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

Back with another soundhound, today we checking out some orchestra samples.

This is the first pack I’ve reviewed from Diginoiz, but I’m not new to them, they are a spinn-off label of fatloud, run by one of the producers for fatloud.

So though this is the first official Diginoiz review, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard form this producer.

I decided to check out Urban Avenue…..

So what is Urban Avenue?

It’s basically a collection of diverse orchestra loops geared specifically towards raw/urban music.

Not just strings, it includes horns, flutes, strings, etc…

all are played in various keys, tempos, and melodies..

very useful in urban music production.

These aren’t construction kits ( you know I like that!)

It’s just a big’ole folder of urban styled orchestra riffs and loops.

Quick Specs

• content: 100 24 bit loops
• format: wav, acid, aiff, apple, rex2, refill
• price: $30

How do they sound?

The first thing I noticed about these loops is that most of them have a dark, street vibe to them.

This is in line with the title as well as the description on the website.

What you may not realize from the title, is that it’s a pretty diverse collection, not just strings.  There’s horns, xylophones, flutes, and I even thought I heard some piano in there.

Basically it covers various instruments you would find in an orchestra, and gives you a urban slant to it.

The production itself is on point, and it doesn’t get repetitive. That is one thing I’ve always like about Fatloud, and I’m glad to see they continued it in the Diginoiz label.

Where most companies will give you thousands of loops that sound pretty identical, this collection gives you 100 very diverse loops, the styles, the sounds, the processing, everything about them keeps it diverse and thus fresh to use in your music.

Some stuff is slow and melodic, others are big and powerful, while some yet remain small and simple.

Overall you can really tell they take their time to make the most unique collections possible, by giving you as many styles of playing and production they can in one collection.

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is that I expect to see great things from the Diginoiz brand, since it is from the same production house as fatloud.

This is a nice, small collection of urban orchestra loops that don’t have the cliche orchestra loop sound.

Not just strings, but including various instruments gives you a well rounded collection, and since all they do is urban/pop music, it has the styles you’d like to incorporate into your music.

Sure if you want realistic orchestra loops, that sound like an orchestral arrangement, there are other options.

But if you want some unique riffs and loops, with a dark and edgy sound, then this is something to consider.

I give it a 4 out of 5 subs, I liked it, it’s useful, so much so that I wish there were more than 100 loops

But I do see the work put into each loop, so, I’ll give them a pass.

Definitely check them out over at fatloud, and don’t forget about the summer sale going on

let me know what ya think, leave a comment below

You all know I’ve been using Maschine for a while, and one question I get quite a bit is how to lay out a song using scenes.

It’s a little different than traditional song mode in a beat machine…

where you just put a pattern in a list and tell it how many times to loop.

But once you understand it…

you’ll be making songs very quickly.

Here are some things to remember about scenes, patterns, and tracks in Maschine:

• a scene is pretty much a “snapshot” that holds the state of the current pattern for each group
• There are 8 groups, each can have 64 different patterns
• Each scene can only hold up to 8 patterns, 1 for each group
• Each pattern in a group can hold 16 tracks or “sounds”
• a scene will play as long as the longest pattern in the scene, smaller patterns will repeat to match the lenght of the longest pattern
• patterns are linked across scenes, if you change a pattern in one scene, it changes in others, it’s best to use different patterns to make changes
• renaming the scenes can help you keep track and have a nice overview of your song

I hope this helps you out, if you have any questions feel free to ask as usual. Maschine is very powerful and capable of full productions, sometimes it just takes a little help to understand the best workflow for doing so.

This is by no means the only way to use Maschine, I’ve just found that this way works for a lot of folks used to building songs with patterns, and working on sections.

With all the scenes and patterns it’s definitely very flexible for live use and performance, but that’s not something I do so I wouldn’t be the best person to show you how to set that up lol.

It’s Friday…Big Fish Friday.

Today I am reviewing another library from Big Fish and eQuipped Music.

Yes, eQuipped, the same  ones that made smoker’s delight, smoker’s relight and breakbeat jazz…all high quality libraries.

Premier Beats and Hip Hop Instrumentals is another entry into the realm of laid back, turntable, breaks and bits based music.

let’s check it out!

What is Premier Beats and Hip Hop Instrumentals?

It’s a great big dose of raw and rugged hip hop sounds, complete with the vinyl dirt present.

It’s two dvds full of mpc style breaks, chords, instrumentals, drums, fx, and other sounds.

It has that feel of taking hits and stabs from various records or other musical pieces, performing audio heart transplants….

and creating something totally new from the gumbo of sounds you’ve gathered.

In the eQuipped style, everything is raw, authentic, high quality, and inspiring.

From smooth ep chords to bouncin bass and random stabs….

enough to satisfy even the most dedicated crate digger.

Quick Specs

• Content: 2 dvds 8gb total (multiple formats)
• Format: apple loops, rex, refill, wav
• Price: $199 for the physical dvd package, you can also get it in 3 download volumes for $49.99 each

How does it sound?

