DIFFUSION OF USEFUL NOISE •••
(AUDIO CD)

Distributed by East West, Rarefaction's Diffusion of Useful Noise is an audio CD full of mechanistic, but not exclusively harsh, textures, the vast majority of which are unpitched. Indeed, many portray the kind of pulsating ambience featured in many early episodes of Doctor Who, moments before the all-too-obviously rubber alien appeared. There are metallic winds that wouldn't be out of place on the soundtrack of Alien, ring modulators, distorted helicopters, eerie munching sounds and surreal weather. And that's just in the textures section...

The rhythmic sections are equally weird, ranging from gibbering robotic rhythms to something that sounds exactly like a pantomime horse tap-dancing on a very large gong, while eating light bulbs. Various vocoding and gating tricks have been employed on both synthetic and 'found' sounds, and I think it's fair to say that most of the loops are rhythms, but not as we know them! Some remind one of a digeridoo player simultaneously gargling with tractor parts, while others suggest the world clock-smashing championships being played back via a guitarist's voicebox processor. Most of the effects using natural elements allow just enough naturalness through to provide a clue to their origins, but the majority are heavily treated with resonators, vocoders or powerful filters, and many contain highly disguised vocal snatches.

Ultimately, this CD is designed with a particular genre in mind, and in that respect, it contains many intriguing and usable samples. If you're organising a school play based on Doctor Who, Blake's 7 or Hitch Hiker's Guide, you'll probably also find it useful. On the other hand, those into new age, ballads or even good old fashioned shred metal need not apply. Paul White

£ £59.95 including VAT and UK p&p. Add £3 for overnight guaranteed delivery.

A East West, Suite 1A, 25 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 1HB, UK.

T Orders: Freephone +44 (0)800 393027; Enquiries: +44 (0)1273 736733.

F +44 (0)1273 328881.

 

 

X-FILES OF HOUSE••••
(DOUBLE AUDIO CD)

It was only a matter of time before the sample CD market jumped on the paranormal bandwagon -- and now it's happened, with the less than stunningly innovative title of X-Files of House. This double CD set, from Sweden's e-lab, places its flag firmly in the soil of four-on-the-floor dance music and presents the familiar four-eight-, and sometimes 16-bar demo 'songs', which are then deconstructed into sections featuring the drum loops, then the instrumental, vocal and FX parts.

Disc 1 is a 99-track audio CD filled to the brim with the latest house music flavours, including some swingbeat and techno rhythms. The standard of the music loops and samples is very high indeed, and any owners of the X-static Goldmine sample CDs will tell you the one thing that really stands out about all e-lab's releases is the sheer number of usable loops and grooves that are presented on each CD. To say that this is a true double CD release, however, would be slightly overstating the case, as disc 2 is a mixed-mode CD featuring a small but fairly mixed bag of WAV samples, with the rest of the disc (in audio format) containing demos and odd samples taken from the wide-ranging 'X-Static' series of sample CDs.

In action, disc 1 is a real injection of fresh air into the otherwise sometimes stagnant waters of dance music. The producers have obviously got their ears to the ground and are not only paying close attention to what is happening in the current house music scene, but are brave enough to try and forge some new ideas too. The result is a 99-track disc that times out at well over 70 minutes and yet has very few low points.

The musical emphasis here seems to be on more intelligent house music loops rather than the frenetic and over-busy sounds of jungle. The familiar grotty organs, analogue whizzes and vintage Roland bass sounds have all been dragged out of retirement (if they ever went away) and are given centre stage in these loops, along with the solid 909 bass drums we have all come to expect.

This 'deconstructive' approach to sample CDs has obviously proved successful for many producers, and it does have a certain instant appeal for users who don't want the hassle of mixing and matching their own samples. One thing to be careful of, however, is that you don't just buy into the idea wholesale and turn your sampler into a mere painting-by numbers device. The sounds on this CD are powerful and nasty enough to give you all the tools you need to create a dance-floor smash, so it really is worth making that extra effort to come up with more original and exciting uses of the source material, rather than just sticking back together a track that someone has already chopped up for you.

In conclusion, this release offers a profusion of creative dance-floor possibilities. What it lacks in range of styles it more than makes up for in the sheer number and quality of the sounds. The second CD, filled with rather cheesy WAV and MIDI files, may strike some users as a bit of a gimmick, and most will want to focus their attention on the main body of work on disc 1. If house music is your thing, the truth is in here. Paul Farrer

£ £59.95 each including VAT and UK p&p.

A Time & Space, PO Box 306, Berkhamstead, Herts HP4 3EP, UK.

T +44 (0)1442 870681.

F +44 (0)1442 877266.

