Saint Joe gets his hands on... Analogue Synthesis

5/5 for Planet of the Orchestra...

Saint Joe from soundsandgear.com just reviewed our 'Planet of the Orchestra' Release...check out what he has to say:

We are back again with another soundhound, and this time we are taking another look at the folks over at primeloops.com.
Previously we took a look at their human beat box sample kit, which was superb.
We know they can do drums and percussion well, but what about other sounds?

Planet of the Orchestra is your own exotic record collection...

You know I'm always on the lookout for a funky groove, loop, or lick to chop up.
But not just funk, I want anything that will spark my creativity, so I was excited about this release from primeloops.
From the website:

Imagine if the best Orchestra's most talented musicians and top artists from India, America, Africa, Japan, Australia, Europe and China all got together in one huge recording facility, and jammed together...the result? Planet of the Orchestra.

Sounds like a good musical gumbo to me! I had to check this out, especially because I like strings, as well as exotic other-cultural musical riffs.


It's like having you own collection of rare world, etchnic, and orchestral records...and not having to pay any sample clearance!

The real question is how does it sound...

You know around here we like to cut to the chase. I'm going to be honest, before I reviewed it I wasn't expecting too much, I'm used to reviewing things with hundreds and hundreds of sounds, so seeing this was only 100+ had me a little concerned.

All that concern turn into ecstatically bubbly ear orgasmic pleasure when I heard the sounds. Yeah, I made up that phrase, but so what, it's how I felt...don't judge me lol.

The sounds in this collection are unlike anything I've ever heard, they are not merely loops, but each one is a fully produced masterpiece of sound and emotion.

I have never come across a collection this diverse and well recorded. I feel like I have mastered copies of studio recordings from some of the greatest sessions on earth.

The sound is second to none...

What about the diversity or style, is it usable?

If you can't use this to make something magical then quit... seriously.

There is sooooooooooooo much in this collection I really don't know where to start, or stop...I can go on for days.

Like I said, you get fully produced mini masterpieces in each and every loop, you never know what to expect.

One loop may take you to the jungles of Africa, another to the palaces in China, while the next takes you to a Kentucky back yard, followed by an elegant concert hall orchestra performance.
It's really like a box of chocolates....freaking amazing.

If you love your music and love to be creative get this NOW

I'll admit, I'm an optimist. I feel I can use pretty much anything to spark some creative compositions. But every once in a while I come across things that are absolutely a MUST HAVE, and this is one of them.

Really, the level of detail and professional production put into each one of these loops is simply astonishing.

Like I said before, each one is pretty much a full masterpiece in itself. Ready to become the foundation for your next epic adventure, or peaceful serenade.
Whatever you want to do, wherever you want to go, you'll find something in here to help you get there.

I have to give this collection a 5/5 subs, it's THAT good, really.

What I like is how well produced each loop is.

This is not like a collection of loops that all play off of each other, no sir.

This is like a collection of 100+ rare orchestral, world, and exotic samples ready to go into your music.

Go checkout planet of the orchestra, peep the demos, then try and call me a liar....you won't be able to.
primeloops has done something wonderful for the music community, I suggest you appreciate it

Glitch Hop Drum Loops & Glitch Cuts - Video & Reviews

We have been sent another storming review from boyinaband.com, and he has put together the awesome glitchy, dubby video (below) which is made from our Glitch Hop Drum Loops, Glitch Cuts & Minimal Synthesis releases. Check out his in-depth review after watching the video takes an in-depth look at the in's and outs of these releases.




Introduction:

I think the best way to start this review is by saying that as a direct result of the Glitch Cuts sample pack, I was inspired enough to dedicate a week of boyinaband blogs to Glitch Hop. I find this genre is more powerful, interesting and cooler than anything I’ve heard in years. I even prefer it to Dubstep – and I frickin’ love my Dubstep.

After my review of the Dubstep Producer Sample Pack last week, I have learned a bit more about using samples in Reason. Layering in NN-XT has been a big part of making this track, with sometimes 3 separate samples making a sound (such as that painful yet awesome synth just before the chorus cuts in.)

This time, I decided to use a few synths as well to back it up, which I feel now is the best way to work. Though in this song, for every lead synth sound you’ll find the main texture of the sound has come from a sample in the Glitch Cuts sample pack, sometimes combined with a bit of Thor.

I’ve rewired Reason 4 into Sonar 8, which is what I used to record and process my vocals.





