REVIEWS:

Electonic Musician March 2001
By David Rubin
Overall EM Rating (1 through 5) :4.5

East West`s Quantum Leap Brass fills an important void in most orchestral sample libraries. Desktop musicians who strive for variety and verisimilitude in their jazz and symphonic scores inevitably fall flat when it comes to adding convincing brass parts. In most sample libraries, you can find a modest assortment of solo trumpets, trombones, and saxophones, but few offerings explore the full range of expressive and idiomatic techniques that brass players use. Quantum Leap Brass, on the other hand, truly revels in the unique sounds that brass instruments make.

The Quantum Leap Brass library ($695) is offered in formats for GigaSampler, Unity, Akai S1000/5000/6000, Kurzweil, Roland, and E-mu. The five-disc collection (six discs for Akai S1000) includes an assortment of solo trumpet, three-part (unison) trumpet section, solo flugelhorn, piccolo trumpet, three-part trombone section, solo tenor and bass trombone, solo tuba, solo saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone), and four-part (unison) French horn patches.

Producer Nick Phoenix aptly describes his collection as a "purist, no-compromise library with an emphasis on expression and dynamics." Armed with a variety of high-quality ribbon and condenser mics, Neve and Manley preamps, and Apogee converters, Phoenix recorded all of the samples in large rooms and small to medium halls. Loops were avoided to allow the sounds to evolve naturally over time and to blend realistically in chords. Samples were restricted to the natural instrument ranges (though some of the outer limits do seem a bit strained), and special attention was paid to properly capturing the all-important attack portion of each sample. The hard work clearly paid off: this is a stellar collection of samples that mix together beautifully and encourage creative brass writing.

Mod Squad
The GigaSampler version of Quantum Leap Brass (used for this review) is especially noteworthy for its many patches that employ the Mod wheel for sample switching, crossfading, and filtering. (For the hardware-sampler formats, many of the Mod-wheel-controlled patches have been split into multiple patches.) The clever use of the Mod wheel offers some exciting real-time manipulation of patches. For example, you can quickly change from doits to shake falls in one solo trumpet patch, from short falls to long falls in another, and from plunger wah to flutter wah in yet another.Several patches combine the Mod wheel with Velocity switching to provide an even greater range of expressiveness. In one patch, for example, the Mod wheel in the down position offers three levels of staccato; in the up position it offers three levels of sustain. Of course, these multilevel patches can be quite large, but they offer an exceptional degree of real-time control.

Kickin` Brass
A couple of the trumpet patches do a wonderful job of capturing the cool Miles Davis muted sound, allowing you to switch between long, evolving sustained tones and short staccato notes. Another patch lets you change the filter setting in real time for subtle yet effective expressiveness. If subtlety isn`t your thing, though, you`ll love "minidamoocha," an over-the-top, funky toilet-plunger patch that is perfect for 1930s band arrangements and cartoon soundtracks. The Mod wheel changes the sound instantly from short wah to sustained wah to a screaming growl that is guaranteed to make you smile.

Flugelhorn is represented by a single mellow-sounding patch with a nice round timbre, and the piccolo trumpet should serve you well the next time you need that Brandenburg Concerto sound for a project.

As with the solo trumpet patches, the trumpet section patches include a number of open and muted sounds along with an array of falls, doits, shakes, and sforzandos.

The solo and unison trombones offer a comparable set of effects, including flutter crescendos, wahs, falls, slides, and scoops. Best of all, these patches sound like real trombones; you can create a big-band trombone section, and it doesn`t come off sounding like a mushy pipe organ. A great-sounding and versatile tuba rounds out the low end.

The sax patches are uniformly high in quality and loaded with playing techniques and effects that add to their expressiveness. As with the trombones, the saxes sound great as lead instruments and when combined into harmonized sections - an essential consideration for jazz charts.

The final half dozen patches offer unison French horn sections with different playing styles. Characteristic effects include sforzandos, rips, falls, and other techniques that are well suited to film scoring. It`s too bad there aren`t some solo horn patches to complete the set.

Wrap
East West Quantum Leap Brass offers an impressive collection of samples. The recording quality is consistently first-rate with clean, well-miked samples and carefully matched natural reverb. The documentation is exemplary with concise yet clear descriptions of the patches and their controller setups. Several patches even include helpful hints for maximizing results. If you`re tired of boring, uninspiring brass samples, check out Quantum Leap Brass. It`s a real blast.

