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		<title>Platinumloops Latin Breaks Volume 1 review</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/platinumloops-latin-breaks-volume-1-review/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/platinumloops-latin-breaks-volume-1-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:24:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[akai mpc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beatmaking]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[latin beat making]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[making a beat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[native instruments maschine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[platinumloops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1628</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[back again with some more authentic samples from platinumloops
this time we taking it south of the border! And no I don&#8217;t mean taco bell&#8230;.

What is Latin Breaks Volume 1?
It&#8217;s a full authentic collection of rhythms and loops straight from Latin America.
Percussions, horns, vocals&#8230;
all the various sounds you would expect in an exotic latin musical excursion.
Not [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>back again with some more authentic samples from platinumloops</p>
<p>this time we taking it south of the border! And no I don&#8217;t mean taco bell&#8230;.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XpA0ib9eX08&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XpA0ib9eX08&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1629" style="margin: 10px;" title="latin_breaks box" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/latin_breaks-box.jpg" alt="" width="154" height="208" />What is Latin Breaks Volume 1?</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s a full authentic collection of rhythms and loops straight from Latin America.</p>
<p>Percussions, horns, vocals&#8230;</p>
<p>all the various sounds you would expect in an exotic latin musical excursion.</p>
<p>Not just a bunch of bongos, but these sound like full breaks</p>
<p>chopped from complete latin records or performances</p>
<p>Real Latin music played live by real Latin musicians</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Content:</strong></em> 144 loops and 7 one shot samples</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> WAV, AIF, REX2</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> $69.95</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>So how do they sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />Authentic&#8230;and spicy!</p>
<p>One thing I&#8217;ve come to notice about platinumloops is when they say Latin, they mean it.  Just like their Arabian breaks product, this product captures the authentic sound and vibe of real Latin music.</p>
<p>The playing and recording is the type of stuff you spend hours getting dusty fingers looking through old thrift store records, cds, and 8 tracks.</p>
<p>These samples fit easily in a movie or tv soundtrack, as well as they next hip hop, pop, or dance tune.</p>
<p>There is a bit of &#8220;air&#8221; about the samples, that gives it that live feel, maybe because it was actually recorded live.</p>
<p>I found myself just listening to the grooves, not knowing how or where I would use them.</p>
<p>Production is high quality, and there is tons of different elements to mix, mash, and mangle</p>
<p><strong>So what&#8217;s the bottom line?</strong></p>
<p>I was really surprised in this library, when I first got it in for review I thought I couldn&#8217;t do anything with it.</p>
<p>I knew it was recorded well, but it felt more like something I would use in a movie score and not for making my next production.</p>
<p>Either way, movie score or music production, these sounds can be very useful and inspiring.</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-113" style="margin: 10px;" title="4andhalfsubs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/4andhalfsubs-300x63.png" alt="" width="240" height="50" />I give this collection a solid 4.5 out of 5 subs.</strong></em></p>
<p>Well produced and well put together, I would have liked to have more of the musical elements, even though there is quite a bit, I felt I could have traded a few of the percussion loops and breaks for some good latin horn/guitar grooves.</p>
<p>But all in all, a great product.</p>
<p>check out the demos on their site, they even have a few loops/breaks for download: <a href="http://platinumloops.com/detail.php?prod_id=180&amp;cat_id=48&amp;order=name&amp;page=1" target="_blank">Latin Breaks V1</a></p>
<p>leave a comment below and let me know what you think</p>
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<a class="a2a_dd addtoany_share_save" href="http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundsandgear.com%2Fplatinumloops-latin-breaks-volume-1-review%2F&amp;linkname=Platinumloops%20Latin%20Breaks%20Volume%201%20review"><img src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_256_24.png" width="256" height="24" alt="Share/Bookmark"/></a><h2  class="related_post_title">Checkout These Other Related Articles</h2><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://soundsandgear.com/native-instruments-maschine-the-best-product-this-year/" title="Native Instruments Maschine the BEST product this year">Native Instruments Maschine the BEST product this year</a></li><li><a href="http://soundsandgear.com/eurotronix-urban-pop-electronic-samples/" title="Eurotronix urban pop electronic samples">Eurotronix urban pop electronic samples</a></li><li><a href="http://soundsandgear.com/smokers-relight-deux-smooth-hip-hop-samples/" title="Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux Smooth Hip Hop Samples">Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux Smooth Hip Hop Samples</a></li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Tone2 Firebird synth is pretty awesome</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/tone2-firebird-synth-is-pretty-awesome/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/tone2-firebird-synth-is-pretty-awesome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:23:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[VST Plugins]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[access virus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hcm synth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nord lead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[synth plugin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tone2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tone2 firebird]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tone2 gladiator]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[waldorf blofeld]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1617</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s get right into it.
In the world of synth plugins, it usually takes a lot to stand out from the crowd.
In my opinion, Firebird+ offers much more than a &#8220;me too&#8221; synth instrument.

What is Firebird?
