MGF Audio is Sydney based sound designer Martin Peploe, who is kindly offering this unique collection of experimental samples for free download via 99Sounds. MGF Audio focuses largely on raw analogue and digital tones, as well as cloudy ambient textures, often with a lean towards 90s electronica and “IDM” such as Boards of Canada and Aphex Twin.

This free sound library comprises a collection of multi-sampled instruments, one-shot samples and a set of 50 presets for the Ableton Operator virtual instrument. The included sounds range from warm tones of the Roland Juno synthesizer that was recorded to VHS tape, to harsh digital noises, Yamaha DX21 glitches, and organic percussion sounds.

The pack represents a small fraction of Martin Peploe’s sound design work. To hear more of Martin’s samples you, can check out his Bandcamp page which features dozens of hardware synth multi-samples available for free download (with optional donations) and his Tumblr for more sounds, Max and Reaktor patches, VSTs and anything else audio related. For more info about the MGF Audio sample pack and a bit of insight into Martin’s sound design workflow, check out the interview below.

99Sounds: Hi Martin and thanks for releasing this lovely sample library on 99Sounds! What were your inspirations while creating the sounds for the MGF Audio pack? Also, what is your main goal as a sound designer – do you prefer creating completely new sounds from scratch, or capturing and/or re-creating existing sounds?

MGF Audio: I think I definitely lean more towards capturing or evoking existing / retro sounds, and I experiment with this in mind. Ironically, some of these sounds can be the hardest to come by in the context of modern sound libraries that can be quite complex and layered. I would say that my own style leans more towards minimalism. I’m also trying to capture the analogue sounds in a higher quality than is presented in most packs, recording mostly in 96 kHz. So, the main goal of what I do as MGF Audio is to capture a wide profile of sounds from any gear I can get my hands on in decent quality, analogue or digital, software or physical.

99Sounds: Can you tell us something more about the techniques that you’ve used while working on the MGF Audio library? The glitch one shots are really good, I’m sure that they were lots of fun to make. Sampling a Juno from VHS tape is also a great idea and the resulting samples are very nice!

MGF Audio: Thanks! The glitch one shots were made by using Max MSP to modulate the parameters of a Yamaha DX21 and also the Arturia Moog Modular V. I use some relatively simple but versatile mathematical sequencers that I made to automate several parameters as well as the actual notes being played. After recording a jam, I crop all the sounds I like into one shots or loops. The beefy field recordings were made by running found percussive sounds through certain compression and limiter effects to artificially increase the otherwise quick decay time.

99Sounds: You do a lot of multi-sampling as well (there are loads more multi-samples on your Bandcamp page). How do you approach multi-sampling an instrument?

MGF Audio: I used to sample all the white keys to satisfy my OCD and I could rest easy knowing the sampler was re-pitching the original sound only mildly on the black keys. Eventually, I realized that sampling every three semitones sounded virtually the same and saved more space on my hard drive! Basically, I just saved a template session in my DAW, set up with a MIDI track that has all the notes I need. This way I can adjust the tempo to get the note length right, hit record, then slice everything on the grid after adjusting for latency (so there is no more than 5 ms of silence at the start of the sample). Part of the reason why I have so many synth samples is because I wanted to have the sound of my favorite hardware units in my studio saved onto my laptop to take anywhere I go.

99Sounds: What are your goals as a sound designer at this point, do you have any project ideas or plans for the future?

MGF Audio: I’m working on building the MGF sound library further and I’m also taking on a sub project of MGF that indulges in the retro sound I like even further. It’s called Questiny Research and is presented as a library / stock music record label from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Each release is specific to a time period, and slyly consists of associated loops and one shots whilst masquerading as a proper album of production music.

99Sounds: Thanks again for the great release and we’re looking forward to hearing more of your work!

MGF Audio: You’re welcome and thank you very much for allowing me to share my samples on 99Sounds!

Link: http://99sounds.org/mgf-audio/