Q Up Arts California Keys [Exciting, Deep] Review

5/11/2019

Q Up Arts California Keys [Exciting, Deep] Review

Q Up Arts is not one of the most renowned companies within the sphere of digital sampling – well, not in comparison to prolific names like OrangeTreeSamples, Cinesamples, SonicCouture and their ilk. However, Douglas Morton and his small Q Up team have been active in the field for the better part of two decades now. Mr. Morton’s work might be familiar to you without your even realizing it. For example, Rhythmic Robot’s celebrated “Emulator II OMI” sample library(s) is the result of a close collaboration between Rhythmic Robot and Q Up Arts.

It could be said that Q Up Arts has been known more for producing top notch loop libraries, than for compiling VI (Virtual Instrument) sample libraries. As such, the release of “California Keys” came as somewhat of a surprise to me. And it’s a large surprise – close to 40 Gigabytes’ worth, as a matter of fact. The lion’s share of said 40 gigabytes is owned by the pride’s leader – a punctiliously-sampled 10 ft’ Fazioli grand piano. Q Up Arts claims that it is one of the most expressive piano libraries available – specifically for soft emotive playing and ambient textures. I tend to agree.

California Keys is not a single instrument. In addition to the acoustic grand piano – which was sampled in configurations ranging from stereo all the way through to 7.1 surround – Q Up Arts has stuffed in a collection of beloved, vintage organs and e-pianos. Albeit, Q Up’s take on some of the instruments is a little off-the-beaten-track, the “Cali Keys” bundle has quite a lot to offer.

The MSRP is a rather ambitious figure of $499 (USD), but the bundle is offered on sale occasionally, and Douglas Morton is conscious of making Q Up products available to students for amiable rates. Quite frankly, this helps Doug and his company stand out from the crowd; well-deserving to be duly commended.

I was first introduced to Q Up Arts through Mondo & the Rhythmic Robot clan. More specifically, it is owed entirely to their “Emulation II OMI” collection. And yes, there will be a forthcoming review of that luscious, ol’ skool synth giant. I haven’t spent nearly enough time with the EII libraries to write much about them here and now, but suffice it to say that my first impressions are very favorable indeed.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from “California Keys”. After all, there’s a chasm of difference between accurately capturing multiple velocity layers of acoustic piano, and recording a synthesizer’s line-level outputs. The same holds true regarding electric pianos and organs. The original instruments ought to be very well maintained and/or reconditioned, and the sampling process *should be meticulously undertaken. By and large, today’s consumer base has become much more discriminating when shopping for Rhodes, Wurly, Hammond, Vox, Farfisa and Clav VIs. Fortunately for us, Q Up Arts has indeed carefully captured the sonic charms of the original instruments used for this caboodle.

Personally, I admit that I’ve become quite the fussy-pants where vintage keys sounds are concerned. I suspect that many of my readers are equally as persnickety. Back in the early 2000s, any VI that sounded somewhat reminiscent of the original instrument it was purporting to emulate seemed to please us. Thanks to great advances in DSP (Digital Signal Processing) over the past 15 years, we’ve now come to expect stark realism and true-to-life feel from virtual instruments – close facsimiles just don’t cut the mustard anymore.

Don’t kid yourself! Developers like Q Up Arts are well aware of this too, which is why they didn’t undertake their “California Keys” project willy-nilly. The Cali-Keys bundle is sourced from immaculately-maintained vintage instruments courtesy of session-great, Arlan Schierbaum. Prior to being digitally captured, each of the instruments was carefully restored by famed keyboard technician, Ken Rich, from Los Angeles, CA. As regards the rendered Fazioli Grand, it was recorded in a Studio Bau:ton-designed studio; CounterPoint Studios in SLC, Utah. And boy! Did they record it – 10 channels of top-tier mics were used in total.

One of Cali Keys’ coolest attributes is that it is manageable; it’s a sized-just-right, one stop shop. The most beloved, all-time favourites are well represented. H-Organ replicates an early 60s Hammond A-100; F-Organ brings us a Farfsia Compact; V-Organ is a mid-sixties Vox Super Continental impression; R-Epiano mimics a 1973 Fender Rhodes Suitcase model; W-Epiano offers up a quintessential Wurlitzer 140-B; Clav dishes out the funk of a Hohner Clavinet C (the UI says Clav D6, but it is my understanding that the samples were sourced from a Clavinet C). And, of course, the star of the show: CA-Grand - a Fazioli 10’ Grand.