Glitch Hop Drum Loops Sample Pack:

This is a review for two sample packs – the first one I’ll discuss in depth is the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack – this contains 77 drum loops, all with a glitchy edge to them. But by no means are they repetitive.

I get the feeling I’ll be saying this about most of Primeloops’ sample packs; I adore the variety.

There are some seriously funky loops, some crazily heavy ones, some dark and evil ones, several which made me actually say “wooooah!” out loud at how ridiculously gangstuh they were, some that are glitched up to the max so they don’t even sound like drums any more, some with an old school hip hop vibe, some with an electro aura about them and one or two that actually sound like regular drum loops.

Listen out in the song I made at the start of the second verse – those two loops are chopped versions of some of the drum loops in the pack. How ridiculously cool are they? They sound so *professional*, it’s ace. I thought to myself “I want something different here” and opened up this sample pack and literally a few minutes later I had found inspiration for making that part of the song more interesting. It seriously helps your workflow having good loops to hand.



Glitch Cuts Sample Pack– Electronics:

Now onto the second sample pack, “Glitch Cuts” – Starting off on the “Electronics” folder. There are 34 of what they call complex loops, and 42 sequencer loops. There are some AWESOME sounds here, both percussive and melodic – they stand out to me as ideal fills for your glitch hop tracks, or sounds to cut up and turn into percussive elements if you were feeling creative. Though scrolling through the sequencer loops I can hear some amazing Glitch hop songs just crying out to be made from them.

Glitch Cuts – FX:

Christ on a bike there are a lot of samples here. I used loads of them in the song above. The categories encompass 8bit, clicks, distortions, guitar fx, hisses, klangs, lfo fx, lo fi fx, mechanical fx, mod fx, noise fx, other fx (Some weeeird sounds in the other fx one!), pitched fx, trigger fx and voice fx. There are HUNDREDS of samples in this pack.

I used one of the guitar fx to make most of the gritty lead synth in the song above. I used a sample from the Mechanical fx in the painful (I tend to use the word “painful” in a good context quite a lot with this pack) fill that kicks in half way through both verses. The noise and 8bit samples are dotted around there too. They are just so *useable*.

There are some really cool voice fx in there for people who want to make something a bit less vocal-heavy than the track I made, but still want a memorable phrase or two in there for people to latch on and remember the song. Some amazing old school robot voices saying cool robot-y things like “resistance”, “computer” and I’m pretty sure one said “Mahjong”. A lot of them are cool vocal-sounding glitches though, which are sweet, they could even be used as percussion.

Glitch Cuts – Glitch Kit:

My second favourite part of the pack. There are so many weird and wonderful sounds in here that I don’t even know where to start. So the beginning would be logical – 56 bass drums, 48 claps, 36 hats, 50 snares, and 43 percussion samples (these tend to be hits with a metallic edge or blips), but treat the labels with a grain of salt – I could imagine a bunch of the snares as bass drums, the bass drums as snares and the percussion as lead synths if used correctly!

The main beat in the song is composed with samples from here. Again, versatility is key, more so than usual in this pack – you could make drum beats for just about any genre of music from the samples available in here, as well as some which pertain more to glitch hop. This pack is absolutely FANTASTIC for layering samples, meaning you can always get that perfect percussive sound you’re looking for.

Glitch Cuts – Shots:

Now we get to my favourite part of the pack – these shots are awesome. By shots they mean one-shot samples, though I found the best use for a lot of them was actually in synths. They add a professional touch to otherwise generic synth sounds, so combining these with thor can make for some awesome sounds.

Examples in the song – Check out the arpeggiated melodic synth in the intro, that’s made from a synth shot combined with a bit of thor magic. The hollow-sounding pad in the first verse is derived from an awesome soundscape shot (they’ve really covered all bases here – soundscapes, synths, hits, buzzes, basses and more. Did i mention this pack is stupidly massive?).

These tend to be the more melodic hits, whereas the FX category is mostly percussive. The quality is so good and again, if you’re stuck in songwriting, a few clicks and you’ll be freshly inspired just because of the amount of interesting sounds in here.




Making a Song:

Here I started with the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack, picking a sweet loop to build a beat around with the Glitch Kit – this means the beat is more unique and also more powerful, since the Glitch Kit in the Glitch Cuts pack has some really good kicks and snares.

