One-Shots
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Scott Alexander
NINE VOLT AUDIO ACTION DRUMS: BOOM JINX BREAKBEAT EDITION
RHYTHMS BUILT FOR THE CAMERA
Boom Jinx is the alter ego of DJ/producer Øistein J. Eide, a Norwegian whose work has landed him at the top of the European dance charts and on hundreds of TV, film and radio spots. With REX, Acidized WAV and Apple Loop formats, this collection of nearly 600 loops in 60 construction kits (or “beat suites” in Stylus RMX lingo) covers a range of 110 to 159 bpm. Each suite contains full mixes, mixes with no kick/snare, mixes of hats and percussion only, kick/snare only and many other individual parts. Every suite also ends with a four-on-the-floor kick track — handy for constructing transitions from the main grooves, which are typically funkier and syncopated. Groove elements are laid out across the keyboard consistently across all suites, making it extremely quick and easy to build loops across multiple kits because the same MIDI keyboard note always triggers the same drum part.
Stylistically, the suites are kind of hard to pinpoint, but there are definitely influences of hard techno, electro-disco, electro-funk, ambient-trance, house and 8-bit glitch. Drawing on acoustic and electronic sources, Boom Jinx's highly imaginative beat programming delivers a great yin and yang of organic versus mechanical dynamics. Inspiration came in droves as I pared through suites, discovering that the more “background” elements with minimal drums can layer to create really cool motion sequences. A constant sense of exhilaration makes this library well-suited to action sequences in film, television, sports and commercial media.
NINE VOLT AUDIO
ACTION DRUMS: BOOM JINX BREAKBEAT EDITION > $79.99
At a glance: High-energy beat elements for making action-packed music beds that appeal to the visual senses. REX2, Stylus RMX, Apple Loops, Reason ReFill and Acidized WAV.
Contact: www.ninevoltaudio.com
ZERO-G/XFONIC ANTHEM HOUSE
TAKE A RIDE ON A PURPLE AIRPLANE
The liner notes claim heart-racing rhythms and euphoric melodies that will land your tracks into the biggest clubs from Chicago to Ibiza. Maybe, but you'd need a bloody time machine to get there. The 37 construction kits speak nothing of modern production or writing styles, rather sounding more at home next to audio sampling CDs I collected back in the early '90s. If Anthem House were being marketed as a throwback collection to club anthems circa CeCe Peniston's “Finally” or Snap's “Rhythm Is a Dancer,” then I could relate.
These 750 construction loops tilt the scales at about 1.4 GB, offering full mix, breakdowns and instrument/effects loops for each kit in REX2, Acidized WAV and Apple Loops AIFF formats. An additional 135 synth loops and pads, as well as a folder of 160 breakbeats, complement the kits. All files are keymapped for EXS24, HALion and Kontakt.
Ranging from 110 to 133 bpm, the kits are in fact built on some pretty credible rhythm programming circa the era. You'll clearly detect Roland R8 and TR-series, Kawai XD-5 and Alesis HR-16 sounds that were all the rage back then. The rubbery basses, heavily detuned comp sounds, chorused stabs and synth strikes are also typical of the PCM-hybrid synthesizers of the time. Naturally, piano and organ loops are mostly of the Korg M1 variety, though they fall short of the finer riffs heard in the classic house anthems that I knew well. What's really lacking, however, is the promised sense of uplift throughout this disc; some inspiring chord progressions, soaring gospel house vocals or dirty Detroit techno rhythms and bass lines could help. I'm generally all about anything Zero-G/Xfonic puts out, but this one misses the mark for me.
ZERO-G/XFONIC (DIST. BY EASTWEST/SOUNDS ONLINE)
ANTHEM HOUSE > $99.95
At a glance: 37 construction kits covering early '90s-style house rhythms. Loops in RMX, REX2, Apple Loops, Acidized WAV formats. HALion, EXS24 and Kontakt instruments.
Contact: www.soundsonline.com
SYNTHATION PRODUCER'S COLLECTION, VOL.1
HARD-ASS ELECTRONIC BEATS
Synthation, best known for producing soft-synth soundsets, has ventured into loop territory with a killer collection of modern club beats. The Producer's Collection, Vol. 1 is a sophisticated assortment of 320 44.1 kHz Acidized WAV loops, and it also has a folder of nearly 900 single-hit drums, hi-hats, cymbals, claps and effects. Additionally, it has pre-mapped drum kits for Native Instruments Battery 2 and 3, as well as Logic's EXS24 sampler. Besides a few progressive-sounding chopped-phrase loops, it's really a concentrated drums-only affair with no bass, synth or vocal samples.
Files range from pile-driven beats to varieties of “thin” loops, where only processed noise, ominous electro-mechanical industrial churnings, clangorous metal or filtered hi-hats set the tone. The use of effects — such as reverse gated reverb on nail-gun snares and pumping compressors breathing over dissonant tribal beats — fuel the blaze even more. The Special FX folder contains terrific kick explosions, brass and orchestral stabs, arpeggiated filter sweeps, fluttering LFOs and oscillator drops, DJ effects and freaked-out crash-cymbal modulations that you've got to hear to believe. Tremolo, fader-cutting, crazy rotary speakers and Doppler-style processing give many of the loops a deeply complex and trippy dynamic. Because everything is precisely pitched to 140 bpm, it's simply a matter of stacking loops and doing the necessary subtractive arrangement to create floor-filling mayhem. One could easily produce a monster underground smash with this DVD and a single soft synth. Fast-paced and completely euphoric, these are the manic sounds of a neo-rave hitting climax. I love it!
SYNTHATION
PRODUCER'S COLLECTION, VOL.1 > ¤ 89 (approx. $131)
At a glance: 320 drum loops catering to trance, tech-trance and harder electronic styles. Acidized WAV and kits for Apple Logic and Battery 3.
Contact: www.synthation.net
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