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.