WURLI LIBRARY SHOOTOUT -- ALL LESS THAN $35 USD each ​​​​​​​ - VOTE FOR THE BEST

[chris.r]

21 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

But I've spent hours playing each library and the differences are far more profound than my demonstration reveals. My poor playing and mixing skills keep me from doing a better job conveying these differences. And no doubt, I'm not skilled enough to do a great job at a shootout. But I was focused on dynamics and wanted to convey what I've found using each library and do it as fairly as I could. 

And I'm not about playing nor mixing skills. It was more of a heads-up that velocity curve vs response is such an important factor with instruments like wurlie and that it could quickly spoil any results giving impression a library sounds unrealistic. And it can easily slip under the radar even for experienced players like the one on video I was talking in my post. I mean ideally every wurlie library require separate recording and if not possible then at least an individual adjustments of the velocity of recorded MIDI and only once you got the best results there then the remaining differences should tell you which library sounds best to your needs.

Edited November 21, 2022 by chris.r

[PavlovsCat]

1 minute ago, Craig N said:

Maybe the trademark troll threatened them too

Wow. That didn't occur to me. I immediately guessed it was due to the problem I  reported,  but I think what you wrote makes even more sense. 

[PavlovsCat]

5 minutes ago, chris.r said:

And I'm not about playing nor mixing skills. It was more of a heads-up that velocity curve vs response is such an important factor with instruments like wurlie and that it could quickly spoil any results giving impression a library sounds unrealistic. And it can easily go under the radar even for experienced players like the one on video I was talking in my post. I mean ideally every wurlie library require separate recording and if not possible then at least an individual adjustments of the velocity of recorded MIDI and only once you got the best results there then the remaining differences should tell you which library sounds best to your needs.

But I'll say this plainly, the SoundPaint Wurli library is really poor. Except for one patch that's super heavily distorted,  it's not like playing even a mediocre present day KONTAKT Wurli library. It's like playing a Soundfont library from the 90s. Playing it is more disappointing than listening to it in my shootout. That doesn't do justice to how disappointing the library is. 

Edited November 21, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[PavlovsCat]

And the people pleaser that is me is thinking,  crap, I hope Troels doesn't see this. Because we got along great in our only conversation many years ago. I don't want to ruin that memory,  but I also enjoy discussing sample libraries honestly too. 

[chris.r]

4 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

But I'll say this plainly, the SoundPaint Wurli library is really poor. Except for one patch that's super heavily distorted,  it's not like playing even a mediocre present day KONTAKT Wurli library. It's like playing a Soundfont library from the 90s. Playing it is more disappointing than listening to it in my shootout. That doesn't do justice to how disappointing the library is. 

Glad I paid only $5... I blame you ??

[Jason Neudorf]

You may consider https://www.sampletekk.com/electric-pianos?product_id=359 for $5. Pretty ancient, but vi-control loves their pianos.

[PavlovsCat]

1 minute ago, chris.r said:

Glad I paid only $5... I blame you ??

And I deserve that. I was sincere when I posted about it and I feel bad that I posted that all excited over the aggressive patch. So if you only use that one patch, I think it's well worth 5 bucks,  right? Although if it has that volume spike when you record,  then no. It might be a Cakewalk related issue. 

[PavlovsCat]

 @chris.r If you could take a spin through your SoundPaint Wurli and share your thoughts I think it would make this thread even more valuable. @Jason NeudorfI have listebelistened to their Tubed Wurli library demos many times and while I own most of their piano libraries, the Wurli demos tell me enough that I think it wouldn't be what I'm looking for. But I appreciate the suggestion and I have been a SampleTekk customer for two decades and think Per is a very talented developer,  a super nice person and treats his customers great. His acoustic piano libraries are fantastic bargains right now. 

[PavlovsCat]

AcousticSamples put their Wurlie back up after the party that contacted him was found to be a scam artist. IMO, based on demos, that is the most amazing Wurli sample library I know of. I suppose next year I'll end up buying that one too and update the shootout. 

https://www.acousticsamples.net/wurlie

Edited November 21, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Tom B]

3 hours ago, Esteban Villanova said:

1, 3, 2, IMO.

1, 3, 2  is what I chose too.  I haven't looked at the results yet.  I'm not much of a keyboardist, but appreciate the variety of types and sounds.

[chris.r]

18 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

@chris.r If you could take a spin through your SoundPaint Wurli and share your thoughts I think it would make this thread even more valuable.

Thanks, I'll do that after I'll buy at least one more wurlie lib. to my collection and make comparisons myself. Re the Soundpaint wurli not to worry, it was a good trigger to finally download the player I had been postponing. My take on the whole ITB instruments thing is that to me they are like someone's personal approach to picture a real thing so as such I want to have a few of each with different flavours for different occasions. With time sure I'll have my own personal favourites.

