ROCK HISTORY DRUM LOOPS VOLUME 1••••
(AUDIO CD)

This CD from Black Box Music presents a collection of drum loops primarily aimed at the rock market and ostensibly covering drumming styles from the '70s to the present. Played by Heinrich Altenbroxter and recorded by Arthur Koll, the CD is divided into three 'chapters': Groove Sets, Rock Drum Tool Sets and Single Hits.

The 20 Groove Sets are designed to emulate the drum backing from some famous '70s rock songs. Unfortunately, the CD doesn't attempt to stray very far from Led Zeppelin territory -- indeed, it doesn't stray at all! The good news is that the results are effective, with a solid choice of basic sounds and effects to take you right back to the days of cheesecloth shirts and unwashed flares. Tracks are named in keeping with their source -- 'Immigrant' and 'Kashmir', for example -- but those less familiar with these songs might welcome more descriptive sleeve notes. Each Groove Set features between 12 and 30 loops, including fills and variations.

Moving onto chapter B, the Rock Drum Tool Sets each contain three tracks with loops in dry, wet and hi-hat/cymbal-only versions. Within the dry and wet versions, each of the two basic style loops is provided in loud, medium and softly-played variants, before being presented again with ride or china/crash variants. A trio of fills and a final 'special' loop round off the wet and dry versions. Each set is named although, again, how useful these names are is largely down to your rock history knowledge -- a brief description would certainly have helped me! All of the patterns, with the exception of one 6/8 offering, are in 4/4 time.

The CD rounds off with the Single Hits chapter. I found some of these difficult to place with the looped patterns. The sleeve notes give no help at all here, failing to detail even how many samples are present on each track. What the documentation does suggest is that the single hits can be used to feed an effects processor to give the illusion of adding effects to specific sounds within a loop. This is a trick I have often used myself, but to program all of the single hits for a number of live-played loops would be quite a tedious process, I'd say. A set of MIDI files derived from the loops would be extremely useful in this context, especially if the documentation gave suggestions as to which single hits to use for each loop.

If you are regularly involved in producing rock music, or want to add some punchy rock rhythm loops to your own style of music, there are currently very few alternatives to this collection. For that reason alone, the Rock History CD would deserve praise, but the samples are also capable of producing convincing, powerful drum tracks. In use, I found that the sounds sat comfortably in a mix, to the point where few listeners would discern them as looped material at all -- which is probably more important in rock music than the dance genre, which often attempts to flaunt the use of looping. I might have hoped for some forays into more diverse playing styles, and a few 7/8 or 5/4 time signatures would have been more than welcome in these stuck-in-a-rut 4/4 days, but the production and playing are generally excellent. The only problems lie with the slightly under-cooked documentation (the useful test tone at the end of the CD doesn't even get a mention!) and the daunting task of sampling and arranging so much audio material. With the latter in mind I'm keen to see how the CD-ROM version measures up. Paul Ward

£ £54.95 including VAT, plus £2 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.

 

THE DEFINITIVE PERCUSSION SAMPLER VOL 1: STEVE REID•••
(AUDIO CD)

Just when you thought the world had seen enough drum and percussion sample CDs to last an eternity, Voice Crystal have added to their ranks with the boldly titled Definitive Percussion Sampler Vol 1 (the title presumably encouraging us to keep our eyes peeled for Volume 2, out shortly and no doubt even more definitive).

Titular ambiguities aside, this 78-track CD provides a massive selection of contemporary and ethnic percussion samples, presented not in the familiar loop and sample format, but as single instrument hits. The disc is divided into a number of sensible sections, starting with Gongs, Waterphones, Bells and Chimes, and moving through the whole gamut of percussive instruments from around the world, before ending with a highly usable collection of metallic effects, flute and woodblock sounds.

The excellent sleeve notes guide us through the many variations of each instrument -- for example, track 11 (Congas), has 22 different recordings of single conga hits, ranging from slapped to muted and played with finger tones, palm tones, and even played using a stick! This fantastic attention to detail is continued throughout and you'll be impressed not only by the range of exotic instruments provided, but by the vast sonic changes that can be coaxed from even the simplest of drums. Frame drums, Shakers, Udus, Utars, Rainsticks, Guiros, Washboards, and Djembe drums are amongst some of the more unusual inclusions, and as a reliable source for these and other sounds, this CD is well worth the price. Interestingly, at the tail end of the CD there's a good selection of non-percussive sounds such as Slide Whistles, Clay Flutes, Jews Harps and Whistles. All of these are given the 'if it moves, sample it' treatment, and are presented in long and short versions with a number of other variations thrown in. The recording quality is good throughout, and all the sounds (both stereo and mono) are presented dry and without any unnecessary compression.

