This is just a quick video I put together showing how to use sounds from beat thang virtual in Maschine.

Of course it will work for other programs too, but Maschine has some features that makes it pretty easy and quick to do.

A lot of folks that have BTV are always looking for ways to get the sounds out of it to use in their favorite daw, sequencer, mpc, whatever.

There’s a few ways to do it, I found this way to be very quick and easy.

Some other ways to do it are recording audio directly into a wave editor or daw from btv, and chopping the samples, manually. You can make a simple beat that has what you need in it, export as a wave, and chop it manually. You can use something like Sample Robot or another automatic sampling system to do it, and there’s even a way you can do it with a script using autohotkey.

For me, using Extreme Sample Converter was the quickest and most efficient way, since BTV is a vst plugin now, I can just use the VST converter tool in Extreme Sample Converter.

Here’s the video:

So let me know what ya think, as you can see this is a dope tool to have, and automated vst sampling is like waking up to fresh pancakes…just a good thing!

Yo, yall know I’m a huge fan of Maschine…but you also know I’ve recently become a huge fan of BPM as well.

I love them both for different reasons.

The hands on workflow of Maschine is un-matched.

And I love how it handles sampling, editing samples, chopping, etc.

But I also love the BPM sound engine, fx, and expandability with Motu/UVI sounds.

Luckily there are ways to use the best of both in a quick and efficient workflow.

I will be using Maschine for what it does best, namely sampling, sample editing, and holding the hundreds of kits I already made in it!

And I will continue to use BPM as a workstation with the various expansions and instruments available from UVI and Motu.

These two products don’t have to be against each other, and in fact, they work very well together.

I have the Maschine controller mapped to BPM so it can be more hands on (though still not as fluid as Maschine with it’s own controller)

In this video I had started a drumloop in Maschine, but couldn’t find the sound I wanted to lay over it, this prompted me to explore dragging audio into BPM, since I knew the sound I wanted was available in one of it’s many expansions.

While so many people are trying to figure out which one is better, I’m busy figuring out how to use them together!

Let me know what you think

Today I want to checkout Urban Arsenal 2 from Native Instruments, one of their Kore soundpacks they sent over for review.

You may wonder why I chose to go with part 2 first instead of part 1…well I figured part 2 was the newest and probably improved on a lot of things they received feedback on from the first Urban Arsenal.

It’s a Kore soundpack, meaning it can use the free Kore player so you don’t need to buy the full versions of the plugins to use it.  However, if you do have the full versions then you get some extra tweaking abilities.

So what’s up with Urban Arsenal 2?

The whole idea behind Urban Arsenal 2 is to provide all the tools and elements needed when producing urban music, all in a nice simple package.

You don’t need the full version of Kore, Kontakt, or Massive to play the sounds in this collection, it runs in the free kore player.

This makes it very attainable for many who don’t have or may not want to purchase the full plugin versions.

(as a side note, I’m a huge fan of the kore soundpack system. It let’s folks build up a library of great sounds and access some of  Native Instruments popular sound engines without owning the full versions.  While you don’t get the full tweakability of the plugins, you do get sounds made with the same sound engines, very good setup in my opinion)

This collection includes everything from drums and loops, to pianos and synths, bass, guitars, and anything else you can imagine using in an urban production environment.

Again, it’s all neatly organized for quick access in the free Kore player.

Quick Specs

• Content: around 1gb of sample data.  29 drum kits, 80 Kontakt patches, 87 MASSIVE patches
• Format: Kore and Kore Player ( Kontakt and MASSIVE patches can be opened in their respective plugins as well)
• Price: $119

Most “made for Hip Hop” instruments are kind of cheesy, how does it sound?

This collection is incredibly versatile.  It’s not a collection of precomposed “hip hop” riffs and loops. You get actual instruments, that you play yourself.  The idea behind the content is to provide quick access to sounds that fit well in an urban music context.

Everything from the instruments sampled, how they were sampled, and how everything was processed lends itself well to urban music.  In my opinion not just hip hop, but other forms of urban music like electronic, house, dubstep, grime, etc.

Some of the dubplate sounds, give you that classic “from vinyl” sound. Not covered with fake vinyl fx, but just that slightly less pristine sound many urban producers are used to.  They also processed some of the sounds through tape.

The synths are fat, the basses are deep, and the drums are bangin…I mean…really, they hit pretty hard.

The brass is thick and bright, the strings are silky smooth, everything is recorded to sound pristine.

They even sampled some classics like the Studio Electronics SE-1 (crazy for bass), Moog Voyager/Minimoog, Alesis Andromeda, the Prophet 600, Juno 60, Waldorf Pulse, and the Korg MS-20.  They went straight to the source and sampled instead of simply emulating these synths, giving you a more authentic sound.