After making that, I made the guitar fx/thor combined lead synth riff, which I used to build the rest of the track around. I wanted to get the dark, powerful feeling going on, so I added some hollow sounding pads – one over the chorus with a simple thor synth and another over the verse with a soundscape shot (I LOVE this sound, I don’t know how they got it sounding so hollow, that’s the beauty of these samples – most of them I wouldn’t know how to go about replicating from scratch, but it’s so good being able to use them.)

Once the basic song structure was put together, I started adding more synths – the painful one that comes in every 4 bars of the chorus, which is comprised of 3 soundscapes from the “minimal synthesis” pack (just goes to show the big ambient sounds don’t need to be used in an ambient context!) and the arp synth to fill out the beat with a bit of dark melody.

At this point I added the vocals – as I said, this was done in Sonar 8, then I stuttered the hell out of them and added a stupid amount of effects. Cutting, timestretching, filtering, flanging and distortion were the orders of the day.

Once the vocals were down, I went back through, adding in drops to emphasise certain vocal lines, a couple more drum loops from the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack and another redrum instance just for glitches. There are so many amazing percussive glitches that I had to add an extra instance of ReDrum for them all. I also learned a cool technique – linking the mod CV from a malstrom instance to the pitch of a redrum channel means you can make samples’ pitch dynamically follow an LFO, giving a cool, breathing kind of effect when combined with the right samples (which this pack has.)

Lastly I went through taking away a lot of the overlapping percussion (There used to be even more going on in the song, I had to take out some of the glitches since it’s so tempting to add in a million of them in one go that you tend to ignore the fact that it’s difficult to pick out individual parts!)


Overview:

Lets go for the Glitch Hop Drum Loops sample pack first.

An inspiring, varied and generally frickin’ cool collection of glitch hop loops. Going through these, there were at least 20 standout loops where I stopped and thought “I actually really want to make a song with this.” – I’d say that is a good indication that the loops are good. There are some *amazing* sounds in the loops that I really want to cut up for use as hits. Definitely worth it for any aspiring glitch hop or hip hop producer. I could also see Electro producers getting a kick out of this one.

Then there’s the Glitch Cuts sample pack.

I think the biggest thing about this pack that I haven’t already mentioned (Variety, quantity, quality) is the value. There are over 1000 samples in here. And it’s, at time of writing, £13. That’s 1.3p per sample. 1.3p for a sound that will make your songs feel so much more interesting and professional. I’d think this would still be good value even if it had half the amount of samples. Maybe it’s ’cause Glitch Hop is a relatively new and evolving genre?

I can’t imagine anyone buying this being disappointed with the samples in it, because there are simply so many; chances are you will find one that will fit what you want. I never once found myself lacking inspiration at all while making this song.

All in all this is my favourite sample pack at the moment. I can see myself coming back to it time and again, for glitch hop and hip hop tracks sure, but also for other genres – after I’ve written the body of a song I’d poke through to add in some of those amazing shots and FX to just add that perfect cherry on top.

Download both Glitch release here

Dubstep producer Review & Video

We recently were sent a review of our 'Dubstep Producer' Pack, and this one is very in-depth, with a video to assist, where Dave from boyinaband.com has made a track using the samples, and it's pretty impressive! Here's the video, and below is what he has to say:

"So yes, the review. I generally make my beats with synths, only using samples for drums or orchestral elements. This was a relatively new experience for me. The first thing I noticed is how quickly I was able to get high quality sounds.

I’m used to at least 6 reason devices before achieving a sound I’m happy with in my productions, since presets never really cut it for me. Since these samples are high quality aready, I was able to import the samples either into Dr Rex or NN-XT quickly and get making riffs straight away. It only took me around 2 and a half hours to make the track above.

Drums:

Drum-wise, the pack comprises 49 loops, 41 kicks, 40 snares, 46 hats, 15 crashes and 29 claps. I’d say 95% of them are awesome and useable, which (with me being used to so much crap in free sample packs) is frickin’ amazing.

I can split the loops roughly into halves – half of them are bass/snare loops for the meat of the beat if you aren’t into making your own syncopations (or as I’ve done in the song, beefed up the ReDrum beat I made with the individual samples).

The other half are extra percussive elements ranging from bongos to blips to hats to some things which are so warped that I don’t know what they used to be, but now they sound like something you would hear in deep space.

