monophonic rare synths and using them in modern sampler software is the new dimensions you experience in polyphony, modulation, and effects. When you’re looking for sounds you don’t normally hear, filters that howl, and a raw edginess that’s hard to find in synths from the West, SoundEngine’s Big Block: Soviet sample pack delivers the sounds of 20 electronic instruments from behind the Iron Curtain that you very likely do not have in your collection.

Included Sounds:

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