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

[PavlovsCat]

35 minutes ago, Craig N said:

I hadn't heard of Lonnie Brooks before, but I really enjoyed the song featured in that video clip, thanks for sharing it! I was bopping my head straight away, what a catchy groove! So I've added a couple of albums that song appears on to my Apple Music library so I remember to check out some more of his music.

I was thinking to myself that you're lucky to have come up in an environment with so many musical greats, but then I remembered that just the other day, when buying a capo for my daughter to use on her acoustic guitar, I got to chatting with a friendly guy who has helped me at the music shop on previous visits. I had overheard someone bring up that he was going on tour a few minutes prior, so I asked him about it and found the name of his band (Osaka Punch), looked them up, and it turns out they're pretty amazing! When I put their album on in the car my daughter declared it was better than any of the other music I'd ever played in the car. Hah! 

I live in Brisbane, Australia, and a few famous bands have started out here, from the Bee Gees way back when, through Savage Garden in the 90s, to Sheppard (Hey Geronimo) more recently. Nowadays there's so much music being made that it seems even people with serious talent will end up in the long tail of the music business, and I guess that's natural as more and more of us start to express our creativity musically with all of the opportunities we have nowadays. It's amazing to me how much great music is in and around us all. 

They're not from Australia,  well part of the band is, but I love Crowded House. I've never been to Australia,  but my favorite place in the world is nearby,  New Zealand. I have a couple of friends in Australia and every Australian I've ever known has been awesome and had a great sense of humor (and you're now on that list too!). Thanks for sharing! I love reading about our shared love of music and the different ways it has meaning in our lives. That is why we're all hear at a subforum for sample and plugin hoarders. Hey that's what they should rename this instead of Deals Forum.  Samples and Plugin Hoarders Forum.  

Okay, I'm kidding.  But it's not far from reality.  How many Wurli libraries are on your hard drives right now? And I'm not saying I'm any different.  We're united by our love of music...and sample hoarding!

[PavlovsCat]

46 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Damn, that Lonnie Brooks sure knows the blues. 

He has a son who played in his band for a time. His name is Ronnie Baker Brooks and he is a killer guitarist. His style reminds me of Stevie Ray Vaughn with more of a hardcore blues bent, clearly influenced by his dad. But his son is a legit, talented artist worth checking out. This tune is obviously very Hendrixish but it's also very Lonnie Brooks influenced. 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Fleer]

Down in a Tin Pan Alley!

(I heard a pistol shoot. It was a .44)

[PavlovsCat]

19 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Down in a Tin Pan Alley!

(I heard a pistol shoot. It was a .44)

Fleer just took the express out of Electric Larryland straight to Vaughnville. 

(I don't know if that works,  it's just an adlib  and it sounded ridiculous enough to possibly be funny.  FTR, my teenage son used to love to say, "Dad, you're funny,  but not as funny as you think. " So for two days, around dinner time when my son would be drinking water or soda, I would say something stupidly funny that would make him spit out his drink. Did I go too far? Possibly. But it sure was fun.) 

[TheSteven]

I vote 1, meh, meh

Didn't like 2, and with 3  i didn't really care for the FX; would rather add my own chorus if I felt it was needed.

Forgive me for not reading all 6 or so pages; I got hungry around page 3, lost focus to the kitchens siren song and succumbed to temptation.

Edited November 27, 2022 by TheSteven

[PavlovsCat]

13 minutes ago, TheSteven said:

I vote 1, meh, meh

Didn't like 2, and with 3  i didn't really care for the FX; would rather add my own chorus if I felt it was needed.

Forgive me for not reading all 6 or so pages; I got hungry around page 3, lost focus to the kitchens siren song and succumbed to temptation.

Hey. It turned into the Wurli appreciation society by maybe  page 4.  Nobody has even brought up the shootout in a few pages-- me included. Consequently,  you're like three topics behind. I've since been persuaded into buying another Wurli library. Then we  talked about R&B and Hammond organs and Leslies. Then we got into blues. Then about a cool Australian band. Then you made your off topic post about a shootout and everyone is wondering what in the world is TheSteven talking about? Keep up, man. Jazz is up next. 

If there were criminal penalties for off topic posts, I'd clearly be getting capital punishment. But a lot of you guys would be on death row right there with me. 

 

[chris.r]

On 11/26/2022 at 4:01 AM, PavlovsCat said:

it wasn't hooked up to a Hammond but a Gulbransen organ

First time I hear about this brand. Did it sound anything hammond-like or was it something completely different? I read they have been producing Leslies, wow!

We thought about making a video for whatever purpose should it be, it's just pub gigs mostly FWIW. The problem is, I can wipe socks off peoples feet with my Hammie on our gigs unless I see a cam in front on us then I instantly become paralyzed ? so it can take time. I'll try remember to post or PM.

