Decent Samples releases free Record Cutter synth sample library for Decent Sampler.
If you’re looking for a free lo-fi synth, check out the new Decent Samples Record Cutter sample library, which runs on the free Decent Sampler plugin.
The Record Cutter can produce a good range of sounds and offers a “breathy, fragile-sounding synthesizer that should be perfect for lo-fi or cinematic work.”
Decent Samples, which brands itself as “premium samples for film composers,” states the library was created by cutting a series of test tones onto vinyl and then playing them back into a computer.
The Record Cutter, which you can hear in action below, has an unsettling sort of beauty, which is ethereal and vintage in style.
The synth has a versatile range of sounds, although there’s a common theme running through them. The sounds had me imagining the creepy film and video game scenes you could bring to life using the synth. Ambient tracks are another use case that comes to mind.
The Record Cutter has a simple, no-frills interface and features various ways to tweak the sounds, including tune, attack, delay, sustain, release, chorus, tone, and reverb.
There’s a range of presets on tap, with titles like Dusty Sine, Flutter Keys, Topanga Canyon, Broken Triangles, Massive Friends, Vinyl Saws, Poorly Cut Strings, Strange Bedfellows, and Acetate Blanks.
The Record Cutter runs on the Decent Sampler plugin, which is a base synthesizer plugin that can be used to load up one of the many sample libraries available for free on the Decent Samples website.
The Record Cutter’s creator explained the origin of the plugin as such:
“About 20 years ago, I was lamenting to my wife that it wasn’t possible to make records at home, so she did a bunch of research, discovered that consumer-grade record cutters used to exist in the 1940s, and bought me one of these antiques. Although we never managed to make a single decent-sounding record with the darn thing, it did spark an obsession for this terrible technology.
Fast forward to January 2023, I bought a Gakken toy record cutter from Japan. The fidelity offered by the Gakken is very much the same as that of the cutter from 1949, but this time, instead of using it to reproduce music, I’ve learned to exploit it as an effect instead.”
You can pick up the Record Cutter for free on the Decent Samples site, as well as the Decent Sampler plugin.
Download: Record Cutter
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2 Comments
4113ND3
onThis is a David Hilowitz library https://www.youtube.com/@DavidHilowitzMusic and maybe even more interesting than the actual end product are his very artistic documentations of the process (this and bunch of others). Definitely recommend his videos for everyone! Record cutter video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCuC3fV_fHc
Tomislav Zlatic
onAdded to the article. Thank you!