July 2019 / ComputermusiC / 103mini reviews / reviews <
Loopmasters
mihalissafras:Nasty
tech House^ £15
DJ/producer Safras presents his debut sample pack
asthe183rdinLoopmasters’ArtistSeries,containing
750MBofone-shotsandloopsat120-125bpm.Forty
full(ie,nostems–fair, given the price) drum loops
cover old-skool Chicago style through to spacious
classic tech; and 53 energetic basslines prioritise
weight and simplicity. Then it’s catchy riffs a-gogo
with 50 synth loops, while 27 crisp top loops give you
a roof for your own kick drums (of which there are
35). Confident, on-point and loads for the money.
loopmasters.com
n9/10n
UNDRGRND Sounds
Classic & Jacking House^ £30
More retro-minded house to get your listeners
moving with this 680MB library, which really dials the
clock back in the programming and processing of its
lovingly sampled vintage drum machines and synths.
The 21 stemmed beats (126 files) are buoyant and
cheery,thepercussionandtoploopscutthrough
well,andthebasslinesbumpalongnicely;butit’sthe
deliciouskeysandpads–both loops and shots – that
really engage the ear with their imaginative sound
design and tasteful compositional approach. A solid
offering for house producers across the genre.
undrgrndsounds.com
n8/10n
Keepforest
AizerXCyberpunktoolkit^ £263
Keepforest’s AizerX Kontakt engine is a powerful tool
for the creation of layered impacts, FX, pulses and
more, and its latest implementation is fuelled by
4.2GB of diverse sci-fi-style sounds. The degree of
control given over the playback and mixing of the six
sample layers is impressive, including recording of
paths in the XY pad; and the randomisation features
are superb. The overly dark and absurdly histrionic
GUI really does detract from the user experience, and
it’s anything but intuitive, but once you get your head
around it, the sound design potential here is vast.
timespace.com
n8/10n
LP24
Forestpsy£25
It’snotoftenthesedaysthata newpsytrancesample
librarycrossesthe reviews desk, so our interest
was piqued by LP24’s. While there are some lovely
atmospheres and memorable synth lines in Forest
Psy, the drums and basses fall a little short, being
comparatively unadventurous and by-the-numbers
in their sound selection and programming. There’s
nothing ‘wrong’ with them per se – they just didn’t
grab us at all. The 66 presets for Xfer Records’ Serum
synth certainly don’t hurt, however, and there’s some
good sampler fodder among the one-shots.
loopmasters.com
n7/10n
ModeAudio
toybox^ £16
As the name suggests, Mode have gone to town
recording a variety of children’s playthings for this
303-sample collection. From soft and squeaky toys,
rattles and bags of marbles, to wooden balls, all
manner of plastic things and the varied contents of a
toy kitchen, it’s a joyous riot of found sound colours;
and with many of the samples having been wrangled
into ten kits for Live, Logic and Reason, complete
with effects chains, you can get them involved in
your projects without any legwork. Original, and a lot
of fun to boot!
modeaudio.com
n9/10nSample Magic
Jazz Hop^ £30
This stunning 1GB library gives hip-hop producers a
wealth of dusty, vinyl-flavoured instrumental plunder.
The 27 stemmed drum loops at 80 and 90bpm (135
files) have a boom-bap feel, but other instruments fall
into the ‘jazzy’ category. The performances are
sublime and the vintage-style recording and
processing works brilliantly. We love the way bleed
has been used to provide background layers for
some loops, too, with drums appearing quietly
behind basslines and keyboards, keyboards behind
drums, etc. Flawless.
samplemagic.com
n10/10nGothicInstruments
DroNAr Distorchestra^ £60
The expanding Dronar Kontakt libraries serves up
rich, complex four-layer (each a blend of two
samples) pads, drones, beds and atmospheres via an
empowering six-page interface for one-finger chord
triggering, filtering, modulation, arpeggiation,
randomisation and more. Distorchestra’s sample
bank is 4.8GB of orchestral recordings, worked into a
menu of Snapshots by A-list sound designer
Alessandro Camnasio. The flavour is dark, and
though this isn’t our favourite Dronar so far, moody
media producers and musicians should check it out.
timespace.com
n8/10nGhost Syndicate
Basement: Drum & Bass^ £20
Eight hard-edged, techy DnB sample construction
kits, loosely arranged in terms of their components
and, slightly annoyingly, not including full mixes for
reference. Multiple variations are included for many
of the sounds, as are one-shots culled from the loops,
and although it’s not a huge amount of material, the
quality is outstanding. The beats are slamming, the
basslines are intricate and snarling, and the
atmospheres, synths and FX embellish that rhythmic
core perfectly. The construction kit format limits the
versatility a little bit, but the price is just about right.
loopmasters.com
n8/10n