So is Urban Arsenal 2 worth having?

I really think so, I was really impressed by the library as a whole.  I was a little skeptical at first, but once I started going through it, it’s very easy to see how one can use this as a complete tool for urban production.

I like the fact that everything is tweakable within the kore player instrument, as well as deeper editing abilities for those with the full plugins.

I was most surprised with the usefulness of the drums…I’m very picky about drums but I think these stand up against most libraries available, defeating many drum specific companies.

I’m going to give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs. It’s really good, but there are a couple of things I would like to see…maybe for volume 3?

More brass and woodwind sounds please, these are very popular in current urban music trends and hip hop in general, so I would have loved to see them flex the Kontakt engine a little more and provide a deeper selection of brass and woodwind sections, as well as some solo instruments.

To be a complete urban workstation, which it definitely is…beefing up in this category would make it pretty much flawless in my opinion.  These sounds are NOT cheesy, they are useful, fat, and inspiring.  Not to mention they are fun to play with.

I”m very impressed by the diversity and usefulness of the sounds, and I just don’t think a complete “urban workstation” experience could happen any other way than with the Kore platform.  The fact that the developers are building upon all the technology that NI is known for, right under one roof…makes for a very complete library.

A “Sample only” product lacks some of the freshness and experimentation that virtual synths like MASSIVE are known for, whereas we all know urban music incorporates real musical instruments and samples, so the highly capable Kontakt engine provides the proper structure for those instruments. Best of both worlds I think.

All in all, it’s a very useful library, one I think every urban producer and even non urban producer should own.  At a price competitive with single drum libraries and construction kits, you get a full workstation ready with sounds that you’ll actually use.

Go watch the videos or peep the demo sounds at Native-Instruments.com

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

Big Fish Friday…on a Saturday?

I know it’s late! But it’s still Friday where I’m at while writing this! How long the video will take to upload is a different story!

I had some crazy stuff going on today (Friday)…but I couldn’t leave ya hangin!

Technical difficulties…but I still got it done…the video took forever to export/render for some reason. The review and video was done on Friday, but everything with the video export and upload didn’t finish until after 12 midnight lol. I still had to post it!

Anyway…today we aren’t looking at a sample library, per se…. it’s a sample based workstation instrument that big fish sent me!

What is VI One?

Well just think of your fantom, motif, triton, kurzweil, etc.. and all around work horse of an instrument with sounds covering every different instrument type from pianos and orchestra to drums and synths.

This collection comes in the popular kontakt player format…so you don’t need the full version of Kontakt to play it.

The Kontakt player can be loaded as a plugin in your favorite host.  Of course if you have the full version of Kontakt then this library will show up.

according to the site:

Far more than just a sound library; consider this a major studio upgrade.

Vir2 Instruments’ VI.ONE is a massive multi-disc sample library encompassing over two thousand instruments, kits, and other sound effects, and is designed to be of maximum usability to musicians across a wide span of genres.

What’s in VI One?

Everything! lol..like I said this is basically your all in one rack module.

If you’re just getting into virtual instruments this is a great place to start because you get tons of sounds.  If you have a lot of specialty instruments but need a general bread and butter workhorse this is your instrument as well.

It’s great

How does it sound?

Vir2 is a division of Big Fish Audio, so you know the quality is where it needs to be. I am really a fan of the Vir2 instruments, they are easy to use and a very high quality.

Multiple velocity layers and nice fx are a good touch.  The recordings are done right so everything sounds tight with no weird artifacts.

How about the value?

I think it’s a great value… this instrument drops in at 199, pretty normal for a virtual instrument.   Folks like me that come from the school of $1000+ instruments welcome a plugin like this with arms wide open.

The amount of sounds you get for the price is incredible..and it’s not like a collection of loops and riffs…these are sounds that will remain useful forever, synths, pianos, bass, horns, strings…that stuff doesn’t get old, or you can’t “overuse” it.

What’s the bottom line?

I don’t really give a sub rating on virtual instruments…I just tell weather or not I like it.

If I put it on the site and take the time to give you information on it, then you can pretty much bet that I highly suggest the plugin.

This is a must have, 5 star plugin… if I had to rate it with subs it would definitely be a 5 out of 5 and would be on my “must have” plugin list.

If you need a good collection of quality instruments that can last you a long time, and give you a great alternative to all those thousand dollar rack modules you keep buying…look no further.

Vir2 Instruments’ VI One is that workstation… cuz I said so!

