If I would say that trance is dead, it would come back and haunt me until I repent. So I won't say that. Instead I'll say that Electro is the hottest style on the three most important places right now: clubs, radio and the fitness club. So when sample moguls Sample Magic release a 850+ sound library in the said style, you pay attention.

It's easy to repeat yourself when reviewing products from Sample Magic, and right now it seems this producer of loops and sounds can do nothing wrong. While I personally am a big fan of Sample Magic, I feel their greatness have come with age. Although early releases were good - I think their most recent releases have been impressive as in 10/10.

 

So, yes. Let's spoil the whole show and tell you the verdict at this very point.

Yes, this is a brilliant library.
Yes, it's executed in an almost flawless manner.
Yes, it has an exceptionally up-to-date sound.
Yes, it's been awarded our prestigious Get It Now-award.
Yes, you'll be able to produce tracks of commercial quality, even if you're a moderately talented musician/producer.

With that said, let me down down to details and tell you why it's so damn good.

BY THE NUMBERS
Let's start crunching the numbers a bit so we know what's inside this package.

Loops
Bass: 88
Effects: 34
Synth: 97
Vocal: 14
Drum: 148
Percussion: 54
Top loops: 63
Combi: 45
Music: 39

Single sounds
Kick: 54
Snares & claps: 68
Percussion & hits: 58
Hihats: 66
Crash: 13
Effects: 15

Total number of loops: 498
Total number of drums (loops & one-shots): 524
Total number of tonal sounds (loops & one-shots): 233
Total number of sounds: 856

Tempo: 125, 128 and 130 bpm.

Just by looking at the numbers we can sum up the contents of Sample Magic Electro:

a) pretty heavy on the drums
b) slightly more than half is loops
c) no single synth sounds

While this collection can be bought as a physical and downloadable product, I would recommend everyone to get the physical product. Apart from having the sounds conveniently on DVDs - there is also a short 'Behind the Scenes at Sample Magic' included and I'll tell you all about this nearer the end of this review.

Drum loops
The loops in Electro is dominated by drums. Either complete loops, percussive loops or kick-free loops. All in all there are 265 drum loops and already when browsing in the 'normal' drum category it's clear that these loops are the main dish. It goes without saying that loops aimed for a broader market than your local We-Love-Acid club cannot be too experimental - it might scare the crowd away. I've learned this lesson a couple of times in my younger days when I effectively cleared out a good crowd in eight seconds blank. As an dj at that time told me (producer of Britney Spears during her prime time): you have to give the audience what they want. But at the same time use your "parenting skills" to teach them something new. To put it short. You should give them what they want, but also push the edges and at rare times - introduce elements the crowd might wonder if the fracking dj went mental.
With this lengthy introduction I want to underline that the drum loops in Sample Magic Electro is just that. Safe booming beats for a broader hipster market - but still with an edge close to tech-house and I-don't-know-what. It's damn fresh and it's superbly executed. As a producer myself I listen and marvel at the level of detail of these loops.
Many of the loops comes in variations, such as with percussive elements muted and/or without kick. There is no standard here. Some loops just come as a single audio file - nothing more, while some come in several variations.
If there is anything I can complain about is that some of the loops also contains tonal elements that might restrict the usage. But if I were to choose to have the loops strictly-by-the-book with just percussive elements or Sample Magic did it, I would honestly choose how it is.
If you want to lay down your own kick drum the top and percussion loops are more of your thing. These loops are as creative as the full-on loops but are with less elements. I honestly cannot say really what the difference between the toploops and percussion loops is as they contains practically the same elements. Maybe the toploops contains even less sounds than the percussion loops. Stutters, reversing, clever programming and good swing. It's all included in here. There is even a percussion loop called 'morecowbell' - so you know you got that covered!

