In May, Samples From Mars had sent out an email that they wanted customers to take a survey and let them know what kind of samples they wanted next. I took the survey and asked for Wendel Jr. samples. I have a Wendel Jr. and had just used samples from it for the LP Live record I had been working on. I can't say for sure that Teddy paid any attention to my request, but I sure would like to think so because this week they released a sample pack of Wendel Jr. samples and they sound amazing. In fact, they're on sale until August 8th 2020 for 40% off and I'm telling you that is totally worth it. 

If you're unfamiliar with the Wendel Jr. it's a device that was created and developed by renowned engineer Roger Nichols. He is a legend in the recording industry and most known for his work with Steely Dan. Steely Dan seems to be the most widely used music for tuning a PA system with, especially by live mixers in the generation preceding my own. I however never have used it but understand the reason why. Those records were mixed perfectly. Those records as well as countless other records from the 80's and beyond have used sounds from the Wendel Jr. to enhance the live drums sounds that were recorded. Whether you realize it or not, you have heard these sounds. 

The secret to this machine is that you would take the live sound you wanted to trigger rather than a drum trigger and send it to the input of the Wendel Jr. It would then trigger the desire sound loaded on a variety of "carts" that looked like old video game cartridges. Then return that signal to the console and record it like any other live drum. At the time this was very difficult to do this digitally due to latency. So Roger devised a way to store these samples on the carts in a way that was instantaneous therefore they would fire at the exact moment they were triggered. This made it very easy to layer these new sounds over the existing sounds to add texture and weight to the live drums, thus enhancing the overall tone of the drum kit.

Samples From Mars have painstakingly recorded and sampled these great sounds just like all of their other sample libraries using great analog pre amps, eq's and compression to properly capture the highest quality sound and then to be used in many formats. They can be easily used in Ableton, Kontakt, and many other DAW based samplers. These samples while originally designed to layer or replace drum sounds, are great on their own. If you want that vintage sound heart on countless 80's rock records, this is the sample pack you need.

Check it out here.