[PavlovsCat]

4 minutes ago, chris.r said:

Thanks, I'll do that after I'll buy at least one more wurlie lib. to my collection and make comparisons myself. Re the Soundpaint wurli not to worry, it was a good trigger to finally download the player I had been postponing. My take on the whole ITB instruments thing is that to me they are like someone's personal approach to picture a real thing so as such I want to have a few of each with different flavours for different occasions. With time sure I'll have my own personal favourites.

Maybe you can post that info in thus thread or link to it to make sure all the Wurli fans stay in the loop. It goes without saying (why does this saying even exist???) that I'm interested. 

[PavlovsCat]

Unrelated,  we have a Peanuts special on and Schroeder appears to be playing "Moonlight Sonota"  but his tiny hands are only in one octave while the part you hear clearly has notes in multiple octaves. YOU LIE,  PEANUTS!!!! It might be slightly off topic, but I think it's important to note that all along Linus may have indeed been using a prerecorded track. None of his playing is live! 

(Hey, everybody goes on tangets here. I thought this one might get a laugh, but it will probably only get a laugh from mostly Americans and Canadians who get the references. ) 

Edited November 21, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Fleer]

Never really appreciated Peanuts, don’t know why.  But I love Calvin & Hobbes. 

[PavlovsCat]

6 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Never really appreciated Peanuts, don’t know why.  But I love Calvin & Hobbes. 

My wife also doesn't appreciate The Peanuts and tells me with our kids being too old (teenagers) I have to move on. Never!!! Also, Lucy is a monster!!!

(Do I win for most off topic comment of all time? Okay. I'll get back on track. ) 

[Scott H]

I agree that the e-instruments Wurli is the best of the three. The  Sound Paint Wurli sounds absolutely dead. IMHO both the Soniccouture Wurli and the Acoustic Samples Wurli have a slight edge. I think the Acoustic Samples Wurli more precisely matches the signature tone of the Wurlitzer, while the Soniccouture is better at capturing the grit of the Wurlitzer.  It is always fun to take a poll, and I enjoyed your rendition of  Where it’s at. 

[PavlovsCat]

5 minutes ago, Scott H said:

I agree that the e-instruments Wurli is the best of the three. The  Sound Paint Wurli sounds absolutely dead. IMHO both the Soniccouture Wurli and the Acoustic Samples Wurli have a slight edge. I think the Acoustic Samples Wurli more precisely matches the signature tone of the Wurlitzer, while the Soniccouture is better at capturing the grit of the Wurlitzer.  It is always fun to take a poll, and I enjoyed your rendition of  Where it’s at. 

I agree with everything you wrote, well, right up until your compliment. Sorry,  but you lost all credibility when you wrote you enjoyed my terrible playing. 

I kid. I  kid. Thanks.

Edited November 21, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[PavlovsCat]

@Scott HI just noticed that your avatar is an image of an electric piano.  Is that a Wurli? Did I  find someone as obsessed with Wurlis as me? It's far TMI, but as the son of a late music teacher who grew up with a bunch of instruments my siblings and I played,  I'm pretty much in love with all of them. The Wurli,  a baby grand piano, a Les Paul, a Leslie speaker,  my first drum kit (a Camco made a 10 minute drive from my childhood home)....so these days I buy all that stuff in sampled form. To me Wurlis are pure magic. I have been begging my friend Greg Schlaepfer (Orange Tree Samples) to make one that's at the same level as the Famous E -- the best Rhodes library on the planet (even Sound on Sound's review gave it its highest rating and stated it's "probably" the best Rhodes sample library that exists) made in cooperation with one of the all time studio musician greats, Jay Graydon. Now they need to do it for the Wurli. Except Jay isn't a Wurli fan. Consequently, if  someone has a Wurli 200A  in great shape,  please get it to Orange Tree Samples! But until that day, I think that AcousticSamples dev has the best Wurli library that my ears have heard. 

The SOS review of Orange Tree Samples Famous E. If you love electric pianos,  that is a must,  IMO. Exact quote: "Orange Tree Sample’s Famous E may be the best virtual Rhodes you can buy."

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/orange-tree-samples-famous-e-electric-piano

Edited November 21, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Fleer]

One thing we’ve got to get out of the way: are we going for a 140b or a 200a?

[PavlovsCat]

10 minutes ago, Fleer said:

One thing we’ve got to get out of the way: are we going for a 140b or a 200a?

Me personally,  I'm all about the 200A, which is what we had in our living room when I was a kid that I fell in love with. However, the 206A, which AcousticSamples sampled, I am told, has the same internal mechanics and sound as the 200A, but was Wurlitzer's student model. I didn't know about it until the dev told me all about it. But, as he states,  it sounds identical.  I am aware that Hammer + Waves library someone mentioned earlier was for Wurlitzer's 140b. But that dev had another library that sampled the 200A. (Clearly Wurlitzer had their engineers coming up with these product names and not branding pros.)