Tubes, tubes, tubes. They are all the rage and fashion and have been popping up in all kinds of instruments, mixers and pedals, but also in quite unexpected gear, such as the 2002 Aopen PC mainboard with a built-in russian-made tube to ensure your pleasure while listening to Gorillaz.

It's all - of course - about distortion.

As with recording to magnetic tape, distorting a tube doesn't clip in the nasty way it does with a/d converters and transistors. The headroom brings something extra. You've all heard about the wonders and magic about TUBE SOUND that brings WARMTH to your mixes. If I sound less than convinced - let me explain my cynicism here. When I read about some hot-shot dance producer talk themselves wet over the WARM sound of their latest gear, I get so tired I cannot finish reading. You wanna hear the truth? You damn morons hear what you want to hear. Period.

Get me right here. I'm not saying it doesn't bring warmth or does work. Oh my, it does. But as tubes bring a seductive glow to your studio, as a girl get an expensive cream packaged in a beautiful box. We expect it to work miracles - and so it does.

In all fairness, I need to stress than I've come to enjoy digital distortion as much as overdriven tapes and tubes. Yes, now I've said it. I'm out of the closet. I am a heretic and I'll probably burn when the time comes, but there you have it. I like digital distortion. Bit crunchers and sample rate munchers - all cool. But I damn LOVE pushing things into the red with any of my daws and pushing the a/d converters of my samplers. Captain Crunch says Oh Sweet Mama. Need some Hank Williams to cool down.

While tube distortion are on the other side of the destruction coin, and while gentle tubification can give a nice fuzzy coating to your digital recordings, as with digital distortion, the really fun stuff begins when you push it.

Say hello to Sidsonic Tubes.

Sidsonic is a group of german enthusiasts and samplists that were behind the Circus Circuit Bending library for Kontakt. In their follow-up library - Tubes! - they explore the world of vacuum tubes according to Eric Barbour. Eric Barbour is a name that will be mentioned a couple of times during this review, so it's a good idea to introduce him right away. Without knowing the man, you can confidently put him in the box labeled Odd. In five foot letters.

Eric Barbour runs a company called Metasonix which specializes in music instruments and effects that are built around tubes. Stomp boxes, multi effects, synthesizers and drum machines. All with tubes in them.

Some people consider Metasonix stuff to be gimmicky, one-trick ponies that serve little purpose than empowering the myth about Eric Barbour, and his wild experiments. While I personally cannot shake the feeling he craves attention, product titles such as Ass-Blaster, Butt Probe and Scrotum Smasher comes to mind - with some agonizing cartoons on the casings - but why bother to care? Every good producer of anything knows that a well designed product is something you can distinctly separate from others and you can also tell when it's being used. Metasonix succeeds with fulfilling both of these criterias so from the Mighty Plughugger HQ we salute you. Blast your way into eternity, friend.

Sidsonic Tubes! is a collection of sound sources that have been treated with a handful of the Metasonix Apparatus. All the way from analog modular synthesizers, via digital synthesizers, to software.

Sidsonic Tubes! by the numbers

Sounds
Acoustic like: 8
Bass: 29
FX: 27
Lead: 26
Pad: 17
Synth: 24

Total number of sounds: 131
Total size: 16,3 gigabyte.

The box (yes yes, box!) is grey and constructed in a folder-like manner. Although not as strikingly cool as the box for Circus Circuit, it's a well-made package.
As with Circus Circuit, there is a 36-page booklet partly describing the instrument itself, plus some history of vacuum tubes - all the way from Edison inventing the lightbulb to the nasty perversions of Eric Barbour/Metasonix. All of this makes some seriously interesting read - even the part where the technical minds of Sidsonic explains how tubes actually work.

But let's not waste any more time - and let's dive right into the distorted world of vacuum tubes.

Tubes! is an instrument built upon Native Instruments Kontakt engine. All the pre-made sounds are divided into six categories; ACOUSTIC LIKE, BASS, FX, LEAD, PAD and SYNTH. As often with categories, they shouldn't be taken too strictly. In the right context, a sound from the PAD category will work excellent as a bass.

While Kontakt is far from a favorite of mine, I think Sidsonic have done as well as they can. My personal single biggest issue with Kontakt is that it's too damn big for handle. It's like that Carbon ensemble for Reaktor - fantastic. Just too damn many parameters anyone less that a parameter freak can handle. Why is that the Minimoog is still one of the coolest synths ever made? Or OSCar/ImpOSCar? Complexity is rarely a good thing while being creative. Thankfully, you are not forced to wade through all the endless menus of Kontakt just to be able to adjust the envelopes a bit - most of the most important parameters are accessible from the front end of the library.
Without going too much into technicalities, but there are five tabs of parameters: main, insert fx, send fx, envelopes and lfos. Main is where you adjust the filters (there are two of them), speed and grain (more about them further on). Insert fx offers a more distortion in form of a cabinet and amplifier, rotator (leslie) and a stereo modeller. Send fx is where you find classic modulation effects, such as phaser/flanger, chorus and delay. The envelopes and lfos can control volume, tune, the cutoff for filters one and two, plus resonance).

Apart from the normal subtractive sound shaping you can do - filtering, envelopes, lfos etc. The two more interesting features is the playback speed/grains and the cabinet/amp. As you might have guessed, the playback speed/grains is a way to change the speed of the actual sample - granular synthesis. It's a way to radically change the character of the sound - quickly. The cabinet/amplifier serves as a last final stage of distorting. I must say that I enjoyed the sound of the cabinets here - they work very well together with these sounds, and the leslie adds a very nice touch.

Although I really really don't want to go there, spreading my own incompetence by dropping catchy adjectives, but I sort of can't avoid it. If I were to describe the sound of Tubes! it would be if you would imagine a hellfire-digital-distorted drum'n bass bass, not sounding that damn digital, but rather analogue. Warm and a bit organic - but very very nasty.

Even though you can use this library for anything - I would say this goes perfect with techno, modern electro, minimalistic styles and for those moments when you need to scare the hell out of your audience or grab them by the proverbial balls. It's excellent for movies where a humongous lizard-godzilla-thingy emerges from the fog.

After playing around with just a four-note sequence in Numerology - it immediately became nasty techno, french style. Something that definitely would please Mr Oizo. There are quite a few Chemical Brothers moments in here as well.
But it's not all instant coolness - you do have to shape the sounds a bit, which leads me to my second criticism of Tubes! I do wish for a bunch of more refined sounds. I get the feeling that Sidsonic basically have sampled a good source of sound, then setting it up in a fairly general setting, then moving on to the next - with basically the same methodology. Being a not too mediocre sound designer myself, I tend to notice things like that. It's not a major criticism, but still. I would love to hear what emerging sound designers such as Rob Lee and Xenos, or for that matter Ben Crossland or BigTone.

Before signing off, I'd also like to point out that the library also comes with a couple of short videos that guides you through the elemental parts of Tubes! There's also one quite entertaining animation well worth checking out.