[chris.r]

5 hours ago, Fleer said:

Damn, that Lonnie Brooks sure knows the blues. 

He damn got the blues  

[PavlovsCat]

2 hours ago, chris.r said:

First time I hear about this brand. Did it sound anything hammond-like or was it something completely different? I read they have been producing Leslies, wow!

We thought about making a video for whatever purpose should it be, it's just pub gigs mostly FWIW. The problem is, I can wipe socks off peoples feet with my Hammie on our gigs unless I see a cam in front on us then I instantly become paralyzed ? so it can take time. I'll try remember to post or PM.

It's been such a long time since I heard that organ I grew up with so I don't remember its tone vividly, But my mother was a classically trained pianist and organist, a music performance major who went to a conservatory, so she bought the organ with stuff like Bach in mind. Her students were largely studying classical music. But she loved popular music of the day, but I think she focused the instruments she bought with more of an emphasis on classical. She adored Chopin's music and she thought of a piano tone she liked best with Chopin in mind, not R&B, blues, rock or jazz in mind. Which reminds me that we haven't really given a lot of attention to jazz in the thread. We need to do that next! 

While I loved and still love classical music, I was a drummer and rock, R&B, funk and gospel would have been the priorities for my organ choice. Unquestionably a Hammond. I really didn't know about Hammonds and Rhodes first hand until I 17 and befriended this very talented old (nearly 40, which at 17 seemed pretty old, nearly my mom's age) musician blues and R&B singer/multi-instrumentalist and we would spend hours jamming on Sundays at his house with various musicians invited over for blues and R&B jam session and at my mother's house (with my mother joining in on piano or organ). He owned a Rhodes and a Leslie and was really good at soloing on both and he had a great, soulful voice. And yeah, with a son the same age I was then, I do think it would be odd if he was suddenly hanging out a nearly 40 yr old dude a lot (I also wonder what his wife was thinking about this 17 year old kid hanging around their house, but it was all about music). However, it was actually a really beautiful friendship based around our obsessive love of music. But here's an observation I've made. I have tendonitis and can't play very well anymore. Dead serious, it can be tough to try to play instruments you've played in front of thousands of people at one point and know that you can barely play at a very simplistic level and you're not going to get better. It can be difficult to get used to. Bu t swear that when I play Wurli libraries I feel inspired and when I play my favorite Rhodes library, which I absolutely love, I  seem to be too self aware of how bad my playing is. And I love Rhodes electric pianos and they sound great when they're in the hands of killer players. However, my personal opinion is that if you're a terrible player like I am, the Wurli is the choice for you. Something about its tone just can make the simplest parts still sound cool. With a Rhodes, I always feel like the blandness of my crappy playing is really obvious. To me, I can play the same riff on a Wurli and a Rhodes, and it sound like I'm a better player than I am on the Wurli, while the Rhodes that lick doesn't sound like enough. Yes, that's so very abstract and I don't expect anyone to know what the heck I'm saying and would be shocked it anyone agrees. I believe this gentleman had something to do with my taste in organs (Booker T), I greatly prefer the organ he paired with a Leslie to my late mother's Gulbransen  (you tell me if this doesn't sound freaking awesome) : 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[PavlovsCat]

WURLI COMPARISON
I PLAYED THE TWO WURLI LIBRARIES I BOUGHT THIS BLACK FRIDAY TO SEE HOW THEY COMPARED AND WANTED TO SHARE IT
(BOTH ARE PRESENTLY ON BF SALES FOR $35USD OR LESS)

I threw this together really quickly and I played the the library winning the current poll, e-instruments Session Keys W ,and Skybox's Hammers + Waves EP145B. both libraries I recently picked up on sale recently and I love them both and find they both have qualities different enough from the other to make purchasing both worthwhile. Granted, this isn't some scientific shootout. My playing is pedestrian at best, and as far as mixing, I wasn't focused on making the Wurli's the exact same volume, I just tried to make them higher up in the mix than I would actually want them, so that you can hear them well. So if you're looking for a scientifically done shootout by a talented musician who knows how to mix and set everything up properly, that's definitely not me. This was purely for fun to compare the two libraries I just bought. I didn't use a pre made midi file, I just played one library for the first time through the first verse/chorus and then switched to playing the other library for the next verse/chorus. So it's not a cut and paste of the same parts but me performing the same progressions with slight variations in my playing each time. 

I won't say which is which but the first time through I play with one then switch to the second on the second time through the full verse/chorus part. I'd love to hear which one you like best and why. Both libraries are still on sale for $35 USD or less and I love them both. IMO, it's a killer bargain.  

