NEW ON-LINE FORUM FOR FUSION USERS....

November 20th, 2006

A new on-line forum has been started for Fusion users. Called 'The Fusion Club', it's a place for Fusion enthusiaststo help each other out and share hints and tips with the thousands of worldwide Fusion users. You can visit the Club here:

http://fusioneer.proboards102.com

NEW SOUND LIBRARY RELEASE FOR FUSION....

October 17th, 2006

This latest update to Fusion's ever-expanding sound library features a wide range of sounds from modern, dreamy, 'new-age' pads to classic vintage. Find out more HERE.

NEW SOUND LIBRARY RELEASE FOR FUSION....

August 28th, 2006

Another significant addition to Fusion's ever expanding sound library is now available featuring a variety of vintage keyboard samples plus a good range of VA synth sounds plus a raft of sounds and sound effects that you would only normally expect to hear emanating from some serious modular monster of yesteryear. Find out more HERE.

HOLLOW SUN GETS A FACELIFT....

August 7th, 2006

Over recent years, Hollow Sun's studio has become something of a mess - what worked a few years back had become inconvenient for recent work assignments so I took the time to re-organise everything to be more ergonomic.

HEAR FUSION IN ACTION....

July 13th, 2006

I am pleased to have made 'virtual' friends with blogger Rich Menga who is a fellow Fusion owner and who has released two 'virtual' albums.

The first - PIANO POWER - is a collection of solo virtuoso piano pieces; the other - DEL-REY - is a collection of pieces in a variety of different styles.

All the more remarkable is that they were ALL created solely by Rich on a single Fusion 6HD. You can hear them here.

From PIANO POWER:

From DEL-REY:

All compositions were created and sequenced 100% on Fusion using standard ROM presets with no external equipment whatsoever.

Visit Rich's blog at http://menga.net for more info and insight.

ANOTHER NEW RELEASE FOR ALESIS FUSION

July 7th, 2006

Commissioned by Alesis to produce another set of sounds for Fusion, today sees the release of yet more sounds to expand Fusion's ever-growing sound library.

This release sees 32 brand new sounds comprising a wide variety of sampled material as well as exciting new sounds specifically programmed for Fusion's powerful VA and FM synth engines.

Most are sounds not found in Alesis's on-board soundset and certainly unlike anything you are likely to find in competing workstations.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

INDIGINUS, HOLLOW SUN AND ALESIS IN CO-PROMOTIONAL VENTURE

June 10th, 2006

I have recently been violently impressed with S5/6000 product from new soundware developer, Indiginus, who have produced what I consider to be arguably the best acoustic guitar samples available today. Their 'Acoustic Guitar Collection' CD is reasonably priced at $60 and contains some truly stunning stuff. Not only is it expertly programmed with some very clever use of velocity switching for convincing guitar performances but it also has a very low memory/storage 'footprint' that won't tax your sampler's memory complement or hard drive. "Stunning" is all I can say!

Find out more here.

However, Indiginus have also been good enough to allow Hollow Sun and Alesis to use a 'taster' of their phenomenal guitar collection for free download for Fusion users. We are extremely grateful for this contribution as it proves without doubt that Fusion is pushing the boundaries of what is expected of a hardware workstation today.

Find out more here.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

ALESIS FUSION NOW SUPPORTED IN THE DOWNLOAD PAGE

May 8th, 2006

Hollow Sun now supports Fusion in its free download section with two new releases this weekend.

More releases will be made available as and when time allows.

Find out more here.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

ANOTHER NEW SOUND LIBRARY ADDITION FOR ALESIS FUSION

May 1st, 2006

Hollow Sun #07 is out today and features a wide range of distinctive sounds. With shimmering electric pianos, delicate bells, solid basses, shimmering strings and pads a big, dramatic sounds, this collection's heritage is overtly digital. As always, the sounds make use of Fusion's own powerful synth engine and multi-effects whilst the complementary programming of the assignable front panel controls makes quick and easy tweaking a breeze. Find out more here.

Fusion continues to grow in strength with new operating systems, new convertor programs for Mac and PC that allow you to convert AIFF, WAV, Soundfont S1/2/3000, S5/6000 and Z-series samples to Fusion format and now another substantial sound library addition.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

SOUND ON SOUND REVIEW FUSION

April 28th, 2006

Sound On Sound's May issue saw a long-awaited review of Fusion.