Conclusion

As with Circus Circuit, Tubes! is not suited for everyone. Even though it's been sampled and set up in the most accurate of fashions - it's not a calm, well-behaved shiny rainbow-pony we're dealing with. It's unruly, mental, odd, unpolished, dirty and absolutely nothing you would add as a last ingredient to a finished upbeat trance mix. That would be like cutting up slices of cake with a chainsaw. These sounds demands a lots in terms of energy and space in a mix - which is a good thing. Lovely sounds with serious character. My only major complaint does not lie with the content, but rather of the vessel, Kontakt. But apart from that - it's a fantastic library that shouldn't be missed.

Sidsonic Libraries Tubes!
Web: www.sidsonic-libraries.com.
Price: 189 euro.
Good: unique sound, unique sound, unique sound.
Bad: Could have done with more designed sounds. Uses Kontakt as the engine.

Review copy: a huge thanks to Sidsonic for NFR review copy.

Berlin based soundmakers Sidsonic are relatively fresh on the library scene, but have succeeded to make quite some fuzz with their two first Kontakt-based libraries Circus Circuit Bending Library and Tubes! While this review only concentrates on Circus Circuit - it's quite clear that Sidsonic is not an ordinary bunch of sound designers. Circus Circuit is (obviously) about circuit bending and Tubes! is a library created from the mad innovations by Eric Barbour/Metasonix. In other words: these boys like it odd.

While circuit bending is widely known to most people by now, it doesn't hurt putting yourself in the right state mind seeing Picachu making funny noises while being electrocuted.

Sidsonic obviously have a penchant for odd, weird noises and we might thank The Maker these guys are german. And that german in the most german of german senses. These guys have no fear fiddling around with electronics, but thankfully they do it in a very methodic fashion, which after over 18000 samples of 14 seriously violated sound-making machines - have been distilled into 179 multi-sampled presets in Kontakt 3 format. While I do know one or two things about sampling old gear, but this must have been a gargantuan amount of a work. Sampling chaotic signals from mental instruments is one thing. Putting them together in playable, multisampled instruments is a whole different matter.

You already get impressed when getting the box. Yes, you read correctly. Box, as in physical item. The box itself is beautifully constructed with two very real rca sockets and a dip-switch on the right side. The sockets and switch serve no other purpose than to make the box stand out, and it sure does. It looks damn cool.

Inside the box there is the installation dvd, serial and a 36-page booklet. Before we move on to the actual meat and potatoes here, I'd just like to say a few words about this booklet. As the box is beautifully constructed, the booklet is a joy to read. Apart from that it describes the actual library, it also gives some history and insight about circuit bending (which started already in the 60s) and spends a lot of space on each and every instrument - about the instruments themselves, their bending capabilities and events that happened during the bending sessions.

Some details about the library:

Number of instruments bent: 14
Size of library: 5.2 gigabyte

Synths:

Casio SK-1: 24
Casio SK-2: 7
Casio SK-200: 16
Texas Instruments Speak & Spell: 14
Texas Instruments V-Tech: 2
Yamaha PSS-140: 19
Yamaha PSS-270: 5
Yamaha VSS-200: 26

Drums:

Alesis HR-16: 9
Boss DR-550: 5
Korg DDD-1: 12
Korg DDD-5: 19
Roland TR-505: 12
Roland TR-626: 9

Total number of patches: 179

As you can see, the library is divided into two parts: synths and drums. Let's start with the synth sounds. Casios sampling keyboard series SK and the Yamaha PSS keyboards are getting most of the attention from the tweakers. All of the sounds can clearly be put in the lofi category, but the Casio SK sounds are the lofi:est of them all. I assume this has to do with that the SK series only has a sample frequency of around 10 kilohertz, which makes the sound dark and damp. While the Yamaha PSS sounds neither can be put into the high fidelity box - those sounds are way brighter and have a total different character.

For those who have experienced circuit bent sounds before, it is most important to point out that these sounds are playable - these are multisampled sounds which are always tonal. Sometimes the sounds are looped - in the sense they give you a rhythmical pattern or in the sense it holds the tone steady as long as you press the key.

The sound range from slightly odd to quite odd - but never goes too far into the acidic fog of burned capacitors. The character is moody, melancholic. There is very little for any upbeat happiness here. It's very easy to see how well these sounds would work for animated short stories, such as the odd sounds of Rupert - The Dancing Demon. If you're a fan of Native Instruments Gaugear ensemble for Reaktor - this library is right up your alley, but is - in my opinion - more usable.

The patch names are not very descriptive, which isn't a big thing, but sometimes they are outright confusing. I know what I would expect from a patch called 'synth bass' and that's definately not a analogue reedish long-release padish sound. No big deal, but still.

While I personally found a lot of interesting ideas for odd melodies in the synth section, my favorite part of this collection is without a doubt the drums. First of all, Sidsonic have not - as so often is the case - provided us with all kicks, snares etc in separate presets, but have taken the effort to collect them into usable drum kits.

If you got Kontakt you know that you have access to most of the parameters and can fiddle around with the sounds as much as you want, but if you're bound to use Kontakt Player - it's good to know there are five pages with parameters you can access. For the drum presets, each preset also provides unique settings for kick, snare, tom, cymbal and the percussion. This really makes a difference. It's extremely easy to tweak these drum sounds and it's absolutely lovely as well. There is a solo button that let's you focus on one drum at a time. Creating seriously odd beats and breaks is highly enjoyable. Ever wanted to go for that Fractal Techno you've been dreaming about? Now's the time.

It's good that Sidsonic provides a shortcut to all important parameters, because - getting off topic for a moment - there are few things I detest more, than editing parameters inside Kontakt. It's a damn mess of parameters and fold-out menus and the fact that I have to resort to the manual just to find a simple function that exists in every sampler made since Akai and E-mu were the hottest names on the street, is in my opinion a huge fail for Native Instruments. I have no love for Steinberg Halion, but I do hope said coming version is going to put some pressure on the Natives, because this is neither practical or inspiring.

Enough of Kontakt-bashing and let's get back to Circus Circuit. One very very cool thing is that Sidsonic have supplied you with a quite a number of impulse responses, but instead of them sounding like reverbs, they coats the sounds in an additional layer of oddness. They are very difficult to describe and it's even more difficult to find any favorites. One effect might be glorious on one sound, but might be boring on another.

Also worth to mention is that Sidsonic have a bunch of quite useful video tutorials on their website, on how you navigate and can use the library. Here's on the Boss DR-550 drum machine.

Conclusion
When I wrote my review of Loopmasters library Circuit Bent Sounds Vol2, my biggest wish was that it would be so damn nice to hear sound designers do something useful with these madly weird sounds. To take circuit bending to the next level, so to speak.
This is it. With Circus Circuit Sidsonic are serving you a wealth of seriously unique sounds and have made all the dirty work for you. While many of the sounds work straight out of the box, the real fun begins when you start mucking about with the filters and lfos. Sounds tend to change very rapidly with these sounds. There are no libraries that deals with circuit bending on the planet better. This is the Holy Grail for circuit bending fans and a goldmine for anyone who are looking for odd, moody sounds. Brilliant.