H-Organ

F-Organ

V-Organ

R-EPiano

W-EPiano

Clav

In keeping with the current adoption of Native Instruments’ NKS (Native Kontrol Standard) format, this collection is completely NKS ready as well as being an authorized Kontakt-Player compatible product. If you already own, or if you’re considering purchasing a Komplete S88 midi controller, be assured that this library is pre-mapped and ready to go.

Installation and Storage Requirements:

Purchasing California Keys is a straight-forward, painless process. Immediately following a successful transaction, you’ll receive a serial number by way of email. Insofar as these are Kontakt sample libraries, the serial number(s) must be activated and managed through Native Instrument’s “Native Access”. Since this is a Kontakt 5.5 library, it might be possible to activate the product via Native Instrument’s older authorization program: “Service Center”. Once activated on any given MAC OS or Windows system, no further activation checks are necessary, barring an OS upgrade or a system HDD/SDD (harddisk/solidstate drive) replacement.

On my 1 TB SSD m.2 drive, the complete bundle gobbles up 35.8 gigabytes of disk space. With Kontakt configured to use disk streaming at its default pre-load buffer setting of 60 kB, all of the vintage electric keyboards use negligible amounts of RAM – 40 MB or less. However, the Fazioli Grand is an entirely different matter – that one keeps ticking off megabytes until it finally fills its tank at a whopping 2.14 GB.

Visual Design:

I found it necessary to ponder longer than usual with this section of my review. I take no pleasure in notating neutralizing commentary, but in all fairness, this is one of those rare times when I feel that I must. A noteworthy quality that I observed once I started experimenting with this collection, is the continuity of interface design between the seven instruments. There are some aspects of Q Up Arts’ GUI design(s) that are well thought-out and nicely implemented. Notwithstanding, it is my honest opinion that a few of the trappings seen here are a bit unrefined; reminding me of mid-2000s Synthedit UI designs. California Keys yields respectable sounds, but part of giving customers a pleasant “total package” experience – when taking into account that the MSRP is $500 US – is to create a top-tier user interface that’s both attractive and functional. After all, presentation makes or breaks the deal – especially first impressions.

I suspect that Mr. Morton and his team were intending to present us with a weathered, road-worn semblance in congruity with the vintage nature of the instruments themselves, but to this reviewer’s eyes, it comes across instead as somewhat rough and a bit messy in spots. One possible exception is the California Grand. I would prefer that the Grand’s UI were more elegant and classy looking, but it is acceptable.

Please don’t think, dear reader, that I’m out to bash “Cali Keys” interface without valid reason – I’ll explain my findings.

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Most of the controls are labeled with an unusual type of font, and by my estimation, these are not always legible at a glance. While the graphical textures approach photo-realism, they just don’t quite deliver convincingly. It seems to me as though the faux wood grains are too course and the metallic panels are a little bit kludge-y. Perhaps if there were fewer degrees of font-beveling, peeling paint and shadowing effects, the interface could be deemed a more cohesive, fluid outlay. Replacing the font-types with cleaner, less whimsical typefaces would help the interface take on a more refined cast – without losing the retro reminiscence it’s supposed to be evoking.

While the layouts are fine n’ dandy, some of the button and knob designs are less-than-ideal; lacking graphical detail. I’d go so far as to say that a few of the knobs and slider handles look somewhat indistinct, as opposed to being intricately-fashioned controls. Albeit, some users might think that the Cali Keys accoutrements impart a cool, retro vibe, I would prefer sharper, more precise appointments. A couple of good demonstrations for comparison’s sake would be SonicCouture’s “EP73” and AcousticSamples’ “Wurlie”.

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It’s not all bad though; there are also certain UI attributes here that are clear winners. Each instrument is well-represented colour-wise. Q Up Arts used period-correct colour tones and hues, reasonably matching those seen on the original instruments. All of the controls are laid out well and are sensibly grouped together, making it intuitive to twiddle n’ tweak each instrument.

I appreciate the simplicity of California Keys’ onboard FX controls – modulation effects like phase and chorus are regulated with a single knob. Nine reverb presets are available per instrument, divided into three categories: Plate, Room and Hall (Spring is available on a couple of the instruments).

