REVIEWS
Feb 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
ZERO-G KOCKTAIL KOLLECTION
MARTINIS & LEISURE SUITS
Surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed this humorous look back at the tacky world of early lounge-lizard acts, where a badly dressed, oily guy sings horribly in a hotel bar ‘til the wee morning hours. Luckily, Kocktail Kollection (by Vinnie Zummo of Escape From the Planet of the Breaks fame) takes its job much more seriously, distilling 1.3 GB of material that's capable of adding retro flair to today's hip-hop and electro-pop productions. So what if it's not entirely specific to the '50s and '60s eras depicted on the package?
At times, things can sound akin to Lawrence Welk throwing a party for the B-52s or those stereo effects-demonstration records of the late '50s. Other material ventures more into the synth-pop '80s — like Oingo Boingo, Spandau Ballet and Soft Cell having a mash-up contest. The 20 construction kits range from 156 bpm sitcom- and gameshow-themed beauties to drowsy 96 bpm booze-soaked lounge rhythmscapes, with plenty of swingin' and twistin' varieties. Separate folders provide many more useful accordion licks, cheapo handheld monosynths sequenced lines, Adrenalinn-processed guitar and rhythm-machine phrases, octave guitar slides, sketchy electric piano and organ riffs, lounge breaks, drum one-shots, guitar-string chicks, lo-fi acoustic drum fills, simulated old lounge-record excerpts, vocal licks and more. Throughout, the 24-bit files obtain early-era sensibility from greasy doses of spring reverb and smoky vintage guitar effects. Like sticking a fondue fork into morsels of cheesy sirloin, Kocktail Kollection is definitely tasty but best ingested as part of a well-balanced and moderated sonic diet.
ZERO-G (DIST. BY EAST WEST/SOUNDS ONLINE)
KOCKTAIL KOLLECTION > $99.95
At a glance: Greasy sounds of the '50s and '60s lounge circuit. Acidized WAV, RMX, REX2.
Contact: www.soundsonline.com
SAMPLE MAGIC FUNKY HOUSE GROOVES
SOUNDS FOR A SEXY DANCEFLOOR
Rather than force-feeding you thematic or contrived-sounding construction kits, newcomers Sample Magic opted to provide the more than 1,450 24-bit loops, licks and one-shots for wide open cross-matching. Tempos are calibrated to only three groups (125, 127 and 130 bpm), and all melodic material is key-referenced in the file name. The 124 drum loops combine acoustic and electronic elements with evocative results, ranging from deeply resonant house and hard-disco grooves that thunder through your soul to enchanting tribal, African and Latin rhythms. These funky pile drivers feature truly interesting kick tones sculptured such that they captivate the leading charge of a great house track and not once wane over the course of an arrangement, yet they fold effortlessly into any one of the nearly 300 percussion and top-end loops with exhilarating, trancelike results. Bass, brass (trumpet, trombone, sax and section), guitar and electric-piano loop folders provide ample licks, phrases and hits. The Music loops folder holds gorgeous effected and filtered program material that sounds lifted from vinyl and suits dramatic intros, transitions, turnarounds or just a battle with writers block. Some purposely unintelligible, shimmering vocoded vocals provide the most inspirational human elements of this library. Two additional folders of clearly spoken and sung vocal phrases provide scorching shout-outs that border on erotica, as well as soulful scats and diva licks that will leave the crowd sweating. This is one incredibly powerful, sexy and real-sounding house library with no filler or repetition.
SAMPLE MAGIC (DIST. BY BIG FISH AUDIO)
FUNKY HOUSE GROOVES > $99.95
At a glance: Soulful, tribal, disco and Latin house loops. Three-CD multipack with audio/WAV/REX/Reason/HALion/EXS24 formats.
Contact: www.bigfishaudio.com or www.samplemagic.com
TERRATEC KOMPLEXER VST
CHECK INTO THE WALDORF
Programmed by former Waldorf R&D head, Stefan Stenzel, this Windows-only soft-synth is being referred to in many circles as the “virtual MicroQ.” Its wavetable synthesis uses identical wavetables and a synth architecture close enough to be backward-compatible with patches from the Waldorf MicroQ, so the moniker certainly fits. But the similarities end there. Sporting entirely new code, Komplexer's wavetable oscillators use resynthesis (spectral wave information) — not sample playback — for a much smoother and step-free sound. Filters are fairly standard fare with 12 dB and 24 dB/octave highpass, lowpass, bandpass and notch, with combing varieties. They also self-oscillate like on the MicroQ and can be varied with light, tube, medium, hard, shaper or fuzz-drive flavors. Four six-stage (ADSDSR) envelopes, three LFOs and a modulation matrix provide insane modulation possibilities. The wonderful Arithmetics window can apply Boolean logic expressions between four different pairs of controller values. The 16-step arpeggiator is one of the most exciting and expressive I've had the pleasure to program. Its features conveniently color-coded sliders for setting time/length/glide, intuitive step programming and full-featured accent, clocking and note sorting.
I also loved the eight macro controllers, each assignable to as many as four parameters with adjustable range and curve. All Komplexer controls have MIDI learn functionality.
According to Terratec, the ability to create your own wave-tables is coming shortly, which should be a blast. Even as it stands, the 128 presets are throwbacks to the warm analog '70s and vibrant digital '80s, with lots of staple sounds reminiscent of early Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and Duran Duran. Boomy basses, evolving and syncopated textures, clangorous digital spikes and enormous pads are its specialties.
TERRATEC PRODUCER
KOMPLEXER VST> $249
At a glance: Virtual analog and wavetable VSTi with ability to load Waldorf MicroQ sounds. VST and stand-alone; Windows 98/2000/XP.
Contact: www.terratecproducer.com
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