Electro-Harmonix Pitch Fork
Mini Reviews | Reviews
99
Sounds + MIDI: Deep & Future
House For Sylenth Vol 1 | £24.95
www.producerloops.com
The Sounds + MIDI
label expands its
mission to bring you
the best in original
patches for Sylenth1.
While previous
releases from the camp have focused on
the genre with a wide scope, this release
closes ranks on the deeper end of
cutting-edge House music sounds.
The zzing leads, soaring synths, and
cavernous bass riffs and loops on offer
have been designed to evoke the sonic
palette of acts like Disclosure and Dusky,
but Urban beatmakers with an ear for the
more electronic angles of current R ‘n’ B
could nd a home for some of the 38
enclosed MIDI les as well. Dragging and
dropping the 128 patches into your
arrangements is quick and easy, and the
sounds are ripe for chopping and tweaking
into freaky new phrases. Roy Spencer
7/10
Loopmasters – Synth Explorer:
TR-505 | £14.95
www.loopmasters.com
The Roland TR-505
Rhythm Composer
never got as much
props as its big
brother, the 808.
Vince Clarke and
Aphex Twin may have been fans, but not
many others managed to eke out killer
grooves from its rather underwhelming
range of sampled drum tones.
So why bother with a sample pack
celebrating this largely overlooked piece of
kit? Well, the nerds at Loopmasters HQ
have popped the lid and circuit bent the
guts out of their machine, making shit pop
like never before. The 100 twisted drum
loops and one-shot samples they’ve forced
this defenceless little 505 to come up
with
are,
frankl
y,
bare
rude.
It’
s
a
bit
of
a
‘before and after’ advert situation. If you
thought the 505 was an eight-stone
weakling when it came out in 1986, then
look at him now – he’s ripped, and kicking
sand back in your face. Roy Spencer
8/10
Singomakers – Ableton
Mastering Templates | £19.95
www.loopmasters.com
The demand for
Ableton templates is
on the up, as
producers struggling to
make their sound pop
as hard as the latest
club bangers happily part with their cash.
This set from Singomakers camp is a great
introduction to this growing market, or
another handy production tool for fans of
similar packs like Sample Magic’s
excellent Ableton Magic Racks series.
What you get here are 28 mastering
templates for seven of the hottest genres
of the day: EDM, Trap, Deep & Small
Room House, Dubstep, Melbourne
Bounce, Nu Disco & Indie Dance and
Drum ‘n’ Bass. The degree to which these
genres favour a polished and balanced
sound should have you guessing just how
much these mastering chain templates
will lift a tired or at production.
Singomakers have just made
mastering a breeze… Note: several
templates require iZotope Ozone 5 and
Waves Plug-ins. Roy Spencer
8/10
SM101 – Sylenth Back To The
’90s Patches | £14.90
www.samplemagic.com
The jeans might be
tighter, but the pills
and piano lines of
today’s clubland are
just as large as the
super in-vogue style of
the ’90s. So, in timely fashion, the
Sample Magic bods are all ‘Top one, nice
one, get sorted’ in the place, and taking it
on back with their latest collection of
Orbital-era Rave-style patches for Sylenth.
As with the rest of the SM101 series,
you get slightly over a hundred things to
ddle with. Here it’s retro arps, basses,
keys, leads and pads – plus some super
exible MIDI les. The sound is proper Old
Skool – think early Prodigy: all bad skin
and big pupils. If you want to scare Daily
Mail readers, worry sheep near an outdoor
illegal Rave, or just keep everyone
reaching for the lasers, this cheeky set will
be right up your street, matey. More
Hoovers than Dixons – Oi! Oi! Roy Spencer
9/10
Sounds To Sample Presents – Fly
House Vocal Toolz | £16.44
www.soundstosample.com
If you’re in the market
for hands-in-the-air
vocal business, look no
further. Sounds To
Sample have drafted in
the Fly House Records
camp, and they know a thing or two about
the job in hand. Besides the straight-up
chart-smashing House styles the label is
famed for, you also get a healthy dose of
edgier and more underground shouts and
phrases to mangle. Tw itchy Trap/Rap lyrics
rub up next to big room EDM call outs, and
vocal lines designed to make you twerk can
be found nestled next to straight-up
diva-ish hooks built to t into a Deep House
4/4. The bpms run from 100-150bpm.
Also with the pack are 105 one-shots
in various sampler formats (Maschine 2,
Kontakt 5, Ableton, Reason Rell and
EXS24) so all you button-mashers will have
something to show off with in your live
shows. All in all, a great collection of highly
editable vocal hooks. Roy Spencer
8/10
FMU291.rev_mini.indd 99 23/03/2015 14:31
samplemagic.com
Samples__Patches__MIDI__Plugins__Books__Apps__Courses
SYLENTH BACK TO THE
90S PATCHES
101 acidhouse and rave-stylepatches
for Sylenthstunningly recreating the
iconic sounds of the ravegeneration.
£14.90
BERLIN TECHNO TRACKS
Deep,dark and atmospherictechno
exploring the singular sound of Berlin
in Maschineand Ableton format.
£19.90
Stacks of riffs,leads and licks
recorded with ahost of classic
guitars,amps, pedals and mics for
an authentic disco vibe.
DISCO &FUNK GUITARS 2
£14.90
An artful collageofwest coast hip-hop, sample-heavy electronica
and chilled trap –pulling in elements of jazz, funk and soul along the
way –Low End Theory is a1.3GB exploration of the influential LA
beat scene.
LOW END THEORY
£34.90