It&#8217;s a nice little synth with big sound and an innovative engine
It uses Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM) as it&#8217;s synthesis type, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Let&#8217;s get right into it.</p>
<p>In the world of synth plugins, it usually takes a lot to stand out from the crowd.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Firebird+ offers much more than a &#8220;me too&#8221; synth instrument.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ndqhLYjLJ4I&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ndqhLYjLJ4I&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>What is Firebird?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1618" style="margin: 10px;" title="firebird_screen" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/firebird_screen-300x217.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="130" />It&#8217;s a nice little synth with big sound and an innovative engine</p>
<p>It uses Harmonic Content Morphing (HCM) as it&#8217;s synthesis type, and it&#8217;s pretty cool.</p>
<p>What this does is allow the sound oscillators to evolve over time, like real sounds do.</p>
<p>They analyzed and took &#8220;snapshots&#8221; of various synth sounds and natural sounds to create the &#8220;morph tables&#8221;.</p>
<p>These tables are what you load in the oscillator positions. The thing about it is, each morph table has 256 &#8220;snapshots&#8221; in it, so 256 locations for the sound to be altered.</p>
<p>It may sound complex but it&#8217;s not, thanks to the easy interface they put on there.  Everything is a drop down or knob turn away, and it allows for quick tweaking and experimentation.</p>
<p>They also let you set the sound quality, from low to ultra, as well as the number of voices, to match the power of your cpu.</p>
<p>In the demo, I used it on a medium setting with 12 voice, since I was using the screen recording software at the same time. It sounded great and I didn&#8217;t get any glitches at all.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><em>Content:</em></strong> 437 high quality presets</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> windows vst</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> $79</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />I love the sound. I was quite blown away by the tone of this instrument.</p>
<p>It really puts me in the mind of a waldorf crossed with an access virus, that has a fetish for the nord lead!</p>
<p>To my ears, it&#8217;s really a virtual analog sound in line with those types of synths as opposed to a straight up analog like a Moog.</p>
<p>When I came across this synth, I was fresh off my trip to NAMM where I had been playing with the nord, the blofeld, and the virus, as well as the moogs and dave smith instruments.</p>
<p>So when I heard it, I had a lot of references still clear in my head to compare with, this synth stood up very well and curbed my gear lust quite a bit.</p>
<p>The sounds, mixed with the fx and the tweakable parameters make this one great sounding synth monster.</p>
<p>You can get deep, lush, harsh, or even natural&#8230;thanks to the HCM synthesis.</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s the final verdict?</strong></p>
<p>Get it, the price is right and the sound is very nice.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a very flexible synth, and can become a true workhorse with little effort.</p>
<p>The ease with which you can tweak and create your sounds is genius, I love how they took something so complex as HCM and made it simple.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not an analog recreation in my eyes, but it stands side by side with some of the best virtual analog instruments around.</p>
<p>It even reminds me a little bit of the novation supernova rack I used to have&#8230;the sounds is right.</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="270" height="50" />I definitely give this a 5 out of 5 subs</strong></em>, the value and features are just too good.</p>
<p>Download the demo and listen to it, play it, you&#8217;ll see what I mean.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s also tons of 3rd party preset libraries available for this monster, making it even more expandable and inspiring.</p>
<p>Go on over to<a href="http://tone2.com/html/firebird_vsti_vst_synthesizer_.html" target="_blank"> Tone2.com</a> and check it out.</p>
<p>let me know what you think</p>
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		<title>Eurotronix urban pop electronic samples</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/eurotronix-urban-pop-electronic-samples/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/eurotronix-urban-pop-electronic-samples/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:10:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[urban electronic samples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban samples]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s been a while since we did a review on something from Samplified Sounds but they released a new library a while back that I hadn&#8217;t reviewed yet!
This one is a euro styled urban pop library.
let&#8217;s check it out

What is Eurotronix?
It&#8217;s a collection of euro pop infused with rnb!
For those that like huge pad, synths, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s been a while since we did a review on something from <a href="https://www.samplifiedsounds.com/101.html"  class="alinks_links" onclick="return alinks_click(this);" title="samplified sounds"  style="padding-right: 13px; background: url(http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/plugins/alinks/images/external.png) center right no-repeat;" rel="external">Samplified Sounds</a> but they released a new library a while back that I hadn&#8217;t reviewed yet!</p>
<p>This one is a euro styled urban pop library.</p>
<p>let&#8217;s check it out</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jNXogsRynLI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jNXogsRynLI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>What is Eurotronix?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1610" style="margin: 10px;" title="eurotronix" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/eurotronix.png" alt="" width="144" height="144" />It&#8217;s a collection of euro pop infused with rnb!</p>
<p>For those that like huge pad, synths, gated trance leads, and sweeps in their music, this is for you.</p>
<p>This collection really sounds like a bunch of euro pop songs, read to be chopped.</p>
<p>You get the full track with everything in it, for those that love to chop, and you also get it broken down into smaller chunks..</p>
<p>still big enough to chop or loop if you prefer.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Content:</strong></em> about 570+ wav samples broken up into two parts</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> wav</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> each volume (1 and 2) is $19.70 each</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />Luscious!</p>
<p>These really have a lush sound to them. The way they produced them makes them sound just like some euro pop/electronic songs.</p>
<p>I like the fact that they give you a huge track where all the sounds are together, so you can chop them up like a sample.  But they also give you the smaller parts to chop up, some of which include individual sounds isolated for further flexibility.</p>
<p>The sound quality is superb, they sound ready for the radio already.</p>
<p>No glitches or pops found at all.</p>
<p>Plenty of content to keep you busy with enough variety to keep you creative.</p>
<p><strong>What is the final verdict on this one?</strong></p>
<p>The quality of the production, the feel of the music, and the quantity of the content make this library stand out.</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="270" height="50" />It is a definite 5 out of 5 subs in my opinion</strong></em>, I had fun with it, plus I just loved listening to it.  These folks really know their production and it shows.  They may not have tons of packs, but each of them stands out among the crowd.</p>
<p>The fact that they broke them into volumes (they used to be only single libraries) allows more people to get their hands on them.</p>
<p>This is a great library, a different taste from the normal urban/hip hop and rnb libraries so it&#8217;s really a breath of fresh air.</p>
<p>Check em out and listen to the demos: <a href="https://www.samplifiedsounds.com/101.html" target="_blank">samplified sounds eurotronix</a></p>
<p>leave a comment below and let me know what you think</p>
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		<title>Urban Fire 5 is the most professional urban drum toolkit period!</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/urban-fire-5-is-the-most-professional-urban-drum-toolkit-period/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/urban-fire-5-is-the-most-professional-urban-drum-toolkit-period/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:08:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[urban drums]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Another one from sonicspecialists&#8230;.these guys know how to do drums.