Q Up Arts has departed from the norm a bit with regard to some of their naming conventions, but once you catch their drift, you’ll find it easy to make quick adjustments. For instance, rather than naming their Delay/Dry blend as a typical “Mix” control, Q Up christened it “Depth” instead. Moreover, the delay’s depth is apportioned via a vertical fader/slider as an alternative to the bog-standard rotary dial. I enjoy the Depth slider’s long-throw travel path; it makes for finer control over the amount of wet delay signal mixed in.

A significant advantage offered by Cali Keys’ UIs is their single-page blueprints. Some Kontakt instruments require a user to click through various tabs and pages while configuring an instrument to their liking, whereas Cali Keys keeps all pertinent controls on a single screen. Notwithstanding, some (extra geeky-tweaker) customers might wish for a smidgen more user-control -- without having to burrow into the less-glamorous region of raw Kontakt editing.

Performance and Functionality:

As a general statement, most of the organ and e-piano samples bundled with California Keys load very quickly – they should, given that they don’t require any more than 20 or 30 megabytes of DFD memory apiece. The sole (er, soul) exception is the “H-ORG” which gobbles up 1.2 GB of RAM. On the other hand, the extensively-sampled Faziloi Grand demands no less than 2 gigabytes (plus)! Understandably, it tasks your computer with a noticeably lengthier load time; especially when its samples are contained on a mechanical hard disk.

It didn’t take me very long to get a good grasp on how to adjust the Cali Keys instruments’. Although I’ve described my misgivings about the physical appearance of a few of the Cali Keys’ appointments, they are, nonetheless, well laid out in an orderly fashion. Functionality isn’t quite as straight-forward as some of the competitors’ similar Kontakt instruments, but after a bit of experimentation, I was humming along nicely.

A quick example of what I’m talking about would be the uniqueness of the H-ORG’s drawbar configuration. Eschewing a normal (expected) nine drawbar setup, it seems that Q Up Arts has implemented a selection of pre-baked drawbar stacks – four of them, labeled A, B, C and D. The company says that these are common drawbar settings – each one accessible by a single drawbar/fader on the top left side of the H-ORG’s interface. A convenient aspect to this rather unconventional system is that you can easily blend and combine the four stacks to come up with your own tonal variations.

Click to Zoom

This is a dramatically different way of doing things because you’re actually combining individual drawbar settings – not dissimilar to playing two or more organs simultaneously. It is my opinion that this approach has both pros and cons. For anyone wanting to dive right in and not be fussed with figuring out tone wheel nuances, this is a super easy-to-use feature. On the other hand, traditional Hammond players might find it frustrating to not have normal drawbar control, as one would have while playing an actual Hammond A-100.

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Most of the instruments bundled into the California Keys collection yield easy-to-use, but perhaps somewhat over simplified means of tone manipulation. In contrast to making customized tonal adjustments with dual or triple-band parametric EQ, Q Up Arts furnish the grand piano, and the two e-pianos, each with a solitary tilt-type tone knob. As the tone is turned counter-clockwise, it darkens the sound, whereas dialing it to the right reduces bass response and increases brightness. At its center détente, the frequency spectrum remains flat. Again, this could be considered a wonderful attribute by those who want decent-sounding results with minimal effort, or it could be a bit of a disappointment to those who prefer more ‘hands on’ control. Alas, the Clav’s dashboard is entirely sans tone.

On the right side of CA Grand’s UI, we find a slider labeled, ‘Curve’. This allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the instrument to best accommodate your midi controller or tailor it to your personal preference. For instance, if you’re accustomed to playing non-weighted keyboards, move this slider up to the top of its scale; doing so will facilitate an easier touch while playing on a non weighted or semi-weighted keyboard controller. Contrariwise, those using fully weighted piano keybeds will realize better response and playability while the ‘Curve’ slider is set to the lowest (bottom) position. The user’s manual promises that you will experience the full dynamic range of the piano – ranging from triple pianissimo all the way to triple forte.

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In kind, the R-EP, W-EP and Clav each host a similar slider control -- aptly named ‘Volume’. In essence, this serves the same purpose as the CA Grand’s ‘Curve’ slider. Accompanying the velocity slider (Curve/Volume) you will also note the ‘Filter’ slider. The ‘Filter’ is assigned to velocity, but the ‘Cutoff’ knob must be turned fully counterclockwise before it takes effect. In the down position, velocity to filter is activated. Meaning, the harder you play, the brighter the sound will be. This format deviates a wee bit on the Clav – here the ‘Filter’ slider is swapped out for a ‘Wah’ control.

