Heavyocity Vocalise 2 €79

Heavyocity are back with another library, utilising the front-end from Gravity, their well-regarded Kontakt instrument. Luckily, as before, this pack is an instrument in itself and doesn’t require the full £300 version of Gravity to work. Another plus point on the hosting front is that you can also make use of Native Instruments’ Kontakt Player (version 5.6.8 or higher) and therefore avoid the cost of the full version of Kontakt (which some third-party libraries require).

Vocalise 2 is the fourth in Heavyocity’s Gravity Pack series (the second to be vocal-based). The core content consists of 3.4GB of audio material broken down into circa 700 sound sources. Although most of this takes full advantage of the Gravity ‘engine’ to automate and process sounds on playback, the underlying raw material is of a high quality. The Snapshots include a wide range of material, including rhythmic pedals, melodic phrases and organic pads. Many of the presets that consist of phrases layered over airy soundscapes are truly beautiful; a couple of key presses can conjure-up an evolving backdrop suitable for a wide range of production styles.

Tempo-syncing and recordings in a range of keys allows the phrase-based elements to be used easily within existing tracks, and the sample-layering, triggering, mangling and processing capabilities of Heavyocity’s well-conceived interface makes tweaking or original sound creation pretty simple. Bruce Aisher www.native-instruments.com

VERDICT 9.0

Loopmasters – Judge Jules Essential Big Room House | £24.95 www.loopmasters.com

One of the biggest names in the dance music biz has opened the door to his personal sample library and his decades of experience give the pack many folders of killer sounds for you to come back to again and again.

Multi-sampled synths, strings, pianos and one shots join song-starting music loops and top lines, each as expertly crafted as the last. Access to this epic 600MB cache of slick loops and moody riffs is billed as ‘a once in a lifetime opportunity’, and fans of ‘the unbudgeable one’s’ big-room sound will be chomping at the bit to get their hands on his odds and sods. Roy Spencer

VERDICT 8 Loopmasters – Acoustic Drums Bundle | £32.95 www.loopmasters.com

Drums, please! One thousand eight hundred individual kicks, snares, rides, hats, toms, and crashes, to be specific. Loopmasters have bundled together the best bits from their top-selling tub-thumping packs to bring you an invincible drum library, featuring live playing from heavyweights like the Jungle Drummer and KJ Sawka, David Osborne aka the Bicycle Drummer and jazz head Mark Fletcher. These live kit, one-shot sounds are fat and full and will work a treat when used for layering up your loops, as well as holding their own when triggered and programmed in your DAW, or drum machine. Essential stuff and there’s 50 percent off the usual price when bought individually. This huge collection of hits will provide you with all the acoustic drum ammo you’ll ever need. Roy Spencer

VERDICT 8 Sample Magic – Joey Beltram NY Studio Sessions | £23.90 www.samplemagic.com

Three hundred files lifted straight from the Beltram studio vaults? Don’t mind if we do. For your buck you get drum hits and custom racks, as well as Massive presets crafted by Joey’s fair hand. As you’d hope, the whole pack bubbles hard, and captures flashes of the energy he managed to press into seminal slabs of wax for labels like Warp, Tresor, and R&S over the years. His native New York sound comes to the fore across all the drum folders. The claps sizzle and kicks pound, while the Massive extra bass, pad, and synth presets burst with flavour and swagger. Note: Native Instruments Massive 1.3.5 or above is required to use the included presets and some folders can be purchased separately. Roy Spencer

VERDICT 8 Engineering Samples RED – Underground Dance Vol. 2 | £16.90 sounds.beatport.com

This Engineering Samples sub label is known for the quality of its recordings, so it’s always a pleasure to crank up their work. Underground Dance Vol. 2 doesn’t disappoint on a sonic level either – every hit and loop was minted with the finest analogue gear. Crucially, the 489MB of content also bangs like an outhouse door in the wind. Inspired by big hitters like Tube & Berger, Stephan Bodzin and Adriatique, the booming drums, wobbly basses and searing synths are lovingly crafted to do maximum dancefloor damage. They will find a welcome home in your next on-going house, techno and electronic project. The main elements also come with and without sidechaining, and are available wet and dry, so you get total flexibility. We can’t wait for volume three! Roy Spencer

VERDICT 8 ZTEKNO – Sonus Techno | £16 sounds.beatport.com

Sample house, ZTEKNO, is quickly becoming the go-to label for banging techno packs. If you’ve found releases like Phuture Tech House and Elevate Techno invaluable you won’t begrudge shelling out the entry fee for their latest collection.

Sonus Techno continues the good work with five excellent construction kits, as well as mastered and unmastered full tracks, and a host of VSTi synth patches for you to fiddle with. The drums are hard as week-old cakes, and the bass sounds will be annoying the neighbours for months. Add to that plenty of showstealing synth sounds from the likes of Korg’s MS-20 the Juno 60 and the perfect suite of FX and you have another ZTEKNO sure shot. Roy Spencer

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