In his review, Nicholas Rowlands said of it:

"At the beginning of the year, Alesis's web site featured an animated promo for the Fusion stating: 'Understated sex appeal included'....with its sleek, slick and very silver body, this is a real looker of a keyboard, in a sort of 'future retro' kind of style. My wife's reaction was simply: 'Cor!'."

"One of the plus points of the Fusion's design is that new sounds can be added, and while I was conducting my review Alesis were busy adding new sets of sample-based preset banks to the downloads available from their web site (there were four by the time I was finishing this, and a fifth appeared before this went to press). The majority of these new sounds come from UK sound designer Hollow Sun (the work name of sound designer Steve Howell), whose credits include extensive work with Akai's sampler and sound modules."

"Fusion's presets offer a pretty broad spectrum: from 'real' sounds like pianos and organs, through guitars, basses, orchestral, choral and ethnic instruments, to DX-style tuned percussion and analogue squelch."

"The arpeggiator is an aspect of the Fusion's real-time control that I really liked. Where many keyboards bury the arpeggiator beneath several menu layers, the Fusion puts it very much at the top of the performance agenda, with a separate button to turn it on and off for each patch. Good one! Actually, arpeggiator doesn't really do justice to what's on offer here, as the Fusion offers 1000 preset patterns, plus the wherewithal to fashion your own. The presets go well beyond the up/down, round and round type of bleepy electronica stuff. There are so-called 'Phrase Arpeggiations' that are designed to mimic certain ways of playing such as guitar strumming. These help you get the most out of those kind of sounds and work especially well when you are building arrangements."

"As a general comment, detailed editing on the Fusion is a fairly stress-free experience, thanks to its well-designed user interface, which is consistently applied across all the modes. There are also various shortcuts involving a combination of buttons and the keyboard itself that are worth learning, meaning you don't have to rely entirely on the data wheel."

"There are many aspects of the Fusion that are really good, such as its looks, its interface, and its feature list. Most importantly of all, it has a flexible architecture and a large hard disk, all for a very affordable price. If Alesis continue to give it the kind of development support they have shown so far, with OS upgrades and new sounds, then the only way is up."

Find out more about Fusion at fusionsynth.com.

NOSTALGIA RECEIVES 5-STAR AWARD FROM SOUND ON SOUND

April 28th, 2006

In the May, 2006 issue of Sound On Sound, Nostalgia was awarded a 5-star award. In fact, reviewer John Walden would have awarded more if he could!!

"For sheer fun and 'bang for buck', Nostalgia is certainly worth five stars, and I'd probably give it more if I could!"

John also said of the collection:

"Given the huge number of individual instrument patches, even auditioning the library is a fairly major task. Thankfully, the instruments are organised into sensible categories within Kompakt. However, what really made auditioning the huge number of instruments much less of a chore was that there are some truly wonderful sounds!"

"Whether it is floating new-age backings or deep and dark sci-fi horror textures that you need, there is something here that will fit the bill."

"As you might have guessed, I think Nostalgia is excellent. Zero G and Steve Howell should be congratulated for putting together such a large number of 'classic' sounds in a single, very affordable library. I had no problems creating complete instrumental pieces using just the sounds within Nostalgia. What's more, unlike some Kompakt-based libraries, this one does make very good use of Kompakt's own processing options to add further colour and movement to many of the sounds."

Praise indeed! Find out more about Nostalgia here http://www.zero-g.co.uk

ANOTHER NEW RELEASE FOR ALESIS FUSION

April 7th, 2006

Today sees the release of yet another Hollow Sun collection for Fusion. This time, it's a collection of sumptuous vintage analogue sounds from a genuine vintage classic - the Oberheim Matrix 1000.

Known for thundering basses, vibrant strings and pads, striking leadlines as well as more subtle textures, the sounds in this collection are further augmented by Fusion's own stellar synthesis and sound shaping facilities and effects and benefit greatly from sympathic programming of Fusion's assignable controls to provide something the original screamed out for - quick and easy tweaking of sounds. Using the four assignable controls and switches (left) the sounds can be radically transformed quickly and easily.

