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.