One-Shots, August 2008
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
SAMPLE MAGIC AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 RAVES
EAT STATIC INVITES YOU ON THE JOURNEY
Not many techno bands have been around long enough — with a sound as diverse yet distinct enough — to warrant a “signature” sampling CD. But for the past 19 years, Eat Static's Merv Pepler, Steve Everitt and Joie Hinton have been culminating home-brew material for such a project, which lives up to its promise of delivering the same “smile experience” that made the trio pioneers of the UK rave scene. Featuring more than 900 MB of 24-bit loops and samples inspired by crossing trance with Latin, '70s kitsch, funk, breaks, drum 'n' bass, dub, crusty house and reggae styles, the formulation of construction kits is a little different than we're used to. Rather than grouping by theme, folders of widely assorted Beats, Music and Percussion loops are presented at 90, 120, 125, 144 and 160 bpm. That encourages imagination and experimentation because all the loops feel so good mixed together.
Many of the strangest beats are no-kick, which is where the Drum Hits and FX folders come in, offering dozens of tried-and-tested speaker-freakers from the boys' private stash. Edgy synth loops, filtered runs and acid arpeggios sound 100-percent analog, and the spacey pads and Eventide-processed real-world soundscapes offer beautiful bonds between the often disparate-sounding African, Brazilian, Cuban and Arabic undercurrents. Eat Static has successfully warped ethnic beats and instrumentation in a decidedly “party” fashion without causing it to sound overtly foreign to our Western ears. Covering much ground, Around the World in 80 Raves looks into the future of dance music and provides the upward gust of freshness that IDM and chill-out has needed for some time.
SAMPLE MAGIC (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 RAVES > $99.95
At a glance: Future world dance construction kits from Eat Static. Audio CD and DVD. 24-bit loops in WAV, Apple Loops, RMX. Patches for EXS-24, Reason NN-XT, Kontakt 2 and HALion.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com or www.samplemagic.com
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC MANUSCRIPT: A RICHARD DEVINE COLLECTION
SUPER, NATURAL RESOURCES
Anyone who's dug through the presets of any Native Instruments (NI) software already knows Richard Devine's genius programming skills and has probably wondered what it takes to inspire such quirky creativity. On this two-CD set of 24-bit Acid loops, we find out. Logically organized by sound type, Devine blends exclusive field recordings of urban “found sounds” with an enviable assortment of rare and one-of-a-kind instruments to create the ingredients of his trademark subliminal soundscapes. You'll hear intricately played loops containing Indian bells, frame drum, gongs, ceramic bowls, finger piano, distant flutes, waterphone, didgeridoo and almost anything else he could strike, rub, pluck, twist, shake or blow into. Although seemingly a far cry from the electro-nuclear-bunker beats for which he's known, Devine has hacked, stretched, glitched and processed everything to the point where it's often difficult to tell its origin or if the sound is natural or synthetic.
Free-form bass lines, skittering synth leads and percolating oscillators arrive courtesy of such synths as the Hartmann Neuron, Alesis Andromeda, Korg Radias, Elektron Monomachine and Machinedrum, Access Virus TI, Roland V-Synth GT, Nord G2 and Symbolic Sound Kyma — not to mention about 100 other boutique analogs and TR-series beatboxes. Completely sick circuit-bent drum loops combine techno, hip-hop and neo-disco; I like that Devine's kept them stripped back a bit, allowing you to build up from many subtler grooves rather than be stuck with something too complex. He's also included fantastic NI Battery 3 kits, including a massive prepared piano program. This is the perfect oddball toolkit for users looking to combine sophisticated electronic and industrial-cinematic textures without breaking a sweat.
SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE
THE ELECTRONIC MUSIC MANUSCRIPT: A RICHARD DEVINE COLLECTION > $69.95
At a glance: 1.2 GB of organic and electronic beats, abstract textures and various otherworldly goodies. Acidized WAV loops with select kits also in Battery 3 format.
Contact: www.sonycreativesoftware.com
OHM FORCE OHMICIDE: MELOHMAN 1.1
NATURAL-BORN SIGNAL KILLER
After an initial entrance that smacked of a rushed release, Ohmicide: Melohman has been updated with 10 new distortion algorithms, numerous performance improvements and bug fixes, including the banishment of nasty zippering noises and clicks when adjusting parameters. There's also support for the latest Mac OS X and more plug-in formats. Loosely based on the company's Predatohm but with 100-percent different DSP routines, Ohmicide is organized around as many as four frequency bands, each with its own distortion, feedback generator, synchronized noise gate, dynamics and console-style mixing/pan abilities. The first effect plug-in to include Melohman functionality, it allows MIDI-controlled preset morphing (at a velocity-sensitive speed) or randomization, making it a remixer's dream tool to play live.
Ohmicide specializes in absolutely brutal, crushing lo-fi distortion; you can tone things back for subtler analog-style saturation, as well. Algorithms range from the thick and chunky textures of Porridge to nasty clipping, decimators and Fractal, an insanely harsh digital mind-grater. I loved how pretty much all of the distortion types sounded on vocals, keys, drum loops and guitars for seriously grungy, bit-trashed effects, but I wouldn't go replacing my favorite amp or simulator with it for classic guitar tones. The multiband approach lets you cook up complex polyrhythmic layers of distortion pretty easily, even slightly detuning low- and high-harmonic ranges to create a rich, oozing effect. The interface is one of the coolest-looking skin designs I've seen, including brilliant compound signal-level metering on mixer channels and a spectacular, glowing waveform display that shows multiband effects in real time. Ohmicide: Melohman sounds unlike anything else and costs a small price for all the “killing” it inspires.
OHM FORCE
OHMICIDE: MELOHMAN 1.1 > ¤ 79 (APPROX. $125) SINGLE-FORMAT; ¤ 99 (APPROX. $157) MULTIFORMAT
At a glance: Multiband distortion, feedback generator and dynamics with one-of-a-kind sound and great performance control. VST, Audio Units, RTAS.
Contact: www.ohmforce.com
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