Further sonic mileage is to be had from layering these different sounds using Fusion's extensive layering facilities.

Find out more about Fusion at fusionsynth.com.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

MORE NEW RELEASES FOR ALESIS FUSION

March 15th, 2006

Over the last few weeks, Hollow Sun has continued to supply yet more sounds for the Alesis Fusion which have been released for free download for Fusion users.

Hollow Sun #04 saw the release of many exciting new sounds not least of which are sumptuous 'layered' programs and textures that are applicable to almost any genre of music - swirling pads, rich combinations of guitar/piano and lush strings as well as positive basses, distinctive organs and more. As always, the sounds elicited a great response not least of which was at the recent 'Sounds Expo' trade show at London's Olympia where Fusion was debuted in the UK.

Hollow Sun #05 - 'Vintage Beatbox Explosion' - is out today and features many classic beatboxes and 'old skool' drum and electronic percussion sounds. Find out more here.

Fusion is causing a stir in the market as it rapidly continues to develop and expand beyond the normal expectations of the 'traditional' workstation and we are proud to be a part of this exciting process.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

NEW RELEASES FOR ALESIS FUSION

February 24th, 2006

Work on sound library for the Alesis Fusion continues apace here at Hollow Sun with three significant new releases already available for free download for Fusion users. These new sounds are causing quite a buzz, not just amongst the Fusion community but the industry in general. Fusion users are already saying:

"Without question, the Hollow Sun sound sets are incredible - especially in terms of strings and choirs. The "Gothic Chorale" program in the HS 02 set is the most realistic choir I've ever heard and it puts the choirs in my Karma to shame. If you haven't tried these sounds yet, check them out. You won't regret it!"

"it seems to me that the HOLLOW SUN programmers have gotten the best results with the fusion in terms of sounds. i hope to hear more from them soon because they seem to bring out the potential of the fusion keyboard. i am speaking solely from a sound point only because i know this keyboard is awsome in so many other ways. KEEP IT UP GUYS!!!!!"

"Hollow Sun 02 = HOT. God, I friggin' LOVE the tape choir stuff. Gritty and dirty and AWESOME."

Hollow Sun 03 is out today with more to come. See what is currently exciting Fusion users here.

__________________

NOTE: These downloads are in a proprietary format that is exclusive to Fusion and will not work in any other sampler

HOLLOW SUN PREPARING NEW SOUND LIBRARY FOR ALESIS

February 13th, 2006

In a unique collaboration, I am proud to announce that Alesis have engaged Hollow Sun's services to prepare new sound library for their 'Fusion' workstation.

Featuring a potent combination of virtual analogue synthesis, FM synthesis, physical modelling and full featured sampling not to mention sequencing, hard disk recording and more, Fusion represents a new direction in the concept of workstations that is far removed from the typical 'S+S' playback workstations we have become accustomed to.

Naturally, initial contributions will be to scour Hollow Sun's extensive sound library to represent highlights from that but will also include brand new sounds not previously available at Hollow Sun that will be exclusive to Fusion and its growing user base. Furthermore, Hollow Sun is employing the talents of leading lights in the soundware development field to bring a new perspective to Fusion's sonic pallette.

Unique to Fusion is its expandability and unlike other similar workstation products, sounds and new sample sets can be added and installed on its 40Gb internal hard drive and new sounds will be regularly available for download exclusively to Fusion users.

SOUND ON SOUND REVIEWS THE HOLLOW SUN CDS

September 15th, 2005

The entire collection of Hollow Sun CDs have received a fantastic review by veteran keyboard player Nick Magnus in the October issue of leading UK magazine 'Sound On Sound'. Nick's been playing for decades as a session player, keyboard player for Steve Hackett (ex-guitarist for Genesis) as well as being a successful composer in his own own right and a regular reviewer for SOS. If anyone knows how these instruments should sound it's Nick!

In his 3-page review, Nick says of the different CDs:

"The CP70 must be an elusive sound to capture; the sampled renditions of this instrument that I’ve encountered so far seem to lack a certain je ne sais quoi. It’s notable then that Hollow Sun have rendered this amazingly accurate and instantly recognisable representation, which is a real pleasure to play."

