Aight today I got something a lil different for ya, but my fellow crate diggers out there will be feeling this one.

Sometimes you just need a “lil something” to throw into your tracks, not a full chorus or verse, but some random sound bites that add to the situation.

We’ve all dug in records, vhs tapes, 8 tracks, tv programs, etc…to find those random vocal samples…

Well know…you can just go to a folder .

Let’s checkout Cylinder Vocals

What is Cylinder Vocals?

Basically, it’s a bunch of vocal samples from an old school recording device.

Before records, before tape, before the gramophone lol…yeah…OOOOOOOLLLLLLLLD School!

The Crate Diggers label worked with the UC Santa Barbra Cylinder Preservation Society and Digitization Project….heck yeah that’s a long name.

Basically what this means is these are from original recordings between 1890 and 1929.

They were digitized, mastered, all that good stuff…but they still sound old, crusty and funky.

Quick Specs

• content: 465 24bit wavs
• format: one shot wav samples
• price: $23.95

How does it sound?

Old lol, it’s just a bunch of old sounding vocal snippets, sentences, phrases, words, etc.

They broke them down into categories including city life, love and women, technology, sentences, words, music, geography, money, etc.

They sound like some old vinyl honestly, very crusty and crackly…maybe even an old radio sound to them.

They are useful, if you like to spice up tracks with vocals, a lot of classic hip hop would use snips and vocals like this.

The right phrase or vocal can sometimes fill in a track way better than an instrument.

You won’t just make beats with this library, it’s more of that “extra” that we sometimes look for

So what’s the bottom line?

I find these useful, like many of you, sometimes I like to mess around with random vocals in my tracks.

Good for making instrumental tracks/projects, or adding some variety to your own songs.

I’m sure you can find tons of creative use for these.

I give this library a 3.5 out of 5 subs. It’s good and usable, but more of an “extra” than anything else.

Those that love digging and chopping will see the use for them immediately.

They sound old, as they should, and they add character…as they should.

Check them out at soundstosample.com : Crate Diggers Cylinder Vocals

let me know what ya think, I thought they were pretty cool.

I know I already did a review on The BeatTips Manual, and I felt good about what I said in that review.

However, I’m still learning and getting stuff from the book and I want to explain a little bit more as to what the book is really about.

It’s not just a simple step by step,” this is how you make a beat” type of book.

I feel this book will challenge everyone that reads it both creatively and intellectually, and if you’re the type of person that likes to improve yourself, then you definitely owe this book a read.

Not only for beat makers, but anyone interested in hip hop, music, and artistry in general, as the foundations and principals in here can be applied to many different aspects.

You get the foundations you need to allow yourself the freedom to create your own art, not a paint by numbers beat making guide, but more of a brick and mortar, solid foundation upon which you can continue to explore and build your own structure.

I like it, it’s one of those books that are timeless, much like Psychocybernetics, Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hil, and The Strangest Secret from Earl Nightingale are for me on success in business and life.

Or like the Bible is my go to for overall life, spirituality, and truth, etc.

This is “that book” for all things beat making, creativity, and even general work ethic and being an “owner” of your own creative enterpise.

I’m sure I’ll share more from it in the future, but one of the things I really wanted to point out was how it changed my mindset about beat makers being musicians.

I know many, including myself, always separate the two…beatmaker…and musician, but this book pretty much erases that notion, and shows with clarity how a beatmaker IS a musician.

Just one of the nuggets I picked up.

I just don’t want folks to miss this book, and overlook it, it will challenge you, cause you to learn, and become a wealth of info…

It’s not  in Amazon/bookstores yet , but it will be by the end of this summer, they are waiting for his shipment.

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’s see what’s up with this one.

What is SoulTown Samples?

Just in case you don’t remember, SoulTown is a collection of samples that aims to capture that classic soul music sound.

Not just soul music, but the types of riffs and samples that hip hop producers love to dig for.

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.

No percussion or drums to worry about filtering out, just the music.

Quick Specs

• Content: 190  multi samples
• Format: wav
• Price: $40.00

How do they sound?

