Vienna Big Bang Orchestra: Eridanus

Powerful Percussion Patterns
The second drums and percussion installment of the Big Bang Orchestra adds powerful, driving rhythmic patterns to Vienna's series of tutti recordings. Johannes Vogel, composer and principal conductor at Synchron Stage Vienna, who is also an accomplished percussionist in his own right, orchestrated a variety of patterns that not only complement the symphonic riffs included in BBO: Capricorn, but lend energy and drive to any track.

All patterns are categorized by frequency ranges in Main Riffs, Low Riffs, and High Riffs. The Main and Low Riffs are played using the Taiko drums, bass drum and concert toms, while the High Riffs are created using small concert tom, snare drum, stacked cymbals, conga and bongos. All patterns can be mixed, matched and stacked across the board, letting you create gigantic percussion ensembles if you wish. Every pattern includes a single stroke that you can use to end a phrase any time during its 4-bar run. What's more, the Synchron Player's new time-stretch feature lets you automatically sync the patterns to your host tempo, or manually in real-time to any other tempo of your choice.

Big Sound, Big Impact
The instruments were lined up at three main positions on stage (left, center, right), with one or two instruments per position. As with all tutti recordings of the Big Bang Orchestra, they were played together by the percussionists, from subtle volumes to fortissimo strikes. The ensemble recordings were captured with an array of microphones, including an overhead mic for every stage position and close mics for every instrument. The individual overhead and instrument signals are available separately in the Synchron Player's mixer, in addition to the Decca tree, surround and high surround mics.

Naturally, BBO: Eridanus matches perfectly with the percussion ensembles of BBO: Dorado, which were recorded at the same positions on stage and whose single strokes or upbeats you can add for accents or rhythmic variations. Using the included mixer presets, all Percussion Riffs of BBO: Eridanus perfectly match the epic sound of all the other Synchron Stage recordings of the Big Bang Orchestra series.