The individual samples are so varied. I can make really heavy beats, I can make really chilled ones. I can layer them effectively since they all have different timbres and tones and qualities. The variety of Snares in particular is so useful. As Pro Dubstep DJ Rusko said – “There’s not a lot of snares in Dubstep, so it’s nice to have an important, cracking snare that smacks you in the face.”

Bass:

I was worried here, since I wasn’t sure how a sample pack could deal with modulating cutoffs in different timings. The way Primeloops have done it is to, again, split the samples into roughly half.

The first half are pre-wubbed (or modulated if you want a real word.) bass samples, a lot of which I’ve used in the track above. There are some brilliant samples here, ones that actually give you that disgusted expression when you find something so freakin’ cool that you don’t quite know if it’s painful or awesome.

The second half are non-wubbed samples that you can set NN-XT (or whatever sampler you use) up to modulate for you, giving you the versatility of being able to alter the timing of the wubs.

Melodic Elements:

There are a bunch of stabs and chords, as well as some brilliantly Dub loops that you can chuck straight into Dr Rex. That main riff in my dubstep tune is a sample that I’ve slightly edited. Brilliant out of the box quality.

Again, this pack wins out on versatility. If you use a different sample it can completely change the feel of the tune. There are some dark, dirty, disgusting (in a good way) trip-hop-esque samples and some more melodic, musical samples.

These are great for using with a sampler and save so much time making your own synth. It’s inspiring to have sample banks to search through that aren’t interspersed with samples that make you think “What the hell would anyone use this noise in a track for?”

FX + Vox:

After the Drums, I think this is my favourite part of the pack.

The FX are so well made, there are one-shot effects that you can chuck just before a drop to add a bit of tension, or over the track to add more texture to the sound, and there are full on soundscapes that are frickin’ IMMENSE.

The beauty of these is that you can chop them up and use them in different orders, since each one has so many different parts to it that it’s like having a sample pack of sample packs!

Along with talent, these soundscapes are what makes the difference between amateur and pro Dubstep. It fills the tracks so much and gives them that professional edge.

The vocals comprise some London-y dudes saying some Grimey and Dubstep-ish things. I generally make my own vocals, but the one shots are surprisingly useable; I could imagine some of them being hooks to massive Dubstep tunes.

Making a Song:

I started with the beat, chucking Rex and ReDrum in there and within moments I had a nice, offbeat loop going on. It didn’t take long to find samples I was happy with.

After making a nice beat I started finding a hook for the melody. When I hear a sound that makes me smile I’d say that’s a good indicator, I was smiling most of the way through the pre-made music loops. I settled on the chilled keys loop since I wanted to get a dark track going on.

After adding a few more laid back chords and stabs, I started on the bass. I think there are 5 different basslines in there. It is so good to be able to get variety so quickly. It would have taken me around 4 hours to make all those different effects I’m sure. Yet I was able to use them out of the proverbial box and with a few tweaks to the filters I had them wubbing nicely.

Adding in a few final vocal and FX touches (I swear those FX take the track up to another level of awesomeness), I had my Dubstep tune. Sorted!

Overview:

The strength in this pack lies in its versatility. While I’d say it is perfect for people wanting to make the dark, dissonant dubstep, a lot of the samples could be used in making more unique interpretations of the genre. In fact, they could inspire such interpretations.

The weakness… I think if I was to make a track again I’d go with a synth for the bass samples just for ease of use, but I’d dot it with some of the bass samples in the pack to make the track more interesting, but then I’m obsessed with synths so that might be why.

Overall I was able to make a quality Dubstep tune in just under 3 hours. I think it’s totally frickin’ sweet. To hear just how many quality samples are in there, head over to Primeloops.com and listen to their Demo track. You’ll see what I mean by the pack’s versatility"

Music Tech Mag Review Lee Coombs Presents: Tech Funk

Music Tech Mag recently reviewed Lee Coombs Presents: Tech Funk, below is the full review as seen in the magazine:

"Sometimes the only way to get 'that' sound is to go straight to the horse's mouth. And if the sound you're after happens to be that of veteran breakbeat and Tech House producer Lee Coombs, then this will probably be the best thirteen pounds you've ever spent! Lee has been intimately involved in the dance music seen since 1989 and has built himself an enviable reputation as both a DJ and a producer, releasing tracks on Finger Lickin' Records, Lot49 and his own Label, Thrust Recordings. He has also remixed such artists as Moby, Paul Okenfold, Lamb and the Plump Djs, to name but a few.

