Big Band Vol.1

Registrations provided:  

1. BB Vibes Solo Octave – Metallic vibes

2 Bigband Solo Vibes – Woody vibes

3. Bigband Brass 1 – Deep brass

4. Bigband Brass 2 – Loud. Medium brass

5. Bigband Ensemble Plus Vibes – Stringy brass

6. Bigband Ensemble 1 – Low brass

7. Bigband Ensemble 2 – Clarinet + brass

8. Bigband Fanfare + Clarinet – Granada style fanfare

9. Bigband Fanfare + Flute – Bert Kaempfert clarinet + brass

10. Brass Real + Brass Shake – Loud. Trumpet brass

11. Brass Real 2 + Shake – As 11. + echo

12. Breezy Clarinet – 'Windy' clarinet

13. Clarinet Stranger on Shore – Acker Bilk: Stranger on the Shore/Ebb Tide

14. Club Jazz Guitar – Jazzy guitar, LM has a piano sound

15. Coronation St. Brass – Corrie theme trumpet

16. Cup Mute Solo Trumpet – Sachmo: What a Wonderful World

17. Glen Miller 1 – Horn lead

18. Glen Miller 2 – Trombone lead. American Patrol [+ No.23]

19. Glen Miller Ballad – Loud. Stairway to the Stars/At Last

20. Glen Miller Brass + Reed – Loud. Chattanooga ChooChoo

21. Glen Miller Moonlight Serenade – Glen Miller: Moonlight Serenade

22. Glen Miller Reeds 1 – Loud. Pennsylvania 65000

23. Glen Miller Reeds 2 – Loud. In the Mood

24. Jazz Guitar + Django – Loud. 2 acc.guitars

25. Jazz Tenor Sax Solo – Deep, breathy Sax, LM has a piano sound

26. Jazz Trombone + Expression – Breathy trombone sound

27. Jazz Trumpet Solo Art-Shake – Loud. Breezy, Kenny Ball trumpet

28. Jazz Trumpet Solo – 'Fanfare for the Common Man' brass

29. Jazz Vocals Manhattan Harmony – Doooo 'choir' lead [Chanson d'Amore]

30. Jazz Vocals Scat – Duh lead [Cleo Lane]

31. Loose Sax + Brass – Loud. Johnny Dankworth sax

32. Loose Sax Trio – Loud. 3 saxes mix

33. Midnight Sax Solo – Soft, mellow sax. LM has a piano sound

34. Old Boogie Woogie Piano – Fats Waller, Fats Domino honky tonk

35. Soft Alto + Tenor Sax BigBand – 'Bye Bye Blues', low breathy sax

36. Soft Brass + Shake – Loud. Soft, medium brass

37. Swinging Flutes – Bert Kaempfert: Swingin'' Safari flutes

38. Trombone BigBand Cool Tutti – Loud. Trombone section

39. Trombone Tutti+BigBand Harmony – Loud. Brassy trombones

40. Trumpet Octave + Brass – Breathy trombones

Note:

You will obviously need to select a User area for saving these where there are 40 free consecutive 'slots' to keep them all together. As they are in User Groups, they can be modified to suit your personal tastes.

General Observations:

Presets marked Loud all have their volumes recorded too high [in my humble opinion].  When switching to them, I also had to quickly reign-back several UM+LM Sound layer  drawbars;  eventually I had to actually re-save nearly all these Presets in this set without their volumes being 'ticked' [on the 2ndry page under Save Presets]. I think it might be better to leave this feature to the users own taste in future issues.

Specific notes:

Presets 17 to 23 are aimed squarely at Glen Miller fans and No.21 Moonlight Serenade is particularly good but unfortunately lacks the correct rhythm unit Ending to the song [this was available on the Wega/Spectra CD line card].

If you can play Swingin' Safari [which I cannot!] preset No.37 is ideal along with the Kaempfert Swing rhythm.

Alternating Presets 30+35 produces a pleasing mix for Bye Bye Blues and similar songs.

Conclusions:

The set is obviously going to prove very useful for those liking big band music by Glenn Miller, Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, Tommy Dorsey, Bert Kaempfert, James Last and others.

Overall, a wide selection of sound mixes, most quite complex.

