Photo credit: Michael Kuentz

Mike Huckaby, one of Detroit’s most esteemed producers and djs, is a lifelong devotee to the sounds of vintage synthesizers. He has even published a sample CD called My Life With The Wave that only contains sounds recorded with the sought after Waldorf Wave, a wavetable synthesizer of which only about 300 units had been produced and sold in the early 1990s. When we told Huckaby that his CD would be featured in an article about sample packs as part of the sound design special in our current issue, he offered to compile a collection of brand new samples and to make it available as a free download. The collection contains 16 astonishing sounds created with various instruments and synthesizers. When we heard that Huckaby even recorded the sounds of a typewriter, we asked him to give us a breakdown of the sources for his collection. As you will find out below, each of the samples literally has it’s own story to tell!

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Download: Mike Huckaby – The „My Life With The Wave Radio Show” (04/10/2010)

The Groove Sample Kit by Mike Huckaby

Samples 1-3: „I sampled my brother, Craig Huckaby playing percussion in a noisy cafe in Toledo, Ohio. I used iMaschine by Native Instruments to capture the recording. After listening to the recordings, we were really interested in the dirty sound that was captured within the samples from being within this environment. I then proceeded to transfer the samples to my computer. Then I was able to warp the samples into perfection using Ableton Live. This was a win-win situation because my brother’s percussive playing was completely undetermined at the time of recording the samples.“

Sample 4: „This sound was recorded and created in the Waldorf Studio of Vancouver, Canada, using the Alesis Andromeda synthesizer.“

Samples 5,6 & 11: „Both samples were created by using the Waldorf Wave as a starting point. The samples became finalized by using the Blofeld by Waldorf Electronics for the final sounds.“

Sample 7: „This sound was recorded and created in the Waldorf Studio of Vancouver Canada using a Rhodes Chroma synthesizer.“

Sample 8: „This sound was also recorded and created in the Waldorf Studio, this time using a Rhodes Polaris synthesizer.“

Samples 9-10: „Both samples were created using a Korg Triton workstation.“

Samples 12-13: „These sounds were recorded and created in the Waldorf Studio of Vancouver, Canada, using a Yamaha CS 80 synthesizer.“

Sample 14: „This sound was recorded and created in the Waldorf Studio using a Roland SH-101 Synthesizer.“

Sample 15: „This sample was created by using a granular synthesis ensemble I created within Reaktor by Native Instruments. I sampled the end of a vinyl record which contained pops and clicks. Through granular sampling techniques found within Reaktor, I was able to extract harmonics from the sample which you can hear after the initial sample is played.“

Sample 16: „This is another sample created by using the granular synthesis ensemble I created within Reaktor. I recorded myself typing the words Deep Transportation on a typewriter. The results of these two samples using Reaktor are mindblowing!“

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Download: Mike Huckaby Sample Kit (ZIP, 51 MB, 16 exclusive samples, available as single AIF files or as pre-formatted projects for Maschine and Ableton Live)