One of the things that continues to fascinate me with the Loopmasters Artists Series is the whole point of it: you get a glimpse into what kind of musical ideas that goes on inside established musicians minds.
As with most sample libraries, some of the collections of the Artist Series are seriously good while some are plain dull. House Generation by Marshall Jefferson is, from a higher perspective, neither. These two libraries fill a void in a genre that has been empty for a long time, and from this perspective House Generation Volume 2 is indeed welcome.

While the first House Generation touched styles such as disco, funk and acid house, this library moves closer to the jazzier and bluesier side of house. Oh, there is lots of other material in here such as classic Clap-Your-Hands-and-Everybody-Feel-Alright to loops with pre-techno vibe (Big Fun and Pump up the Jam comes to mind). But the jazz and blues are more pronounced in this library than in the first volume.

The library is based on three parts: single one-shot type of sounds, loops and loops in rex-format.
House Generation volume 2 by the numbers:

Drum hits: 46
Guitar: 8
Pad: 19
Synth multi: 5 (just one type of sound)
Total number of single sounds: 78

Number of rex loops: 249
Number of wav loops: 248

Singles size: 42 megabyte
Loop size: 233 megabyte
Rex size: 73 megabyte
Total size: 349 megabyte

Tempo: 120-126 bpm

Let's start with the one-shot sounds. The drum hits are a fairly standard deal and is a collection of 46 drum sounds mainly from the 808 and 909 rhythm boxes. If you are the only person left on earth who doesn't have a 808 and 909 collection of wavs, then here you go. For the rest of us, this contains nothing new. The guitars sounds are alright. Short licks that can easily be inserted in a place Where You Want To Rise The Funk. Bad: eight samples is most definitely not much. The pad sounds contains 19 samples, but are actually only four different sounds: two multi sampled pads and two variations with different chords. The chords has that instantly good character and leaves you wishing there were a few more. The last sound in the singles section is a sawtooth kind of sound that comes in five octaves so you can set it up and play in your sampler. Nice for some I guess, but it left me moving on.

While the singles didn't tickle our imagination and creative spirits anywhere, thankfully the main dish cometh and with some nice flavors.

At a quick glance in the drum loops folder it seems like you get 54 drum loops, but you don't: you  get a lot more. Most of the samples are long and contains a couple of different patterns / variations, usually two variations and a fill / ending. Last time I came across this fluid method of including a bunch of variations in one go, was with the old Strictly 12 Inch audio sample CD - which at that time was a damn nightmare to cut up and use. But today when we are blessed with Ableton Live and the lot – things like that is no longer a problem.

One of the unexpected highlights was that this library opened up my ears once again for the TR707. Currently I'm in one of those reoccurring periods when I can't stand the 808 (not even the cowbell) and the 909 can only get by with some really clever programming. Except from the 707, 808 and 909 there are guest appearances from Emu, Oberheim, Boss and even a Roland R8.
Although most of the loops are based on a four-on-the-floor kick, thanks to some clever programming the loops doesn't tend to get boring – not even the 909:ers that indeed make some  nice use of the toms and the 808 loops sounds like instant acid house.

As with House Generation volume 1, Marshall Jefferson got some help from the outside and this time it's from a musician called Onyx Ashanti who – interestingly enough – uses an Akai wind controller as the source of his loops. Horns – naturally, but interestingly enough he doesn't stop there. There are a handful of Rhodes loops as well as Minimoog-esque synth leads – which are nothing short of excellent. I cannot say that I've ever been a fan of the Minimoog (especially those classic Moog basses bores) but it shines when it's used as an Instrument. Anyone who've seen anyone really use a Minimoog live on stage knows what I'm talking about. The loops from Onyx Ashanti have the same kind of energy and expressiveness as with a great lead performance. Although I personally thought the synth loops as most interesting, it's quite clear that Onyx Ashanti is an experienced brass player.

I know I'm making an ass out of myself wishing a vanilla ice cream would be better if it were a walnut ice-cream, but I feel it's a damn shame that Monsieur Marshall didn't include his old companion Bam Bam for this library as well, and this time let him loose on a 303. You can say whatever you want about Stakker Humanoid, the Pump Panel remix of New Orders Confusion, but for me 'Where's your child' was and will always be the absolute peak of acid house. That man is a genius.

Further on, there are 14 different brass phrases that are played individually on saxophone, trumpet and God's own favorite instrument: the trombone. As they all play the same phrase, it's very easy to combine them into different ensembles. A good idea that works great.

In my opinion, the peak of this collection lies in its bassline and melodic loops, that are just perfect. As with all good classic house the bassline is a big part of the melody (and in many cases the only melody!) and Marshall Jefferson knows how to find the soul in the most simple of bass sounds. The same goes for the melodic loops. The rhodes loops are nothing short of gorgeous, some of the piano loops are impressive but are so specific and distinct that the first person who uses them basically renders them unusable for everybody else. Be quick.

This time around there are no vocals among the samples. Usually vocal samples – especially sung ones – are in my opinion nothing else than waste of space. But every now and then there comes a library that proves me wrong and the first volume of House Generation did just that. While I didn't fall for the sung vocals, Marshall Jefferson's own spoken vocal takes were so damn spot on that I couldn't refrain from smiling and move the whole lot to my 'useful samples' folder.

Conclusion
As with all good libraries, there is one major flaw with pretty much all of them: you want more. While I am aware that this has to do with the fundamental greediness of my own personality, House Generation 2 left me with the same feeling as the first volume: I wanted more material. But I can't either say I blame Loopmasters or Grandmaster J himself. If the library would have cost 45 euros, yes. But as House Generation costs 25 british quid – which as the time of writing roughly translates into sub-30 euros – price isn't an issue. When I'm thinking about it – I must say that I prefer a model with small libraries and low price. My impression is that huge libraries often runs out of good ideas way before the end of the expected number of gigabytes or files. If anyone can point me to a 600 megabyte collection of 808 loops that holds all the way I gladly take it for a ride.
Marshall Jefferson doesn't move into any new ground or come up with any new ideas with House Generation 2 – but that's not the point. This is old-school and nothing else. My only complaint is that the material ends a little too quick for my taste, but team it up with the original House Generation library and you have a quite solid foundation for your house.

Loopmasters Marshall Jefferson House Generation Volume 2
Web: www.loopmasters.com
Price: 25 UK Pounds.
Good: The basslines and rhodes loops are truly great. The drums are well programmed and comes in several variations.
Bad: The single sound section is a little uninspired, especially the drums.

Review copy: thanks to Loopmasters for NFR review copy.