Do you really need to ask that question? I think you know by now that Motion Samples brings the goods each and every time.

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…and you’re tempted to use the chops as is.

In volume 2, each samples is a lot longer, so you can get your chop on pretty crazy like.

The recording of the samples are top notch and I’ve noticed they got a lil more funky on the production.

There is a lot more going on in some of these samples in regards to the instrumentation, which is always great…it helps give it that real classic feel.

So what’s the final verdict on this one?

Without a doubt this is a 5 out of 5 subs library.

Well recorded, enough content to keep the most hungriest beat fiend satisfied.

And the production style is right on the money, you really feel like you’re digging in them old classic soul records we all love, but don’t want to deal with because of sample clearance.

Now you have no excuse, you can still get that soul sound, with enough chopping material so you don’t have to worry about sounding like the next producer.

In my opinion if you love soul samples, there’s absolutely no reason not to check this one out.

As you know, I have this collection available right here on the site in the Motion Samples store

Listen to the demos and check it out.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

This is just a quick video showing how to chop samples manually in Ableton Live then assigning them to a drum rack.

It’s a quick way to slice samples and still have control over your sections.  I showed how to automate chopping in the video how to use ableton live to chop samples like an mpc.

This one is for all the questions I got regarding how to have more control over your chops before you slice and assign them to the drum rack.

let me know what you think, leave a comment below.

This one’s been a long time coming. Motion sent over soultown samples over a month ago, I’m just now getting to it.

Basically, this is for those that still love that sound of hip hop created with samples, chopped up soul and funk or whatever..they way it sounds chopped together.

Motion put together a collection of samples, ready to sample, full with that classic soul sample vibe.

let’s check it out

Soultown Samples? Your personal soul record collection…no clearance needed

You know I love royalty free, so when I got wind of some “soul records” that I could chop up and use without worrying about clearing samples, I get excited.

I often make my own samples by playing out a whole song, with no drums, then I run them through izotope vinyl, then chop them up..no one can ever tell the difference.

But I’m not a musician really, so having a collection of real guitar, keyboard, string, bass, etc players jamming out…then having it edited to sound like old vinyl… I love it.

Check the description:

Still in love with the classic sounds of 70s soul, funk and motown? Then get inspired with this must have collection featuring 250 multi-samples of unforgettable instrument licks for your MPC or software sampler. Inside you’ll find mixed melodies, chords and stabs created with live guitars, bass, rhodes, piano, organ, and many more classic sounds mixed to replicate that dirty old record sound. You can consider this a royalty-free record collection pre-chopped and ready to go. Recommended as a Motion Samples Hip Hop favorite.

Quick Specs:

• Content: 250 multi samples
• Format: wave
• Price: $35

Hows the production, and most importantly, how does it sound?

It’s motion man! You know the production is dope…just like they raided the archives of some old defunk soul record company. Everything fits and is well played, has that “texture” you want.  I know I heard a few vinyl clicks and pops…even smelled the mildew from some of the vinly record covers….I thought I did.

They jammed out, then chopped those jams into 2-8 parts. The variety is dope, so each samples doesn’t sound the same, you get the chops from one sample, some long some short.

If there’s one suggestion, I’d like to have the shorter chops left together…let me chop em myself. The longer ones are perfect cuz you can take whatever you want.

These aren’t some corny attempts at soul music, I felt like just looping quite a bit and just listening to it lol…but you know I gotta feed Maschine and chop them jonits up!

Quality is on point, well recorded and even though they have an old musty feel, they are still pristine in quality

What’s the bottom line, what’s the final verdict?

Like you really have to guess! Did you watch the video?

These joints are 5 out of 5 subs with no question. Very dope and wonderful for those of us that still like to sample but don’t because we don’t want to mess with clearance issues.

Chopping keyboard and guitar riffs is cool, but choppin these multi samples is very dope!

Like I said, only thing I can suggest, leave the short chops together…other than that…dopeness!

check em out in the motion sample store right here at ya favorite site! http://soundsandgear.com/motion-samples

Yall know me, I love drums. I’m super critical when it comes to drum samples and I never feel like you can have enough.