Really, you shouldn’t have to wonder about this.  eQuipped Music ALWAYS brings the heat!

How they manage to keep things raw, grimy, and dirty yet pristine in quality is beyond me, but they do it.

You get small bits and pieces, chords and riffs as one-shot samples to throw into your favorite sampler and just go to work.

They also have these same chords and riffs constructed into full loops, if you prefer the sound and randomness you get from chopping samples.

As if that isn’t enough, they also have these “instrumental loops” which are the chord and riff loops, mixed with bass, ep, and fx for a full sample chopping feel.

Recording is pristine, just enough “sauce”  on their sounds to keep them unique. I really don’t know what they do to their libraries, but I love it, it has a “smokey” feeling almost, airy, light, hard, smooth, silky….just all around goodness.

Kinda like your favorite fresh warm pie!

What’s the final verdict on Premier Beats?

A+ all the way.

This is an inspiring library, even the packaging is amazing, the dvds look like little vinyl records!

I like how they packaged the sounds in a way that everyone can use no matter how you like to work.  If you like to chop up samples, you can do that, if you just want to chop specific parts like the chords you can do that.  Even if you want to take the various chords from throughout the library and put them together yourself (I think it’s somewhere over 1000 different sounds and riffs just in the chords section) you can do that.

You get bass, drums, ep, and fx sounds too!  The drums alone are top notch and ready to go, so it’s like getting multiple libraries in one. Each section lives up to the quality and feel I’ve come to expect from eQuipped.

This is a 5 out of 5 subs library, all the way no questions asked. Something you will use for a very long time, their libraries are timeless.

If you want something that you can use, abuse, and not worry about it getting old, checkout Premier Beats and Hip Hop Instrumentals

or any of the other libraries from eQupped available at Big Fish: eQuipped Music at Big Fish

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

It’s Friday, and I know you hungry for some fish!

I had a house full last week so I had to skip big fish friday, but I’m back with something dope for ya

If you like that chopped up, jazzy, breakbeat style of music, then you’ll be interested in this review

of Breakbeat Jazz.

What is Breakbeat Jazz?

Breakbeat Jazz is a raw collection of jazzy turntable style breakbeats and vinyl sweetness.

Laid back jazzy rhodes, flutes, guitars, bass and random musical chords all molten together into a sweet beat casserole.

Oh yeah, and just in case you may wonder if it’s really capturing the breakbeat/lounge hip hop vibe…

it’s made by eQuipped Music.

Yeah, the same ones behind Smoker’s Delight and Smoker’s Relight Deux!

You know it’s gonna sound sweet!

Quick Specs

• Contents: 4gb of drums, rhodes, bass, guitars, percussions, and fx
• Format: REX, WAV, RMX
• Price: $99 for the dvd or $49 for each of the two download pak versions.

How does it sound?

It sounds raw and jazzy.

The drums are thick and crusty, the samples have a vinyl/dusty feel to them and the samples are ready to be sliced.

There aren’t many long loops in this one, the music loops folder provides a nice collection of samples to chop.

The rest of the sounds are mostly bits and pieces, perfect for molding together those spontaneous moments of pure funk!

The keys and bass notes are very useful, when used together or spread out across your keys/pads to form the basis of your track.

Well record, this one definitely has some imperfections in some of the samples, but it’s a good imperfection, which goes in line perfectly with the turntable them.

The sounds don’t force you to go in a certain direction, but simply give you the building blocks for your next musical skyscraper.

So what’s the bottom line?

I loved this library, I thought I would miss the longer loops more but I actually loved the chords and short hits quite a bit, felt exactly like the type of small snippets you’d grab off of a vinyl and build around.

I give this library a 4.5 out of 5 subs, very solid and the drums are sick!  The kicks, hats, and snares come in two versions…lo fi and phat!

I also like the fact that they break it down into two parts and allow you to pay a little less to download half of the library at a time, good move.

So check it out and let me know what you think. Breakbeat Jazz at Big Fish Audio

It’s friday…time for some fish…

This week I’m checking out a library Big Fish sent over entitled “Smoker’s Relight Deux”

It’s a follow up to “Smoker’s Delight” a library I’ve personally been using and continue to use since it released in 2003

If you like laid back, smoked out, jazzy hip hop…then check this out

What is Smoker’s Relight Deux?

eQuipped Music ( back then they were called elab) smashed the downtempo/lounge hip hop sample genre with Smoker’s Delight.

Dub style rhodes chords, flutes, mpc style drum breaks and music samples, brass, and bass..

all with a laid back vibe that just made you want to chill.

It’s one of my favorite collections, so I was very excited to get my hands on the follow up.

At it’s core, Smoker’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.

You get tons of drums, loops, riffs, chords, fx, and melodies, all with that lounge type vibe.

Quick Specs

• Content: 5012 24bit loops and samples
• Format: Rex, Refill, Wav, RMX
• Price: $199 for the whole dvd, or $69.99 for each of the 3 downloadable sections.