Sidsonic Libraries Circus Circuit Bending Library
Web: www.sidsonic-libraries.com.
Price: 189 euro.
Good: Inspiring, unique, well executed, fantastic drums.
Bad: Nothing really.

Review copy: a huge thanks to Sidsonic for NFR review copy.

"Genres come and go, dancefloor tastes change, new influences permeate studios but some things in dance music are staples: sonic fundamentals that are permanent fixtures in the producers’ arsenal. Effects are such staples."

The above is a direct quote from the manual of latest library from Sample Magic, Ultimate FX. During the last three-four years I've developed a habit of always reaching for my Vengeance effect libraries when in any kind of troubles during production. A few well-placed effects can spice up any track quite a few notches. Whatever people might be saying about Vengeance - for dance music - their effects libraries are among the best, if not the best. As being a serious effect junkie, my pulse took a bungy-jump the moment when I saw the words 'Sample Magic' combined with 'FX'. Being a fanboi is a double edged sword. I'm not only expecting to get a good library with effects, I'm expecting it to make my current libraries a thing of the past, make my upcoming 8-bit remix of Miami Porno Machine perfect and cure my aching tooth. Make no mistake you gentlemen over at Sample Magic. Fans are cool to have, but most of us are insane.

At the first glance, Ultimate FX seem to deviate little from the walked up path of dance effect libraries. We've got cymbal hits, down-falls, fills, hits, impacts, noise loops and uplifters. The usual gang. As with many releases from Sample Magic, the tempo dependent sounds come in two flavors: 125 and 128 bpm. While the tempo police and audio connoisseurs might appreciate the finer details of these two tempos, I personally feel it's a wasted opportunity. I am aware that not everybody lives in the world of simple elastic audio a la Ableton Live, so I won't take my criticism further. But still. I would have appreciated two more different tempos, such as 125 and 110. The good thing about it is that the 125 bpm sounds and the 128 bpm sounds are not the same. No wasted space on doubles in other words.

Before we start digging the bytes, let's have a closer check at the numbers.

Crash & Cymbals: 32
Falls & descenders - 125 bpm: 55
Falls & descenders - 128 bpm: 50
Fills - classic fills - 125 bpm: 23
Fills - classic fills - 128 bpm: 23
Fills - glitch fills - 125 bpm: 20
Fills - glitch fills - 128 bpm: 23
Fills - nu-rave fills - 125 bpm: 24
Fills - nu-rave fills - 128 bpm: 24
Fills - twisted vox fills - 125 bpm: 18
Fills - twisted vox fills - 128 bpm: 18
Impacts & bombs: 22
Layered fx (examples): 14
Machinery hits - 125 bpm: 13
Machinery hits - 128 bpm: 9
Noise & detail loops - 125 bpm: 17
Noise & detail loops - 128 bpm: 19
Orchestral hits: 11
Risers & lifters - 125 bpm: 55
Risers & lifters - 128 bpm: 63
Synth fx - chords: 34
Synth fx - reverse: 25
Synth fx - single: 43
Tape, vinyl & static fx: 26

Total number of samples: 661

As you can see, the samples are organized into detail. But not just that - the downsweeps and the uplifters are also marked with how many bars they play: 1, 2, 4, 8 up to 16. While looking at the file size is enough to judge on how long samples are, this make selection more convenient and the fact that Sample Magic have named each and every sample is another nice touch.

Uplifters are an all-time favorite of mine, so let's begin the tour right there. The majority of these samples are uplifters in the synthetic spirit, and by that I mean that they sound synthetic. In many cases you can clearly hear the layering of different elements. There are lots of analogue-style ufo/lfo-kind of warbling layered with noise and tonal components. It's also interesting to hear that these uplifters aren't merely volume fade-ins, but many of them evolve during time as well often with a small energizing push at the end. Although some tonal, but mostly not, I must confess I wished for more tonal upsweepers. More tonal and more complex. Tonal upsweeps are generally more difficult to use, but I've found fading in dark atmospheric drones can be a cool trick. But my finding lack of complexity was not random and had a deeper purpose. In the manual, Sample Magic advices not to use one uplifter but layer several different on top of each other. Take one 16 bar uplifter and layer it with an 8 bar and a 2 bar - and play them all together and make sure they all end at the same spot - a trick that turns out to lightning a bowl of tequila with your fingertips. Incredibly effective. Another clever thing is that these samples are surprisingly unprocessed - no delays or reverb one these babies. Clean and ready for your own processing. Good! Sample Magic have also made a few examples to show how this technique can be used.

In contrast to many other producers I've never really understood the point of downsweeps/downfalls. Upsweeps - oh yes - but downfalls? Maybe I've got a natural talent for easing off parts and preparing them to go offline. Maybe I'm just plain dumb. But no matter. The downsweeps are in many regards the same stuff as the upsweeps but the other way around. They are synthetic, come in different lengths, not too complex by their own and most definitely can be layered, and many are built around noise. I personally liked the shorter ones best, as they can be used as softer impact sounds.

Another part where Sample Magic put a lot of their effort is with the fills. Now, if there is anything more difficult to create in a sample library than a decent non-repetitive collection of single drums, it's most definitely fills. Creating fills is an art by itself and the temptation of going to libraries for fills is hard to resist. The only problem is that it seldom works. Creating fills with drum elements that aren't anywhere else on the drum channel often sound artificial and is more like an effect. It must be said though, that cutting in a fill with a totally different sound can be damn cool. It's like when DJing and instead of mixing hitting stop on the 1210 and get that classic vinyl stop effect and start the next song after a minimal pause (viva le 90s). Stuff that earn you cool-points for sure, but must be used sparse. If use pre-made fills too often, your productions are going to feel cheap. So try to resist the temptation of using them too often - which in this case is damn difficult. Some - no, wait - most of these fills are noting short of brilliant and are just begging to be used.
The Twisted vox fills are quite different from the rest. While the Glitch fills feels hitech the vocals are quite radical. Me, personally wouldn't really call these vocal fills, but rather Looped FX Vocals or something. They sure work as fills, but can equally be used during longer periods, such as for a shorter break.

The Impacts is a collection of 22 huge, reverb-drenched kick drum-esque sounds - usually with some layering to give them slightly more complex shimmer. Instant massiveness right out of the box - boom.

The most odd section of Ultimate FX is most definitely the Synth FX section. Here, your hard working sonic adventurer was expecting classic synth effects, analogue squeeks, zaps, rumblings and an armada of lfo-wobbling. To my surprise there was none of that. Not. One. Single. Analogue. Zap. Imagine that (rhyme unintended). No, this category consists of over 100 synth sounds and stabs and all of them are up to the high standards we are expected to see from SM. The reversed section contains reversed sounds and stabs and works great for alternative uplifters.