When it comes to commercial, radio ready, pristine sounding drums…only a couple names constantly come up.

Sonic Specialists is one such name. I first heard about them a few years back, from one of my engineer friends that visited gearslutz.com

All he said was “man, this dude sirrocco got the illest drums man, go over to the forum and download his free joints!”

Well I did, and they were dope. Then about a year later they had opened up Sonic Specialists.

Fast forward to now…their Urban Fire has become one of the best and most widely respected sample drum kits around, and it’s on it’s 5th volume (I’ll try to get a review of that one for ya too)

But now they are moving into a crossover kit, merging electro and urban together. They just dropped this Urban Electro kit, and sent it over for review….let’s see whasup.

What is Urban Electro and what’s so special about Sonic Specialists?

According to them it’s the first professional library made for Urban AND Electro producers.  This is a mixture of hard hitting urban sounds as well as traditional (and not so traditional) electro type sounds.

It fits in with the current trend of electro influenced urban music, as well as urban hip hop or rap influenced electro dance tunes. It’s universal.

The thing that makes them so special is that they are engineers, urban music engineers, so they know the frequencies, eq, and all the settings for the outboard gear needed to make the drums POP

Quick Specs:

• Contents: over 300 single shot drum samples
• Format: 16 and 24 bit wave files
• Price: $74.95

So how does it SOUND? Is there really a difference?

This is where the difference is evident. Most drum packs I come across are good, they have good sounds, but lack punch. If they do have “punch” it’s really nothing more than drums compressed as much as possible or even just normalized, so they are loud, but not punchy.

You can definitely tell the difference in these drums, you can tell these dudes are engineers, they know how the frequencies and all the dynamic work together to make a drum PUNCH without mashing it up to 0db and normalizing the crap out of it.

The engineering on these are pretty amazing, I really didn’t think it would make that much of a difference but it does.  They bang, but they don’t force themselves to take over your whole track like many other urban drum kits that claim to have “punch”. There’s a “space” around them that I really can’t explain.

It’s like they lay into your tracks with their own protective “bang bubble” that clears the way for them to sit in the mix.  I am a drum fiend, I have tons and tons of drums, and many that claim to give you that commercial sound… next to these drums, you can tell the processing was nothing more than “get the drums as hot as possible so they bang” without really understanding the dynamics, eq, and how they would fit in a mix.

You immediately know that these cats KNOW how to use the processors and effects, eqs, all that good stuff that they have…they aren’t blindly turning knobs just to make the samples “louder”.

What’s the final verdict, is it really that important to use these drums?

Look, I can’t tell you what’s important for you, but I will say this, these drums to have a different quality than many I’ve come across.  If you’re looking for that dirty, vinyl sound, or them dirty gutter drums, then I can show you quite a few of those.

But for that new, clean, punchy, radio ready drum samples…I just don’t see many options around.  Some have the “sound” as in they style, but they lack the dynamics and punch.

I give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs.  You may be wondering why not a full 5…because I want more variety.

I understand they had to put many “general” sounds in there, and even though they are processed pristinely, I still have tons of “dance claps and kicks”. In order to be a standard for many users, they had to do this, so it can find it’s way into many producers toolkit as a default drum library.

What I would like to see is them push the envelope more into their own unique sounds. They had some stuff they created that was just down right new and inspiring, and that’s the stuff that really blew me away.

I wanted to leave some space for them to challenge themselves and spark a new standard.  There’s no doubt they’ve raised the bar, and this is a dope kit that can be used over and over, both the traditional dance/urban sounds as well as the new are here…. I just wish there were less “traditional” and more of the “what they heck did they do?”

all in all, it’s a dope kit, worth having, and will make it hard to look anywhere else for pristine and clean sounding drums.

They have a demo, so you can download some for yourself here: Urban Electro Drum Samples

lemme know what ya think, leave me a comment below!

Native Instruments Maschine KILLS my MPC 4000, period.

