Adam Monroe Music Wurlitzer v2.0 VST AU AAX KONTAKT

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Adam Monroe’s Wurlitzer virtual instrument plugin was sampled from an “early model” 1970’s Wurlitzer 200A electronic piano. The process began by close-miking the piano with Beyerdynamic MC930 condenser microphones on the Wurlitzer’s built-in speakers, and an AEA R84 Ribbon Mic on the line-out signal through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Amp. These signals were fed into Grace M101 and AEA TRP Preamps respectively.

The wurlitzer’s amplifier and preamp were re-capped in an attempt to save the amplifier, but about half way through the sampling process the amplifier died, which eventually killed the power transformer. The preamp, amp, and power transformer were all replaced and sampling continued. Well sampling the bass notes, it became apparent that the Wurlitzer’s built in speakers also needed to be replaced.

Most keys on the Wurlitzer were in tune, but a few keys needed fine adjustment, and F2 needed to be replaced completely, as our attempt to “add solder” to the lead tine, in order to lower the pitch, failed completely. The Wurlitzer samples were processed with EQ to cut a lot of the low frequencies out, in order to better sit in a mix as a more midrange instrument, as the bass frequencies were heavily dominant from close micing.

This was the most temperamental instrument we have sampled thus far. This is to be somewhat expected, as a Wurlitzer 200A contains numerous electronic components from the 1970’s that were not designed to last 40+years, such as electrolytic capacitors. Compared to the passive design of a Rhodes piano, there’s simply a lot that can go wrong, which is why we recommend purchasing a Wurlitzer sample library!

The library comes with built-in tremolo and delay, but for finer tuning please check out Adam Monroe’s Tremolo and Adam Monroe’s Delay, free plugins to further customize your sound, as well as Adam Monroe’s Mark 73, for a slightly different electronic piano tone.

ENGINEERING:
Some simple linear distortion was added to the VST , AU, and AAX versions as well as some built-in reverb, chorus, wah, tone, and dampening knobs. Kontakt version has been depreciated, as the VST, Audio Unit, and AAX versions require programming beyond the simple Kontakt player. The goal in any sample library that is also a VSTi (virtual instrument), AU, or AAX plugin is to attempt to match the performance of the Kontakt Player. With this library, we feel like we have done just that.

The VST, Audio Unit, and AAX versions include updated, high-performance algorithms that have been improving with each new virtual instrument released by Adam Monroe Music. For example, the buffering algorithm is double-buffered and multithreaded, which means that buffering performance is fast, even on slower computers, and even in lower latencies. Voices are held and iterated over in a pure, C-Style array. Memory use is around 390MB . Because of the solid VST-AU-AAX code base, you can feel confident that the VST, AU, and AAX versions will work just as well as a Kontakt version.

Why develop a VST, Audio Unit, or AAX version at all? Although a great piece of software, the Full version of Kontakt (required to run 3rd party sample libraries) is expensive. Developing a VST, Audio Unit, or AAX plugin that anyone can use does not add significant time to the development of a Wurlitzer sample library – most of the time is spent sampling and processing the samples – so it’s a real no-brainer.

Audio engineering is a large part of creating a VST, Audio Unit, or AAX plugin, but the sounds of this Wurlitzer library have barely been processed. Low Frequency mud was cut, and the tone can be shaped dramatically by blending between DI and amp signals. Adding distortion, even a small amount, can significantly drive the gain and presence of the signal.

The built-in Tremolo is set to match the classic “vibrato” speed of a Wurlizter electric piano, with variable intensity. The wah knob is matched to the tremolo speed and is a subtle effect. At full level the distortion knob may cause overload and clipping, so it’s best to use the smoothing knob in conjunction.

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