The Tape, Vinyl & Static section contains exactly what you expect. The vinyl crackles here are by far the most tastiest - very cool and totally authentic, as are the short static sounds from radio. Apart from a few vinyl spins, this category is like finding an old box of dusty records and a tube-driven radio.
The orchestral section contains a few handful orchestral sounding impacts - no orchestral stabs - but percussion-like impacts. When talking about impacts - although there already exists a impact category, 'Machinery hits' is a great addition, with some serious booms and impacts, loops as well as single sounds.

Interesting to note, the included booklet is more useful than normal. Instead of the usual bragging about how hot The Stuff You've Just Bought, there are a couple of pages with some useful production tips. If you've read Sample Magic's book about dance music production, you'll know that these people know their stuff and the tips here are both useful and relevant. A small thing, but sure made the Value-meter jump up a notch.

Conclusion
There is no question that Sample Magic have done an excellent job with Ultimate FX. There are no weak parts - in fact, many of the sounds are selected and produced in a very conscious way giving the producer room for his/hers own processing taste: the uplifters/downsweeps are not drenched in reverb or delays - but the impact-sounds are. Just the way they should be. Although I am not a huge fan of downsweeps or pre-recorded fills - that entirely is my personal taste, and I know other producers who find them both useful and inspiring. If you are looking for a fresh injection of effects - this should be one of the first libraries to check out. Full of win.

Sample Magic Ultimate FX
Web: www.samplemagic.com.
Price: 47 UK pounds (download).
Good: Excellent quality. Inspiring material. Useful and relevant tips in the booklet.
Bad: Nothing bad.

Review copy: big thanks to Sample Magic for NFR review copy.

Gerald Simpson is a legend. While pretty much anyone who played at the Hacienda in Manchester are legends in my book, but Monsieur Gerald is more legendarish than the rest. While he'll always be remembered as the guy who were behind tracks such as Voodoo Ray and Pacific (808 State), his catalogue and works stretches far beyond. My earliest memory of A Guy Called Gerald is from one of my insanely hip friends who sent me an early mixtapes with G before he got big and starting redefining the sound of house. Big words - but while Marshall Jefferson might be the granddaddy of the US house movement - I would personally name Gerald Simpson as one of founders of modern house.

So when Loopmasters announced a sample library called Deep Techno Sessions by A Guy Called Gerald/Gerald Simpson I was over it the instant it was released. Unfortunately, the thing called life came and sucked out every opportunity to go through the library, so here we go. A month later or so.

Turn on the kettle and let's start chewing on some of the numbers.

WAV Loops

Atmospheres and FX: 49
Bass loops: 63
Chord progressions: 13
Drum loops: 127
Musical loops: 46

WAV Single shots

Bass hits: 59
Instrument sounds: 32
Misc: 19

Kicks: 39
Snares: 31
Hats: 45
Cymbals: 21
Toms: 25
Percussion: 40
FX: 19

Total drum hits: 220
Total single sounds: 330
Total drums: 347

Total loops: 298
Total samples: 628
Total time: 44 minutes 32 seconds.


While Deep Techno Sessions isn't a huge library it is well balanced. As with All Libraries Called Techno there is a fair number of drum-related samples in here, so let's start there and let's go directly to the common areas of trouble and tedious repetition: the single drum sounds.

With 39 kicks, 31 snares and 45 hats you never feel overwhelmed. The selection is well thought-out and covers a broad area. There are kicks for minimalistic electro as well as the stone hard punches for the clubs - there are even a few kicks distorted all the way into gabber-land.

The snares confirms Geralds deeper understanding of drums. There are of course the traditional both 909 and 808 sounding snares - but surprisingly few of them - and on top of that there are quite a few acoustic snares.

The percussion sounds are sort of a mixed bag with claps, toms, shakers, rim shots, snaps and even some effect-like sounds. With only 40 sounds, these sounds is a good foundation of what most people would use as percussion. On the other hand, they are not original nor does score high on the impress-o-meter. A useful selection of additional drum sounds.

What I like about the selection of drums is that they doesn't repeat themselves to death. Yes, turning a knob on the 909 one anthair to the left indeed results in a different sound. But, really. Who gives? This is a small collection of drum sounds that are easy to handle and sounds good. Electric & acoustic. Clean & layered. It's not what I would call the Final Collection of Drums, but very well thought out and highly usable.

The bass sounds are organized as one file per sound. In other words, there are no multiple takes of the same bass sound - which personally is fine by me. I never learnt to appreciate multi sampled synthesizer sounds anyway. Strings, brass and piano - great. But synthesizer sounds? I usually manage with single shots. So that leaves the user with almost 60 bass sounds. The sounds stretch from deep sub basses to aggressive techno-nastiness and all have a moody and a bit aggressive feel to them. Although you most definitely can use them for your upcoming Lu Lu Lu-cover, but they suit best among more wilder animals. Another good thing about the bass sounds is that they are unprocessed. No massive reverbs, hell-house eq curves or distortion. Just plain bass sounds. Which make them very suitable for being violated by your own tools.

Before we move on to the loops, just a few words about the instrument sounds. Despite that logic and sense would have us assume that the instruments folder contains synthesizer sounds that you can use to build melodies with - the larger part of these sounds are surprisingly more of an atmospheric nature: pads and drones, there are even a few bass sounds in there, which kind of make this category into a I-don't-know-where-to-put-these-sounds, but that aside, the sounds are excellent. Especially the soundscapes and pads - which have a dark, brooding feel to them.

Leaving the DIY-area we head straight over to the beef: the drum loops. All in all there are 127 of them and while there are a few kickless loops in there, the vast majority are with kicks. The pre-set tempos are 116, 120, 127 and 130 BPM and most of them are electronic. If I should would point to the area where this library reaches its peak - this is it. These drum loops are damn, damn, damn good. Although I've come a long way from the classic fourfour pumping since the hight of my personal commercial success in the nineties - I can't match this guys drum-programming voodoo. As with all intelligent techno/house/dance music, the drums play an active role in the music and these loops do that with top grades. They are like small worlds. The only negative thing I can say about them is that it would have been great with a few variations, or at least one without kick. Thankfully, the loops kind of play in the same sounding domain, which make it not too difficult to switch loops during a track. I was equally impressed with the acoustic loops as well. Although much fewer, the acoustic loops feel genuine and not ripped of by some old heavy metal or funk record. Fresh.

The rest of the loops are also of high quality. The basses have a low edge and are more rhythmical rather than melodic. As with the chord progressions, the basses are coated in a serious/moody vibe, which works great with the drum loops. The Musical section is not that musical really. Or at least not melodic, if that what you mean with musical. It's made up by higher, tonal rhythmical sounds - sure - but as with the basses, the treat is the combination of sound and rhythm, rather than a catchy melody.

Conclusion
Deep Techno Sessions is a damn fine library. It's not overprocessed and it's not overwhelming. Although the selection of both tonal and drum samples are highly relevant, the main treat is the drum loops which are superbly programmed. The moodiness and darkness is present through all of the sounds which also gives the library a uniform direction. Fantastic.

