Sonic Reality CEO David Kerzner has been a key part of the sample industry from the very beginning. A collector of vintage Moogs®, ARPs, Mellotrons® and Prophets®, the self-proclaimed keyboard junkie gained a reputation in the industry for his veritable museum of specialty gear. After programming and sampling sounds for Alesis' QS series synths and Q-cards and providing sample data for Roland's Keyboards of the '60s and '70s expansion boards, Kerzner began custom sampling for a variety of professional touring acts including Madonna and Crowded House.

His personal passion for collecting and sampling vintage instruments gave way to an even greater purpose when the increase in computer memory and the advent of CD-ROMs made it possible to create and market sample libraries. Veering away from the proliferation of genre-specific loop-based sample libraries, Kerzner began to focus on creating playable instrumental samples that would never go out of style.

"I had my own ideas about how to make a library that would be useful for a long time-not something flashy that sounds good now but then you'll get sick of-but something that you would want to reuse just like a real instrument," explains Kerzner. "And that's how Sonic Reality was born.  It was about reality, the truth of what a musician would really want. I wanted to focus on instruments that could be performed by musicians, like drum kits that you could play with incredible realism." 

By 2003, Sonic Reality had amassed one of the largest archives of playable instrument samples in the world. Using both the Los Angeles Recycler and his industry connections, Kerzner obtained an incredible variety of instruments that were owned and/or used by some of the greatest musicians of our time. Kerzner used these amazing instruments to create a series of fifteen Sonic Reality Refill libraries just released by M-Audio..

"I've gotten lucky in the past by finding instruments that were either custom made, quirky with extra features, modified for different musicians or had special patches. So the quality mark that comes with Sonic Reality is that the sounds we use are really the sounds used on professional records. For example, we did some programming for Smashing Pumpkins' Adore record, and the instruments on the sample libraries are the instruments we actually brought into the studio with them."

To create Sonic Reality's various vintage instrument volumes, Kerzner sampled rare Mellotrons® owned and used by Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, U2 and others (Vol. 11: Retro Keys), several Chamberlin models that belonged to Tom Waits, Neil Finn of Crowded House and the Moody Blues (Vol.10: Instruments of the 60's & 70's). Corey Wells' (of Three Dog Night) Oberheim Four Voice (Vol. 1: Synths 1 and Vol. 2: Synths 2), Larry Carlton's Arp Quadra (Vol.10: Instruments of the 60's & 70's) and the Prophet® 10 that was used in the making of Pink Floyd's The Wall (Vol. 11: Retro Keys and Vol.10: Instruments of the 60's & 70's) that even had the patches still in it. Vol. 7: Reality Drums, Vol. 9: Vintage Drums, and Vol. 10: Instruments of the 60's & 70's feature rare vintage guitars, basses and drums from the likes of Lyle Workman, Kevin Gilbert and other top Los Angeles musicians.

For Vol. 4: Piano & Organ, Kerzner sampled a B3 he purchased from a manager that used to work with the Beach Boys. It had a white Leslie® 122 that was retrofitted with JBLs. Kerzner also sampled a tube Leslie 147, which broadened the scope of the library to include a gritty rock and roll sound alongside the B3's smooth harmonics.

 "At one point we had Bobby Sherman's Mellotron®," explains Kerzner, going behind the scenes of Vol. 10 Instruments of the 60's & 70's. "Bobby Sherman's family stored diapers in it, so we called it the Smellotron. It needed some extra restoring-on different levels. But fortunately the smell didn't translate into the sound! We also had a painted Mellotron 400 that apparently was used on "Unforgettable Fire" from U2, which I ended up selling to Tom Petty (Vol. 10 Instruments of the 60's & 70's and Vol. 11 Retro Keys)."

The star power behind the samples

Kerzner not only procured some of the world's most sought-after instruments, he also employed many of today's greatest artists to play the instruments being sampled. Coincidentally, Sonic Reality artists Jason Scheff, Roger Manning, and Lyle Workman also happen to be M-Audio endorsees.

"When we sampled guitars and basses for Vol 3: Rhythm Section and Vol. 10 Instruments of the 60's and 70's, we used people like Lyle Workman who played with Beck and Jellyfish or Jason Scheff, bassist/singer of the band Chicago," Kerzner explains. "Or if we sampled a drummer it could be Toss Panos who played with Toy Matinee and Steve Vai, Nick D'Virgilio who played with Tears for Fears, Peter Gabriel, and Genesis or other respected musicians. Those two drummers' kits appear on Vol. 8: Monster Drums and Vol 7: Reality Drums.

"We record these samples in top notch L.A. studios as well as other "in the know" spots around the world," Kerzner continues. "This method enables us to bring the sounds professionals use to somebody in a far away place that would normally never have access to a rare keyboard instrument or a drum kit in a $250/hour studio with custom drums that only top session drummers are lucky enough to have. We packaged all of those sounds into extremely affordable packages so Reason users can have access to real playable instruments."

Mellotron is a trademark of David Kean.
Prophet is a trademark of Yamaha Corp.
Leslie is a trademark of Suzuki Musical Instrument Mfg. Co., Ltd.
Other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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