Keyboard Magazine July 2000 By Dave StewartAwarded KeyBuy Award

SOUND QUALITY: 10
PROGRAMMING: 10
SELECTION: 9
BANG FOR THE BUCK: 8

Traditionally, brass sample CD-ROMs have come in two flavors, orchestral and pop/rock/jazz. Quantum Leap Brass, produced by Nick Phoenix, unites these two sound worlds by combining orchestral and pop brass in one comprehensive set of CD-ROM discs. No musicians are credited, but the performances are first-rate, accurate, and well co-ordinated. The sounds (which total about 1.8 Gigabytes) are immaculately recorded in stereo throughout.

The first disc of the library is dedicated entirely to the myriad performance styles of the solo trumpet, played here by a real star. Reveal your identity, masked man! The staccatos are terrific - each note is bright, clean, and true. Attacks and note lengths are tightly synchronized, so when you play a chord, the samples speak precisely together. No mean feat, and testimony to a very good player working alongside a conscientious producer.

Such strong staccatos, along with sustained non-vibrato and "short legato" styles (the latter effective for quick passing notes) make this solo trumpet an ideal choice for MIDI orchestral arrangements. In a more pop/rock vein, there are expressive vibrato performances, "rips" (fast, exaggerated attacks), and useful sforzando/crescendo programs where the note hits hard, fades quickly to a quiet sustain, then swells dramatically. Jazz is also well covered, with several types of mute, wahs, doits (a short accented note followed by a fast slide up), shakes, and falls. Also included are some effects described as "screams," which I imagined might be the player`s cries of anguish on realizing that once people bought these samples, he would never work again.

Disc 2 offers a brightly recorded three-trumpet section whose punchy, fast attacks will certainly beef up a track, though that might pose a moral problem for vegetarians. There are fewer performance variations than on Disc 1, but we do also get a decent piccolo trumpet and a serviceable flugelhorn. The trombone family on Disc 3 comes in solo and bass varieties, plus a robust three-person section whose sfz/crescendo performances are fabulous. Like the trumpets, the trombones cover a broad stylistic range, from nightclub intimacy to orchestral grandeur.

Tuning can be a major headache with samples, but no aspirin are required here; overall, the tuning is good. One exception is the soprano sax on Disc 4, whose intonation is decidedly uncomfortable. Admittedly these instruments are hard to play in tune in real life, but this is not real life, and a bit of corrective tweaking would have helped. The other saxes (alto, tenor, and baritone) have better tuning, and are presented in a satisfyingly large catalog of breathy sustains, staccatos, honks, growls, slurs, falls, doits, whimpers, and snorks (I invented the last two). There are no recordings of sax sections; all four saxes are played solo.

Disc 5 sees a return to traditional orchestral brass. The tuba sounds suitably rotund, and is well played and nicely recorded - very usable. An agreeable blend of four French horns follows, maintaining the high standard of the trumpet and trombone sections. Given the huge dynamic and timbral range of this instrument, I was pleased to see both sustained and staccato notes presented in three different dynamics.

The library was conceived with the Gigasampler in mind, and a glance at the combined program sizes of the sustained French horns (total 78MB) confirms that we are indeed in Giga rather than Mega territory. Such lavish use of memory confirms the passing of the 32MB sampler, but in the Akai S1/2/3000 version, no individual program exceeds 32MB. Volume sizes apart, the main advantage of the Gigasampler version lies in the fact that banks of samples at various dynamic levels can be switched or cross-faded using the mod wheel. By this means, one can switch rapidly between, say, long evolving notes and staccato parps - a useful aid to expression, and a facility sadly lacking in Akai samplers. Second listener Jim Aikin noted, however, that this is the principal use of the mod wheel in QLB. The wheel adds a bit of slow, wobbly vibrato to sustained alto sax notes, for instance, but has no effect on the legato bari sax or mezzo-forte trumpet.

Quantum Leap Brass contains no licks, melodies, or chords. More surprisingly, the main bulk of the library has no loops, reflecting Nick Phoenix`s belief (shared by orchestral sample maestro Miroslav Vitous) that looped samples are "unrealistic." To compensate, samples of sustained notes are on the long side (typically seven to 12 seconds). While this enhances realism, it is still bad news for us trusting fools who expect a note to go on sounding for as long as we keep the key pressed down. As a concession, the library supplies looped versions of about 25% of the sustained sounds, presented in the Akai version on a sixth disc. Personally, though I appreciate the long samples, I would prefer to see all the sustained sounds looped.