Loopmasters A Guy Called Gerald/Deep Techno Sessions
Web: Loopmasters.
Price: 35 UK pounds (download).
Good: Uniform library for darker house. Good collection of drum samples. Fantastic drum loops.
Bad: Slightly uninspiring percussion sounds.

Review copy: big thanks to Loopmasters for NFR review copy.

It must be the oldest trick in the book, but it is still one of the most underused ones. Yes - it's time for our monthly reminder of The Value of Contrast. Among all the shiny sports cars in bright colors, the black matte is the one that immediately grabs the attention. In the metro you'll immediately spot the one with a red jacket - or yellow - in the sea of dark, greyish, anonymous coats. To be able to go faster, you actually don't need to go faster. It's way more effective of adding something going slower, and you'll get the illusion of higher speed.

When I first heard about Prime Loops Ambient Illusions were not about mixing styles, or using contrasts, but my first thoughts went to the musical geniuses/madmen KLF.

I know - I am ancient, but in my book KLF made the most definite definition of the musical style ambient with their album Chill Out. Forget about White Room, that was only to please the masses. And yeah, sure. Brian Eno should be mentioned, Jarre, Aphex Twin and so on. But nothing comes close to the geniality of Chill Out. If I were sent off to a desert island and I could only choose one album: this would be the one, and I wouldn't hesitate about it either.

So naturally I was intrigued when I saw Prime Loops released an ambient sound library, and I must confess I was hoping for a collection of distant trains and sheep and maybe some hazy country guitar - equally naturally I didn't hear any of that nor Elvis Presley on the radio. Bummer.

Ambient Illusions is a synthetic library with inspiration drawn from Eno, Jarre, Tangerine Dream and also partly the Orb. When I say synthetic, I mean synthetic in an analog sense, but not purist analog - rather, analog sounds treated with modern production techniques. Behind this library is the Prime Loops producer Dimitry Vasilyev who have used mainly Rolands and Korgs as the source of sound: Alpha Juno, Juno-106, MKS-10, Mono/Poly and Poly-800. The synthetic foundation is clear, but it's executed in a clever way so you don't think too much about it. I assume that most of the work designing this library was during the processing.

Ambient Illusions by the numbers:

Formats: WAV, Apple Loops, Ableton Live Pack, Acid Loops, Akai MPC and FL Studio.

Synthloops: 96
Seqloops: 11
Arploops: 3
Ambientloops: 2
Musicloops: 2
Percloop: 1
Bassloop: 1
Chordloop: 1
Eploop: 1
Pianoloop: 1
Unmarked loop: 1

Total number of loops: 120

Tempo: 65 - 140 bpm

All loops are marked by type, base key and tempo, which makes them easy to use. Although every sound is set to a category, I would rather say that these categories should only be regarded as guidance as they move fluidly between styles. In general Seqloops have a more ploppy character as has the Percloop. The majority of loops are in the so called Synthloop category, which is a sort of a mixed bag category. There are lazy chords, odd melodies of sorts, bell-like loops - reverse is used quite a bit in the Synthloops - arpeggios, atmospheric drones. Uplifting, magical, moody and disturbing. But nothing really scary. Unfortunately I might add.

The loops are long - usually from 15 to 30 seconds - which is not just spent on repeating the theme over and over again, but the loops evolve quite a bit and usually comes back together again when the loop starts over again. In other words, the work behind this library is not sloppy.

Conclusion
Despite that me and Prime Loops (and the rest of the world for that matter) might not agree with the true sense of the musical style ambient, they indeed capture the soul of it. The sounds are well worked out but never crosses the border of becoming something that really grabs your attention - which is the point of the whole genre.
The only negative thing I can say is that 120 sounds feels more like a taster than a real library. There were many moments when I wished for a few variations, or some loops in the similar spirit.
Although I clearly can see how these loops can be used in ambient creations, I would say that these loops might be perfect for game developers, or - which brings me back in a full circle: use for contrasts. These loops works truly great if you are a producer who likes to experiment with styles. Slap a furious distorted break on top of a mellow pad is always effective as hell. Contrasts. Remember that. Class over.

Prime Loops Ambient Illusions
Web: www.primeloops.com
Price: 18 UK pounds.
Good: well-produced loops which captures the spirit of ambient music. Cheap.
Bad: wouldn't have hurt with a few more loops.

Review copy: thanks to Prime Loops for NFR review copy.

The first thing to notice after a first, quick listen is that Best Service isn't too clear about the structure and idea behind the library. The website nor the enclosed pdf documentation sheds any light of what the categories mean. Ok - pretty much everyone can figure out what upsweeps, impacts and atmos mean - but modulations? or PreArrangementFX?

Straight out from the virtual box - K-Size FX Edition is big. 1400 wav effects spread over 1,33 gigabyte is quite a lot and multiply that with the additional formats for acid, rex2, Stylus RMX, NNXT, Live 8, Kontakt 3, Halion, EXS24, Battery 2 and Apple loops.

For the sake of clarity this review focus only on the wav format. Rex-lovers only get the loops pre-chopped.

WAV by the numbers:

Atmos: 115
Downsweeps: 101
Hits: 131
Impacts: 104
Loops 128 Bpm (mixed): 200
Loops 128 Bpm (simple): 100
Modulations: 66
Noise: 23
PreArrangementFX: 40
Singleshots: 204
UpSweeps Long: 100
UpSweeps Medium: 102
UpSweeps Short: 114

Total number of loops: 300
Total number of one-shots: 1100
Total number of files: 1400

The atmospheric sounds are mainly synthetic, and by synthetic I not only mean sounds that have a synthetic origin, but sounds which have a synthetic edge to them. There are exceptions, of course. One sample sounds like it's been recorded on a busy marketplace somewhere. The style of the atmospheres goes from neutral to moody to uplifting. There are not so much material that could fit your latest track in the Horror Techno genre though - sure - there are lots of tense and even disturbing moments, but the really scary stuff are absent from this library. Although not short, these atmospheric soundscapes aren't long either (which in a way make them shortish, of sorts). It's not uncommon for atmospheric sounds to drone on for twenty seconds or so. With these sounds the average is usually around 6-13 seconds.

The downsweeps are intended to pave the way for a new musical part such as a break. Again, the style is of a synthetic nature and there are classic analog 'ufo landing' sounds (Zzzz) to vinyl stops and events combined with a long reverb tail, sometimes layered with a crash cymbal and delay.
Personally, I've never really understood the point of downsweeps. Upsweeps - oh my, yes, but down? Does not rub our kettle. But if you need some inspiration - these will undoubtedly be of help.