Okay, so you’ve seen me using it in a lot of my videos and such, and I’ve had it for a few months ever since NI sent it to me back in August or so to review, with the official 1.1 update out I’m finally giving you my personal review on the overall product.

It’s a killer!

Here’s why I love Maschine:

• It’s hands on, but no limits like hardware with memory and drive space
• I can access ALL of my sounds in the same environment, I can’t do that with my mpc, not enough space
• The sound browser makes navigating through tons of sounds very easy and customizable
• It has the same sequencer resolution as my mpc 4000, therefore I can turn off quantize and get the same “feel”
• Each of the 8 groups has 16 “sounds” that’s like 8 mini 16 track sequencers
• Each sound can be a single wave or a multi sampled instrument like pianos, strings, synths, etc
• Each of my sounds has 2 insert fx, each group has 2 insert fx, and there are two master insert fx
• I can change the pitch of my samples on the fly, no need to process and wait for it, just turn the knob
• It has swing and note repeat if you like that sorta thing
• I can change the bit rate of my samples on the fly, plus I have normal filters on each sound
• It’s easy to chop samples, I can copy and paste them by hitting a pad, then duplicate, then pressing another pad, very quick
• Easy to set the start end points on samples for old school style chopping, or you can use auto chop…I rarely do
• Song mode is different from the mpc, but now that I understand it, it’s very quick
• I don’t have to look at my screen for anything if I don’t want to, just the maschine controller
• I can use it to sequence other vsts and devices if I wish…
• NI is updating it and listening to the community
• The real time pattern sequencer is the exact way I’m used to working
• There is a step sequencer that I never use, but some do…it works lol
• Has easy tap tempo, perfect for how I work
• there is a “pad” mode that is pretty much like 16 levels on the mpc
• easy to turn on full velocity

Yeah I could keep going, but you seen the video, I think it’s the illest product to drop in a long time and don’t see anyone taking the crown from NI if they keep developing it to it’s full potential.

Some of my other videos showing maschine in use:

• First day with maschine, opening the box.
• Making a west coast beat on maschine
• Using maschine as a workstaton
• Making a beat on maschine with no samples
• Importing your samples into maschine
• Browsing sounds from Maschine hardware
• Using maschine to sequence vst instruments

Some things I’d like to see in Maschine:

VSTi/NI Plugin support PLEASE!!!!

• Without a doubt, some sort of integration with other NI plugs WITHIN the Maschine environment is a must lol. I’m always on the forums talking about this, I really think it will take it to the next level.  I don’t think NI realized how many of us would want to use JUST maschine…but they made the workflow so good that it’s what many of us have been waiting for in software music production.
• Please NI, give us something. Let us have a lil “rack” in maschine, for NI plugs. Even allowing kore/kontakt player slots would be a nice step…that opens it up to a bunch of sounds and possibilities. I’ll come to Germany, I’ll wear my tie, we can chat about it… I have ideas

Sampler improvements:

• Mainly on the sample editing, not so much for me, but for my homies!  Being able to truncate, normalize, and adjust your slice markers manually is a much desired feature.  Good for us they stated it’s in the coming update, on the forum, so that will be here in the near future.
• MPC format import for those of us coming from that side of things.  Maybe even battery/kontakt import would be dope too…then you wouldn’t need as much support for vst if you could browse/play kontakt instruments.
• Time-stretching that is pretty transparent, but that you can turn on and off and adjust in-case you want to induce some artifacts into your samples
• vintage sample mode, to mimic the sound of the ancient 12bit samplers, always a desire for beat makers wanting a specific “crunch” (coming in next update)

General improvements:

• Possible way to double the number of groups from 8 to 16? Maybe a button? Many use the groups as “tracks” since you can separate stuff easier, or give us a way to have patterns for each sound in the current groups… so we can sequence multiple sounds in a group “separately”.  This is mainly important when creating songs/scenes, it would be easier but may get too complex in the screen…not sure, but would be nice to have more flexibility with the separation of sounds in groups.
• If no vst support, a dedicated synth engine to help get some synth sounds going. Maybe even a dedicated drum synth.
• Some expansion packs, adding more sounds to the workstation.  The sounds are good, but we need more instrument sounds in there.
• Easier way to sequence the scenes/patterns. Let us drag and drop patterns in scene arrange, drag the length of the scene to make verse/chorus/breaks
• Let us rename the groups without having to save them as a kit, just so we can keep track of what’s in a group when putting scense together.

