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

You know I’m always looking for the best tools, that get out of the way and let you work.

One of my gripes with the current choice of drum sampling software is their inability to understand how simply we want to layer sounds.

Many folks just want to drag a sound to a pad, then another, and another, and have instant access to each layer to tweak and create new composite sounds.

Unfortunately, many of the products out just don’t get that. Most make you go deep into the keymapping setup to layer sounds on the keys, or they don’t allow layering at all, or it’s so complicated you just say forget it and just play each sound on it’s own, layering “in sequence”!

Enter Poise…from an independent developer one small clue…someone who, like me, must have been fed up with the current crop, bloat, and “just don’t get it” operation of the majority of software drum samplers out now.

What we need is something  that’s simple, cost effective, lean, clean…and to the point.

So what is Poise?

In my mind, poise is the drum sampler we’ve all been looking for.

Poise is what I would make if I could write software….

Poise is a simple, 16 pad drum sampler that lets you quickly add layers, manipulate the layers, and come up with new sounds.

Poise is NOT a sequencer.  You can NOT sample into it.

from the site:

Direct, straightforward, no frills and no bloat! Poise aims to make working with drum samples quick and painless, allowing you to focus on making music.

sounds good to me, so good I had to keep it under wraps until I could actually SHOW you what it did.  It’s not new, it’s been around, but I just found out about it and I know many of you will love it, because I get the same questions from folks looking for an easy drum sampler that let’s you layer your drums quickly and tweak each layer.

Why I think Poise “gets it”

Why do I think it’s the best? Let me list the reasons.

• It’s easy to layer sounds, just drag them onto the pad, and a layer number will appear in the window
• layers can be played in round robin, layered, or velocity switching mode
• You can have up to 16 outpus, enough to send each pad to it’s own track in your daw if you want
• It’s easy to setup to work with your midi controller
• You can have note on or oneshot mode for your samples
• It has mono mode, so you can get down like on your hardware, making pads cut each other
• You also have “cut groups” so you can set pads to cut each other off
• You can link pads… so you can quickly layer multiple sounds just by linking the pads together
• You can save your own kits quickly
• You can tweak aeach layer on a pad separately or together
• you can use wav, aiff, or mpc snd format sounds
• It’s lean and cpu efficient
• It’s 49 bucks

What about the interface, is it easy to use?

Very easy, very clean, very straight forward, and very intuitive.

It has everything you need to layer and play with your samples, and nothing you don’t.

No sequencer screen that you won’t use getting in the way.

No complex menus of keygroups and mapping to mess with.

16 pads, each with 8 layers, knobs to tweak each layer/sound…and not much else.

right-clicking on a pad let’s you access things like note on/oneshot mode, or mono mode, pad linking, etc.

It’s really simple, and everything you would try to do naturally, it just does it…this is the way a simple drum sampler should be…not a bunch of bells, whistles, and balloons.

So you really like it huh?

Uhhh….yeah.

This plugin is 5 subs all the way around in my honest opinion…I could hardly contain myself when I found out about it.

Try it and tell me it’s not what you’ve been looking for. You can layer, edit start and end points of samples, send each pad to it’s own output in your daw for simple tracking….tweak each layer, save your kits….really what else do you need in a drum sampler?

I honestly, so far, can’t think of anything I would change about it. It does what it needs to do…allow quick playing and manipulation of samples.

check it out at One Small Clue, download the demo, and see for yourself.

let me know what you think of course, leave 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.

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.

Welcome to the first official “Big Fish Friday”

Each Friday I will be taking a look at something from bigfishaudio.com

They are one of the largest and most well known providers of sample cds and sample libraries in the industry.

I have established a relationship with the company where they will send me out various products throughout the year so that I can review them on the site.

Most of their products are in the sample cd range, as well as instruments, but the also do some sample paks as well.

I’m pretty sure I bought my first sample cd ever from big fish audio lol.

Anyway, today we’re going to look at one of their downloadable sample paks, Club Bangers RnB

So what IS Club Bangers RnB?

according to the site:

Club Bangers R&B Pak contains eight fresh and new R&B construction kits that are ready to drop in the clubs.

Edited and formatted to the highest standards, these kits are ready to go in nearly any music sequencing application.

All the content is included in acidized WAV, Apple Loops, REX, and RMX formats Once you get started, you’ll notice how easy it is to get great pro-sounding tracks together.

Smooth and sexy these jams are instant hits. The sounds are clean and tight and at this price you can’t go wrong.

Only 8 Kits? Is there much variety?

Yes, there is tons of variety.

You’ve got to remember, Big Fish is known for producing some of the most popular sample libraries around, and most of them carry a higher price tag, most starting around 100 bucks.

That’s not bad, that’s actually the norm for a full sample cd, I’m talking stuff with gigs and gigs of samples.  But with the download paks, they are allowing pretty much everyone the opportunity to get the same Big Fish quality at a lower entry point, something for everyone.

The variety of the kits is actually pretty good, I was expecting them to all sound the same but each takes it’s own direction and doesn’t really copy the others. Some are synth heavy, others more ballad or piano based, while some are heavy on the strings, it’s all good, and they all sound great.

If that wasn’t enough, they also give you the individual drum tracks AS WELL AS the individual drum hits, I love when construction sets come with single drum hits, so I don’t have to chop the drum loops myself.

What about the sound and production quality?

This is where the collection stands out and I was very pleased with the sound.  The synths range anywhere from soft and smooth to hard and in your face, all with no distortion…unless of course it’s on purpose.

The keys are recorded well, the bass has great low-end, and the drum loops KNOCK. The drums themselves are what surprised me the most in this one, I know Big Fish brings the pain when they do instruments, so I didn’t expect anything but the best.

I was NOT expecting to open up a highly usable and down right bangin set of single drum hits.

The styles and production in this pack are very diverse, the loops are long enough to get many chops from it, or even loop it up as is and lay a great foundation for your next RnB joint.

And the price-point?

The price is right baby!  Don’t expect to 4 to 7 gigs of stuff this high quality for 29 bucks, but you do get enough content to keep you happy and you will not feel cheated with this purchase.

29 bucks puts it right in the price range of many who are used to buying the single sample packs from many online sample providers.  But it allows you to get a taste of the Big Fish, and also gives you a glimpse into what you can expect from their larger sample collections.

I like this addition to their site, it allows everyone to benefit from their years of producing high quality sample content no matter what your budget is.

Final verdict? What is the rating?

I went into this not knowing what to expect, as you know I’m not a huge construction pack fan, but I’ve been known to use them in my own way.  I was able to find some loops and sounds to chop and that ALWAYS makes me happy.

I give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs, it’s really great, the only reason I had to not give it a full 5 subs is that there were only 8 kits, had there been 10 to 12 kits I would have given it a 5 out of 5.

Either way, it’s dope, a great value, and let’s many people get into the Big Fish sound that may not have the budget for their larger libraries. ( I will review some of those for you as well)

If you’re looking for a nice collection of RnB sounds and loops, as well as some bangin drums, you should definitely checkout Club Bangers RnB Pak.

Well produced, sounds good, and fun to use.

Let me know what you think below.