After I reviewed their new Urban Electro kit, they sent over the Urban Fire 5, the latest of a long series of genre dominating drum libraries.
I&#8217;ve been wanting to review this for you for a while, but I&#8217;ve just been busy with so many different things&#8230;
let&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another one from sonicspecialists&#8230;.these guys know how to do drums.</p>
<p>After I reviewed their new Urban Electro kit, they sent over the Urban Fire 5, the latest of a long series of genre dominating drum libraries.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been wanting to review this for you for a while, but I&#8217;ve just been busy with so many different things&#8230;</p>
<p>let&#8217;s get it!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nq2-q_Yi_GQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nq2-q_Yi_GQ&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>What is Urban Fire 5?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1603" style="margin: 10px;" title="sonicspecialists" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/sonicspecialists.jpg" alt="" width="188" height="67" />Quite possibly the LAST urban/pop drum library you&#8217;ll ever need&#8230;until they drop UF6!</p>
<p>No seriously, this is a drum library that screams professional, industry, radio ready and any other adjectives you&#8217;d use to define something that is ready to make your tracks stand up and stand out!</p>
<p>To me, this is more than a drum library, with all the tools and the finely tuned tones and sounds in this collection, this feels like a drum toolkit!  Everything works together perfectly and is built to be mixed and matched.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s like a big bucket of legos&#8230;in drum format!</p>
<p>Not only is there the staples like kicks, snares, hats, etc&#8230;but you get stuff like dirty tones, kick and snare enchancers, and even some dope percussion sounds.  Enhancers made to layer your sounds, and percussion that is sweet and sexy, everything feels so crisp and clean.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Content:</strong> Over 850 samples</li>
<li><strong>Format:</strong> 16 and 24 bit wave</li>
<li><strong>Price:</strong> $174.95</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="155" />Like fried catfish at a July 4th bbq!</p>
<p>Ha! These sounds are HOT, straight up.</p>
<p>What really amazes me is the clarity and detail of every single aspect of the sounds.  The kicks thump but are still crisp, the snare smack yet still have meat, the hi hats cut through like a razor, the claps and percussion&#8230;..man, I can&#8217;t even explain them.</p>
<p>These folks know how to engineer a good sound, more importantly, they know how to engineer drums so that they sit well in a variety of urban/pop music applications.</p>
<p>You really don&#8217;t have to do any type of eq or tweaking with these, they magically seem to carve their own space out in any track you put them in.  Even at low volumes they are still well defined.</p>
<p>No clipping, yet they are processed to BANG&#8230;you can tell these dudes are real engineers and not just drum sample producers.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s one thing to have a bangin drum, it&#8217;s another thing when that drum is majorly FAT but yet not clipping or overloading in the mix.</p>
<p>They just &#8220;fit in&#8221; wherever you put them.</p>
<p>I really don&#8217;t know what they do over there, but I now understand why they are regarded as the best when it comes to drum samples.</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s the final verdict?</strong></p>
<p>Isn&#8217;t it obvious? This is THE professional drum toolkit that ANY serious beat maker, producer, musician, engineer, boy scout, dj, doctor, wast management technician, professional tap dancer&#8230;.well you get the point. Everyone should have a set of Urban Fire drums in their possession.</p>
<p>Straight up, without a doubt, no questions asked, if you have to ask then you already missed the boat&#8230;..</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="270" height="50" />5 out of 5 subs&#8230;.the bar has been raised and permanently set in 17ft thick marble.</strong></em></p>
<p>This is what a drum library should sound like. I tried to really find one part of the library I didn&#8217;t like, but I couldn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m not huge on 808 sounds, so I thought &#8221; prolly some more wack 808&#8243; but they weren&#8217;t. How you make an 808 both knock AND boom is beyond me. The roundness of the bass PLUS the thump of a solid kick = crazy drum aerobics.</p>
<p>Just go download the demo man, honestly, the demo kit will be an upgrade over the majority of drum samples available on the market.</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and check them out: <a href="http://sonicspecialists.com/" target="_blank">sonicspecialists urban fire drums</a></p>
<p>Then let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.</p>
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		<title>Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux Smooth Hip Hop Samples</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/smokers-relight-deux-smooth-hip-hop-samples/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/smokers-relight-deux-smooth-hip-hop-samples/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:07:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Big Fish Friday]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s friday&#8230;time for some fish&#8230;
This week I&#8217;m checking out a library Big Fish sent over entitled &#8220;Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux&#8221;
It&#8217;s a follow up to &#8220;Smoker&#8217;s Delight&#8221; a library I&#8217;ve personally been using and continue to use since it released in 2003
