Well, "LOUD" is a result of turning up your volume control 🙂

I think I know what you mean... they have PUNCH. Loud is measurement how much signal you are sending to your speakers. A word like Punch or Presence or Weight or Phatness better describes what you mean; while "loud" is apart of what they describe, these go beyond that they are more "in-your-face" (as we say in NYC)! 🙂

If you have specific questions on how something in the EDMEXP Library was created we'd be happy to try to help you.

By the way, the AN1X had a distortion unit built-in. So if you sample an AN1X sound that includes distortion, the resulting sample will have the distortion _ that is no mystery (really) 🙂

In preparing samples (User Samples) it is quite necessary to prepare the sound you are sampling and use the tools of audio that can help maximize your results. Since the end goal of the Voices in the EDM Expansion Library are making Performances, the author(s) elected to maximize output levels on each User ELEMENT.

Most Voices in the factory set are conservatively programmed as to output. This allows them to easily be used in combination or in ensembles (like when sequencing). The Motif XF/MOXF engine features many ways to increase output levels. For example, in each normal Voice can have up to 8 Elements... Each Element has its own controls including its own EQ. You may think an EQ per Element is overkill, we don't. An Element can be used as a complete instrument or one of 8 building blocks to make up an instrument.

Each Element has an EQ that can be configured as a 2-band EQ, a single band fully parametric EQ, (these can be used to fix specific problem areas within a particular Waveform) or it can be configured as a straight +6, +12 or +18dB BOOST... You will find that the Elements in the EDM collection have the EQ set as a straight +18dB Boost, this accounts for the BIG, LOUD, present sound on the Voices of the EDM collection.

We have recently posted articles on both the Multi-Band Compressor and the VCM Compressor 376... with these tools you can create audio samples that have tons of energy, that puts that energy "in-your-face" so to speak. Learning to use these leveling amplifiers creatively is a journey worth taking. They are often best used when creating the original audio sample. But can also be used on final product with great affect!

A Compressor can reduce the dynamic range... this brings the loud peaks down closer to the softer components... then when you restore UNITY GAIN, the sound is more present, it is phatter, it is more in-your-face... artful (proper) use of such tools makes a big BIG difference! Optimizing your original samples (using compression) and programming using the Motif XF/MOXF's built-in Element EQ, with its outrageous +18dB boost, can really make a difference!

While the Motif-series features an on-board sampler, the MOXF customer can create audio using external tools (the highly recommended third party software for this purpose is the John Melas Motif Waveform Editor). It allows MOXF customers to create their own data and create a file that can be read and loaded into a Flash expanded MOXF.

Bad Mister - thanks as always for an informative reply.

It wasn't just the loudness/punchiness that really got me (thought that really blew me away!) - it was the very cool sounds that were produced by the EDM voices. And the very creative use of effects.

Now I have to check out those articles on the compressors!

And I have a question about the John Melas tools - especially after watching Heratch Touresian's videos on turning samples into voices.

But I will make that a separate discussion.

Thanks so much!