The categories Hits and Impacts are so closely related that it makes more sense to write about them together. Generally speaking, Hits contains impact/hit-sounds with a deeper end - usually a kick drum at the bottom and a crash cymbal, noise or synth sound on top - with a massive amount of reverb and delay. Impacts contains sound of a lighter style. Generally speaking, I would describe the Impacts as Hits minus the kick.
These kind of sounds are highly useful for to create depth in any track. A classic trick is to start with an upsweep then finish it with an impact. Very effective to quickly create drama and release. On one hand, these hits and impacts doesn't bring anything new into the arena - but in all fairness they don't have to. These are designed to lift your attention for a few moments and they do this in the best possible of ways. There are over 230 of them and the selection is varied - they span from dark and moody to huge and filled with energy.

With K-Size FX Edition comes 300 loops divided into two folders: mixed loops and simple loops. These loops are all in the popular house tempo of 128 bpm and can best be described as synth-percussion-esque loops. The loops in the 'simple loops' folder can easily be sorted into a kickless loop category - here you'll find hihat loops and synth-style percussion. The style is more towards minimal techno rather than classic house. The sounds are sparse and often programmed in a more intelligent way (compared with static 16th hihats and open hats between the beats). These loops are made with care and are a part of the highlights of this collection.
The 'mixed loop' category is still based on percussive sounds but have been processed to the degree they become something else: resonators are used a lot to turn percussive loops into tonal and rhythmical loops, filter sweeps, short delays to make the sounds stutter and bit crushers. 'Mixed loop' is a mixed bag category with no clear definition - just rhythmical loops that once have been percussion.

The noise category is interesting and worth a mention. Instead of just having a bunch of samples of different colored noise - these samples have a flavor toward crash cymbals, open hats and impacts - but since they only are based on noise, they sound interesting. Half on the mark - half off the mark if you know what I mean.

Finally we come to the upsweeps. While it's not difficult make these kind of effects yourself, they are often extremely useful to have around. Many problems with breaks that don't hold together can (partially) be solved by using upsweeps. In this library there are 300 upsweeps and they are all sorted into folders of length: long, medium and short.
These samples are actually quite nifty and in many cases very well done. Example - some of the samples doesn't just use the normal fade-in to achieve the upsweep but there are tonal sweeps as well and sounds that change character during the transition. The long sweeps are indeed long and gradually introduce the effect. They span from reversed reverb-crashes type to ambiences that are building up in a very clever way.


Conclusion
While I'm always bashing on Loopmasters libraries that they generally are too short, this library shows the opposite. Numbers never tells the truth - although it's very tempting to believe so. Best Service K-Size FX Edition is not by any means a bad quality product. It got highs and lows, just like any other library. But I can't shake the feeling that this library would have been a better one if its producer would throw away a third of the samples and distill this whole package to a more condensed form. Its main strengths are the loops and upsweeps - two very important areas - but many of the one shots and other effects feels so uninspired that even the royalty-free sounds from Future Music and Computer Music are better.

Best Service K-Size FX Edition
Web: www.bestservice.de / www.soundstosample.com (distributor)
Price: 87 euro.
Good: very good kick-free loops and very clever upsweeps.
Bad: many of the effects are uninspiring. Expensive.

Review copy: thanks to Sounds to Sample for NFR review copy.

One of the most important wisdoms I've learned in life is that it doesn't really matter what you do, but almost everything depend on the way you do it. Art, food, live performances, riding bicycles and of course, sample libraries. There is no formula. Just a matter of taste. And as a thumb of rule it usually pays to be bold. After my first listen to the demos of Beatservs latest library Clash, I have to admit that I was quite confused. It's a sample library, alright. It's drum loops and according to its maker, is intended for electronica, glitch and IDM.

But from my narrow horizon I was as stunned as finding a three-legged alien outside my door inviting itself in for a beer. What can you say? Of course you're intrigued.

Beatserv Clash by the numbers:

There are 328 loops which comes either as wavs and Apple Loops.
Tempo: 68-186 bpm.

Single sounds: 245 - which comes as wavs, NI Battery kits and Drum Racks for Live 8.


After a systematic approach the logic and structure behind Clash is easy to understand. There are 42 folders which are sorted into four different types. The first folder-type contains the loops acoustic and unaltered. The second, third and fourth sets of folders contains the loops - altered, processed and various degrees. There are about ten different loops in each category and each of these come in a couple of variations and with unique fills.

The whole thing about variations actually has a deeper meaning and is quite interesting - it all comes down to this: Clash is based on the Iron Chef concept. After fumbling around in the dark places of Youtube I found out two things. The concept is asian and it has something to do with food. Luckily Beatservs Dean Dunakin came to rescue: "The Iron Chef is a popular Japanese game show of sorts, in which a number of chefs are given the same ingredients, and they have to out-do one another for some judges. We did the same thing with audio, having our drummer play live beats on the drumset, then three of our producers sliced and diced them into new beats, and we included all the variations and the original source drumming in the set."

Clear as german sausage soup. And I must say, a quite intriguing way of working. The original loops are played by a gentleman called Corey McCafferty. The first variation set is made by Corey McCafferty, the second by Dean Dunakin and the last of the variation sets is made by Wade Alin.

Although I'm not a huge fan of straight loops recorded from an acoustic drum set, these loops are played with enough boldness and attitude to make me confident that mister McCafferty has one or two ninja skills in drumming. As an ignorant non-drummer, my vocabulary and knowledge is somewhat limited, but the loops feel loose in a natural way and it's also interesting to hear small tricks such as delaying some hits so long they almost sound wrong, but instead creates a groove on a different level.

When it comes to the three remaining folder types, the loops have been processed with various tools so that they no longer sound acoustic, but rather like an acoustic-synthetic hybrid of some sorts.

Generally speaking, the loops processed by Corey McCafferty have a slight lofi sound over them - but lofi in the traditional sense, before lofi meant bitcrusher. The sound is filtered and compressed. The compressor gate gets lots of use which make the loops less fluid and more jumpy then the originals.

The second variation folder (Dean Dunakin) continues explores the world of lofi, but this time from a different angle. As with the previous style, the main tools here are filters and dynamic processors, but used differently than before. Also, this time bitcrushers have been used, reversal of beats and delays in an intelligent way to make the beats more evolving (here intelligent means careful use at occasional places, rather than full-on all of the time).

The fourth variation type is made by Wade Alin and is more processed and experimental. Personally, this is where I felt Clash took off for real, but then I am a sucker for ignorance as long as it's done in a big way. Effects such as gating, reversal, stuttering and even the use of resonators: the effects are more pronounced here. More distortion. More attitude. The only backside of this is that sometimes the loops becomes technical marvels rather than musically useful - but those moments are rare and is also to be expected in any library that pushes borders.

Lastly there are 200+ one shot drum hits divided into three folders in form of a bonus section. These samples come either as separate wavs, as NI Battery kits or Ableton Live 8 Drum Racks. These kits contains percussive sounds that stretch from the normal to the highly processed. From classic drum sounds to odd percussive glitches. No doubt usable material if you're after acoustic drums processed in unusual ways.

