Sugar Bytes

Soundware round-up
Drumdrops
Gretsch 1960s Round
Badge Soul Kit £45
A multisampled classic four-piece kit
with hi-hats, ride and two crashes, plus
a pair of congas, a tambourine and a
shaker, available in various formats –
we’re looking at the Kontakt 5 version.
Five mic channels have been captured
(one near the snare, one near the kick,
one behind the kit, one overhead and
one “distant”), and each kit piece has
level controls for all of them. EQ,
transient shaping and two reverbs are
onboard, as is a tasty library of
grooves, and it all adds up to a highly
playable retro treat at a very fair price.
www.drumdrops.com
n9/10n
Big Fish Audio
Impulse: Cinematic
Guitar Series
£59
15 multitrack guitar construction kits made with
movie, game and media production in mind, but
highly plunderable for music projects, too. Each kit
comprises intro, verse, chorus, bridge, turnaround
and outro sections, and a wide range of guitars and
playing styles are represented. By and large, the
production style is chilled and atmospheric, but
there are a few spikier, pacier numbers in there too.
Lovely stuf.
www.timespace.com
n8/10n
Sample Tools by Cr2
Mainroom Kicks and Drops £13
An odd one for Cr2, this, centring, as it does, on 15 mini
construction kits (960MB), each comprising a full-on
build, drop and groove. You get all the requisite audio
clips, plus MIDI for certain parts, and while the
production is superb and the styles are as varied as
they can reasonably be within their overall ‘mainroom’
remit, it’s a decidedly limited collection by the label’s
usual standards. Points are won back by the folder of
100 excellent tuned kick drums, which deserve a place
in any dance producer’s sample library.
sounds.beatport.com
n7/ 10n
Puremagnetik
Analog Automata $15
350 sampled loops in Ableton Live clip (WAV) and
Apple Loops formats, as well as a scripted Kontakt
library, made using “a variety of analog modules”
and arranged in ive categories: Bass, Kick, Lead,
Percussion and Texture. The sounds are earthy
and rhythmically interesting – particularly the
Percussion and Textures – and the Kontakt
interface gives some shaping via low- and high-
pass ilters, and delay and langer efects. It’s just
not a terriically exciting or memorable collection,
though, truth be told.
www.puremagnetik.com
n7/ 10n
Loopmasters
Kate Wild – Vocal
Hooks & Acapellas
£25
Up-and-coming Brighton vocalist Kate Wild debuts on
Loopmasters with this 410MB library of phrases, one-
shots and “mini song ideas”. The stylistic theme
throughout is commercial, with pop, RnB and dance
music all ably handled, and Wild’s delivery is spot-on.
You don’t get a great deal for your money, though,
with only 46 phrases and shots, and not much of
practical use in the song kits, unless you want to work
up the songs themselves.
www.loopmasters.com
n7/ 10n
112 / COMPUTER MUSIC February 2015
> reviews / mini reviews
CMU213.rev_mini.indd 112 10/12/2014 11:50