As I’ve already mentioned in the previous section of this article (Visual Design), each instrument is configured from a single screen – or Dashboard, if you will. The instruments all share certain common features, with a few exceptions. CA-Grand, R-EP, W-EP, V-Org, F-Org and Clav each provide customizable envelope sections with typical Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release sliders. The one instrument that doesn’t yield a configurable ADSR is the H-Organ. Each instrument also features a tidy assortment of bread n’ butter FX that is well suited to a vintage keys collection. They are all readily at hand right there on the dashboard to boot. The usual ingredients are measured out well: Chorus, Phase, Delay and Reverb with generous dollops of Wah, Vibrato and Tremelo/Pan where apropos.

In particular, the ‘Delay’ deserves special mention owing to its well rounded miscellany of controls. These being: Time, Depth, Feedback, Damping and Pan. In contrast to a full-featured external plug-in, this may not seem extremely plentious, but compared to the on-board delays found in most VIs (virtual instrument), Cali Keys offers a nice bit of extra delay tweakage.

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There are nine, nice sounding (convolution) reverbs on deck. The reverbs may be mixed in with the source audio via a ‘level’ knob; however, the reverb parameters (tails, decay rates, EQ, and etc.) are fixed. There isn’t any direct means of editing them; nonetheless, they sound great just as they are. Unfortunately, the various reverbs can’t be arbitrarily picked with a single click. Rather, one must cycle through the array sequentially with a selector switch until the desired preset is reached. I recommend that the developer tweak this feature to make it a bit more user-friendly. Perhaps each reverb assignment could be individually selectable – without requiring a user to cycle through them.

Both of the electric pianos in this collection host Tremelo & Panning circuits -- these are each adjustable with fully independent sets of dials. The two transistor organs take it a step further by including a set of knobs for adjusting pitch/vibrato as well.

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Have you ever been frustrated with sample libraries that are stereo-only? I applaud Q Up Arts for making all their of e-pianos and transistor organs mono samples. This is great! It makes it much easier to place the instruments where you want in a typical stereo mix. Thanks to some cool Kontakt scripting, stereo widening is attainable via a ‘Spread’ knob. Kudos!

Before moving on to the next segment of my review, there are a few integral tidbits specific to CA-Grand that are important to point out. First, a player/producer is free to use more than one set of stereo-mic setups – in fact there is a total of four stereo pairs to dial in to your personal taste. Each stereo pair of mics is configurable with both volume and panning knobs. Alongside each set of mic knobs is a small “I’ (info) button. When clicked, the “I” button(s) brings up an overlay screen that graphically depicts the microphone, adjoined with a brief description of the mic(s) and its placement.

Configurable Key Off, Soft Pedal, Sympathetic Response and (sustain pedal) Noise options enliven an authentic grand piano experience all the more!

Click to Zoom

The biggest peeve I have with California Keys’ interface is the awkwardness of its controls - they are not smooth or easy to dial in with a mouse. Granular parameter values can be actualized using the familiar hotkey combination of shift + click, but otherwise, the knobs and sliders are quite finicky to adjust. Although each snapshot has pre-configured controls’ settings, there doesn’t seem to be any way to return a knob to its default (per preset) position once it’s been moved. Using hotkey combination ‘ctrl + click’ usually sets a knob to zero as opposed to returning it to the preset’s default state. In order to get back to the preset’s initial condition, you must reload the patch or snapshot. This can’t really be considered a deal-breaker, but it’s not exactly user friendly either. Of course, being a Kontakt library the parameters can all be midi-learned; allowing tactile adjustment from a midi-controller.

Sound Quality:

Given that it’s the largest component in the California Keys Collection, one might presume that I’d lead off my sound quality assessment with the Faziloi Grand. However, I am not going to concentrate on the CA-Grand right away; opting instead to check out the vintage organs and e-pianos first.

To be honest, I’m a vintage keys geek. I admit that I have quite a penchant for them all – Rhodes, Wurlies, Voxes, Farfisas, Hammonds, and so forth. As such, I’ve developed a keen ear for discerning the nuances and hard-to-nail-down characteristics that define them. Conversely, I’m usually quick to pick up on any discrepancies that might be hiding in VIs and sample libraries. I’m confident that a great many of my readers are as equally selective. Despite having a few niggles, I can assure you that there are some genuinely tasty tones on tap here.

Next up - we'll inspect the audio properties of each instrument individually.

Continue to Part 2

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Q Up Arts California Keys [Exciting, Deep] Review

Q Up Arts California Keys [Exciting, Deep] Review

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