Every once in a while you can catch it on sale at places like musiciansfriend for 99 bucks… either what it goes, it’s a great workstation to have.

let me know what you think about it. Leave me a comment below

Once again we are back with some more samples for ya.

This time, I’m checking out a company that I’ve been a customer of for a while. I was a customer when they first started selling samples on eBay and now they’ve turned into one of the premiere sample providers online today.

Motion Samples provides high quality drums, loops, riffs, and loops for urban, hip hop, pop, trance, electro and even tv/film.

I have stuff in my collection I constantly go to from them, stuff you can’t even get anymore lol…the classics.

But today, we are checking out one of their top selling libraries…. they sent over Big Boss Sounds for me to checkout.

You wanna sound like a Boss…

Big Boss sounds is a collection of various different instruments and riffs layered, full production style, and sliced up ready to be put together.

“Make way for Big Boss Sounds comin’ at you with over 250 colossal multi-samples of stab chords, horns, orchestra hits, retro synth hooks, piano licks, dirty organs and tons more. Just arrange these sounds in your favorite sampler then trigger away to make massive dirty south melodies on the fly!”

What’s in there? I’m not a dirty south producer…

I’m not a big dirty south style of producer, but I’ve been known to throw something together that could be classified in that genre.  I was a little worried that these samples would force me to make music that isn’t really my style.

To my surprise it wasn’t full of lil john melodies and solja boy blips….this is MUSIC man.

This is definitely NOT only for dirty south, there are strings, brass, synths, organs, pianos, electric pianos, and more…and the styles that are played are ready to be chopped, sliced, and re-purposed into everything from dirty south, to club bangers, and even your next sexy rnb joint.

They are versatile…I was pleasantly surprised.

What about the sound quality?

One thing I’ve always loved about motion samples is their sound quality, bottom line, I have NEVER heard anything from them that isn’t production ready.

I’ve purchased everything from drums, to keys, to guitars, and they all sound superb.

The sound quality is where you want it to be, you KNOW I don’t play when it comes to quality

So what is the bottom line on Big Boss Sounds?

Bottom line for me is, I was expecting to have to deduct a few points for being forced to sound like lil john or solja boy…

Instead, these sounds can be used for any type of style or music, and I love not being boxed in.

I have to give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs…it’s that good, that versatile, and that BANGIN.

I am definitely looking forward to sharing a bit more about motion and their library with you, I’m always one that looks for

diversity, so having choices in samples, and being able to KNOW you’ll get quality for the money you spend is crazy.

Speaking of money you’ll spend

Another thing I like about motion samples is the price. This super ill collection of Big Boss Sounds is only like 20 bucks…

I don’t care who you are, 20 bucks is 20 bucks and being able to improve your sound collection for such a small amount is lovely.

Go ahead….click the banner below to go on over and get some motion samples in ya life yo

Make sure you tell me what you think, these companies read the reviews so keep the opinions coming.

If you buy something from them, let me know what you get….I can definitely recommend Big Boss Sounds… great way to spend a 20.

What you think?

So you ready for another set of samples to be reviewed?

This time I’m on some Arab music….I love ethnic samples.

Problem is, I don’t like clearing samples from records, and I don’t feel right not clearing them.

So I stay on the lookout for royalty free sample food.

Arabian Breaks, inspiration all day and all night

When I looked on the platinumloops website, I saw TONS of content.

But the new arabian breaks product looked very interesting.

The demo on the site proved they sounded pretty good, so I had to review them on the site. They kindly sent it over for review.

So what’s in the collection?

You get some loops, fully produced loops too. Not just single sitar loops, or single arabian drumloops.

These loops are full and authentic sounding, just like all those middle eastern records in your crates…only they don’t have the dust.

We can fix that with fx though

They also put various one shot samples in here.

Hits, stabs, short riffs, and single notes…so you can get your own creation even more unique.

How do they sound?

They are very good.

I really like how well produced they are, even down to the smallest detail, it’s like they came straight from the source.

The strings, the drums, the voices, all mix together perfectly to give you an authentic middle eastern flavor.

They are not distorted in any way, not overly effected, they are just right.

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is this is one of my favorite sample packs this year!

The variety of the various produced loops gives you tons of music to samples.

The fact they are fully produced and not just single instruments also gives you a more authentic sound.

I’m giving this collection 5/5 subs because it’s just a must have for anyone that likes to have some world sounds in their music.

Go over to platinumloops.com and checkout arabian breaks….

tell em Joe sent ya, maybe they’ll gimme some samples or something

So what do you think about these arabian sounds?

Let me know below by leaving me a comment, I want to hear your opinion.