There are a couple of omissions; there is no solo French horn, and no tone or semitone trills. "As a whole, though," second listener John Krogh remarked, "the library contains more stylistic variations and articulations than others of its kind. With other libraries, I sometimes find it impossible to realize musical ideas for lack of specific solo or ensemble sounds. But Quantum Leap Brass covers so much ground, it`s the next best thing to having real horns at your disposal." The one-size-fits-all documentation is heavily Gigasampler-oriented, and while the `Gigapatches` are described in some detail, Akai users may have difficulty relating them to the list of cryptically named Akai programs. Versions for E-mu, Roland, and Kurzweil samplers are due out this summer; no word yet on whether they`ll have their own documentation.

Quantum Leap Brass sounds great, and in one or two areas (notably the consistency of the attacks) raises the standard of professional sampling. That fact, combined with the overall quality, justifies giving it the Key Buy award. Despite the large stylistic variation, the recordings are remarkably consistent, all sharing an attractive (but not overstated) large room or small hall ambience which adds just the right amount of "air" to the sound. Following in the footsteps of Quantum Leap Guitar & Bass (reviewed Feb. `98), Nick Phoenix`s latest offering is a laudable achievement, providing samplists with an impressive, versatile, and musically convincing brass library.

Sound On Sound Magazine UK, August 2000Awarded 5 out of 5 StarsBy Dave Stewart

Sampled brass usually comes in two distinct flavours: pop (`Hot Killer Horns From Hell!`) or orchestral. Very few libraries have attempted to cover both, but the latest release from American company Quantum Leap brings the two together in a comprehensive and classy package. Though Quantum Leap Brass contains no licks, melodies or chords, its samples (which total about 1.8 Gigabytes) span a huge range of styles from jazz and pop/rock to orchestral. Putting it in a way London cabbies will understand, these sounds take you from Ronnie Scott`s Club to the Royal Albert Hall via Hammersmith Odeon. (That`ll be £12.50, guv.)

The library opens with a solo trumpet of exceptional quality. The attacks are something to die for: bright, accurate and tightly coordinated, ideal for stabs and quick accented notes. Sustained notes come with and without vibrato, and for quick passing notes, there are very effective `short legato` samples. Throughout the library, there are numerous performance variations such as falls, glissandos, swells and shakes (though no trills). If used intelligently, such performances can add incredible realism to a pop/rock arrangement. The solo trumpet also tries to emulate the more intimate world of jazz, offering 10 or so different mute styles ranging from Miles Davis cool to Cab Calloway uncool.

Disc 2 features a brightly recorded three-trumpet section. The attacks and staccatos are as strong and tight as those of the solo trumpet, but there are fewer performance variations. Also featured are a decent piccolo trumpet and a rather limited flugelhorn. The trombones on Disc 3 come in solo and bass varieties, plus a three-man section who deliver some excellent sforzando/swell performances.

The soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes (all solo instruments, no sections) on Disc 4 are of very good quality, but in all honesty, samples simply cannot match the subtle shades of expression of a real sax performance. Such reservations aside, the only musical problem here is the dodgy tuning of the soprano, which should have been corrected at the programming stage. Disc 5 sees a return to traditional orchestral brass with a fine solo tuba and an agreeable, if unspectacular four-French-horn section. Oddly, there is no solo French horn, a strange omission in such a comprehensive set.

The publicity for Quantum Leap Brass makes a virtue of the absence of loops, but as a concession, supplies looped versions of about 25 percent of the sustained sounds (presented, in the Akai version, on a sixth disc). I would prefer to see all the sustained sounds looped, and would strongly suggest to manufacturers that they always make a practice of looping their sounds, but simply include alternative programs which switch the samples` loops off. Users could then make their own choice between looped and non-looped samples!

Quibbles aside, this is an impressive and versatile brass library, whose attacks raise the standard of professional sampling. With few exceptions, the tuning is good, and the recording quality is superb throughout. Just the thing for any samplist who wants to put some polish on his brass!

