This month we have a sample CD with a difference, an unusual disc of sounds treated with Roland's RSS 3D processor. The disc originates in France, and its title in French is 'Le Son de la Troisieme Dimension' — translated as 'The 3D Sound'. It contains 96 tracks, so it's difficult to go into great detail about individual sounds, other than to say that there's a diverse collection of sounds and textures, all processed with RSS. Consequently, you'll need to have a stereo sampler to take advantage of the RSS effect.

The CD is divided into sections, with headings such as Electronic Atmospheres, Horror, Tours, Synthesis Sound Effects, Sound Effects, and Interventions and Musical Phrases. The initial impression is of the kind of sound effects which would suit a serious strip cartoon or graphic novel, in the Heavy Metal/Metal Hurlant or Mangu vein. The individual tracks sometimes contain more than one sound, but only where there are several individual 'hits' — for example, track 90, 'Orchestral Hits', which is quite unlike any similarly-named sample you will have heard before.

I found the majority of the sounds interesting and occasionally fabulous, with lots of movement in all directions. Even mundane sounds (a dog sniffing around, for example) are given the full treatment, with in your face, behind your back, above your left shoulder results.

Since this is not your average sampling CD, it is not going to suit average uses: to keep the RSS treatment intact, it's necessary to sample at the highest bandwidth possible, in stereo, and that will eat memory. Furthermore, the RSS effect can't be relied to keep working if you change the original pitch of the samples, as the subtle phase, spectral and timing information that provides the auditory cues will be changed. Luckily, the sounds and textures are so interesting that they still sound good in mono (albeit with slight phasing), or at lower bandwidths. Longer textures can also be recorded onto two tracks of a multitrack tape and 'spun' into a mix that way. Some of the longer textures would make brilliant intros or middle eights — they certainly create a mood.

Documentation is adequate, but describing what is basically auditory impressionism is tricky. Although '14 Shots', '9 Broken Glasses','Motorcycle' and 'Typewriter' aren't going to be misunderstood, 'Sigmund', 'Virus', 'Anti-Virus' and 'Galactic Oil Change' leave a lot to the imagination.

Recording is crisp and clear, with no immediately audible noise, and the RSS processing results in a larger than stereo sound. As with any such psycho-acoustic trickery, how well the 3D effects work, and for how long, depends on several factors, such as your room acoustics, the type of sound being processed and the individual's susceptibility to this kind of sonic illusion — but you're certain to look behind you on more than one occasion. Some of the 'real' location recordings suffer from a certain amount of ambient noise, but that's understandable, and doesn't necessarily interfere with the overall effect.

I really enjoyed this CD, but I can see a couple of minor problems: a lot of its content is easily identifiable, so anyone who's heard the disk will know where your sample came from — a problem with all CDs of this nature. That aside, I can see a lot of uses for the sounds: moody intros, background textures, sound effects for radio drama or film and video and so on. Although this CD is going to have a specialised appeal, it is a unique (if only for the RSS processing alone) source of sounds — and not a drum loop to be heard!

Further Information
The 3D Sound CD £49 including VAT and p&p.

Heavenly Music, (Contact Details).