"I found the overall character of these (Tron) samples to be superb. In comparison to my extensive personal collection of Mellotron sounds garnered from numerous sources, this set beat mine hands down for sheer presence and clarity within a mix."

"The quality of these instruments shines through. The CP70 and Mellotron discs are arguably the flagships of the set."

"The PPG, FS1R and M1 CDs are each capable of a producing a vast palette of sounds ... and should provide something for everyone, from bread-and-butter classics to some of the more exotic aspects of wavetable synthesis, FM or S&S stylings."

"... these are classic PPG sounds, which you can further filter and modulate as you wish."

"... the real inspirational content of this set (FS1R) is to be found amongst the various pads, organs and sound-effects-type textures."

In his summary, Nick concludes:

"A high-quality, well-rounded collection of classic instruments, all of which deserve to become a valued part of any samplist’s armoury. There are plenty of inspiring synth sounds, the Mellotron sounds are as fine as you’ll hear anywhere, and the CP70 is especially outstanding."

NEW LOOK WEBSITE

September 4th, 2005

The site has had a serious makeover - the old one was looking tired and clunky with several years of outdated baggage. I hope you like the new streamlined look and feel.

It's all been tested as best as possible but please let me know of any links that don't work here. Thanks

ZERO-G RELEASE 'NOSTALGIA'

August 18th, 2005

Zero-G's new virtual sound module - NOSTALGIA - is now released and available.

NOSTALGIA is a new ZERO-G virtual instrument powered by Native Instruments' KOMPAKT and created by Hollow Sun featuring over 5,000 precision samples and more than 1,300 meticulously crafted patches from four decades of electronic instruments that draws on over 30 years exprience with these instruments and over 16 years of professional sound library development.

You can discover more at Zero-G's website : http://www.zero-g.co.uk/

INSTRUMENT HISTORIES RESUMED

June 19th, 2005

To coincide with the forthcoming release of Zero-G's NOSTALGIA, the histories for the instruments contained in the collection are now available to read again at the site.

The instrument histories have always been a popular and important feature of Hollow Sun since its inception and many find them a fascinating read - in fact, they have become an important part of the study material in various music technology courses in colleges and universities across the world!

They are available in the DOWNLOADS section here.

NEW COLLABORATION WITH ZERO-G

June 18th, 2005

Leading UK soundware manufacturer and distributor, Zero-G, have stepped in to distribute the Hollow Sun Vintage Collection in their new virtual sound module 'NOSTALGIA' that is due for imminent release.

NOSTALGIA features not only all the sounds from the Hollow Sun Vintage Collection but has been expanded and augmented to include sounds not normally available.

For example, it includes an augmented Mellotron soundset, 'lite' versions of some programs from my CP70 CD, a selection of sounds from the PPG Collection CD as well as some choice pad sounds from the M/01 and FS1R collections. In total, NOSTALGIA contains around 1,300 sounds and over 5,000 meticulously optimised and seamlessly looped samples.

Furthermore, NOSTALGIA features a special Kompakt sample player that gives convenient access to over 40 years of innovative and distinctive instruments - simply install NOSTALGIA and start playing these without format conversion. See the NOSTALGIA player here.

The multi-timbral NOSTALGIA can also be used as a plug-in with your preferred sequencer/DAW.

All the sounds in NOSTALGIA have been carefully hand tweaked by myself over a period of several months of painstaking editing and programming for maximum authenticity and, given my somewhat less than positive feeling towards software samplers, I have to (reluctantly!) admit that they sound absolutely fabulous (though I say so myself!).

FREE DOWNLOAD SERVICE RESUMED

June 11th, 2005

I recently had to suspend the free download service because every month, bandwidth was being exceeded and my ISP would close the site down. At first, this was only occasional but as the site's popularity has grown, so bandwidth was being exceeded more and more regularly leaving the site closed for a week or more every month.

I have re-instated the free download service at Hollow Sun albeit not on the scale of before.

Instead of providing shedloads of sounds for free and unlimited plundering, I will be providing 'featured sounds' that will be updated regularly.

I will also be re-instating the instrument histories when time allows.

Loops created at Hollow Sun are seamlessly powered by Antares Infinity