Sample CDs
STEINBERG SOUNDS & CYCLES
Steinberg’s Sounds & Cycles series are a five CD set which are
also available individually. On offer is On a Latin Tip, Cold Fusion
Technologic, Drum n’ Bass X-Citers, Chemical Big Beats, Hip Hop
Beats and Treats. This five CD set is a collection of loops
covering a variety of styles, but mostly aimed at the home
studio-produced dance music folk. Each title has an attractive
fold out cover that contains four CDs. The sampled material is
spread over three discs. Discs one and two are mixed mode
discs with audio, WAV and AIFF versions of each sound. Disc
three is CD-ROM data only, this being primarily REX files (more
on REX later). A Steinberg demo disc completes the package,
including Cubase VST24, Rebirth and Wavelab demo versions,
capable of everything the full program can do except save files.
A good starting point for home studios, with an introduction to
software-based recording, wave editing and REX files all at a
very reasonable price. The CDs are a good investment even if
you do not own a sampler, as they are designed for use within a
hard disk recording system.
The best thing about all these CDs are the REX files, a relatively
new innovation from Steinberg which allows automatic timestretching of pre-Recycled loops within Cubase, simply by changing the
tempo of the song. The REX files are imported into a Cubase song
of the same tempo as the original loop and can then be sped up or
slowed down by about 30bpm before artefacts start to become too
noticeable. All the REX files on these CDs are stereo samples.
Steinberg are also releasing drum session CDs with multitracked
drum tracks, allowing replacement of individual drum parts. There
will be more releases and software support for this format,
including some third party sample CDs, Making this an innovative
and exciting development for VST owners.
In each four disc set, discs one and two are able to be played in
a normal CD player. When played as an audio CD, loops are strung
together giving an extra beat at the end of a loop for tuning within
a sampler. All WAV, AIFF and REX files are cut to an exact number
of bars for ease of use in hard disk recording systems. Samples are
divided into three types: Loops, which range in length from one to
several bars; Riffs, which are of an odd length or are intended for
one shot use; and Hits, which are for constructing instruments
within a sampler.
The sampled material is clean and of even level, if just a little
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bland. I think the intention is to provide samples ready for manipulation by the end user, rather than gee whiz sounds that don’t
benefit from further processing. Each CD has a different flavour to
the production to match the style of music. I found that the clean,
uneffected recordings worked the best and offered the most scope.
Chemical Big Beats contains 360 drumloops from 80bpm to
130bpm with no breakdowns or individual hits. The beats are
good and long but lack some imagination, although they invite
further processing and editing to spice them up. The lack of individual hits seems an odd oversight, as all the other titles have this
useful feature.
Hip Hop Beats & Treats has two tempos: 80bpm and 90bpm.
Most of the tracks comprise four variations on a loop with individual drum hits. There are also a few beatbox tracks with complete
mixes and some scratching and vocoder samples. Of the five CDs,
this is one of the best in terms of variety and usefulness.
On a Latin Tip contains almost 600 sampled loops at six tempos
from 70bpm to 120bpm. Each tempo has 24 percussion loops, with
three corresponding instrumental loops in four keys. The instruments make up a typical Latin ensemble, comprising bass, piano,
guitar, vibes, flute and sax. Four tracks of individual drum and percussion hits make for a handy source of Latin textures.
Drum & Bass X-Citers is all at 160bpm. CD one contains over 200
drumloops with additional fills and individual drum hits, as well as
a number of multisampled basses, all in the key of C. CD two has
a further 180 drumloops in different styles, and 12 riffs each of
flute, sax, vibes and pads for jazzy touches to dance tracks.
Cold Fusion Technologic is made up of loops sampled at four
tempos from 120bpm to 150bpm. Each tempo has multiple drum
loops with at least three variations and individual drum hits, as
well as bass loops, melody loops and individual instrument
sounds, all in C.