Conclusion
Beatserv is like a good foreign restaurant in a small town. They give you a specialized taste of something you cannot get anywhere else. Clash is a very good antidote for four-on-the-floor and I personally felt the loops came to their strength in tempos around 100 bpm, where there are more room for cool rhythmical details.
The biggest problem for me is that the loops are so damn interesting on their own that it's difficult - if not impossible to force them into any pre-made song. This is the main dish. Sounds and whatever you want to add are probably better off by being built with the loops as a fundament. For other types of music rather than intelligent techno, unicorn rave and ghost jazz - these beats works very well for creating totally unexpected time-outs for pop-ish productions where you need a moment to break away from your main course.

Beatserv Clash
Web: www.beatserv.com
Price: 50 dollars.
Good: Interesting acoustic/synthetic hybrid loops and breaks. Unique style.
Bad: Some of the single drum sounds sound like they've been cutted directly from the audiofiles. But since the drum singles are a bonus category - that's not a big issue.

Review copy: thanks to Beatserv for NFR review copy.

Behind this pack of samples is a fellow named Steve Vasquez, a DJ, producer and sound designer who teamed up with the label Industrial Strength which is distributed by Loopmasters. Despite its name - Computer Core is not a reference to blippy 8 bit sounds you might expect, but rather the opposite. The revival of gabber? Yes - almost. The head-banging hardness is certainly there.

Ze numbers:

WAV (same numbers applies to the Apple Loops)

Loops: 95

Atmospheres: 11
Noizes: 53

Bassdrums: 6
Claps: 5
Crashes: 5
Distorted Kicks: 55
Hihats: 9
Rides: 7
Snares: 5
Sub Basses: 5

REX:

Loops: 95

Tempo: 145-160 BPM


The focus are set to two aspects of this library: the loops and the kicks. The loops are divided into six folders with descriptive names such as percussion, kick and noise, to non-descriptive names as corrosive and fractured. While I cannot figure out the logic behind the divisions (apart from some are full-on loops and some are more of a percussive nature) - I don't feel it matters. 95 loops is not that difficult to keep track of and the style of the loops are generally the same: very fast (145-160 BPM) and very processed. I would describe the sound as circuit-bending meets gabber on a bad day. This pack is not about finesse or smart minimalistic breaks - it's about force and lots of it.

With that said, this pack is not just about kick, kick/snare, kick, kick/snare with all distortion units set to eleven - there are a few clever loops that creates some funk as well. Although I've been in clubs where they play this kind of chainsaw-massacre beats - I can without any problem see that these loops would work equally well for parts in movies or commercials where you need a dose of high-tech punk.

During the review my thoughts repeatedly went to the sounds of the old sample libraries Methods of Mayhem, Terminalhead and the Elab Xtortion.

Moving on. Yhe atmospheres are ok - but I felt them to be a little too ambient and too much on the safe side to perfectly match with the brutality of the beats. As a matter of personal taste, I would have preferred atmospheric sounds of a more horror-movie style.

The drum-shots are - in all honesty - a total sleeping pill. They are more or less the same TR-909 sounds we've all heard a million times and already occupy an unfair amount of space on our hard drives - with the sole exception of the distorted kicks. The distorted selection of kicks is brutal to say the least and goes all the way to insane. A cool detail is that some of the kicks are looped at the end which gives them a grain-synthetic feeling.

Conclusion
Although Computer Core might not cover its genre better than the other products available in the death-synth-genre - I enjoyed the sample pack quite a lot. With so many well-behaved libraries out there, Computer Core felt quite refreshing in a sadistic kind of way. Well worth a listen if you woke up on the kinky side.
A funny notion - in the enclosed pdf-booklet it's said that this pack totally was made from software. I must say I find it nice to see a backlash to all oh-we-have-been-only-using-the-finest-equipment-that-we-polish-with-catskin-every-day. You know the drill by now don't you? That's right. Who cares. A good loop is a good loop, even made with Synthedit.

Industrial Strength Computer Core
Web: www.loopmasters.com / www.industrialstrengthrecords.com
Price: 18 UK pounds.
Good: Very effective loops. Brutal and full of attitude.
Bad: Nobody needs another sampled set of the 909.

Review copy: thanks to Loopmasters for NFR review copy.

Oliver Schmitt aka Sounds of Revolution is on a roll. Not only is his label Sounds of Revolution distributed by Mutekki Media who helped make Vengeance into fame, but lately he's got Tiesto, Timo Maas and Adam Beyer among his fans. When it comes to endorsement of famous artists in the same genre as yourself, for me it's hard not to become suspicious. All it takes is a photo of the artist smiling broadly next to the product, and at the next moment he's trotting off with a bag full of money to receive a truckload of free gear. But when it comes to endorsement for a sample library - even during my darkest and most cynical moments I simply cannot imagine Maas, Tiesto or Beyer not to afford a sample library for 80 euros.
So no. For once I set aside my ideas of sinister conspiracy theories and accept that they actually dig the stuff. Which is not hard to believe anyway. Once you start to listen to it. As the title suggests, this library has a clear direction. After my initial listen I would personally mark this library as proper techno. Not pop, no trance, no endless carpets of evolving pads. It's hard, at times clinical and sparse - there are no trendy supersaws in here. In other words, this is a library for the producer who a new fresh platform to create techno with.

The package is divided into four parts: wav, apple loops, rex and Kontakt Monolith. In this test I'm only focusing on the wav files which spans over one gigabyte and almost 2200 files. Let's break down the pack into its numbers:

WAV

Bass sounds: 93
Bass loops: 58
Claps: 36
Classic percussion: 93
Hihat closed: 63
Hihat open: 71
Ride: 21
Crash: 25
Drum loops: 589
Electro stuff (percussive sounds): 161
Fragment: 128
Kicks: 130
Percussion: 122
Effect - atmos: 24
Effect - granular: 29
Effect - oneshot: 73
Effect - processed live rec: 56
Effect - reverse: 30
Effect - sweep: 20
Shaker: 32
SID (percussive sounds): 74
Snare: 141
Synth sounds: 27
Synth loops: 46
Tom: 30

Total drum sounds: 1127
Total tonal sounds: 139
Total effect sounds: 232

Total drum loops: 589
Total tonal loops: 104

Total single sounds: 1498
Total loops: 693

Total files: 2191

Tempo: 127 bpm

REX (the same numbers goes for the Apple Loops as well)

Bass loops: 58
Drum loops: 589
Synth loops: 46


It takes just a few moments to realize that Minimal Techno Revolution is a library heavy on the drums. Of all 2191 sounds there are less than a fourth of the space that is dedicated to something else than drums. Speaking generally here, while I do appreciate libraries with a developed section for drums, I feel that most libraries today don't have a balance between drums and non-percussive sounds. Without going into the details about the quality of this library, I cannot help myself from thinking that a few more tonal sounds wouldn't have hurt. 1127 single drum sounds vs. 139 tonal sounds. Or to put it more plainly: me wants more. Actually much more.