On the negative side, it's getting more and more difficult to distinguish between releases of this kind. Yes, it is very good indeed, and I can't imagine anyone wanting a percussion sound that isn't included here, which makes it a stunning achievement, but at the same time there isn't much here that we haven't all heard before. The forthcoming CD-ROM version (for SampleCell, Roland, Ensoniq, Kurzweil, Akai and Peavey formats) will undoubtedly prove to be extremely popular, as it will cut down the time needed to sample, edit and present these sounds and will give a huge number of users a massive library of ethnic and standard percussion sounds ready to go. Until then, however, there is still a great deal here that will both inspire and delight you (particularly in the terrific effects sections), but not, unfortunately, much that will bowl you over with originality. Paul Farrer

£ £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.

 

SMOOV GROOVES•••••
(AUDIO CD)

Smoov Grooves, from the acclaimed producers of Funky-Ass Loops, is a 74-minute audio CD packed with slow funk musical loops and grooves.

For those of you unfamiliar with this type of sample CD, the basic idea is this: a couple of extremely funky guys (namely Sonny T and Michael B, otherwise known as the rhythm section behind the artist formerly known as a member of the royal family, currently without a name and known only by squiggle) have put their heads together and recorded a selection of short 'songs' lasting about eight bars each. These consist of drums, bass, guitars and keyboard parts, and are presented first in their entirety, then split up into their constituent solo lines. This seems to be quite a popular way of presenting sample CDs these days. Many producers have adopted the same approach, and although you could argue that all you're doing is reconstructing a finished piece of music, it does give you a good idea of the kind of results you can achieve by mixing and matching the various musical parts throughout the whole release.

This 62-track CD doesn't bother with any demos or clumsy spoken introductions: it just kicks off with the first of the loops -- and what a great way to start. Slow and meaningfully funky vibes seem to pour out of every note and, despite being more laid-back than an arthritic tortoise on Mogadon, the timings, as you might expect, are absolutely spot-on. The loops range from 60 to 108bpm, and vary from a sort of camp '70s cop show feel right up to the familiar spaced-out Jamiroquai-esque MTV style of the '90s. The recording quality is as good as the excellent playing, and the producers have wisely left most of the effects out of the mix altogether.

There are tons of fabulous bass licks, as well as a good number of funky strumming and picked guitar parts too. The drum and percussion parts are deconstructed as much as they need to be, yet the producers haven't filled up the CD with countless versions of the individual drum samples, and the warm and resonant Rhodes chords will be filling dance floors and TV ads from now until next Christmas.

With these guys as his rhythm section Prince (or squiggle) can justifiably sing "My name is Prince, and I am Fon-Keh", and with this CD in your collection you can now say the same thing. So turn the screen contrast of your sampler down low and immerse yourself in the understated glory of slow-burning precision funk. Paul Farrer

£ £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.

 

A POKE IN THE EAR WITH A SHARP STICK••••
(AUDIO CD)

At last -- someone has realised that if you're going to have a digital max tone on a sample CD it should be at the beginning!

East West have a history of supporting industrial music. On this release, they've largely omitted the music! First we're treated to a large selection of metal sounds: hits, rolls and swells. Names like 'Alien Environments', 'Cyberpunk' and 'Kaos' don't tell you much. Think instead of oil tanks and saucepans being variously banged, scraped, stroked and dropped down lift shafts, cars being crushed, and so on. Samples are good, and sonic content evolves incrementally. After a while more variety creeps in. Effects are variously synth-generated and found/transformed; the vibe is dirty and hard while retaining fidelity. Dirty and clean? I'm sorry if you find it difficult to hold two opposing views simultaneously -- that's just how it sounds to me.

There are drones, chain runs, ethnic tones and atmospheres, spacey textures, a water section encompassing drip and drain, and a minute traffic noise bleed. There are big stereo bongs, metal swishes and bangs which could emanate from a plate, gong or oil drum. One sample has a reversed tail which stops abruptly. Synth and other effects are hard and dramatic. I heard electrical arcs and shorts, machine grinds, transformed vox and industrial textures and hits with digital feedback. I particularly liked the ball spinning in a bowl. There are samples of dry thunder, glass, eerie discordant tones and drones, piercing digital buzzes and feedback. However, wherever you drop into this CD, you're never too far away from it's stock-in-trade -- metal noises.

Samples are generally mixed up, but occasionally strictly grouped, with the 'Percussive' section being more coherent than most. Then again, it's also less interesting, comprising single hits, including (yep) metal implements, along with pretty standard drums. There are loops too, but not yer standard drums: instead, they're well-produced and cutting ethno-electro percussion and effects. Last up come ethnic wails, followed by 'Oakland Jail Ambience'. One of our sound designers goes to jail?

This mixture of metal and out-of-control noises represents a narrow but useful repertoire. Applications? Well, the atmospheres are not really long enough for film use without looping. On the other hand, the sheer drama of many of the hits and tones would lend a helping hand to many a TV commercial and particularly, perhaps, the increasingly sonically-demanding computer games market. And I'll be dipping into this collection regularly for remix excitement. Nice one. Wilf Smarties

£ £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 0800 393027; Enquiries: +44 (0)1273 736733.

F +44 (0)1273 328881.

 

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