If you like laid back, smoked out, jazzy hip hop&#8230;then check this out

What is Smoker&#8217;s Relight [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s friday&#8230;time for some fish&#8230;</p>
<p>This week I&#8217;m checking out a library Big Fish sent over entitled &#8220;Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux&#8221;</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a follow up to &#8220;Smoker&#8217;s Delight&#8221; a library I&#8217;ve personally been using and continue to use since it released in 2003</p>
<p>If you like laid back, smoked out, jazzy hip hop&#8230;then check this out</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wyphBl5280U&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wyphBl5280U&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1596" style="margin: 10px;" title="smdl2" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/smdl2.jpg" alt="" width="140" height="196" />What is Smoker&#8217;s Relight Deux?</strong></p>
<p>eQuipped Music ( back then they were called elab) smashed the downtempo/lounge hip hop sample genre with Smoker&#8217;s Delight.</p>
<p>Dub style rhodes chords, flutes, <a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-3466604-10399770?sid=alink&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.musiciansfriend.com%2Fnavigation%3Fq%3Dakai%2Bmpc"  class="alinks_links" onclick="return alinks_click(this);" title="mpc search results from musiciansfriend.com"  style="padding-right: 13px; background: url(http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/plugins/alinks/images/external.png) center right no-repeat;" rel="external">mpc</a> style drum breaks and music samples, brass, and bass..</p>
<p>all with a laid back vibe that just made you want to chill.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s one of my favorite collections, so I was very excited to get my hands on the follow up.</p>
<p>At it&#8217;s core, Smoker&#8217;s Relight is a huge collection of smoked out hip hop samples for those that like their music on the smoother side of hip hop.</p>
<p>You get tons of drums, loops, riffs, chords, fx, and melodies, all with that lounge type vibe.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Content:</strong></em> 5012 24bit loops and samples</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> Rex, Refill, Wav, RMX</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> $199 for the whole dvd, or $69.99 for each of the 3 downloadable sections.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />I LOVE how they produce these libraries. I&#8217;m not quite sure what it is about them, but there is a &#8220;texture&#8221; to these samples.</p>
<p>The variety of sounds and riffs in here is amazing.  The literally hundreds of rhodes chords, the funky musical loops, even the drums are dope.</p>
<p>Some of the drumloops and breaks are SICK. All have that mpc groove that hip hop has been build on for years.</p>
<p>Since so many softwares are able to extract groove templates now, this library doubles as a whole new source of grooves for you too!</p>
<p>The quality is top notch, not a hint of unprofessional recording anywhere in this library.</p>
<p><strong>So what&#8217;s the final verdict?</strong></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll admit, I&#8217;m biased on this one, I love it and I&#8217;m not ashamed to say it.  Smoker&#8217;s Delight has been the library by which I judge all similar libraries for years, and now with Smoker&#8217;s Relight the standard has been set once again.</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="270" height="50" />No question this is a 5 out of 5 subs.</strong></em></p>
<p>I just love the shear amount of samples in this library, each chord is ready to be the foundation for it&#8217;s own track, each loop, riff, and sample are so inspiring that you&#8217;re bound to have thousands upon thousands of ideas.</p>
<p>There&#8217;s no doubt in my mind I will use sounds from this library for MANY years to come&#8230;they just don&#8217;t get old, and are so well recorded and produced that it&#8217;s hard to get away from them once you start using them.</p>
<p>I also like that Big Fish is allowing folks to download the collection in 3 sets, for a lower price.  Each downloadable volume contains all the loops and samples from 1 tempo. The tempos in this library are 80, 90, and 100 bpm</p>
<p>So if you normally work at a specific tempo, that may be a good way to get into this amazing library, plus with the great times-stretching software around now, it really doesn&#8217;t matter what tempo it is!</p>
<p>I say check it out, I was expecting great things and was NOT disappointed at all.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a search for smoker&#8217;s relight on Big Fish that shows all the collections available. <a title="smoker's relight" href="http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/catalogview.html?1;16;1::::::::::Page=1" target="_blank">Smoker&#8217;s Relight collections.</a></p>
<p>let me know what you think and leave a comment below</p>
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		<title>Kirk Hunter Studios Concert String II review</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/kirk-hunter-studios-concert-string-ii-review/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/kirk-hunter-studios-concert-string-ii-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:50:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Product Reviews]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1570</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m not a composer, I&#8217;m not a string major&#8230;I don&#8217;t know all the parts of an orchestra, or a symphony, or a chamber ensemble&#8230;
But I know I like strings, and I know I like strings that sound good, but most importantly that are playable.