Sounduser.com Sample CD Review Site
Value for money 8/10 - Usability 10/10 -
Documentation 9/10 - Sonic Quality 10/10.
Seriously good brass sample CD - 9/10

Quantum Leap Brass is a major release 6 CD set (5 CD`s in Akai 5000 or Gigasampler format) from East/West. Aiming to be "the definitive collection of multisampled brass instruments and sections".We`re reviewing the Akai 1000 version, the other formats are essentially the same though on a CD less.The promotional material states that "Nick Phoenix and his team of recording engineers and programmers have spent the better part of a year creating this long sort after brass collection which is the ultimate solution for Orchestral, Pop, Jazz, Big Band, Rock, Mariachi, Latin, R&B & Hip Hop productions. Quantum Leap Brass is a no compromise, purist collection for sampling connoisseurs with an emphasis on expression and dynamics. The brass instruments were chromatically recorded through RCA 44 ribbons, Neumann M 49 condensers, Neve and Manley preamps and Apogee Rossetta 24 bit converters in Los Angeles best recording studios.

The programmers then selected the best samples to program the library. What really separates Quantum Leap Brass from other brass libraries is the quality of the attacks and the absence of loops." The sheer volume of material presented plus the asking price $695 (though Soundsonline currently retail the set at $625) had us in much anticipation to get the sounds in the sampler. There isn`t really a great number of "brass" sample CD`s around and this is the first that we have looked at here at Sounduser.

The CD has been produced by Nick Phoenix, who has also produced Quantum Leap Guitar and Bass. There is no credits listed for the other musicians involved, just a general thanks to all the "incredible players". There is a note at the end of the credits that made me smile "Hire live musicians when you can", as we will see this is exactly the sort of release that make this more unlikely ! As mentioned above this is an expensive release, all but $700 which will probably translate to around £500 in Europe, so certainly not a casual purchase. Compared against normal full priced sample CD`s on a per CD basis then it doesn`t compare too badly, especially bearing in mind that you get about 3Gb of high quality data. Then again compared to a session fee for a brass section then it may well appear excelletnt value.

The documentation is very good, you get a nice 16 page booklet where you get a complete listing of all the patches, in all three formats, which are laid out slightly differently. The Gigasampler version contains a descriptive name and short description, while the Akai versions just list out the various patches by disc, partition and volume. Additionally there is a page of introduction and some extra notes about using each of the particular formats.

A sign of the times is that the license agreement specifically excludes posting of files over the internet. Additionally each copy is automatically licensed to the purchaser and each has a "Digital Watermark" embedded in the files, no doubt making a lot easier to track down the origin of any pirate copies that might be produced.

The 6 CD`s are broken down as follows:

CD 1 - Solo Trumpet
CD 2 - 3 Trumpets, Piccolo Trumpet & Fuglehorn
CD 3 - Solo Trombone, 3 Trombones and Bass Trombone
CD 4 - Tenor Sax, Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Soprano Sax & 3 Sax
CD 5 - Tuba & 4 French Horns (plus demo 2 demo tracks)
CD 6 - Bonus CD of looped sustain patches for lower memory loads.

CD 1 - Solo trumpet - 21 patches (Throughout I`ve taken the number of patches from the Gigasampler version - for the Akai versions there are actually more programs in a number of cases) - Just about every variety of solo trumpet that you could imagine, multisampled as is the whole collection, multiple velocities and sustains, flutters and wahs. As with the whole collection the presented sounds are single/multi versions of single notes/chords, this isn`t a riff/loop type collection. With the Gigasampler version there is dynamic sample switching using the mod wheel, with the Akai versions there are more programs. Whilst the Akai 1000 version some programs need to be linked to get the full range as the whole samples are larger than the native format allows. The sounds immediately strike you with the realism, dynamic range and sonic clarity. Whist the shorter staccato sounds aren`t terribly exciting to listen to in isolation, though totally authentic sounding, they pale compared to the more sustained samples. The advantage of the non looping samples is that you get the whole dynamic range of a note, this is especially noticeable through the sustain period of the sound. Whilst modern synthesisers and samplers make a very good representation of a sound, the looping that invariably takes place with anything but the shortest sounds does introduce an artificial element to the sound. Here however you get the full natural evolution of a sound, the difference is subtle, though noticeable and certainly raises the quality of these sounds a whole notch above anything that can be produced by other methods, short of bringing in a real live musician. I won`t go into too much depth about the individual sounds, boring for me to write and for you too read, there are only so many ways you can describe subtle variations in sounds !. Suffice to say there is just about every variation in a solo trumpet sound you can imagine, from short stabs, to long sustains, bright leads and short legato`s. All flawlessly played and recorded. Although I say flawlessly a better word would perhaps be realistically, there is the odd "live" element, a tiny bit of breath here, different releases that sort of thing that just add that extra touch of "real life" into a recording.

