Patron Exclusive: Bicycle Wheel Sample Library

About a year ago, I found this old bicycle wheel in the trash, and, being the person that I am, I saved it. Well, in my last video, I finally got to put it to some good use. I clipped on some contact microphones, and soon discovered that a whole host of sounds could be teased from its rusty spokes. Each one has a slightly different pitch and timbre. They could be plucked for a gentle, metallic instrument, which sort of sounds like a cross between a tongue drum and a marimba. This is what you'll find in the first preset of this sample library.

This is followed by two patches that feature patterned note sequences. I'm a big fan of "Pattern 2" personally, which seems to result in a lot of happy accidents in my own compositions.

The spokes can also be bowed to produce a breathy sustained sound. For some added fun, you can watch Frank Zappa do this exact thing in 1963. Anyway, you can hear my raw sounds in Patch 4. Patches 5 through 7 contain combinations of all of the sustained sounds I was able to get out of the wheel. Of course, these sounds can then be pushed through a range of effects to produce beautiful pad sounds, three examples of which you can hear in patches 8 through 10.

Finally, as many of you know, I did an experiment in my last video featuring a block of ice and seltzer water. A number of you mentioned that you would love a sample library of that. I'm including that in this pack as well. It doesn't really have anything to do with bicycle wheels, but it's a nice sound that I hope to use myself soon.

As always, this sample library can be downloaded from right within the DecentSampler plug-in, assuming you use the same email address for Patreon as you do for DecentSamples.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these sounds, and that you are having a peaceful, perhaps even festive December. Happy Holidays!

– Dave