Today I want to share with you a collection that is more  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;m not a composer, I&#8217;m not a string major&#8230;I don&#8217;t know all the parts of an orchestra, or a symphony, or a chamber ensemble&#8230;</p>
<p>But I know I like strings, and I know I like strings that sound good, but most importantly that are playable.</p>
<p>Today I want to share with you a collection that is more  inline with those that look for the best of the best.</p>
<p>Kirk Hunter&#8217;s name is pretty much synonymous with great and realistic sounding instrument samples.</p>
<p>He recently released Concert Strings II, a collection of strings, really it&#8217;s a collection of four string sections in one library.</p>
<p>To all the composers, game music producers, tv/media producers and professionals that look for nothing but the best, take a moment to journey through these strings with me.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vsa4rzio8SU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Vsa4rzio8SU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>What is Concert Strings II?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1573" style="margin: 10px;" title="concert strings II box" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/concert-strings-II-box.jpg" alt="" width="149" height="167" />This is first and foremost a professional string library for professional musicians, composers, and music producers.</p>
<p>You get 4 string sections which include 1st and 2nd violin, 1st and 2nd viola, 1st and 2nd cello, and bass.  You also get a section of combinations.  In each of those sections you get the full (16 players), half (8 players), quarter (4 players), and solo divisions. These are also known as Symphonic (16), Studio (8), Chamber (4) and Solo (1) string sections.</p>
<p>The patches are organized into 5 main folders which represent the 4 sections and a combinations folder.  Within each folder you have quad, triple, double, and single instrument.  Each with 20 different articulations.</p>
<p>Quad instruments contain all 4 divisions in one instrument, easily switchable from the front panel.  Alternatively, triple contains 3 divisions, double contains 2 divisions, and single of course is one.</p>
<p>The patches are labeled so that you can easily tell which division you will load. For example if I choose 1st violins 16,8 in the double folder, I know the instrument will contain the full 16 players as well as the half division of 8 players.</p>
<p>This makes it very easy to chose what you want to play.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><em>Content: </em></strong>25gb of Symphonic, Studio, Chamber, Solo strings with additional Combination patches  (Approx. 50gb for EXS version)</li>
<li><strong><em>Format: </em></strong>Kontakt or EXS</li>
<li><strong><em>Price: </em></strong>$799 (Kontakt format) and $699 (EXS format which is on sale for $359 until March 15)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>What is all this talk about divisions and sections?</strong></p>
<p>Honestly, that&#8217;s what I said at first, because I didn&#8217;t know.  The great thing about this library is that it comes with it&#8217;s own thorough manual.  I spent quite a bit of time just reading about sections and divisions, so that I had a better grasp of the instruments I was using.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1572" style="margin: 10px;" title="divisi live" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/divisi-live.jpg" alt="" width="218" height="137" />Not only does the manual give a better understanding which allows you to pick the instruments you want to play a lot quicker, it gives you a better appreciation for the programming that went into this library.</p>
<p><strong>DivisiLive, VibratoLive, EQLive?</strong></p>
<p>Kirk spent tons of time developing some very useful and innovative features that work in the background of this library.  Basically a lot of the stuff you would normally have to do by hand, or with key-switching and mod-wheel acrobatics, are easily accomplished simply by turning the feature on and playing.</p>
<p>My favorite is DivisiLive. Basically what this does is automatically plays divisis for you when you play a chord.  I learned, from Kirk&#8217;s manual, that when a string section plays a chord, everyone in the section doesn&#8217;t play the same notes.  So if you have a full section of 16 players, when you play a 2 note chord, the notes are actually split among them, so 8 players hit one note, and the other 8 hit another.</p>
<p>I never knew this, but this is exactly how it would be done in a live situation.  With DivisiLive, I can do this same exact thing automatically.  To my knowledge this is a first when it comes to string libraries, and it definitely gives your parts a more realistic feel.</p>
<p>Similarly, you have live programming functions for vibrato and eq as well, both equally useful for making your parts sound more realistic, allowing you to focus on playing instead of programming and key-switching.</p>
<p><strong>So it has tons of useful features but how does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />This is what it really comes down to right?  Because let&#8217;s be honest, if something is super easy to use, has a ton of features, but sounds horrible, you won&#8217;t use it!</p>
<p>This library sounds pretty darn realistic to my ears.  What I immediately noticed about this library compared to a few others, is it&#8217;s lack of fx and reverb drowning each instrument.</p>
<p>The sounds were recorded pretty much clean, in a very dry room.  You don&#8217;t realize how important this is until you&#8217;ve used other string libraries that are drenched in reverb, pretty much forcing their sound upon you.</p>
<p>A great recording, left dry, allows you to mix and match these sounds into a variety of music, using your own reverbs and fx so that it doesn&#8217;t work against your productions but with them.</p>
<p>I like how the instruments respond to velocity, the looping is spot on, no glitches or &#8220;transitions&#8221;.</p>
<p>This is just a very well recorded, versatile sounding library.  I really enjoyed it&#8217;s lack of reverb on the samples, that was quite a breath of fresh &#8220;air&#8221; so to speak.</p>
<p><strong>So what&#8217;s the final verdict on this library?</strong></p>
<p>I really feel this is a great string library. I know there are tons of different string libraries out here, and it&#8217;s hard to choose.  I say demo them if you can. This is definitely for those that need a very high quality library with tons of options, articulations, and flexibility.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="270" height="50" />For the sound quality, flexibility of the instruments, and the superb programing of the library, <strong><em>I have to give this a 5 out of 5 subs. </em></strong></p>
<p><strong><em></em></strong>I was just really impressed, I think the dry recording and under the hood programing really made me enjoy it, not to mention the education I got from reading the manual.</p>
<p>Having the option to load all sections and articulations at once, or loading just the section and articulation you need allows you to be more flexible in your compositions.</p>
<p>I also LOVE the fact that this library can be shipped on an external hard drive, ready to play.  That is how I received this library for review and I must say, not having to go through any registration hoops or long installs was amazing.  Just plug in and go. I really hope to see more companies do this with their large sound libraries.</p>
<p>Thumbs up to Kirk Hunter, this is a well thought out and programed library, and trust me when I say, I only covered a small portion of the gold that&#8217;s inside this collection.</p>
<p>Head on over to the website and take a look at all the features and facts about it. <a href="http://www.kirkhunterstudios.com/products_cs_str_ii.html" target="_blank">Kirk Hunter Concert Strings II</a></p>
<p>Of course, leave a comment below with your thoughts on the library.</p>
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		<title>SoulTown Volume 2 royalty free soul music samples</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/soultown-volume-2-royalty-free-soul-music-samples/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/soultown-volume-2-royalty-free-soul-music-samples/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:08:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sample Libraries]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[beat maker]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Time for another sound hound, checking out some more samples from Motion Samples, one of my favorite companies.
SoulTown Samples volume 2, we already checked out SoulTown Samples vol 1, and I had a few suggestions.
Let&#8217;s see what&#8217;s up with this one.

What is SoulTown Samples?