CD 2 - 3 Trumpets, Piccolo Trumpet & Fuglehorn - 11 Patches - Most of this CD is given over to the 3 Trumpets (9 of the 11). Not really much to add to what has been said about the CD 1 except of course the sounds a somewhat fuller and contain natural variances that again further differentiate three live trumpet sounds from three synthesised looped sounds. Just subtle things, like the three attacks to a sound don`t "quite" the sound same, just adds a little natural detuning etc. Very subtle differences but just add an extra "something" ambience to a sound. Needless to say quality is exceptional.

CD 3 - Solo Trombone, 3 Trombones and Bass Trombone - 22 Patches - Slightly less variation to the sounds than the Trumpet CD`s as you might except being a slightly less expressive instrument. Once again a near flawless collection of authentic trombone sounds, very difficult to imagine that anyone could want any more (within the limitations of this remit anyway). Rich, dynamic, brass sounds, from muted solo`s to big orchestral performances. Excellent.

CD 4 - Tenor Sax, Alto Sax, Baritone Sax, Soprano Sax & 3 Sax - 29 Patches - Mostly Alto, Tenor and Baritone - Once again there is actually little to say, you load up the patch and it sounds exactly like you would expect it to. Perhaps of all the instruments captured here the saxophone is the hardest to replicate, being such an expressive instrument, there are some excellent samples here of a variety of playing styles. But I would have to say perhaps the least good impression of a live player(s). It`s no fault of the collection, more the limitations of playing back an expressive brass instrument with a keyboard.

CD 5 - Tuba & 4 French Horns - 8 Patches - By now I`m seriously wishing I`d invested in a quicker CD-ROM drive before starting ! Excellent Tuba sounds, proper rump-dum-rum sort of sound, as with any sound in the collection, just A-B against what you think is a decent sound from your synthesiser and you realise just what a difference this kind of sound does make. Whilst in isolation the "Tuba" sound on my Quadrasynth sounds quite reasonable it gets decidedly unusable compared to this real Tuba sound. French Horns are very good as well, nice thicker sounds.

CD 6 - Bonus CD - Would probably standalone as a good "Lite" version of the collection. Bit of an oddity really as if you haven`t got a decent amount of memory in your sampler, your going to struggle to get a whole lot out of much of the collection, in which case this turns out to be a very expensive sample CD. On the other hand if you have the memory then the non looped sounds are the ones to use for sure. Certainly up to the standards of the rest of the collection sonically, you do though notice the looping effect, not that it`s badly done, it`s just that they sound a little flat against the non looped version. As this is a bonus CD it`s not been considered in the scores at the end of the review.

Summary - Audio quality is excellent, there is no hint of noise or recording artefacts anywhere. There are throughout the collection the odd breath sound, instrument noise etc., very subtle. The introduction itself does say that "not everything is perfect" but to my thinking it adds to the depth and realism rather than detracts at all. There has been little if any sonic processing, the instruments sound very natural as they are presented.

Quantum Leap Brass is an extremely well constructed and comprehensive collection of brass sounds. The producers have aimed to create the definitive multisampled brass library and you would have to say that they have succeeded totally. From start to finish the collection oozes quality and I cannot imagine that anyone looking for a "brass" sound will not find exactly what they are looking for here. Not only find the sound, but also be given an extremely accurate rendition of it. The next step from here is hiring a live musician, I guess, and even then I`m not convinced that you would get a better result. There has obviously been a huge amount of work that has gone into this project, you can tell just by listening to the sounds after waiting for a seemingly endless number of multisamples to load. It`s a very serious piece of work and is priced accordingly. Value for money is hard to judge, to the casual user it will seem very expensive, the professional producer who could save on a session artist or two then it may seem excellent value for money.

Negative aspects....you`ll need a lot of memory in your sampler, 16Mb as a minimum but more would certainly be better. It`s pretty boring to audition, there really is a lot of material here and every patch contains a lot of multisamples. For example if your unsure what trumpet sound you might want to use you`ve got to go through a CD`s worth of data. With this kind of collection it probably would have been a good idea to include an extra audio CD for people to get a quick overview of the sounds if your not quite sure what you need.

This CD collection won`t be for everyone, if your looking for real life brass sounds for most any kind of music then you will find a whole mine of useful and usable material here. You`ll still need skill to craft the sounds here into something musical, there are no ready made riffs or loops here, but if the collection appeals, and you can afford it, then it won`t disappoint.