Yall know I’ve been working out different ways to use Maschine to the fullest and still have proper integration with my plugin collection.

I’ve finally found it!

Using Maschine standalone, and using Ableton Live as a rack…but what I also found out, is that you can sync live to Maschine’s clock!

Using midi drag and drop when I’m done sequencing, I can get everything I do in Maschine into Live’s session view very quickly.

Then I just arrange my patterns that way, it’s a very quick, efficient, and unlimited workflow….I really feel like I have no limits right now.

I can’t wait until I can drag and drop audio from Live back into Maschine Then I can use some of that warping and other goodness from live.

Anyway, this is my current workflow, and out of all the different ways I’ve messed with Maschine and plugins, this feels the most productive and the most natural.

peep the vid and let me know what you think.

Back with another soundhound, this time we checking out another collection from p5audio.

If you like guitar loops and riffs, you may definitely be interested in this one

Billboard Guitar Loops: RnB Edition

What is Billboard Guitar RnB Edition?

209 electric guitar loops Usher, R Kelly, Beyonce, Ne-Yo, etc…

played by one of Dr Dre’s guitarists…Aaron McLain.

You get a bunch of loops broken down into folders by tempos ranging from 60 to 110 bpm.

Each loop has the tempo and key included in the name of the sample for easy locating and mixing.

Quick Specs

• Content: 209 loops
• Format: Wav, REX (reason refill), and Apple Loops
• Price: $34.99

How do they sound?

Pretty slick.

Of course there are a few of the “customary” styled riffs that seem to show up in some form or variation in every hip hop, rnb, or urban guitar library, but it’s all good, they still sound fresh.

The quality of the recorded loops is professional and clean, no clicks, no pops, and even feels like there is a little bit of room ambiance on them.

There is enough in the various tempos to keep you busy, with some loops being a variation or continuation of the other.

I really dig the 60 – around 80 bpm or so loops, they seem to glide across the sound palette.

The faster tempo loops are cool and usable but didn’t get me open like the lower tempo ones.

Well produced, well played, and well recorded.

So what’s the bottom line?

This is one of those “foundational” libraries that I think every producer should have.

You know, the one’s that are just usable, period.

It gives you a great collection of well played guitar riffs at a price that won’t break the bank or have your wife breaking a bank over your head!

I give this collection 4 out of 5 subs, definitely something in here for most folks.

The guitar riffs don’t sound cheesy, in fact, many make you want to loop them up and build a song around it…no chopping needed.

Whatever you choose to do with them, just make sure you check them out, they even give you some free loops on the site to check before you buy.

Go on over and peep em out at p5audio, tell em saintjoe sent ya.

let me know what you think

It’s another Friday…time for Big Fish Friday!

Today I’m checking out a single instrument from Big Fish Audio.

The Prosonus Grand Piano.

My reason for doing so is because it comes in akai format, and since Native Instruments Maschine now imports akai format, I wanted to test it out on a native akai library.

So let’s check it out.

What is the Prosonus Grand Piano?

It is a sample Steinway grand piano, optimized for use in digital samplers.  This library comes from the days when a piano wasn’t multiple gigabytes in size.

The largest patch in this library is 128mb, may not sound large, but don’t let that fool you.

Remember many keyboard workstations don’t even come with a gig of sample rom.

So size isn’t always equal to quality

In addition to the 128mb patch, you get the same piano in 64mb, 32mb, and 16mb, each size comes with more/less detail, with 128 being the most detailed.

How does it sound?

It actually sounds pretty good, in a day and age when physically modeled and extensively samples pianos are the norm, this well sampled, well programmed library can stand with the best of them.

You get more detailed instruments depending on which program you load.

The 16mb is sampled in major thirds and 1 velocity level, the 32mb patch is major thirds in 2 velocities, 64mb patch comes in with whole steps in 2 velocities, while the 128mb patch is sampled in half steps in 2 velocities.

I know what you’re thinking…only two velocity levels?  Trust me, it still sounds great.

The tone is clean, ready for your own reverb or other processing.  This is an example of the great sampling and programming companies had to do when memory was more of a luxury than a commodity.

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is it’s a solid, good sounding piano.  My main goal was to test the akai format in Native Instruments Maschine, so anyone looking for a plug and play way to expand the stock piano sounds in Maschine should definitely check this out.

The price is right, the size is right, and the sound is nice.

I gave this a 4 out of 5 subs.

I think it stands it’s own ground in a world of gigantic multilayer piano libraries.

If you don’t feel like loading up a 2 gig piano patch, check out the Prosonus Grand Piano over at Big Fish: Prosonus Grand Piano

Today we checkin out some smooth sounds from SoundsToSample.com

In case you didn’t know, this site is run by the creators of Sample Magic…yeah, them.

Checkin out some rhodes samples they sent over for review, in a Jazz/Funk style.

David knows I like smooth, downtempo, chilled out sounds….so I had to check this one on his suggestion.

What is Mellow Jazz/Funk Elements?

In short, it’s a collection of rhode samples.

What I first noticed about this collection is the variety of styles in there.

Usually when you get a rhodes library it’s all pretty much along the same groove.

Not this one, you get blues, jazz, funk, chords, arpeggios, and other random stuff.

Rhodes are like salt, everyone should have some in the house.

Quick Specs

• Content: 430 acidized wav files
• Format: Wav
• Price: $39.95

So how do they sound?

The first thing I noticed about the sound is that it seems they were all recorded with the mic pretty close to the cabinet.  That can be good or bad depending on what you want.

But it gives it a full bodied sound, lots of harmonics and such.

Like I said before, the variety is a strong point of the collection, because you can find tons of different styles and they all sound authentic.

The playing is very groove oriented, especially when you get into some of the jazz loops, a bunch of nice riffs and stuff ready to be chopped.

The inclusion of single chords is also welcome, with 3 and 4 note varieties.

All in all, it’s got a good authentic rhodes sound, though some may find it a little too “full” for their tastes.

So what’s the bottom line on this library?

It’s got a great sound, great production and plenty of variety to be useful in various situations.

If you like the “fullness” of a rhodes sounds, as opposed to a more “controlled” feel, then you’ll love the sounds in here.

The production provides enough variation in the loops and riffs to allow for some great chops to be extracted.

I give this library a 4 out of 5 subs, solid library at a nice price.

check it out over at SoundsToSample.com: Mellow Jazz/Funk Elements

leave a comment below and let me know what you think about the demo.

This is just a quick video showing a track I made using some string a brass sounds from novaloops

these sounds came from the novaloops Coast to Coast Brass and String Collection

leave a comment below, lemme know what you think.

My homie hit me up last night asking how to sequence Reason from Maschine so you can use it as a sound module.

It was working, somewhat, but there were issues with the midi triggering everything at once, no matter the channel.

I don’t use Reason so I downloaded the demo and played around with it this morning, it works pretty well.

I think it would be even better using it with Record, so you could sequence the Reason devices in Record and then record the audio of them when you’re ready.

I may have to test that out as well, if I do, I’ll post a video.

Anyway, here’s the video on how to set this up.

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

Just exploring Presonus Studio One and figuring out how to use it as a vst rack for Maschine, it works out pretty good and it’s easy to setup the interface in Studio One.

You must have Studio One Pro to use vsts but it’s all good.

It’s also simple to save a template so you can just open it when you want.

I’ll be exploring Studio One a lot more, but I’m liking it already, clean and simple interface.

Now I just need to figure out how to slave it to Maschine’s midi clock!

let me know what you think about the video.

*****UPDATE*****

Found out I had to make some more changes to get all the midi on separate channels, so I made another video to show the process.