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Orchestral & Choirs

Registrations provided:                        

1. Expr. Orchestral Woodwind 1 - Loud. Medium woodwind oboe lead [e.g. Annies Song]  X

2. Expr. Orchestral Woodwind 2 - Loud. Higher woodwind mix  X

3. Hollywood Strings - Useful for dramatic strings and blockbuster film music!  X

4. Golden OAS Strings - Classical strings and more mellow sound

5. Grand Orchestra - Loud. Full orchestral mixture  X

6. Expr. Grand Orchestra - V.Loud. As above with crossfade + echo

7. Philharmonic Orchestra 1 - Mixture of strings and flutey woodwind

8. Philharmonic Orchestra 2 - Similar to 7 but deeper

9. Expression Philharmonic Orchestra - V.Loud. As above with crossfade and flutey

10. Orchestra + Horns Section - Mellower stringy and horns

11. Sharp Strings Section - Sharper strings for staccato/allegro playing

12. Expr. String Trio - V.Loud. Violin, Viola + Cello with crossfade, Palm Court Trio

13. Rich Classical Strings - Full medium classical strings

14. Rich Classical Suspense Strings - As above but deeper with added Tremolo

15. Rich Classical Bow Strings - Bowed string sound  X

16. Expr. Classical Violin Solo - Crossfaded Violin solo + strings  [e.g. Air on a G. String]

17. Expr. Orchestral Oboe - Loud. Similar to 16 but using an oboe lead

18. Romantic Orchestra - Orchestra with a glockenspiel for John Williams type themes

19. Horn Section 1 - Trad. Horn lead plus oboe  X

20. Horn Section 2 - Variation on 19 with echo

21. Cathedral Choir 1- Large full choir mixture - aah + choir

22. Cathedral Choir 2 - Variation on above - girl + choir

23. Soprano Choir + Tenor & Boys - Soprano chorale with Tenors + Boys vocals on LM  X

24. Boys Choir London Chorale - English boys choir - ooh choir

25. Boys Choir + Light Tenors - As above with added lower Tenor

26. Boys Choir Natural Chorale - Estonian boys choir with fade-in

27. Mens Classical Choir - Great for Welsh folk music - low aah  X

28. Grand Cathedral Choir + Hall - 80 person choir - higher aah  X

29. Grand Cathedral Full + Hall - Enlarged version - higher medium aah

30. Expr. Grand Cathedral Full - Heavy LM. As above with crossfade - deep choir

31. USA Preacher Choir Solo - USA Gospel music - girl sustain+aah

32. Gothic Movie Choir - Heavy LM. Dark music style [Lord of the Rings] - high aah

33. Hollywood Movie Choir - Heavy LM. Film scores - deep mixed choir

34. Grand Operatic Chorale - Heavy LM. Great for Sarah Brightman operatic songs + vibrato

35. Dramatic Opera Chorale - Loud. As above with added operatic choir, less vibrato

36. Time To Say Goodbye Choir - Sarah Brightmans classic hit, quite sharp

37. Female Angelic Choir - V.Loud. Female vocal group – ooo + fade-in aah

38. Female Hymn + WersiChord Hymn - As above ohh + fade-in  girl and WersiChord Hymn

39. Expr. Plain Song Choral Hymn - Mellow chorale sound - monastery choir for Plainsong

40. Expr. Vocal Aspirational Choir - As above + tenors

41. Natural Classical Grand + Strings - Heavy LM. Softened Grand Piano and strings

42. Classical Piano + Strings Orchestra - Similar to above with violin

43. Concert Hall Grand Piano  - Grand Piano [footswitch control for decay and softness]+ strings

44. 2 x Concert Grand Virtuoso - 2 grand pianos together, 1 an octave apart

45. Viennese String Orchestra - Vienna style waltz sound - mellow

46. Strauss Orch Woodwind 1 - As above with added woodwind - piccolo

47. Strauss Orch Woodwind 2 - As above with added woodwind - flutey

48. Vienna Horns + Strings + Flute - As above with added brassy and horns

49. Viennese Fanfare Celebration - As above with added oomph - Strauss

50. Bohemian Solo Summer Horn - Prague style horns - mellow.

Notes:

To save these, you will need to select a User area where there are 50 free consecutive 'slots' to keep them together. As they are held in User Groups, they can be modified to suit your personal taste.