But let's focus on what Minimal Techno Revolution is, instead of going into detail of what it isn't, and the best place to do that is with the drum loops. The drum loops are set to the Sound of Revolution household tempo of 127 bpm and are divided into five categories: Click, Drum Kits, Experim, Hihat and Perc. Most of the loops are free from kicks (although the category Drum Kits have the occational loop with kick) and if you have been using any of loops from their Kick Free Revolution libraries, you'll feel yourself right at home.

These loops quickly erased my initial grumpiness regarding the amount of drums: we are talking about seriously high quality loops here. If I were to describe them, I would say they continue the path laid out from the Kick Free Revolution series but with a more defined direction. These loops are usually quite sparse and aren't filled to the brim of events. Some of the loops only contain a few events and some of these as few as two or three. But it works great: the sounds are placed in well thought out places and leaves room for the swing and other instruments to breathe. If you've ever cursed yourself for making your beats too action-packed - this is the remedy. This is of the best collection of kick-free loops I've heard in a long long time.

In a mail conversation with Oliver himself, he told me he rarely program his loops with snares, as the snare decreases the flexibility of a loop. I never thought about this before Oliver brought this up, but I think he is spot on and this is probably the secret why these loops are so usable: they doesn't just lack kick, but snare as well.

The sounds in the loops are well processed and although you at times can sense that a hat or tom once came from a 909, these loops feel fresh in terms of sound. For example, among the hihats patterns you can sometimes smell the origin of the electro-ish hihats of the 808 - but they won't leave you thinking "this is a nice 808 hihat loop". It's more like Oliver Schmitt has captured the fundamentals of the sounds and use them just enough to create a good mix of old and new. I'm not sure if this latest paragraph make any sense - so I fall back on the conclusion I made earlier: they feel fresh but not too experimental.

Interestingly, many of these loops come in a couple additional variations, which as always is highly useful when creating more complex arrangements. While the loops themselves stretch all the way from minimalistic clicky percussive sounds to hihat patterns, Oliver Schmitt gets it right almost every time. The only negative thing I can say about the loops is regarding their structure: there is no way of seeing which loops belong to one another in terms of variations - the loops are usually just named with a number, such as SOR MTR1 DL Drum Kits 127 001 and so on, while that isn't a deal-breaker in any way, it would have been more convenient with some more clarity.

Moving from the drum loops, looking more closely at the individual drum hits we have all the usual suspects in place: kick, snare, hats, cymbals, toms - but also quite a lot on the percussive side. In fact there are four folders containing percussive sounds of various styles.

The classic percussion folder contains - as one might expect - quite normal percussive samples, such as toms, zaps, clicks, claves and rimshots. The sounds doesn't feel like reused Rolands in absurdum but have a quality of their own.
Electro stuff contains zaps and percussive sounds with more beef than the previous category. Actually, this folder is sort of a mixed bag. Some of the sounds here are very close to short one-shot effects, some are almost what I would call synth-stabs and some are almost hihats and cymbals.
The percussion category contains tom-ish sounds and Fragments contains minimal percussion sounds - very short sounds on the border of transients.

Toms are a personal passion of mine - and while the toms here has a nice combination of electro-toms and processed toms from the 909 - I must say I felt they didn't feel as fresh as the other material in this library. I expected a larger quantity and slightly more creative processing.

The kicks were a pleasant surprise in a couple of ways. Firstly, we're not presented with a 500+ kicks folder but rather a selection of 130 kicks. The kicks themselves span from dance floor to minimalistic connoisseur productions. but the emphasis is for the dance floor. Sometimes the kicks are layered with another elements such as hihats or shakers - I personally don't like this kind of layering - but that's something that gets filed under personal taste.

The snares are mainly constructed by layering with everything from hihats to claps and sometimes the line between snares and claps sometimes gets blurry. By themselves, the snares are good, but didn't blew my mind in any way. This is a set of very usable snare sounds but doesn't give us anything we haven't heard before.
The claps are are a different matter though. With less than 40 samples in this category, there is a much tighter selection and pretty much covers anyones needs. The claps are a lot cleaner than the snares (in terms of layering).

The cymbal section covers hihats, crashes and rides and while the samples themselves might sound familiar, they're more ingenious than they seem. Generally speaking, the closed and open hihats are fairly laidback in the sense they don't demand too much attention - which is a very good thing. Hihats that sound like a Ufo accidentally landing in a meat grinder is cool, but rarely useful. These are. The crashes and rides however, demands more space and attention - as they should. I particularly liked the crashes - and although you sometimes can hear the origin of a 909 crash - they feel fresh.

It's worth pointing out that these drum sounds are sorted into their respective folders. Unfortunately, there are no pre-compiled drum sets of the available sounds. I bring this up not because this library missed out on a common feature - unfortunately most creators sample libraries miss out on this. Assembling drum sets is an art and is a great service for customers - especially with sample libraries with hundreds of individual drum sounds.

A nice surprise is the SID folder which contains Commodore 64-esque 8 bit drum samples which broadens the sound and feeling of this library in a nice way. These samples well compliment the sounds of the rest of the library.

Leaving the drum sounds, next stop is the bass and synth sounds. Of the tonal sounds, the synth sounds are by far the most uninspired ones. Firstly there are only 26 of them, secondly the contents range from tonal synthesizer sounds to effect-like sounds and what I would mark as basses. The overall quality is decent - but in my opinion not that much to get excited about. As a sound designer myself, I assume that the true passion for Oliver Schmitt does not lie with making synth sounds - but with drums. Although the bass samples doesn't contain any radically new in terms of sound - the collection of almost 100 bass samples is a good one and contains a lot of very usable bass sounds with origins from the analog world as well as the hardness of FM.

The effects are seriously good and are on par with the rest of the library in terms of sound. The atmospheres are for example generally on the darker side - brooding, serious and paranoid - and the one-shots have a clear tech edge. The live recorded sounds quickly became my favorites. These snippets of giggles, zippers and doors shutting have been processed in a very clever way so have a feeling of being half real - half synthetic. Brilliant stuff.

As with the single synth sounds the tonal synth loops doesn't really match the high standards of the rest of the library - or as I put it earlier: they feel uninspired. Again, the bass loops are much more interesting. The bass sounds work perfectly with the rest of the library and Oliver Schmitt is putting his penchant for off-beat rhythms, something that works very well with bass lines.

Conclusion
If you're out for a large selection of kick-free loops that registers themselves on the harder side of the scale, I can't think of anything better than Minimal Techno Revolution right now. The skills of Oliver Schmitt when it comes to drum loops are considerable and he truly masters the art of creating sparse and highly intelligent loops that both inspires and leaves room for your own drum sounds, which is a rare combination. On the whole, a very good library for anyone who needs to get back to the true soul of techno.

Sounds of Revolution Minimal Techno Revolution
Web: www.sounds-of-revolution.com
Price: 80 euro for download.
Good: Fantastic kick/snare-free loops. The effects are well selected and feel fresh. Good selection of drums.
Bad: The synthesizer sounds and loops feels a little uninspired.

Review copy: thanks to Sounds of Revolution for NFR review copy.