UVI Emulation II 01/30/2012
Review of UVI Emulation II: For lovers of the sounds of the 80s - Emulation II is a sound library not to be missed. While it has its limitations - it's easy the best 80s sound library on the market.  Revival of the 80s. Although that the 80s had its particular sound in terms of production, such as huge gated snares and cheesy synthesizers, I always look back on the 80s as the time when the soul and definition of pop really got nailed. Sure, what we call pop today springs from many sources such as soul, disco and even rock - but the core of all those catchy melodies and massive intros we're hearing today is so 80s it possibly can be.
Click here to hear (and see) a demo of UVI Emulation II. Add Comment Hollow Sun Cognosphere 01/26/2012
Review of Hollow Sun Cognosphere: Cognosphere is the latest instrument in the Hollow Sun Music Laboratory Machines series and builds its sound from something so unlikely as dusty test-oscillators from the 40s and the 50s.  Let the cogwheel spin. After I bought Techtron I've been eyeing Hollow Sun very closely - especially their Music Laboratory Machines series which is a synthesizer built upon Native Instruments Kontakt engine.
While Techtron was constructed around two oscillators with the same waveform - Cognosphere is an entirely different animal: six oscillators - one noise generator - with sounds sampled from vintage test oscillators from the 40s and the 50s. Fxpansion Tremor 01/17/2012
Review of Fxpansion Tremor: the latest drum machine coming out from the labs of Fxpansion focus entirely on synthesis. Another 909-clone you might ask? Far from it. Tremor takes drum synthesis way more serious than that.  Fxpansion Tremor. In all its essence, Tremor is a drum synthesizer combined with a pattern sequencer. The synthesis method in Tremor is built upon Fxpansions DCAM Synth Squad engine. If you've been using DCAM before, you probably know what this means: authentic analog tones, excellent modulation capabilities, no support for samples, and hard on the cpu.
ShamanStems Dark Progressions 01/12/2012
Review of ShamanStems Dark Progressions: forget about energetic uplifting anthems - the latest library to emerge from sample maker ShamanStems is aimed for the sweet beauty of melancholic house.  Although that ShamanStems is a quite new kid on the block of sound library makers - after four released libraries it's clear that these fellows knows what they are doing.
Their latest release is called Dark Progressions and can easiest be described as a journey into the beauty of melancholia. Here, melancholy is more of sitting down reflecting on life with a cup of tea rather than drowning your problems with a bottle of cheap red wine. You can listen to the official demo of Dark Progressions here. Sample Magic Vintage House 01/11/2012
Review of Sample Magic Vintage House: following the trail from their Hed Kandi library, Sample Magic releases a new collection of sound aimed for back in the day when house was house.  Back to the roots. Long before house sprouted into all the flavors and mutations we're seeing today, the definition of house were pretty defined: a electronic beat machine - usually a 909 - a bass guitar, some electric piano and maybe some synthesizers and that was pretty much it.
In this library Sample Magic relives the era in - by todays measure - a pretty calm tempo of 120 and 125 bpm. This library is aimed for the users who are primary looking for old-school drum sounds and loops toppled with some nice bass loops. Review of Sound of Revolution Kick Free Revolution Vol 3: Oliver Schmitt is back with a new collection of kick free loops. If you are into electro and techno, this is a collection of loops that will help you stand out.  Bring your own kicks. Oliver Schmitt is a man driven by a passion. Just like Deadmau5, Oliver Schmitt knows the art of creating drum loops that sound spot-on modern with a minimum of ingredients. For someone like me - who rather add than take away - it's almost like dark magic. But as the old idiom famously says 'the devil is in the details' - and that's what Oliver Schmitts loops are all about. Tiny details that you barely register but perceive as a whole.
Hollow Sun Techtron 01/08/2012
Review of Hollow Sun Techtron: Techtron is an instrument based on Kontakt 4 built upon two super sawtooth oscillators. Lovers of massive pads and huge sawtooth leads - rejoice. It barely gets better than this.  Supersaw instrument. Hollow Sun is one of those sound designers who flies a bit under the radar. They don't make huge noise of themselves and their presence on the internet is very humble. No clever marketing drops in forum threads. They are just doing their stuff - which they have been doing for years - at a unbelievably low price.
In short Music Laboratory Machines is specialized instruments built on the Kontakt 4 engine and currently there are ten different members of the family. In this short test we'll be looking at Techtron - a synthesizer based on two supersaw oscillators. Wave Alchemy Pro II 12/18/2011
Review of Wave Alchemy Pro II: if Sequential Circuits ever would have released a follow-up to the monophonic Pro One analog synthesizer, it might well have looked like this. Wave Alchemy does a truly remarkable job with its first synthesizer.  If the Minimoog is the dream synthesizer for performers who want to spend as little time as possible designing new sounds, the Sequential Circuits Pro One (and of course its older brother the Prophet 5) are definitely aimed for people who have a deeper interest in designing their own sounds.
As John Bowen once told me in an interview - they didn't add a third ocillator to the Prophet 5 in order to keep costs down, which led them to invent the Poly Mod section - the forerunner to the modulation matrixes we see in most synthesizers today. The Pro One is basically a monophonic version of the Prophet 5 and has all of the Prophet's features: two oscillators, a resonant filter, an lfo and envelopes. Although the Prophet 5 and Pro One are very versatile, I've always found me wishing for more when working with them. One more oscillator, a more flexible filter, one more lfo and so on. When the sampling maestros at Wave Alchemy started to sample the Pro One they did what the people at Native Instruments, Creamware and Arturia have already done: create a faithful clone of a legendary instrument. But Wave Alchemy didn't limit themselves as hard as the other developers did. The spirit of the Prophet is there - but they allowed themselves to expand the concept and take the Pro One into the modern age. Say hello to the Pro II. Waveform Recordings Old School Tech 12/10/2011
Review of Waveform Recordings Old School Tech: This library transports you back to the 90s when techno broke free from house and the focus turned to more synthetic and deeper sounds.  Although the 80s still make an impact on modern productions of today - electro or popish trance - the 90s is in my opinion one of the most underrated decades.
That's when techno moved away from house and rave and started a whole new sound. Old School Tech from Waveform Recording is a collection of 530 megabyte samples and loops, covering this part of musical history. Sample Magic Hed Kandi 11/30/2011
Review of Sample Magic Hed Kandi: Hed Kandi is one of those labels that you directly know what you will get: soulful and uplifting house. So when Sample Magic releases a new sample library with the blessing from Hed Kandi, the biggest question is: can I finally become a Hed Kandi superstar? The answer is not quite. But it lays the foundation.  Everybody seem to know about Hed Kandi. Maybe it's because of their crystal clear profile - both visually as with the music. But it's still kind of weird. People I know who aren't into house knows Hed Kandi. Even connoisseurs who specializes in Indian ragas knows about Hed Kandi.
While the typical Hed Kandi compilations cover lots of ground, it's still quite clear what you get. Electronic/electric funky house. With its own sample library Sample Magic calls the compilation disco-house, which sums it up quite nicely. The library Sample Magic Hed Kandi is not a pool of sounds to cover all aspects of Hed Kandi. | Subscribe news
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