General Observations:

Presets marked Loud all have their volumes set high, so when switching to them, I had to quickly reign-back several UM+LM Sound layer drawbars.  I eventually had to actually re-save these Presets without their volumes being 'ticked' [on the 2ndry page under Save Presets]. As in the Big Band set, it might be have been better to leave this feature to the users own taste. Cancelling the Dynamic seems to reduce the loudness somewhat.

Those marked Heavy LM have a rather heavy, deep mixture on the lower keyboard I wasn't too keen on and changed the 1st voice LM to Strings. Again, it is up to the users own tastes.

Those marked Expr. employ expression crossfade [see related article on WersiClubUK website].

The Presets numbered 21-40 are all Choir selections. Most of these are excellent and quite complex, the rest are assorted Orchestral mixtures.

Specific notes:

No.3 is ideal for Big Country type film themes.

No.18 has a pleasant, flutey sound.

No.37 a Female Angelic Choir, is great for Bring Him Home type songs, very ethereal. Excellent.

No.44 transforms your organ into 2 concert grand pianos with strings.

No.45-49 are great if you like Strauss style music.

No.50 is a mellow Bohemian horn ideal for the James Last version of Hey by Julio Inglesias  

[featured on James Last 'Viva Espana' DVD/CDs].

Conclusions:

Overall a very useful set of Presets many of which are quite complex in construction and sound.  

Many of the choir mixtures are excellent sounds and worth the money on their own.

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Panflutes

List of Presets:  

1. Andean Panflute - Sharp + deep

2. Attack Panflute - Slightly woody, mellow tone

3. Bass Panpipe - Deep + hollow tone

4. Breathy Panflute - Multiple mixture

5. Chillout Panflute - Same as 4. + echo

6. Eastern Panflute - Sharper tone + echo

7. Golden Gate Panflute - Mellow, deep + breathy sound

8. Haunting Panpipe 1 - Flutey quality

9. Haunting Panpipe 2 - Same as 8. + echo

10. Jameos Panflute - Claudia's cave panpipe!

11. Panflute 1 - Medium pipe sound

12. Panflute 2 - Similar

13. Panflute Double Set - 2 pipes, 2 tones

14. Panflute Echoes - Echoing pipes

15. Peruvian Panflute 1 - S.American, deep + echoing

16. Peruvian Panflute 2 - Similar, but even deeper

17. Pretty Panflute - Light, woody sound

18. Small Panflute  - Light, mellow feel

19. Tibetan Panflute - Himalayan, distant feel

20. Zampona - Hollow, mellow sound

Note:

There is a full description of these on the supplied installation sheet from WersiUK.

Specific notes:

No.1 is best for El Condor Passa

No.10 is for Claudia Hirschfeld's Jameos del Agua song

No.11 is useful for Last+Zamfir's Lonely Shepherd if you don't have the James Last Edition.

Conclusions:

Another varied selection of Presets, all quite different and some complex. If you play lots of Panflute type songs, these are well worth getting.

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Amazing Pianos

List of Presets:    

1. 70’s Clavinet - Metallic bell-like tone

2. Baby Grand Piano - Slightly woody tone, mellow

3. Bosendorfer - Light piano sound + mechanical hammer noise

4. California Pop Lounge Grand - Slightly vibraphonic sound

5. Concert Hall Grand 1 - Standard grand piano with strings  X

6. Concert Hall Grand 2 - Similar to 5. with added soft grand

7. Elton 70's Grand - 'Ringing' piano sound

8. Eltons Red Piano - Sharper piano with tremolo

9. Fantasy E-Piano - Elec.piano with tremolo

10. Grand + Strings - Piano + bowed strings

11. Large Hall Concert Grand - Flugel piano + echo

12. New York Steinway 1 - 2 pianos, split UM

13. New York Steinway 2 - Single softer tone than 12.

14. Soft Elec Piano - Highly pitched elec.piano

15. Super Rhodes  - Mellow Rhodes + slight, delayed Wah

16. Swedish Piano - Hard piano  + echo

17. Sweet E-Piano  - Mellow Elec.piano + long sustain

18. Sweet E-Piano Dreams - Deeper version of 17.

19. Vintage E-Piano Steel Hammer - Similar to 17. + echo + re-iteration

20. Vintage E-Piano - Medium elec.piano

Note:

Remember to select 20 free slots' in your database to store these all together.

