NI

Mini Reviews | Reviews
101
Producer Loops – Future
Pop Vol 5 | £25
www.producerloops.com
Let’s welcome a new
company to our
sample pack reviews
section – Producer
Loops. New to our
pages but not the
scene, as the latest installment of their
Future Pop series clocks in at number ve.
Like the previous four what you get for
your money are construction kits as shiny
as Madonna’s teeth and as polished as
Psy’s dress shoes. Producer Loops pretty
much kill it in the slick pop pack market,
and this set sits nicely next to their Pop
Guitars and LA Pop Sessions releases.
It does have a hum of cheese around
it (big room synths, easy on the ear rave
riffs, and a general ‘Example playing to
kids at Reading’ feeling), but that’s what
they were going for and they NAILED it. If
you make happy EDM for smiley-faced
teenagers then you’re going to want to
plunder this. Roy Spencer
8/10
SM White Label – Slo-Mo
House | £17
www.samplemagic.com
Been scratching your
brain raw trying to
capture the deep
melodic fug that oozes
from your favourite
Jimpster or Bostro
Pesopeo record? Cheer up – this 600MB
pack of emotive keys, dubby loops and
crunchy kicks and snares will have you up
to their standard in no time at all.
The grooves are chilled, the melodies
classy, and the tempo (110-115bpm) is
positively languid. All the playful tops and
luxurious layers you can slot straight in
have acres of room to take centre stage.
The bass loops hold the most attention
(and can be purchased on their own for a
mere £3.70). They’ll rattle a sub and hold
the weight of anything you balance on top.
This shimmers and shimmies in equal
measures and should provide a nice new
set of tools for your next laid-back journey
onto the dance oor. Roy Spencer
8/10
Delectable Records – Big
Beat Drums | £20
www.loopmasters.com
Although Big Beat had
its lager and poppers-
fuelled moment in the
sun some years ago,
it’s worth revisiting for
the heaviness of its
kicks and snares alone. The good people
at Delectable Records have saved you the
job of scouring old breaks records for, erm,
breaks with this punchy drum pack.
There’s plenty to choose from in this
470MB collection – from frantic workouts
on live kits, to swinging drum machine
sessions, courtesy of the Roland TD15K.
And they can all be picked apart for their
crispest components. All the sounds have
been crafted with custom DSP routines,
and passed through a Manley passive EQ,
and Manley Mu limiters and compression
chain for a real high-end nish.
If you’re still pining for the days of The
Chems, Fatboys, and Rhythm Aces then
this old skool/new skool sample pack will
bring back a few memories and hopefully
inspire a few new ones. Roy Spencer
8/10
SM101 – MIDI Elements:
Jackin’ Drums | £13
www.samplemagic.com
Jackin’ Drums is a
unique MIDI pack
focused on beats,
rather than melodics.
Each beat has been
programmed with the
perfect amount of ‘jackin’ house swing’
synonymous with US house. For the
authentic feel they’ve included 120+
vintage-style drum hits and ‘dust’ and ‘air’
layers, which are triggered by MIDI to give
the beats that analogue warmth.
You’ve got ten ready-made drum kits
to load up, all mapped to GM, so you can
leaf through the 101 drum loops super
fast to nd groove and drum sounds. It
gives you the exibility of beat building
with one-shots, but all the convenience of
using loops (the hits work together, and
the programming is done already).
All the best bits of deep house, early
UK garage and ’90s house drum kits,
then. Roy Spencer
8/10
Lack Of Afro Presents
Analogue Soul | £35
www.loopmasters.com
This one will get the
funk heads turning.
Adam Gibbons aka
Lack Of Afro has been
churning out dance
oor bombs for the last
coupla years on labels like the peerless
Freestyle Records. Fans of his infectious
grooves will be in their element here with
this 1GB pack of vintage sounds.
Not only has his brain been picked,
he’s also had his studio plundered. He’s
clicked on his Fostex R-8 reel-to-reel tape
machine, tightened up his 1950’s Premier
drum kit, and polished the keys on his
vintage Wurlitzer Piano, amongst other
treasures. The results are so far in the
pocket you’ll have to pluck the lint off
them. Gibbon’s status as a master of any
classic bit of kit he cares to dust off is
never in dispute. The keys are warm, the
percussion lively and the drums solid as a
rock. You can see why everyone from Tom
Jones to The Pharcyde ropes him in for
remix duties. Essential. Roy Spencer
9/10
FMU272.rev_mini.indd 101 10/9/13 2:07 PM