Soniccouture Electro-Acoustic £139
There’s certainly no shortage of sample-based drum instruments for Kontakt. This means that when introducing yet another collection addressing ‘classic’ drum machines of yesteryear, there needs to be a twist. Soniccouture have chosen to take the hardware and acoustic processing route, plugging a bunch of analogue and digital drum boxes into a range of outboard gear and miked-up spaces. There are eleven ‘scenes’ in total, ranging from a Neve preamp, guitar cabs and studio rooms to a full PA system. Each element in a drum kit can mix and match any of these sources, with each also getting its own envelope and pitch control.
Attention to detail is high, with some analogue drum machines like the 808 including five round-robin samples per note, and recordings of multiple parameter positions. Multiply this by the 11 available channels and you get over 13,000 samples for the 808 snare alone.
There’s a great range of tone available here, imparting the kits with that all-important ‘vibe’. And there’s a bonus of three interesting internal sequencing options for creating evolving, unusual or polyrhythmic loops. Bruce Aisher www.soniccouture.com VERDICT 8.2
Freaky Loops Intergalactic Beats | £34.95 www.loopmasters.com It’s time to blast off on a cosmic trip through some future R&B flavours on this out-ofthis-world pack. The Freaky Loops clique is at mission control, and they’ve assembled a crack team of fearless beatmakers to boldly go into the studio and whip up nearly 500 extraterrestrial loops and samples. Topnotch work throughout – the pads are smooth, the clicks and snares are clean as a whistle, while the melodic arps and keys have a rich texture and dubstep-sentiment, complementing the pounding drum hits to make beats that bang like a spaceship door in the wind. A galaxy of stellar beats that will have you sounding like The Neptunes…on Neptune. Roy Spencer
VERDICT 9
ModeAudio Sway – Hip Hop Loops & Samples | £15.95 www.loopmasters.com Looking to add a wonkier swagger to your hip-hop tracks? ModeAudio got you, bro. The 240+ loops and hits in this woozy
sample library come at you from a different angle. Once you begin auditioning these crunchy beats and bittersweet textures, you’ll start seeing the Golden Age through a drug-induced haze. Hypnotic sounds bounce around, as moody melodies hook you in like a crack fiend… in a good way. Nasty pianos and synth lines ascend their chord progressions, as ominous swells and FX make the hairs on your arms stand up. It never gets too frantic, though, with tempos locked around 86-100BPM. Grab a taste. You’re sure to lose your mind to this head-nodding trip to the dark side. Roy Spencer
VERDICT 8
KRANE Samples Vol. 4 | $7.99/mo https://splice.com For KRANE’s latest go-to batch of signature sounds, the Oakland-based Electronic music don digs deep into his personal sound library. Over the course of 134 samples, you get some heavy rolling bass loops, deep subs, pulse-quickening FX and risers, as well as plenty of stepping drum and percussion loops. Top of the pile, though, are KRANE’s bespoke synth sounds – Perfect for adding sizzle to your beats, or helping add new direction to your
ongoing projects. Each one has a unique spin, and feel majestic riding high on beds of kicks and snares. A choice release in this ongoing series, then, with plenty of bang-up-to-date moments to plump out your bass-led, Trap-inspired, productions. Roy Spencer
VERDICT 9
Black Octopus Tribal & African Percussion | $7.99/mo https://splice.com “It began in Africa”, or so the sample goes. It certainly was the birthplace of the drum – the backbone of all music. This latest specialty pack from the Black Octopus collective honours that legacy and aims to bring back that age-old human element to your Dance music production sessions.
Drawing on Afro and Latin roots, the collection covers all the instruments you can think of, as well as plenty more besides. That means you get yourself live and organic loops and learned licks from a range of skilled players across djembes, congas, shakers, cymbals, rides, claps, and bongos. If you want to do a bit of a Major Lazer, and bring that African vibe to your cutting-edge EDM
beats, then you need to begin here. Roy Spencer
VERDICT 8
Sample Magic The Future Sound of House | £34.90 www.samplemagic.com Just what kind of House music will the clubbers of tomorrow be dancing around to in the ‘holodeck discos’ of the year 2135? Beat boffin Vince Watson has dared to dream up the answer to that very question. Over the steady course of around 900MB of beats and loops, wrung expertly from his mammoth collection of vintage analogue gear, Watson plunders the past to inform his vision of the musical future. The DNA of Detroit runs throughout the samples in this pack, too, with echoes of the glory days of Dance music’s past updated in every sample crate. Tough drum machine workouts fit for alien warehouse raves meet arpeggiated synth riffs built to withstand the tests of time. While strings and dramatically programmed melodies experiment with different textures, and burst with life at every turn. Top stuff. Roy Spencer
VERDICT 8