Just in case you don&#8217;t remember, SoulTown is a collection of samples [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Time for another sound hound, checking out some more samples from Motion Samples, one of my favorite companies.</p>
<p>SoulTown Samples volume 2, we already checked out <a title="soul town samples volume 1" href="http://soundsandgear.com/motion-samples-soultown-samples-volume-1-review/" target="_blank">SoulTown Samples vol 1</a>, and I had a few suggestions.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s see what&#8217;s up with this one.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YAf5yT1m6zE&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YAf5yT1m6zE&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1586" style="margin: 10px;" title="soutownsamplesvol2main" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/soutownsamplesvol2main.jpg" alt="" width="136" height="136" />What is SoulTown Samples?</strong></p>
<p>Just in case you don&#8217;t remember, SoulTown is a collection of samples that aims to capture that classic soul music sound.</p>
<p>Not just soul music, but the types of riffs and samples that hip hop producers love to dig for.</p>
<p>They mix it so it has that vintage sound, and they jam out so you get a nice mixture of guitars, bass, keys, strings, vocals, etc.</p>
<p>No percussion or drums to worry about filtering out, just the music.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><em>Content:</em></strong> 190  multi samples</li>
<li><strong><em>Format:</em></strong> wav</li>
<li><strong><em>Price:</em></strong> $40.00</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How do they sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />Do you really need to ask that question? I think you know by now that Motion Samples brings the goods each and every time.</p>
<p>What I like about this volume is that the samples are a lot longer than the first one.  Volume 1 felt like someone already chopped the samples for me, which is cool, but you have to try a bit harder to make your own chops&#8230;and you&#8217;re tempted to use the chops as is.</p>
<p>In volume 2, each samples is a lot longer, so you can get your chop on pretty crazy like.</p>
<p>The recording of the samples are top notch and I&#8217;ve noticed they got a lil more funky on the production.</p>
<p>There is a lot more going on in some of these samples in regards to the instrumentation, which is always great&#8230;it helps give it that real classic feel.</p>
<p><strong>So what&#8217;s the final verdict on this one?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="240" height="45" />Without a doubt this is a <em><strong>5 out of 5 subs</strong></em> library.</p>
<p>Well recorded, enough content to keep the most hungriest beat fiend satisfied.</p>
<p>And the production style is right on the money, you really feel like you&#8217;re digging in them old classic soul records we all love, but don&#8217;t want to deal with because of sample clearance.</p>
<p>Now you have no excuse, you can still get that soul sound, with enough chopping material so you don&#8217;t have to worry about sounding like the next producer.</p>
<p>In my opinion if you love soul samples, there&#8217;s absolutely no reason not to check this one out.</p>
<p>As you know, I have this collection available right here on the site in the <a title="download motion samples" href="http://soundsandgear.com/motion-samples" target="_blank">Motion Samples store</a></p>
<p>Listen to the demos and check it out.</p>
<p>Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.</p>
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		<title>Vir2 World Impact Global Percussion instrument</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/vir2-world-impact-global-percussion-instrument/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/vir2-world-impact-global-percussion-instrument/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:41:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Big Fish Friday]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Time for another big fish friday baby!
This week we looking at some percussion
world percussion!
I&#8217;m checking out World Impact Global Percussion from Vir2

What is World Impact?
It&#8217;s a super deep toolbox of percussion sounds from all over the world.
Asia, Africa, South and North America, Europe, Middle East, and a folder dedicate to the Taiko drum!
In addition to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Time for another big fish friday baby!</p>
<p>This week we looking at some percussion</p>
<p>world percussion!</p>
<p>I&#8217;m checking out World Impact Global Percussion from Vir2</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2B_YxUcqURw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2B_YxUcqURw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1577" style="margin: 10px;" title="wigp1" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/wigp1.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="202" />What is World Impact?</strong></p>
<p>It&#8217;s a super deep toolbox of percussion sounds from all over the world.</p>
<p>Asia, Africa, South and North America, Europe, Middle East, and a folder dedicate to the Taiko drum!</p>
<p>In addition to all the authentic sounding drums, shakers, and tuned instruments like steel drums, vibraphones, glocks, etc&#8230;</p>
<p>you also get a mini sequencer!</p>
<p>Well, it&#8217;s like a 16 step sequencer that you can use to trigger patterns of the percussion instruments.</p>
<p>You get access to humanization features, eq, and the ez room reverb engine.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Content: </strong></em>13GB of 24 bit wave samples</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> Kontakt Player instrument</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> $399</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does it sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="155" />Like they recorded real percussion instruments and put them in my computer&#8230;</p>
<p>Well that&#8217;s what the did lol.</p>
<p>No really, the recording quality is superb and the programming of the instruments is great.  You may think there isn&#8217;t much you can do do a percussion library, but it sounds really good.</p>
<p>Most of the instruments were recorded dry, so it&#8217;s not drowned in fx. This allows it to keep it&#8217;s natural sound&#8230;yet you can add any fx you wish.</p>
<p>The sounds work well for anyone from film scoring ninja composers to bedroom house producers.</p>
<p>Anyone that like realistic and high quality percussion samples&#8230;.</p>
<p><strong>What&#8217;s the bottom line?</strong></p>
<p>This is a very decent library, there are tons of instrument in here that I had no idea even existed&#8230;let alone how to pronounce their names!</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re like me and always looking for some really good percussion to sprinkle in your music, at least check out the demos of this library.</p>
<p><strong><em><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-457" style="margin: 10px;" title="4subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/4subs-300x71.png" alt="" width="240" height="57" />I give it a 4 out of 5 subs</em></strong>, well recorded, tons of variety, and actually useful.</p>
<p>I can see me layering these sounds with my other drum samples to spice things up&#8230;as well as letting them roll on their own.</p>
<p>Any way you do it, these samples just work out right.</p>
<p>Go on over and listen to the demos and see for yourself.  <a href="http://www.bigfishaudio.com/4DCGI/detail.html?4;16;1:115::511988::1095:::G511988;A115;D1095::1393" target="_blank">World Impact: Global Percussion</a></p>
<p>leave me a comment below, let me know what you think</p>
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		<title>Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock virtual instrument review</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/quantum-leap-ministry-of-rock-virtual-instrument-review/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/quantum-leap-ministry-of-rock-virtual-instrument-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:49:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sample Libraries]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[soundsonline.com]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1524</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s be honest here&#8230;
Most musicians, no matter what style of music you play or create, have a little bit of rock in them.