The Sounds & Cycles series is a good solid base to begin any
arrangement. The REX file format offers real convenience and
looks to be a surefire success with VST users – no doubt we’ll see
a proliferation of third party REX CDs in the future. Sounds &
Cycles’ immaculately recorded loops scream out for further manipulation, which I feel is what the designers expect and intended. A
good set of staple source material. Brad Watts
Music Technology: (02) 9369 4990
Formats: Audio, Akai, REX, WAV
$199 for each title
LATIN GROOVE FACTORY
VOL. TWO – BRAZIL
For starters, I’m giving the CD
producers, Global Blowerks and
Q-Up Arts, 10 out of 10 for the
cover notes. For those not
familiar with Brazilian music, the
writers have included a history of
latin music and brief but comprehensive definitions (with scored
examples) of contemporary Latin rhythmic styles. The tracklist is
certainly informative, with pages of loops in a bewildering variety of
Latin styles and instrumentation. (Volume One of this series is devoted
to Afro-Cuban rhythms, while Volume Three covers the Carribean.)
The CD-ROM version of this particular release (Volume Two) includes
pre-looped grooves and two kinds of pre-mapped 32MB (or smaller
16MB) kits, one with single sounds layered with multiple samples for
dynamic and tonal variation and a menu kit that lays all the sounds out
chromatically – a very cool feature. The emphasis of this collection is on
authenticity and clean recording. The percussion and drums are played
consistently and mixed cleanly at an even level with little processing,
leaving the sounds raw and natural. The mics used include many of the
usual suspects, listed along with a description of the recording process.
The producers seem to think that the world at large is largely uninformed about the cultural significance of this music. As they point out in
the cover notes, the single loops could easily be used in many styles of
music – not just by Ricky Martin, cruiseboat themes and Miami retirement village muzak! Even if Latin music is not your thing, dance and pop
tracks could be improved by the presence of a few well-recorded percussive sounds. Meanwhile your bossanovas, sambas and partido-altos will
never be the same again.
Brad Watts
Sample Soundhouse: (02) 9973 2832
Formats: Audio, Akai, Roland and Samplecell
$169.95 (Audio); $399.95 (CD-Rom)
XX LARGE EXTREME 3 HIP-HOP
This new addition to the excellent XX
Large series is a two CD set containing 1200 hip-hop, RNB, soul, and
disco drum loops, with tempos
ranging from 80bpm to 120bpm. As
well as the loops, there are over 100
bonus sounds, breaks, rolls, retro
classics and disco hits. The drum
loops are very usable for slower
musical styles, delivered as one bar sections and organised by tempo,
with ‘John the computer voice’ providing bpm values, as well as an
infomercial introduction.
Each beat is individually indexed and separated by a small pop to
mark end points. The cover comes with a handy tempo conversion table
and very clear track information, including the size of each CD-ROM
program. Very cool. The loops sound authentic and there is enough
variety to address any dance genre, with up to 100 beats for each bpm
value. As well as being organised by tempo, each beat has a few variations in style and sonic textures, from subtle phasing to extreme distortion and bitcrunching. This sort of housekeeping makes XX Large 3 a
good CD for quickly arranging loops into a new track.
The production quality of the drum loops is as varied as the styles and
the many sources from which the loops are drawn, you are bound to hear
some familiar grooves on this CD. The CD-ROM version is available in
Akai/E-Mu, Roland and Sample Cell/Mac AIFF formats. All the drumloops
are pre-loooped and arranged in programs up to 8MB in size. Roland users
can load loops in 16MB Performances and 32MB Volumes for auditioning
every beat at a particular tempo. With so many average drumloop CDs
featuring clinical LA studio drummers out there, this is a refreshing return to
sampling from the source. The massive variety of loops on offer gives
enormous scope for creative possibilities. Brad Watts
East West: (02) 9698 8466
Formats: Audio, Akai, E-mu, Sample Cell/Mac AIFF
$149.95 (Audio); $299.95 (CD-Rom)