Review of Zero-G Disco Gold. Disco is one of those genres that refuses to go away - but paradoxically although there are quite a few disco libraries on the market - many of them are less than satisfactory. Most of them are in fact soulless, recycled and repackaged rubbish. Zero-Gs Disco Gold is thankfully not one of them and also mixes disco with the sound from the 80s - a move that proves to be very potent.

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Whatever your personal thoughts about how catchy or cheesy disco might be - there is no way of denying it. The impact of disco on what we today call pop is fundamental. No matter what you think about the music of Bee Gees, Chic, Donna Summer & Giorgio Moroder - just load up any production by Stock, Aitken and Waterman and you'll clearly hear which path disco took since the middle of the 70s. The question poses itself naturally, if you're into pop, what better way is there to go back to its roots?
 
 
Review of Wave Alchemy Drum Tools 01 Minimal Techno sample library. Drum Tools 01 is a drum and percussion library which concentrates on synthetic drums.

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While there isn't really a shortage of electronic drum libraries on the market, Drum Tools 01 is well worth checking out. With well over 2000 samples (over 4300 depending on how you count) the main excitement is where the game is: the kicks and snares. Read on.

In my drum machine shootout, I've already showed how damn obsessed I am trying to find the perfect drum machine. Looking back, I believe this whole mania started way back in the 90s when I got a few floppies from Seba with his own assembled drum kits. The drum kits just suited me perfectly and since the departure of the EPS 16+ I still haven't found a drum kit I always reach for when starting to make music. Naturally, I am aware of the futility of my obsession, as the music I create have mutated many times since then, and in many respects, I am no longer the same person as I was back then. But, my need for finding that perfect drum kit seem to be etched into my DNA.

 
 
Review of Sounds of Revolution Kick Free Revolution 2. The most classic way to infuse more energy and/or shift the attitude to your songs is by using kick-free drum loops. Kick Free Revolution 2 is a collection of over 530 loops keeping the house and techno vibe in 127 bpm.

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When it comes to sound libraries for dance music (where dance music is spelled Popular Dance Music Intended For Clubs) there are a few safe cards. Vengeance, Sample Magic, Loopmasters and of course the german label Sounds of Revolution. Behind this label is a fellow called Oliver Schmitt who have been around long enough to earn himself a reputation of being a sound designer worth counting on. His library Kick Free Revolution 2 is basically a collection of drum loops without kicks. Kick-free loops, aka top loops, have been around for ages. Its purpose and function is genial. While a normal drum loop might inspire - it's limited what you can do with it. By just taking out the kick, you open up for more manipulation and editing and you'll get the pleasure for adding your own kick. Some people say Kick-free loops are like instant noodles and in a way they are. By themselves they are pretty dull, but add eggs and some vegetables and you have something nice. Me personally is a huge fan of kick-free loops so when Sounds/To/Sample announced the release of Oliver Schmitt latest offering, I couldn't resist taking it for a spin.

 
 
Review of Sample Magic Deep Tech House: the latest release from loop gurus Sample Magic has its focus set on the deeper side of house.

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Deep Tech House is a library that explores quote "moody and melodic, deep and dirty house grooves" - something that honestly doesn't say much to me. As I've been discussing before, for me products based on genres are just damn confusing, and apart I could correctly say that this library 1) isn't about trance, 2) is not euphoric and 3) has a fundament in electronic music, the rest of my guesses were totally off the map.
 
 
Review of Audio Damage Tattoo, Audiorealism ADM and Sonic Charge Microtonic. This review compares three software drum machines and how they stand against each other. Three audioguns, twenty one sonic bullets. Two swedes and one american. Drum roll, please...

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While there are a whole bunch of drum synthesizers on the market and many of them are very competent - my selection ended up with Audio Damage Tattoo, Audiorealism ADM and Sonic Charge Microtonic. My primary criteria was that they should be available for both PC and Mac - and they should be able to create more than one type of overall sound. I chose not to include any of the drum machines from the polish developer D16, as each and every drum machine is locked to a specific model and besides - I don't own licenses for any of them.
Waldorf Attack is a classic that I seriously considered to include, but decided against as it doesn't contain a sequencer. Also, three products against each other is clear as a german sausage soup. But the Waldorf Attack is a fantastic drum synthesizer, especially for creating weird electronic percussion noises.

 
 
Review of Loopmasters Marshall Jefferson House Generation 2 sample library. Marshall Jefferson, aka The Godfather of House is back with a sequel to his sample library House Generation released last year. Volume 2 continues the exploration of house as house once was, but this time with a larger focus on horns.

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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.

 
 
Review of Sample Magic The secrets of house music production.

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When renowned sampling masters Sample Magic takes on the subject of house music production, the expectations are very high. But after reading through the near 150 pages, it's clear that Sample Magic have created one of the most relevant texts about modern dance music production.
 
 
Review of Tribal Tech sample library. Tribal Tech is the sixth sample pack from the London-based firm Push Button Bang and sets the focus on percussion loops for house music.

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With the risk of sounding like a person who woke up on the wrong side, but the first thought that ran through my head when I read about this library was ... “tribal – what is that supposed to mean?”. In the evolving post-rave scene in the nineties – sure. But today, I'm sort of clueless. With the risk of sounding like Rama Kandra in Matrix Revolutions – it all boils down to what the word implies for its makers.

In my book, if I would set out to release a sample pack with “Tribal” and “Tech” in the title, you would do right to expect something very synthetic. Something that would be based on the original tribal techno scene but from a modern perspective. I would go deep down with Reaktor and wreak havoc with any kind of synthesized toms and congas. I could squeeze any old drum machine or modular synthesizer I could get hold of. Then I would compress the hell out of it with Sonalksis TBK 3, spice it up with Ohmicide, burn the hard drive, mince it to pieces with a grinder and use whatever unfortunate data that is left.

But that's me.

 
 
Review of DCAM Synth Squad Strobe: the simplest synthesizer in the DCAM collection is by no means simple or basic. It's in fact one of the finest synthesizers ever made.

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Despite all the initial hype about Fxpansions new synth trio DCAM Synth Squad, can't say it initially caught my interest. Boring bread and butter synthesizers, I thought. No, not just boring. Pointless. One one-oscillator synthesizer, one string synthesizer (yawn) and one half interesting analogue/FM-hybrid deal. Fxpansion must really have run out of ideas.

One of the good things about being me, is that I never cease to be amazed how utterly stupid I can be. DCAM turned out to be one of the most important things that have happened in the software synth scene for a very long time.

 
 
Review of Loopmasters Circuit Bent Sounds Volume 2: Although circuit bent sounds are full of that glitchy neo-nerd attitude that is so  hot right now, the sounds really come to life when you start working with them.

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Although I rarely admit it in person, I am a sucker for trends. Their qualities aside, they always share the same irresistable quality: movement. Whatever it is, cool, daring, weird or whatever, it's always with the feeling of something fresh. You're standing there, on the very frontline of evolution/mutation/degradation of music and audio.
Some trends evolve while some just fades into nothingness and are forgotten except for a few hardcore fans (oh yes, Gabber is still being made). The phenomena of circuit bent sounds is most definitely a trend that was so hot a few months ago, and when it just was about to pop out from my consciousness - Loopmasters release a follow-up to their library Circuit Bent Sounds.