This new sample pack is available as a digital download from the Prime Loops website in a huge selection of formats. This includes not just the usual WAV, Apple Loops and REX2 files, but also packs for Ableton Live, Akai MPC grooveboxees, FL Studio and a decent selection of Roland hardware. Offering each format individually has kept the price incredibly low despite the fact there is approximately 430 mb of 24-bit audio content. The pack is divided into folders for drum hits, synths & FX, bonus loops and 12 construction kits. The deep acid basses all throb nicely and the drums breaks have been expertly thinned to enable them to sit on top of your main kick/snare grooves. Although some of the lead synth sounds are a little thin, the best feature is Lee’s trademark noise effects and sweeps, which could form an excellent subtle addition to any tune.

This isn't a pack you would use to compose an entire track, but it is an excellent melting pot of crispy breaks and fluid FX that can be peppered onto your productions to give that extra bit of polish."

VERDICT:

A small but amazing-value collection of solid dancefloor sounds.

STAR RATING:

9/10

Minimal & Twisted House Drum Loops - Reviewed!

Check out what Layman's Reviews have to say about Minimal & Twisted House Drum Loops:

As genres go, 'Minimal' isn't the easiest to describe to a newcomer, not least as the name is something of a misnomer. Where much dance music runs shy of anything other than kick, snare, hats and the occasional bongo, Minimal drum production is frequently a deft balancing act between intricately programed layers and sparse, airy-sounding loops. Dub-style effects interweave with glitchy flutters and digital clicks, supported by a clean, sub-bass foundation... minimal by name it may be, but production-wise it's anything but!

One of the common mistakes when sample libraries attempt to venture into genres such as this is to lose sight of the fact that the music, for all the digital flourishes and and jokes about 11-minute long remixes, is still made for the dancefloor. Listen to the likes of Get Physical's DJ T, Thomas Schumacher or Trentemoller and a clear, focussed groove can always be identified, underpinning the Minimal trimmings with a structural awareness often missed by sample providers more interested in replicating the sounds alone.

All credit to Prime Loops then for this selection of tightly sequenced beats and percussive rhythms. The 130 drum loops in this collection all seem to "get it", with feet firmly rooted to an eclectic set of dancefloors. The sequences play on the genre's wide reach and ear for diverse rhythms, with polyrhythmic Brazilian-influenced top-end loops rubbing shoulders with Berlin-esque techno grooves and the UK's deep, dark blog-friendly house.

From the same producer responsible for Prime Loop's best selling ‘Minimal Synthesis’ collection, the loops are crystal clear, immaculately programmed and capture the Minimal sound perfectly. The low end doesn't seem to be overly compressed, and in practice we found loops could be dropped into productions from the outset without worrying about crushing the sound with subsequent mastering. Loops are for the most part provided with an identical loop minus the kick to allow for variations and drops, and more complex loops have been further sub-divided giving the opportunity to build the sequence in productions.

Prime Loops always provide their loops in a comprehensive range of formats, and Minimal & Twisted House Drum Loops is no exeption, with the full format list reading as:

• WAV
• Ableton Live Pack
• Acid Loops
• Akai MPC
• Apple Loops
• FL Studio
• Garageband
• Reason Refill
• Rex2 Loops
• Roland Fantom X, MC909, MV8000 or MV8800
• Stylus RMX Loops

... which in our view should be enough for anyone!

Summary

Prime Loops are justifiably proud of this release. Minimal (along with all the sub-genres within) is a tricky genre to get right, but this collection does an admirable job without falling into the realms of cliche. The collection also draws from a wide range of source influences without losing a sense of coherence and identity. The release serves to reinforce Prime Loops' strength as loop developers, which is a keen ear for contemporary production styles, and access to the production skills to pull it off without sounding contrived.

The collection isn't entirely without fault - stripped back low-end only variations of each loop to mirror the top-end only options would have significantly increased flexibility, and a few hits and FX wouldn't have gone amiss. But at the price, it seems churlish to criticise too heavily, especially considering the quality of the sounds and the detail of the loop programming on offer. When you add to the that the range of formats the loops are available in, Prime Loops' Minimal & Twisted House Drum Loops is a worthwhile purchase for anyone with their finger even hovering over the pulse of modern house produciton, or at least half an ear to the current dancefloor.

Original Source: http://www.laymansreviews.com/review.php?id=101