@JC said:

Do any VSL libraries contain any anvil hits/clunks... I'd really love this -- some really nice anvil clunks, like things Don Davis used for The Matrix Trilogy..

Also, If anyone has any information on this instrument, what it looks like, how it's played, etc.. I'd be very grateful [:)]

Thanks [:P]

It looks like, ummmmmmmm an anvil (think cartoon falling weights), and you play it with a hammer.

DG
lol, ok... no samples I guess... not good ones anyway??? You get these little anvil clunks as part of a basic percussion set with some sample libraries but they sound pathetic -- like a little teaspoon being hit against a wall or something -- lol

The FX percussion library from VSL has Hammer samples, I'm guessing from an anvil but I haven't used those yet and I don't have my manual in front of me.

The "London Orchestral Percussion" has great anvil samples, from several real anvils, not hammers. They have the best anvil samples I've heard. The VSL "hammers" are literally large hammers (sledgehammers) being stuck (if I remember correctly.) Either way, they sound completely different than anvils, and are probably not what you are looking for.

Of course, we are waiting some VSL orchestral anvils and VSL orchestral wind chimes [:)] but for now I have GTown anvils and Roland wind chimes.

What we named correctly "Rails" in our Percussion-set is actually used instead of anvils in a musical context, AFAIK. In the end, its just another huge piece of metal ;-]

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

Speaking of Stormdrum.....

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?PID=609082&t=549 [:D]

@Dietz said:

What we named correctly "Rails" in our Percussion-set is actually used instead of anvils in a musical context, AFAIK. In the end, its just another huge piece of metal ;-]

/Dietz - Vienna Symphonic Library

Dietz-
Actual anvils are used in America, not rails - FYI. The only substitute are occasionally brake drums, which are literally a car's brake drum. Hey, I just noticed the homonyms - drum, drum - get it? [:)] I was not aware that rails were used in Vienna instead of anvils - why is this? Is the sound prefered?
-mvanbebber

One of the percussion houses in West London hires out various alternatives - they have several sizes of proper blacksmith's anvil, but also lengths of railway track, scaffolding and brake drums.

The VSL library has brake drums, springs and rails - i seem to remember a discussion when the Pro Edition first came out about a concert Percussionist who refused to carry around an actual anvil, and brought with him the alternatives instead.

All variations are struck with a metal hammer, and produce a high-pitched ring. To get the *BIG* Don Davis hits that you hear in the Matrix, you need to combine the high with mid and low - for instance, a bass drum and field drum. I'm talking 'percussion hit' - not just anvils/rails, to get anything other than a weedy sound...

Occasionally, I use the G-Town anvils, although the site still seems to be down

www.gtownsounds.com

best
peter

http://community.vsl.co.at/viewtopic.php?t=1401
Just a bit more insider information...

Oh and, G-Town sounds are only availible as torrents as of now, see
http://www.tobiasmarberger.com/gtownsounds/

PolarBear

[[:|]]

blimey PolarBear - you've dug back a Looong way... I didn't even realise that the topic was originally mine. Nice use of 'search', and also the correction to the story. Inaccurate journalism! I should work for the UK press... [[;)]]

thanks for the GTown update - always found that collection useful.

peter

For a composer seeking Anvil, Break Drums suck. I just had to interject that. I think percussionists who use Break Drums are criminal. Get a f****** Anvil you cowards. Nobody wants to hear a wimpy "tink". Give me the sound of someone wielding a sword on an 400lb Anvil. That's what we composer's all want anyway. We don't choose big heavy metal clanking sounds cause we want a Triangle. Maybe Mahler might have been interested in the subtle blending that a Brake Drum could provide, I don't know. But I do know this:

Break Drums ... SUCK.

[;)]

Evan Evans