Maybe it&#8217;s the idea of letting it all go on stage, or maybe it&#8217;s that lead guitar solo we all wish we could play, whatever it is, rock&#8217;s influence is pretty evident, no [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1526" style="margin: 10px; border: 0px initial initial;" title="ew173" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ew173-239x300.jpg" alt="" width="143" height="180" />Let&#8217;s be honest here&#8230;</p>
<p>Most musicians, no matter what style of music you play or create, have a little bit of rock in them.</p>
<p>Maybe it&#8217;s the idea of letting it all go on stage, or maybe it&#8217;s that lead guitar solo we all wish we could play, whatever it is, rock&#8217;s influence is pretty evident, no matter how subtle it may be.</p>
<p>But what if you&#8217;re like me and you&#8217;re not a rock musician?  How do you get a convincing guitar riff without hiring a guitarist?  Maybe you just want to add some rock drum elements to your electronic composition.</p>
<p>You could be in love with the signature bass sounds you hear in many classic rock tunes.</p>
<p>Whatever your reason, from adding a little bit of rock flavor to producing full on rock anthems, Quantum Leap aims to provide you the toolkit for your next sonic masterpiece.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="560" height="340" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fkb82vT-pvU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="560" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fkb82vT-pvU&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong>Quantum Leap Ministry of Rock</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1525" style="margin: 10px;" title="ministryofrock" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/ministryofrock-300x233.jpg" alt="" width="210" height="163" />What exactly IS Ministry of Rock or MOR as it&#8217;s often referred to?  Well I will tell you what it is NOT.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s NOT another collection of rock guitar loops and riffs, it&#8217;s NOT another dvd full of rock style drum loops and fills, and it&#8217;s NOT a library full of basslines &#8220;in the style of&#8221; _______ (insert popular rock group).</p>
<p>No, this is an actual instrument&#8230;that means it&#8217;s something you can play.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s made up of high quality samples of the very same drums, bass, and guitar setups that you would hear on your favorite records and films.</p>
<p>MOR aims to be your one stop toolbox when it&#8217;s time to rock out in the virtual domain.</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><em><strong>Content:</strong></em> 20gb of rock drums, bass, and guitars</li>
<li><em><strong>Format:</strong></em> PLAY instrument (both 32 and 64 bit compatible)</li>
<li><em><strong>Price:</strong></em> $355</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How does Ministry of Rock sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="155" />If I had to choose one word to describe this instrument, it would be REAL.</p>
<p>Seriously, I had heard about Quantum Leap products, but never had an opportunity to check them out for myself.  Sure they had demo songs online, but you know, those aren&#8217;t always an accurate representation of a product.</p>
<p>The sounds in this library have me totally convinced that they actually shipped a microscopic rock band (some poor band that was reduced to nano sized slashers by an advanced algorithm only known to east west, quantum leap, and NASA) on the dual layers of the dvds that somehow get transplanted permanently onto my hard drive during the install.</p>
<p>From there, this microscopic rock band is ready and willing to play anything my creative mind can conjure up.</p>
<p>Everything is recorded with the same mic and amp techniques that are used to record platinum and gold selling rock bands.</p>
<p>I won&#8217;t even pretend to know what all the amps, drum kits, basses, and guitars are&#8230;.I just know they sound good.  For the musicians that know, you&#8217;ll definitely recognize some of these names:</p>
<p>Drumkits include the Octaplus, Ayotte, Ludwig, and Gretch.  Basses include a custom Fender P-Bass, Fender 5 string, Specter, Kubiki and a Musicman. The guitars are a Fender Telecaster, Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Les Paul Standard and Deluxe, Ibanez Univers 7, and a PRS.</p>
<p>Like I said&#8230;I know of a few of these, but I&#8217;m not a guitarist, bassist, or a drummer&#8230;so all that matters is they sound great!</p>
<p>The guitars can be loud and distorted, or have a little clean and elctric tone.  None of the guitar notes are looped, and they will scream and whine their way out to the end of the note if you hold it out to the end.</p>
<p>The distorted guitars are mean, and the drums have an &#8220;air&#8221; about them that just screams ROCK OUT and beat me!   These sounds are seriously fun to play, no doubt about it. I spent an hour just going through and jamming with the various sounds in this instrument. Each one is expressive, and thanks the the PLAY engine, reacts to how I play, letting me express myself with real rock instruments&#8230;something I thought I&#8217;d never be able to do.  They way they respond to velocity, chords, and legato keep things very interesting.</p>
<p>It also helps that everything was recorded in East West Studio 2, a studio very famous for it&#8217;s years of producing hit recordings, specifically in the genre of rock!</p>
<p><strong>So what do I really think about Ministry of Rock?</strong></p>
<p>I think this is an amazing product and you really have to play it to appreciate it.  I&#8217;ve listened to the demos online over and over, and while they definitely show the quality of the library, the ease of which you can play the instruments is superb.</p>
<p>Not to mention they don&#8217;t take very long to load at all, I was expecting long wait times when loading sounds but that&#8217;s not the case. Most sounds loaded for me in less than 10 seconds, with the drum kits usually taking the longest.</p>
<p>The authenticity of this instrument as an all around rock library is unmatched. The drums, bass, and guitars all fit together perfectly.   The ability to tweak the amp settings, eq, and everything else about the sounds via the easy interface is another plus.  Just messing with the amp setups yields very different results within the same instrument.</p>