Specific notes:

Nos. 5, 6, 17 + 18 would suit Carpenters ballad music.

No.11 is great for Memory type songs.

No.16 is useful for ABBA songs.

Conclusions:

A very eclectic mix of useful presets. The Concert Hall pianos are particularly good, especially for those who enjoy more classical music. I also found the electric piano presets interesting.

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Orchestral & Symphony

Registrations provided:

1. Brass Ensemble + Chromatic Percussion - Low horn + brass sound

2. Cello & Steinway - Deep cello + piano mix

3. French Horn + Brass 1 - Deep horns

4. French Horn + Brass 2 - Medium horns

5. French Horn Section - As 4. with echo

6. Grand Symph. Orchestra 1 - Sharp strings with vocal aah

7. Grand Symph. Orchestra 2 - Medium strings with vocal aah

8. Grand Symph. Orchestra 3 - Deep strings with vocal aah

9. Orchestra Power 1 - Orchestral horns

10. Orchestra Power 2 - As 9. with extra Brass

11. Pavane Orchestra - Flutey orchestral sound

12. Rich Symphonic Strings - Medium bowed strings

13. Rich Symphonic Strings 2 - Low bowed strings

14. Symph. Classical Violin - Violin solo + orchestra

15. Symph. Choir & Organ Tutti 1 - Deep church organ and strings

16. Symph. Choir & Organ Tutti 2 - As 15. but more flutey

17. Symph. Choir & Organ Tutti 3 - Higher octave version of 15.

18. Symph. Strings + Choir + Fr.Horns - Aah + string sound

19. Symph. Strings + Choir + Horns - Ohh + aah + strings

20. Symph. Strings + Choir - Aah + low strings

21. Symph. Strings + Church Organ - Throaty strings

22. Symph. Strings + Church + Oboe - Sharp oboe + church organ

23. Symphonic Cello + Viola - Deep strings

24. Symphonic Choir Grand 2 - Strings, aah + vocals

25. Symphonic Choir Grand 1 - Aah + vocals

26. Symphonic String Section - Violins + violas

27 Symphonic Violin (Expression) - Violins

28. Symphony Orchestra + Glockenspiel - Oboe, horns+ glockenspiel

29. Symphony Orch. 1 - Oboe + strings

30. Symphony Orch. 2 - Deep strings + horns

31. Symphony Orch. Brass Ensemble - Very deep sound

32. Symphony Orch. French Horns - Deep, mellow horns

33. Symphony Orch. French Horns 2 - Brassy horns

34. Symphony Orch. Horns + Harp - Medium horns + harp

35. Symphony Orch. Horns + Tremolo - Low brass + tremolo

36. Symphony Orch. Horns + Wind - Low brass + strings

37. Symphony Orch. Large Tutti 1 - Very low brass + strings

38. Symphony Orch. Large Tutti 2 - Medium version

39. Symphony Orch. Reed - 2 violins + oboes

40. Vienna Woods Zither - Light, mellow zither

Note:

You will obviously need to select a User area where there are 40 free consecutive 'slots' for saving these to keep them all together.

Specific Notes:

A few of these [6,22,33] are quite loud, so you may need to reduce their volumes a bit.

Others [2,8,15,23,30,32] are quite deep sounds, also loud.

The Presets numbered 18-20 & 24+25 are all selections with Choirs.  Most of these are very good and quite complex, the rest are mainly assorted Orchestral mixtures.

No.40 is ideal for the Third Man theme.

Conclusions:

A very wide selection covering a wide range of sound types, there is something for everyone here.