E Click here to email

 

 

CUCKOOLAND VOLUME 2: GHOST IN THE MACHINE••••
(AUDIO CD)

In the race to keep coming up with new and innovative forms of sample CD, would-be producers could do a lot worse than take a leaf out of Simon Mills' and Ian Sanderson's book. This follow-up from the weird and wonderful Cuckooland Vol 1: Unhinged takes the theme of menacing and dark ambiences even further. It's stuffed full of the most desolate, haunting and downright sinister textural ambiences you've ever heard, taking the form of 30-second stereo tracks which, although they evolve and change slightly over the course of the CD, remain absolutely relentless in their ability to make you feel at best unsettled and at worst frightened to death.

Try to imagine an offbeat fusion of atonal sounds melted down with a vast number of bizarre sound effects; sprinkle in a couple of audio clips from your favourite cheesy B-movie, add some radio static, mix with a misspent youth and allow to simmer in a very large Lexicon reverb for a couple of days. You're almost in the right frame of mind to deal with this CD. If, however, you're looking for some nice drum loops to use for a Boyzone track, I'm afraid you've come to the wrong place.

The 'textures' make good use of the stereo field, and effects-wise you probably won't hear a CD this year that puts so much emphasis on imaginative use of outboard gear. One drawback of this approach is that pushing the limits of sonic possibilities has produced more than a few 'textures' where there is so much bass that I couldn't stop my system from distorting -- not that this really bothered me, given the context of the subject matter (listen to it and you'll understand). Also it's worth noting that where Volume 1 contained a few drum loops and grooves, this CD is given over entirely to ambient textures.

It would be narrow-minded to assume that this CD is aimed purely at ambient or dance music producers, because I can see its sounds putting the frighteners on all sorts of audiences, not least of all in TV, radio and film. This is the kind of release that would make William S Burroughs run screaming for a nice cup of camomile tea and an episode of Neighbours. Paul Farrer

£ £59.95 each including VAT and UK p&p.

A Time & Space, PO Box 306, Berkhamstead, Herts HP4 3EP, UK.

T +44 (0)1442 870681.

F +44 (0)1442 877266.

E Click here to email

 

 

SYNTONIC GENERATOR•
(DOUBLE AUDIO CD)

I know nothing about Sound Wave Applied Technologies, the producers of this CD, other than what I could divine from the sleeve -- though it seems we're dealing with a North American outfit.

Disk 1's opening gambit is a selection of FX and noise loops, arranged at a frequency of around four per track. Keys, tempos and number of bars are shown as and where appropriate. To start with, noises are predominantly of the whooshy, gratey and/or burbly variety. 'Syntonic Generator' is the name of a particularly burbly example which, being considered a flagship sample, is presented here over six octaves. If this is the best noise on offer, we may be in trouble.

Thip sequences follow. These have probably been generated using synthesizers' random sample and hold facility, as per industry standard, though the quality of sound suggests something other than analogue. Ring modulation also features strongly. Loops are presented one per track, repeated at 120, 140, 160 and 180bpm. Bobbly, chirpy, squirty, grubbly, clinkity. Well, how would you describe sounds like these in print?

Now we're into big multisamples (half-octave intervals taken over six octaves) of synths and keyboards, arranged as four sets per track. These seem to have been taken lock, stock and barrel from modern sample + synthesis instrument(s) -- witness the looping on the piano samples. Some of the synth sounds are quite hard, but there's not much warmth in evidence.

Track 19 offers five bass sets. To start with, the quality of sound generation is as for the preceding synths, suggesting that the same instrument has been rolled out again. However, the last couple of sets sound more Minimoog-esque. Something suggests to me that the artists who produced these samples don't really use them themselves: why else would they provide five octaves of bass samples taken at half-octave intervals? I'd rather have 50 different single bass sounds than five multisample sets in my armoury any time.

Track 20 kicks off the last section of this release, which spills over onto disk 2. We're talking drum loops, arranged anything from two to six per track. Each new loop is presented at three tempos -- a relatively easy thing to do when the loops are all sequenced! Voices include beatbox, GM sounds, synths and sampled groove-noise, the latter incongruously laid over clean drums. Styles are labelled 'Industrial', 'House/Dance', 'Techno', and so on, though I would say that they generally fall somewhere between no-man's land and bland city.

It's rare that I'm not even tempted to boot up my trusty S770 while reviewing a sample CD for SOS. This is such an occasion. There is no place in today's hotly contested sample marketplace for a product which is so lacking in verve. Do yourself a big favour and stay away. Wilf Smarties

£ £54.95 including VAT, plus £2 UK p&p.

A Sounds OK, 10 Frimley Grove Gardens, Frimley, Camberley, Surrey GU16 5JX, UK.

T +44 (0)1276 682313.

F +44 (0)1276 682717.

 

 

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