 

Edited November 30, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Craig N]

On 11/28/2022 at 1:24 AM, PavlovsCat said:

WURLY SHOOTOUT: ROUND 2

CHOOSE THE LIBRARY YOU LIKE BEST BETWEEN THE WINNER OF ROUND 1 WITH THE LIBRARY I'VE SINCE PURCHASED THAT I THINK IS ALSO EXCELLENT (BOTH ARE PRESENTLY ON BF SALES FOR $35USD OR LESS)
This features my newly purchased two Wurl Libraries, the library that is winning the current poll, e-instruments Session Keys W and Skybox's Hammers + Waves EP145B. I won't say which is which but the first time through I play with one then switch to the second on the second time through the full verse/chorus part. I'd love to hear which one you like best and why. Both libraries are still on sale for $35 USD or less and I love them both. IMO, it's a killer bargain.  

 

Nice work Peter!

I had trouble picking out the differences on the cheap IEM earphones I had at work yesterday but listening through my AKG 701 headphones and MDR-7506 it was easier to pick a preference. I liked the second one mainly for its extra heft in the low frequencies, although ironically I felt it had too much low energy in the mix and was competing with the bassline. The first one was definitely easier to hear on my cheap IEM earphones and it also stood out clearer on the better headphones but tonally I guess I didn't like the nasal quality of it as much. But we're getting to splitting hair territory, the first couple of listens I thought they both sounded good and had trouble differentiating them at all haha ?

[PavlovsCat]

On 11/28/2022 at 7:30 PM, Craig N said:

Nice work Peter!

I had trouble picking out the differences on the cheap IEM earphones I had at work yesterday but listening through my AKG 701 headphones and MDR-7506 it was easier to pick a preference. I liked the second one mainly for its extra heft in the low frequencies, although ironically I felt it had too much low energy in the mix and was competing with the bassline. The first one was definitely easier to hear on my cheap IEM earphones and it also stood out clearer on the better headphones but tonally I guess I didn't like the nasal quality of it as much. But we're getting to splitting hair territory, the first couple of listens I thought they both sounded good and had trouble differentiating them at all haha ?

Thanks, I mixed it with the Wurlis up way louder than I would have otherwise done to let people hear them and as you can tell, I don't have any mixing skills.

The first Wurli is the e-instruments Session Keys Electric W and the second one is the Skybox Hammers +Waves EP 145B. IMO, the W is a bit edgier with a clunck to it that I love -- in the patch I'm using (which is my tweaked version of a preset) and the 145B has a tube amp kind of coolness to it that I love and more of a smoothness to its tone. I really am glad that I own both, which was primarily because of you and Bad Penguin. I already know just when I want to reach for one of the other and I kind of feel set for Wurlis for the first time. Until I picked up these two libraries this month, I was experiencing Wurli envy, especially when Fleer started sharing his Wurli collection.  It's also always nice to know that no matter how bad I am with my sample hoarding, there's someone even worse than me.  Thanks, Fleer!

MY SONG RELATED WURLI STORY
The song has a very deep sentimental significance to me. My childhood family band played this song, I'm pretty sure on our debut, with my youngest sister on the Wurli at Wurlitzer Music Studios' annual music recital in Chicago where my mother was a piano/organ/guitar teacher and my eldest sister later taught piano and organ. It was my first piano recital, at 4 1/2 yrs old and when all the students were done with their solo performance my family band came on and also my debut as a drummer.  I would have preferred to play the Wurli, but my siblings decided that having only 1 yr experience on piano, the band needed a drummer, so it would be me. It turned out, I loved being a drummer. The manager of the large shopping mall saw us and was impressed and later booked us to play on the center stage of the shopping mall where one hit wonder bands used to play leading to more gigs and our band playing at the end of the annual recital became a regular thing . So this is total Wurli and personal music history nostalgia for me.  

Edited November 30, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[marcL]

The problem in all those VSTi comparisons is that the instruments do not behave the same at the same velocity levels, i.e. in a "real" comparison you would have to adjust the MIDI file for each instrument and then equal the loudness. This is very time consuming and also difficult!

Otherwise the MIDI file may suit one instrument better than the others and that's not fair. E.g. in a drums comparison it maybe necessary that the overall kick velocity is quite different per vendor and even per drums pack! And so on. For non-percussion instruments there are also other things that must be considered in the MIDI file, such as behavior on note overlaps ...

[PavlovsCat]

47 minutes ago, marled said:

The problem in all those VSTi comparisons is that the instruments do not behave the same at the same velocity levels, i.e. in a "real" comparison you would have to adjust the MIDI file for each instrument and then equal the loudness. This is very time consuming and also difficult!

Otherwise the MIDI file may suit one instrument better than the others and that's not fair. E.g. in a drums comparison it maybe necessary that the overall kick velocity is quite different per vendor and even per drums pack! And so on. For non-percussion instruments there are also other things that must be considered in the MIDI file, such as behavior on note overlaps ...

marled, you're totally right. I was mainly just thinking about this little group of fellow Wurli fans and not really thinking about other people reading it who might think that they were going to hear a more scientific comparison.  I'll edit it and make it clear. I really do enjoy both of the libraries I used (and bought them both this month) and I'm not just writing that because I prefer not to have angry sample developers attacking me after posting something critical -- although that's also true -- I sincerely mean it.

