Alan Zipper Patches

You can download the System Exclusive file by clicking the above name. The file contains the patch data for all 100 patches, from 00 to 99, exactly as it came from the synthesizer. Here's a list of the patches inside:

(All samples were recorded from my Matrix-12 after auto-tune through Mackie 1402-VLZ PRO audio mixer to Sound Blaster Live! computer soundcard at 16 bit and 48kHz stereo sampling setting. No EQ, effects or arpeggiator was used. Only the middle C key was played with a moderate force. As different patches have different characteristics, different durations are allowed, varying from less than 1 second to a bit over 10 seconds, to preserve the whole pictures as complete and faithful as possible.)

*Please note that all the samples are for your private non-commercial use only.*

00: SYN HARP 01: BIG CELL 02: BIG SYN3 03: CHOP 04: BIG DASS
05: FAT SYN 06: PR EKO V 07: PRESTRNG 08: NICE WND 09: PRESSEKO
10: AC GUITR 11: FANF EDT 12: FOLK SYN 13: VOICE 14: RELESPLK
15: SLUSH 16: SYNTH 2 17: SYN +VOX 18: DEL VC02 19: HARMONCA
20: VELO VIO 21: APOLLO 2 22: EKO WHIS 23: ANNA LOG 24: ANNA
25: HORNYSIN 26: STRINGY 27: WND VOX 28: POLY SYN 29: SYN STGS
30: CHURCH 31: BRASS 3 32: SN BANJO 33: MEL HORN 34: SYN OBOE
35: TIN PIA 36: QU0K 5YN 37: PIANO 38: SHARP HN 39: RUBDER B
40: WARM SYN 41: BRASS 2 42: LO STRGS 43: LEAD SYN 44: CLEANBAS
45: CLARINET 46: SYNTH 5 47: PIA SYN 48: 5YN FLUT 49: HORN SEC
50: REV GATE 51: FM -#- 52: PLUCK 5T 53: JOCKO 2 54: FM PIAN0
55: SYNTH * 56: ORGY HRN 57: SYN LEAD 58: VOICE FL 59: BASSBRAS
60: SAM PIPE 61: BASINEDT 62: BASSNBRS 63: SEQ HARP 64: VIOCELLO
65: FM 5YNTH 66: BASS 2 67: ORGAN 3 68: VIOLA 69: HARP FLT
70: SYNTH 4 71: PIAMBA 72: SYN ORCH 73: PENNY W 74: SYN STRG
75: ELEC PIA 76: SYN PLUK 77: SOLOCELO 78: SYNPIANO 79: GUITAR 3
80: DX SYNTH 81: STEEL DR 82: WIND PAD 83: DBL WIND 84: SAX
85: WIND INS 86: DUCK BUC 87: MELPIANO 88: WHOO SYN 89: DRIFTER
90: HARMOSYN 91: REED 92: VELO RES 93: HORNS 94: TALKING
95: HORROR 96: TECNOSTG 97: BASS 98: BASS EDT 99: FM 1

Reviewed by Mike Metlay

Alan's set of patches came as no surprise at all; perhaps that's the best thing one could say about imitative patches, as surprises are usually nasty ones where programming the Xpander is concerned. Alan concentrates on imitating acoustic sounds, and does so with a range of competency from fair (steel drums) to quite good (kalimba). He spends a great deal of time working on the types of sounds that one doesn't normally try to get from the Xpander; there are a few good brasses, strings and synth pads, but a larger predominance of flutes and woodwinds. There are some unconvincing piano patches, and some very good accordions and church organs with rich and convincing harmonics. Alan shies away from percussive sounds, including only a few tonal ones; ditto for sound effects. Perhaps the best sounds on his tape were his "double" patches, which combined elements of two distinct instruments (synthesiser and flute, for instance) in a single patch, and several harp sounds, with which I was frankly enchanted. I ended up spending several minutes just playing long glissandi before realizing I was getting sidetracked !

The patches make use of pitch bend and often drastic VCO vibrato on the levers, and that's all. No Pedal use is in evidence. Pressure modulation is used for some nice special effects, like VCF swells and VCO detuning. Many patches have a sparkling Velocity sensitivity. Use of ENV, RAMP and TRACK pages is subtle or nonexistent, usually to tame loud notes in the high registers or to add vibrato. Subtlety, here as elsewhere, appears to be the rule, the overused and overdone Lever 2 vibrato being the glaring exception. The Multi Patch page has been neatly blanked to default value so the end user can create his own Multis.
All in all, I found this a very competent set of synth standards for which Alan probably could get away with asking at least 10 Pounds Sterling, so as a swap they're definitely a bargain.