Bass loops
The bass loops can best be described as classic house with an ultra modern sound. The basslines are tonal and more often than not, melodic. These are the kind of bass loops you can play in a club with nothing but a kick, and it would work. So if you think content as classic house and sound as cutting edge electro you would probably end up in a sound like this. The sound style is very synthetic, pumping - but not just pumping at the regular four-four intervals but in lots of places. It's like the sound is coming in a bit late. Very cool and scores high on the funk-o-meter.

Synth loops
You could say almost the same thing regarding the synth loops. They are melodic - but not too melodic. They create the basic harmonic foundation rather than going into the territory of melodies. The style is big - stuttering - layered - dry & as with the basses: insanely fresh. These loops could be played in a saturday night club. Every single of them.
Should I look for something to criticize, the loops are well-packed and ready to go. Building songs upon these can be a challenge since they only come in one form, and sometimes you wish you had variations with the layers isolated. But this problem is nothing unique to Sample Magic, but rather a problem that comes with the whole concept of pre-made loops. The synth loops stretch - in spirit at least - into the vocal loops. Personally I loathe vocal samples as they are so damn difficult to get right, and after all, we're no longer living in the eighties. Thankfully these vocal loops is so processed and stuttered up that they become tonal and more rhythmically interesting. Good loops to use for the occasional spice-up.

Kicks - singles
To put it plainly. The kicks here are hard stuff. I can imagine these kicks would work equally well with pure techno tracks and with some enveloping - in minimal styles as well. The processing is quite discrete - you rather feel it than hear it. Sometimes you hear a vague bit crusher on the end - or a soft shaker that pronounces the movement of the compressor.

Snare - singles
As in your face as it can be. Forget cute snappy electro-snares. This Is Big & Bigger & Biggerest. There is a snare called 808 - which partly sounds like an 808 snare - but a 808 snare equalized and compressed into a thin razor.
The same thing goes for the claps. No weak old-school electro-claps here. The style is snappy and with attitude. Some of the claps are on the very border of being snares, but don't see this as a problem.

Hihat - singles
There is only one sample here that directly reminds you of the love-hated 909 open hihat. Only one. And it's processed enough so you don't feel the smell of the 909. The hihats are great because they show a greater variety than the snares and the kicks. Softer, classic analogue buzzing, short classic snips - it's a good collection of hihats that can work in almost any genres.

Crashes - singles
The influence of the 909 and old school analogue drum machines is much clearer with the cymbals. Although the sounds have been processed with ambience among other effects, the trace back to the Rolands is hearable. With that said, the sounds are varied and there are only 13 crashes, you won't find the same crash with a slightly different setting.

Percussion - singles
This section is like what you would call a mixed bag. There are sound elements here that you would describe as classic pescussion, as well as hihat-sort-of-sounds, as well as tonal buzzes and sounds, as well as effectish sounds.

DVD

The included 'Behind the Scenes at Sample Magic'-DVD is an entertaining inclusion, which gives you a quick tour of where the sounds are getting made. The DVD doesn't give you any secret tips or any enlightenment - as the included booklet does - it's rather a visit to their studio and you get faces on the people behind Sample Magic, which is nice. The only negative thing I can say about this is that after watching it I felt an almost irresistible urge to buy a Distressor and it almost made me passionate about the 909 again.

CONCLUSION
Since I already wrote my verdict in the beginning of this review, my thoughts go to Sample Magic as a company. What I love about Sample Magic is that there is so little nonsense going on. They doesn't just create original and fresh material, but also pack it together in such a way that you already halfway through the contents you feel you it's well worth its price.
If you are into electro this is a library you simply cannot risk avoiding. Feverish ramblings from a fanboy, indeed, but in my opinion the best release of Sample Magic so far - and that says something.

Sample Magic Electro
Web: www.samplemagic.com
Price: 50 british pounds
Good: Highest quality loops for electro you can find. Very nice bonus DVD.
Bad: That my copy isn't the only one.

Review copy: thanks to Sample Magic for NFR.

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