I thought my original shootout, which I had made for myself a while ago and updated with each additional Wurli library I bought, was more scientific than this second one, which really was just for my own fun, but I thought I'd share it here with my fellow Wurli fans.  I'm asking this with humility not as someone who thinks he knows things with any kind of proficiency, but I just played each library for what you heard, I didn't use a MIDI file. I started by recording me playing the the W all the way through which was the verse/chorus pattern repeated once. Then I later went back and re-recorded  my playing the first verse/chorus you hear with the W then the second one with 145B. But yeah, as far as the time consuming part I'm only a hobbyist who physically can only play for very short periods due to an illness and I don't even think I would have the patience to do everything technically right if I knew! I just wanted to have a little fun. But I have watched Wurli comparison videos and would love to see an updated one with some of the more recent libraries on the market. If anyone reading this is qualified or knows of such a video or audio, please post it!   

[marcL]

4 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

marled, you're totally right. I was mainly just thinking about this little group of fellow Wurli fans and not really thinking about other people reading it who might think that they were going to hear a more scientific comparison.  I'll edit it and make it clear. I really do enjoy both of the libraries I used (and bought them both this month) and I'm not just writing that because I prefer not to have angry sample developers attacking me after posting something critical -- although that's also true -- I sincerely mean it.

I thought my original shootout, which I had made for myself a while ago and updated with each additional Wurli library I bought, was more scientific than this second one, which really was just for my own fun, but I thought I'd share it here with my fellow Wurli fans.  I'm asking this with humility not as someone who thinks he knows things with any kind of proficiency, but I just played each library for what you heard, I didn't use a MIDI file. I started by recording me playing the the W all the way through which was the verse/chorus pattern repeated once. Then I later went back and re-recorded  my playing the first verse/chorus you hear with the W then the second one with 145B. But yeah, as far as the time consuming part I'm only a hobbyist who physically can only play for very short periods due to an illness and I don't even think I would have the patience to do everything technically right if I knew! I just wanted to have a little fun. But I have watched Wurli comparison videos and would love to see an updated one with some of the more recent libraries on the market. If anyone reading this is qualified or knows of such a video or audio, please post it!   

Sorry Peter, I didn't want to criticize your comparison work! It seems you have misunderstood my overhasty remark. I should have thought about before I write my comment! 

No, in the contrary I just wanted to mention how difficult it is to do a comparison generally! Many I listened to on Youtube were superficial IMHO.

[chris.r]

On 11/27/2022 at 7:41 AM, PavlovsCat said:

But my mother was a classically trained pianist and organist, a music performance major who went to a conservatory, so she bought the organ with stuff like Bach in mind.

Yup, that was the primary reason for creators of hammond organ and leslie, to make a church organ compact so that it can be brought into private homes for practicing classical music. They would have never thought it could become such a milestone in future genres that were not present yet.

I'm too classicaly trained, finished state school of music on pipe organ! ? so yeah, Bach is in my blood (Chopin in heart). But contemporary music was meant for me since beginning, though I'm self-thought for that. And hammond organ is my passion.

20 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

I was mainly just thinking about this little group of fellow Wurli fans and not really thinking about other people reading it who might think that they were going to hear a more scientific comparison.

For this second shootout I pulled out more precise headphones (and I'm in the middle of home moving... again!) and now you tell us that!  

[chris.r]

On 11/27/2022 at 7:41 AM, PavlovsCat said:

Which reminds me that we haven't really given a lot of attention to jazz in the thread. We need to do that next!

for classical vs jazz 

for jazz vs gospel 

 

for gospel vs classical 

 

 

 

[PavlovsCat]

@chris.r Some great choices, but man, I'm still not over Chick Corea's passing. I actually became a fan when I was a kid of (next topic change!) jazz fusion and listened to  Return to Forever (I also loved Mahavishnu Orchestra). I haven't came across many people --in real life -- who felt similarly. But RTF is how I discovered Chick. We're still on jazz and you threw me a slight curve and modified our ever-changing dynamic topics to Christmas jazz. I want to stay on topic.  So, I'll start with my favorite jazz GOATS, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.  It's not my favorite Coltrane song, but I had to stay on the Christmas jazz theme or you could rightfully call me out for going off topic. 

Otherwise. I'll go with a larger collection. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[chris.r]

@PavlovsCat you're ringing some big bells there ? I'll hit this small but sweet one

[PavlovsCat]

6 hours ago, chris.r said:

@PavlovsCat you're ringing some big bells there ? I'll hit this small but sweet one

 

Wow,  I  ❤️ that. Thanks for sharing.