<p><em><strong><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-482" style="margin: 10px;" title="5subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/5subs-300x56.png" alt="" width="240" height="45" />This is without question a 5 out of 5 subs</strong></em>.  The realism, and I can&#8217;t say this enough, it&#8217;s just simply incredible.  The way you can actually play the sounds and not just &#8220;playback&#8221; samples is a testament to the hard work and detail that went into both the sampling and programing of this instrument.</p>
<p>If you haven&#8217;t heard the demos please go check them out.  And if you&#8217;re looking for a great collection of real guitars, drums, and bass that were recorded specifically for making the next hit rock record, there&#8217;s  no other complete option around in my opinion.</p>
<p>Great job, I&#8217;m definitely looking forward to checking out more instruments from Quantum Leap and East West.</p>
<p>let me know what you think, leave a comment below.</p>
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		<title>Kick Free Revolution house music top loop samples</title>
		<link>http://soundsandgear.com/kick-free-revolution-house-music-top-loop-samples/</link>
		<comments>http://soundsandgear.com/kick-free-revolution-house-music-top-loop-samples/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:35:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>saintjoe</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Product Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sample Libraries]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Videos and Tutorials]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[club music loops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dance music loops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[house music toploop samples]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kick free revolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[making a beat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minimal techno grooves]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[native instruments maschine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sounds of revolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soundsandgear.com]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://soundsandgear.com/?p=1562</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today I&#8217;m back with another sound hound for ya! Gotta checkout the sounds!
I got something different than the normal you may be used to.
My taste in music and musical styles is very diverse, as is the taste and styles of the folks on the site.
So today I want to checkout something more along the lines [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today I&#8217;m back with another sound hound for ya! Gotta checkout the sounds!</p>
<p>I got something different than the normal you may be used to.</p>
<p>My taste in music and musical styles is very diverse, as is the taste and styles of the folks on the site.</p>
<p>So today I want to checkout something more along the lines of house and electronic music.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m checking out Sounds of Revolution&#8217;s Kick Free Revolution&#8230;.a follow up to their very popular volume 1.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="480" height="385" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ih-JcLbqEgw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ih-JcLbqEgw&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;color1=0x2b405b&amp;color2=0x6b8ab6" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p>
<p><strong><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1564" style="margin: 10px;" title="kick free revolution" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/kick-free-revolution.png" alt="" width="125" height="168" />What is Kick Free Revolution?</strong></p>
<p>If I had to choose one word, it would be &#8220;groove&#8221;.</p>
<p>This is a collection of funky, groovy top loops&#8230;you know..</p>
<p>the stuff that moves the track along?</p>
<p>No synths, no bass, no pads or fx, straight up top loops&#8230;</p>
<p>glitches, blips, and other funkiness to give your track that &#8220;life&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Quick Specs</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong><em>Content:</em></strong> 611 24-bit Wav loops and one-shots</li>
<li><strong><em>Format:</em></strong> Rex2, RMX, ESX, Kontakt, Apple Loops</li>
<li><strong><em>Price:</em></strong> 46,95 Euros = $64.32</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>How do they sound?</strong></p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-759" style="margin: 10px;" title="sound" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/sound-300x258.jpg" alt="" width="144" height="124" />Authentic&#8230;at least to me.</p>
<p>Now I may not be an authority on house music, but I know a groove when I hear it&#8230;and I also know the types of sounds I look for.</p>
<p>Experimental glitches, blips and bleeps&#8230;funky breaks and percussion, all with room to add your own kicks and drums to the mix.</p>
<p>Well recorded, well produced and just plain fun to play.</p>
<p>This is the first sample collection I have reviewed from them, and I can see why people like their products&#8230;they give you what you need, nothing more.</p>
<p>I look at top loops as the icing on the cake, or if you want to go minimal they can be the whole cake!</p>
<p>But they have to sound good and be recorded well, these loops live up to that challenge.</p>
<p><strong>So what&#8217;s the bottom line?</strong></p>
<p>This is a good collection for those that like to step out of the norm when it comes to sounds they incorporate into their music.</p>
<p>Or it&#8217;s great for those specifically looking for some funky house grooves to add to their productions.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-457" style="margin: 10px;" title="4subs" src="http://soundsandgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/4subs-300x71.png" alt="" width="240" height="57" /><strong><em>I give this collection a 4 out of 5 subs.</em></strong></p>
<p>I like the overall feel of the collection, and it&#8217;s very useful.</p>
<p>I did feel it got a bit repetitive in some parts, but not much, mainly in the glitchy sounds and loops&#8230;</p>
<p>but then again, a glitch is a glitch and the way they were produced provides enough variety.</p>
<p>Taking into account the target of the collection&#8230;&#8221;top loops&#8221; it lives up to and provides a great collection of grooves you can quickly infuse into your tracks.</p>
<p>Go on and check them out, download some demos and see what you think. <a href="http://www.sounds-of-revolution.com/sample-packs/26/KICK+FREE+Revolution+Vol_2.htm" target="_blank">Kick Free Revolution</a></p>
<p>As usual&#8230;let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below.</p>
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