Sugar Bytes

Samplephonics
Deep House Sessions £35
The best thing about this 810MB sample library is its
knock-out selection of drums and percussion. The
loops are fulsome, funky and beautifully produced,
while the 1000+ one-shots, taken from “classic Roland
drum machines” would prove useful for any producer.
The rest of the material doesn’t disappoint, either,
comprising bouncy basses, smokey music loops,
diverse, high-impact FX and blissful pads – we just
wish there wasn’t such a discrepancy between the
amount of percussive material and everything else.
Nonetheless, a fantastic house treasure trove.
www.samplephonics.com
n8/10n
Zero G
Rise Designer £70
Zero G are on something of a roll with their ‘Designer’
series, and this is the one many have been waiting for.
A scripted Kontakt interface enables separate two-
layer Rise and Tail stages, drawing on a varied library
of 69 sampled sounds, to be shaped and combined
into a riser (from 1/2 to 8 bars long). Processing
notables include the Gater efect, for chopping, and
the Super button, for thickening. 94 categorised NKIs
are provided, and we have to give props for the
prettiest animation yet seen in a Kontakt instrument.
www.timespace.com
n9/10n
Samplephonics
Vintage Drum Breaks, Volume 1 £35
Expertly played by Nightmares On Wax drummer
Issac Heywood on a Gretsch kit, recorded to 2" tape
through the poshest of Greenwood Studio’s mics and
analogue outboard, each of VDB1’s 197 four-bar loops
comes in three mic/mix variations. The breaks range
from 90170bpm, and constitute a huge spectrum
of grooves – shuled, 16th-hi-hat-based, laid-back,
driving, sidestick… you name it. It’s a bit of a shame
that the kit and recording setup remain unchanged
from start to inish, but this is an awesome resource
for those in need of real drums, recorded well.
www.samplephonics.com
n9/10n
Sample Magic
Radio Slave – Beats Collection £15
The second soundware release from veteran techno
producer Matt Edwards consists of 206 loops and 124
one-shots, plus various sampler patches and kits to
turn the latter into playable instruments. Edwards’
programming and production style is tasteful,
dynamic and understated, and his sound selection is
second to none. The loops are the main event, taking
in a diversity of sonic lavours and rhythmic designs,
but the hits are a more-than-worthy supplement. If you
like your techno somewhat of the beaten track, this is
a brainy no-brainer.
www.samplemagic.com
n9/10n
Loopmasters
Michael Schack –Hybrid
Beats Session
£25
1.7GB of drum loops, hits and MIDI iles by drummer
Schack, currently providing the beats for Hospital
Records’ Netsky shows. Drum ’n’ bass and breakbeat
are the focus, but plenty of stylistic variations are
included in each of the 11 project folders. Sonically,
all of the kits sound very clean and there’s obviously
a lot of triggering going on – which is ine. If the idea
of working some real human feel into your electronic
tracks appeals, this is well worth investigating.
www.loopmasters.com
n9/10n
Sample Magic
House Nation £35
So much stuf! House Nation’s 950MB of loops and hits
is almost overwhelming in its scope and authenticity.
From tough, conident drum stems and beefy, loping
b-lines to cool, interesting synth leads and imaginative,
layered music loops, this is a library to get lost in. You
also get over 300 classic drum machine one-shots.
The style is more hard-hitting ‘tech’ than chin-stroking
‘deep’ (ie, there’s not much in the way of pads and
atmospheres), and if that sounds like your bag, this
should be at the top of your soundware shopping list.
www.samplemagic.com
n10/10n
FXpansion
BFD Oblivion £69
Clicky kick drums and throaty snares are the order of
the day with this metal-orientated expansion for BFD
2/3/Eco. The kit is a Mapex Orion ive-piece with two
snares (brass and jarrah, with snares on/of and
optional Moongel damping on the Mapex) and a
choice of felt or plastic kick drum beater, plus
Zildjian, Bosphorus and Paiste cymbals. The drums
come in three versions, each set up and processed
diferently, while the included grooves are well
executed. In all, FXpansion’s debut metal kit is worth
every penny for BFD owners.
www.fxpansion.com
n9/10n
Mode Audio
Open Spaces – Massive
Vintage R&B Presets
£12
We’re not entirely sure what the “Vintage R&B” part of
the name refers to, but this set of 50 presets for Native
Instruments’ ubiquitous synth doesn’t really require or
warrant categorisation, standing as nothing more or
less than a really nice general purpose soundbank.
Basses, leads, pads, percussion, FX and more are
covered, with thoughtful Macro assignments yielding
good playability. We’re sold, weird marketing
angle notwithstanding.
www.modeaudio.com
n8/10n
February 2015 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 113
mini reviews / reviews <
CMU213.rev_mini.indd 113 10/12/2014 11:50