I've been spending a lot of my time getting to know these 3 libraries.
Sy Timps have obviously been played and recorded with beautiful skill, care and precision. That in itself goes a very long way in marking out the overall high quality of this sample collection. And I found an even greater treat: Synchron Stage A is perfect for the tremendous expressive capabilities of timps. Before now, I'd not heard Synchron Stage get really angry - but oh man, it certainly can; talk about visceral satisfaction! All my previous impressions of this acoustic space were to do with civilised charm, grace and dignity. I had no idea that Synchron Stage can also go to war!
Unlike so many other acoustic spaces, Synchron Stage A doesn't push that low-mid-frequency "boxy boominess" which mix engineers are always teaching us to scoop out with EQ. There's a psychoacoustic phenomenon known as "upward masking", whereby lower frequencies can tend to unduly overpower the ear's sensitivity to frequencies immediately above. And just above the boxy-boomy low-mid band is the all-important mid band in which is packed the huge majority of musical information - all too easily forced to retreat into the shadow of too much boxy boominess below. But not in Synchron Stage A. Bliss.
Moreover, Timpani is one of the most revealing instruments to use when setting up or checking out various added reverbs. Thanks to Sy Timps, Synchron Stage A is now totally confirmed as my benchmark for setting up algo reverbs on other instruments - most especially wherever fast-wetting is crucial.
Timps I (medium beater) is the most deeply sampled library in this collection. Open single hits have 16 velocity layers (the hard and soft libraries having 12), with 4 variants for each layer (inclusive of L-R variants). I've been using a couple of very simple MIDI sequences for auditioning the collection: one with 4 1/32 notes spaced on 1/16ths for left hits, followed by 4 of the same for right hits, and the other with left and right hits alternating every 1/16; both covering every MIDI velocity value, rising through the whole range of velocity. Though extremely simple, these test sequences are pretty revealing, especially when changing various Sy Player parameters and DAW tempo. My delightful shock came when (without looking at the DAW) first listening to a test sequence as it reached the upper velocity layers; I was like, "whoah! that's got to be the hardest hit", but then came an even harder layer, and then another layer, harder still! Talk about shock, awe and total delight. And yet, in complete contrast, the softest hits are beautifully soft, and the soft roll patches especially are exquisite. Want a really expressive dynamic range? Sy Timpani I, II & III delivers in spades!