How does it sound?

I LOVE how they produce these libraries. I’m not quite sure what it is about them, but there is a “texture” to these samples.

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.

Some of the drumloops and breaks are SICK. All have that mpc groove that hip hop has been build on for years.

Since so many softwares are able to extract groove templates now, this library doubles as a whole new source of grooves for you too!

The quality is top notch, not a hint of unprofessional recording anywhere in this library.

So what’s the final verdict?

I’ll admit, I’m biased on this one, I love it and I’m not ashamed to say it.  Smoker’s Delight has been the library by which I judge all similar libraries for years, and now with Smoker’s Relight the standard has been set once again.

No question this is a 5 out of 5 subs.

I just love the shear amount of samples in this library, each chord is ready to be the foundation for it’s own track, each loop, riff, and sample are so inspiring that you’re bound to have thousands upon thousands of ideas.

There’s no doubt in my mind I will use sounds from this library for MANY years to come…they just don’t get old, and are so well recorded and produced that it’s hard to get away from them once you start using them.

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

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’t matter what tempo it is!

I say check it out, I was expecting great things and was NOT disappointed at all.

Here’s a search for smoker’s relight on Big Fish that shows all the collections available. Smoker’s Relight collections.

let me know what you think and leave a comment below

Is it Friday already!?

Dang!

Well it’s time for another edition of Big Fish Friday…time to take a look at some more samples sent to me by big fish audio.

This week, we’re gonna get a lil jazzy on ya!

Talkin all that Jazz…

This isn’t one of those “hip hop jazz hybrid” collections, this is straight up for people looking to compose jazz music.

This is perfect for us! No matter if you’re not making jazz, a lot of urban producers like to sample jazz records, myself included.

So anything that can give us an authentic sound without worrying about royalties and sample clearance…bring it on baby!

What’s in this Jazz Session?

My personal description would be ” a gang of smoke flowing hole in the wall bare chicken bones on a napkin type sounds”

But that’s not really technical enough so, here’s what they say on the site:

Jazz Sessions is a unique sample collection bringing you all the vibes you would hope to hear at any great jazz club, and adds swing, soul and solid jazz attitude to your productions!

Featuring a huge 3Gig library of jazz samples played by seasoned professionals and captured with maximum realism and authenticity. Jazz Sessions is the consummate tool for jazz-influenced producers worldwide, whether you are looking to make pure traditional jazz, nu-jazz, broken beats, or are looking to melt a pure jazz feel into another style of music – Jazz Sessions will deliver what you need.

Okay, that sounds good but what does it actually sound like?

Dopeness, pure finger snapin, diggin in the crates, authentic jazz dopeness!

Seriously, the riffs,  licks and loops are well played and definitely have a certain “feel” about them.

Heck man, I heard the breathing and foot tapping when demoing some of the flute riffs!

Like I said, it’s not jazz with a hip hop affection…it’s straight up jazz from the horns to the drums.

So this would work well for folks trying to actually compose jazz records, but my purpose would be to put together jazz compositions that I can then slice up like I would on from a jazz record!

Works perfect, recorded right, no distortion whatsoever.

One thing I didn’t like though, the release noise on the rhodes multisample…it was pretty loud, but that’s okay, there are plenty of rhode loops and riffs to use, and I’m sure I could tweak the multi in Kontakt if I wanted. But I had to let ya know about that one.

Okay, so it sounds good, sounds authentic, what about the pricepoint?

The price is right baby! Just like a majority of sample dvd libraries, this comes in at 99 bucks, and with all the money you save in royalties…I think it’s a good trade off.

BUT, they also did something very nice, probably for folks like us. You can download separate section from the collection for 29-49 bucks!

So if you want JUST the flutes, or the keys, or guitars, or brass…you can do that. You may not want the drums and bass…maybe you just want the instruments. Go for it then!

Final thoughts on the library?

If you can’t tell by now, I really loved this one. I’m a jazz music lover, even just for listening pleasure, but also for sampling and music production.  To be able to add some nice authentic jazz sounds to your music that actually sound good, it’s always a pleasure. Especially when the library is made for jazz musicians and not “jazzy hip hop samples”

I like those too, but sometimes you just want some real jazz infusion for ya grooves.

This is a 5 out of 5 straight up no questions about it. Great content, tons and tons of samples, multiple formats, and if you don’t want the whole thing you can go with individual sections!

bottom line is, if you like to use jazz samples, you definitely should check this library out.

Go listen to the demo at Big Fish Jazz Sessions and tell em I sent ya

What do you think?  Leave me a comment below.

I get a lot of folks askin me about how to use ableton live like an mpc.

Specifically how to play your chops so they cut each other off.

I also cover how to make your own custom presets for when chopping samples.

If you want to chop and automatically add fx and such, you can do it.

Ableton is dope!

lemme know what you think, and share this!

leave me a comment.