Overall thoughts

Maschine is a dream come true, especially for folks like me that held off on software production because it just wasn’t “hands on” enough. The way most software sequencers work is linear, this is not how I am used to working.

I grew up on hardware drum machines and sequencers, creating loops and patterns, then putting them into songs is how I roll, as do many millions of others.

I always wished I could have access to all my sounds when using my mpc, but I only have access to 512 mb of sounds, that’s not a lot, I have a lot of sounds. Not only that, but being able to browse my sounds as I’m making the tracks is killer.

I really don’t see anyone being able to stop the progress of NI if they continue to listen to users and enlist hardcore hardware and software producers as beta testers, product specialists and product consultants ( i’m open!)

It took a software company to see that people want a hybrid, and to do it in a way that will set the standard for all hardware and software production stations to come.

Maschine is now the standard by which I measure the workflow of a product, it used to be the mpc, but no longer.

If you still have a room full of gear, then Maschine will not replace your mpc in that respect, which has 4 midi outputs.  I no longer work that way, and my whole setup is centered around the computer now.

I can’t wait until I can use ONLY maschine for production, with a few additions and changes, I think that dream is very close to reality.

Maschine for the win… 5 out of 5, 10 out of 5 actually!

If you’re ready, check native-instruments.com or on the easy payment plan at zzounds.com

let me know what you think, agree or disagree, leave a comment below.

Hot off the press or… hot off the hard drive…whatever!

P5audio’s newest construction pack is the Queens of RnB loop set, of course they sent it over for me to review.

So if you’re looking to add some RnB to your catalog, pull up a screen as I dig into this collection

What is the Queens of RnB about?

according to the website:

Queens of RnB Loop Sets are inspired by the lady megastars of RnB.

These styles of these Music Loop Sets range from the sexy grooves of Keisha Cole and Keri Hilson to the Ballads of Beyonce and Mary J. Plus, we also threw in a few Club Pounders in the style of Rihanna!

We got all your bases covered with these music loops… These loops are perfect for today’s modern RnB Divas!

Collection Quick-Specs:

• Contents: 25 Construction loop sets
• Formats: Rex, Wav, Apple, and ACID loops
• Price: $49.99

What does it sound like?

It sounds pretty good. You have a nice mixture of various RnB style tracks.

Nice and mellow ballads, as well as more popish club type rnb so you can get pretty diverse with the sounds.

The quality is good as always, not distortion, clicks or popping, unless it’s on purpose of course.

The synths are big, but also some nice mellow leads.  The basses are deep, the kick drums are pretty good, the snares could be better but in context with the other sounds they fit well.

Some guitars, keys, and strings are thrown in as well, and they are all nicely played.

What’s the bottom line?

I like it, it’s well produced and once I gave them my personal “reorganization” it makes using the sounds much quicker.

One thing I would like to see is the actual drum hits in their own folder or at least thrown in, in addition to the drumloops they include.

I can chop the loops just fine, but browsing through sounds is much quicker when you have a folder of individual hits… so David if ya reading this, look into doing this in the future, your customers will love you for it!

The price is right in the general construction pack range and the quality of the pack is top notch, I’d definitely use it.

And as you know by now, I only like posting up stuff that I would use myself No point in telling you about something I can vouch for 100%!

All in all, I give this collection a 4 out of 5 subs. It’s a solid collection, very good sounding, only thing I’d like to see changed is the addition of the individual drum and percussion hits.

So if you’re interested in some RnB loops, go on over and checkout Queens of RnB, they got some free demo sounds on the page you can download.

peace!

lemme know what ya think, leave me a comment below.