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James Last Edition

Preset No.+ Name:    

851 JL-Happy Music Organ - Bright trombones + brass   X

852 JL-Hansi Rocks - As 851 + trumpets

853 JL-Doo Wah Diddy Organ - Sax, choir + aah

854 JL-Hey Baby organ - Sax, choir + trumpet  X

855 JL-Hip Hop Polka 1 - Medium trumpet + brass

856 JL-Hip Hop Polka 2 - Lower trumpet + brass

857 JL-Mamma Mia  - Mellow sax + brass

858 JL-Lonely Shepherd - Split panpipes, strings, brass  X

859 JL-Epic Strings  - Deep string orchestra

860 JL-Morriccone Vocal - Useful for 'Once Upon a Time in the West'

861 JL-Happy Hansi - Medium brass mix

862 JL-Dance Chorus - Aah choir

863 JL-Pulstar 1 - Trumpet brass

864 JL-Pulstar 2 - Trombone brass

865 JL-Mary Meets Hansi - Full brass

866 JL-Biscaya Organ - Accordion + strings  X

867 JL-Hammond A Go Go - Drawbars + brass

868 JL-Happy Luxembourg  - Brass

869 JL-Romantic Trumpets - Flugel type brass

870 JL-Symphonic Strings - Deep mellow strings

871 JL-Trumpet 1 - Trumpet mixture

872 JL-Trombones - Trombone mix

873 JL-Attack Strings - Medium strings + aah

874 JL-Strings 70 - Low strings

875 JL-Strings 2011 - Medium strings

876 JL-Vocal Classical - Aah, girl + vibrato

877 JL-Trumpet 2 - Light trumpet  sound

878 JL-Brass - Sharp trumpet + brass

879 JL-Pokerface 1 - Deep aah

880 JL-Pokerface 2 - Full brass

881 JL-Happy Music Keyboard - High brassy sound

882 JL-Hip Hop Polka Intro - Low brassy mix

883 JL-Lonely Shepherd Keyboard - Zamfir panpipes

884 JL-Morning at 7 - Mellow brass + strings  X

885 JL Games Lovers Play - Authentic Games mix

886 JL-Biscaya Keyboard - Accordion + strings

887 JL-Summer Place - Low mellow strings  X

888 JL-Doo Wah Diddy Keyboard - Trombones, strings, aah  + Duh

889 JL Hey Baby Keyboard  - Sharp brass

890 JL-Over the Rainbow - Medium brass

No: Style name + Songs used for:

850  JL-Biscaya - Biscaya

851  JL-Lonely Shepherd - Lonely Shepherd [Einsamer Hirte]

852  JL-El Mucho - Besame Mucho, Spanish Eyes

853 JL-Games that Lovers Play - Games That Lovers Play

854 JL-Hansi feat. Mary - Marleen

855 JL-Happy Hansi - Traditionally Folk Songs

856 JL-Happy Luxembourg - Happy Luxembourg, A Night of Bliss

857 JL-Happy Music - Happy Music

858 JL-Happy Party Dance - Mamma Mia,Hey Baby,Doo Wah Diddy

859 JL-Hip Hop Polka - Modern Folk Music

860 JL-Irish Waltz - Mull of Kintyre

861 JL-Last Classics  - William Tell

862 JL-Mornings at 7 - Mornings at 7  

863 JL-Poker Face - Poker Face, Bad Romance

864 JL-Samba Parranda - Besame Mucho, Copacabana, El Cumbanchero

865 JL-Somewhere Swing - White Christmas   

866 JL-Summer Place  - A Summer Place

867 JL-Tango Argentina - Jealousy, Ole Guapa

868 JL-Tijuana Taxi - Tijuana Taxi, Spanish Flea

869 JL-Dreamboat Dinner - Dreamboat Dinner

Note:

These are Factory Styles and cannot therefore be altered and saved directly though they could be saved as a new User style].

Specific observations:

Presets:

The song specific presets [858, 860, 866, 883, 884, 885, 886, 887] are very accurate mixtures and sound very like the real orchestra. 885 Games Lovers Play along with Style 853 is particularly good.

There are many typical JL mixtures here which are excellent and well worth the money.  Even if you do not play JL music much, they are going to be very useful mixtures for many other songs.

Styles:

Biscaya, Lonely Shepherd [Einsamer Hirte (Kill Bill film theme)], Games Lovers Play, Mornings at 7 [BBC Ice Skating theme] are particularly excellent styles. The rest are less specifically targeted and all could be used for other music quite easily.

Conclusions:

Whilst quite expensive, this is probably one of the best software issues Wersi have   produced. There are, in addition:-  46 new sounds, 2 drumsets, 39 drum sounds, 3 sp.effects, 17 sound effects, 3 reverbs and 9 full song demos included.