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Ethnic Music Chopz 2 is a great addition to any sound library.  The package includes over 840 one shot wav files as well as presets in .sf2 (sound font), .sxt (NN-XT), .fxp, .kit, and .nxi, so they are ready to be loaded into virtually any sampler.  There are 10 different unusual world instruments including Arabian Rababah, Balinese Gobijen, Turkish Cumbus, Moroccan Gimbri, Greek Bouzouki, Arabian Mizmar, Aztec Slit-drum, Japanese Koto, Egyptian Ney, and African Udu.  There are 4 presents for each one, and they are in different common keys and tempos to make it easier to blend into any music with minimal effort. 

Since the loops and riffs are already sliced up, and laid out across the keyboards, it lends itself to endless entertainment in a construction kit.  These one shot stabs and samples are perfect for making hip hop, pop, drum and bass, dubstep, downtempo, psybient, world music, trance etc.  Just lay any kind of modern or old school beat on it, and poof!  It’s like magic.  Do you want to sound like the pros?  Then you will need some high quality sounds that add texture, and give your music more depth.  It’s important to put samples in your music that make it stand out, spice it up, and make things interesting.  This sample pack will do just that. 

Real world sounds like these are next to impossible with regular synths.  Sometimes you need the real thing to bring it to the next level, and  I am very happy with this collection of rare instrument samples from around the globe. You can tell they really put a lot of time and energy into finding and recording this collection.  It’s sure to get your creative juices flowing. This set of patches has exotic flutes, horns, percussion, and string samples that I didn’t even know I needed. It made me wonder what I ever did without these sounds.  These one shots are ideal for creating interesting patterns that sound in and out of this world.

This review was written by me, DJ Story.  I made a little downtempo track while testing out the product.  I used Reason and Ableton Live. All the sounds used were from the Ethnic Music Chopz 2 package except for the hip hop beat and effects like reverb, delay, and compression. No animals were harmed in the making of this beat.

You can also go to my website intuitivebeats.com to check out more of my music etc.

Homepage: http://www.modernbeats.com/

by DJ Story

In this tutorial, I will go over some of the tools I use in my home studio, and why I find them useful.  My goal is to share some of my ideas about how to get started putting together a functional recording setup at minimal cost.

Computer

The first thing you will need is a good computer.  It can be a mac or pc.  I prefer mac personally, although I used a pc in the past.  The most important thing is that it has enough RAM and processor power to handle your software.  I use a macbook pro with 2 GB of RAM and 2 GHz Intel duel processor.  This gives me enough power, and it’s also easy to travel with.  You’ll also want to make sure it has a firewire input for your audio interface.  Another important factor to consider when choosing your computer is the amount of hard drive space.  I have a 100 GB drive built-in drive, and several external drives for backing up important files.

Music Software

Once you have your computer, you will need to choose a good DAW (digital audio workstation) for audio recording, editing etc.  I use Ableton Live and Propellerheads Reason.  You can run them simultaneously using rewire which is a feature of Reason which allows you to sync Reason with various other DAWs.  I like Reason’s synths and sound-banks, although you can’t record audio directly into Reason, so I use Live to record and manipulate the sound further with Live’s tools and VST/AU plugins.  Live makes it easy to adjust the timing and pitch of recordings independently of each-other which makes it fun to mix and match samples and loops.  Logic Audio, Cubase, and Pro Tools  are also a great programs.  Propellerheads also just released a new program called “Record” that looks really interesting.  For DJs, you might want to consider Serato Scratch.  The software you choose will depend greatly on your personal preferences and what capabilities you require to work most effectively.

Midi Controllers

I have a Korg microKONTROL, and I totally love it!  It is small, so it’s very portable.  With the octave shift feature, it covers the whole range of notes, so the size doesn’t limit me at all.  It has 8 knobs and 8 sliders I can assign to control perimeters in my software or hardware.  It also has 16 pads I can assign to toggle or momentary triggers for drums or anything else.  The microKONTROL also has a joystick that controls the pitch bend when moved left and right, and it controls the mod wheel when moved forward and back.  It connects to my computer via usb, so I don’t even need to fool around with midi cables unless I want to use it for syncing.  I also have started using my iPod Touch as a midi controller.  There’s a great free application called MMM (midi music machine) that I enjoy using to control my software wirelessly.

Audio Interface

I use the M-Audio FireWire 410, and it works well for what I do.  It has 4 inputs and 8 outputs.  I can record high quality 24 bit digital audio.  It has XLR inputs in the front for microphones, and regular 1/4″ plugs for guitar or whatever.  As far as I know, only 2 of the inputs can be used at once though.  I recommend using a firewire audio interface over usb, because it’s much faster.  One of the biggest issues that you will encounter with recording on computers is latency, which is simply the lagging of the sound signal coming into the software.  Firewire interfaces have less latency than usb.  Also, having a faster computer helps with latency problems as you can reduce the buffer size in your software preferences.

Microphone

I suggest you invest in a good condenser mic.  These are very sensitive, and get the best studio quality recordings.  I use a microphone made by Blue called the Baby Bottle.  It’s a great mic for the money.  I had a professional once tell me that he couldn’t hear the difference between the mic I use and a super high quality $2,500 mic.  Mine was only $500, and it is well worth the money.  You can use a regular performance mic, but it’s just not going to be as crisp and clean.  If you’re going for quality then a condenser mic is a must have.

Studio Monitors

You’re going to need a good way to hear the true sound for mixing and mastering.  You can use regular speakers or headphones to a point, although they are not what they call flat, so the EQ is not precise enough for accurate balancing of levels.   Often, stereos have built-in EQs that will throw you off as well.  You need a set of flat studio monitors to really hone in the sound correctly.  It’s a good idea to test your mix in various kinds of speakers to compare how it sounds while mixing and mastering.  Studio monitors are designed to tell the truth.

Headphones

You will definitely have to get one or two good pairs of headphones.  I have flat studio monitor AKG headphones.  Sometimes, I need louder headphones, so I go with my regular $20 Sony headphones for that.  They’re not the best headphones I’ve ever used, although they’re much louder than the AKGs.

Conclusion

So, if you want to setup a recording studio, that’s basically all you really need to get started.  It’s what I use anyway.  It’s possible to produce music with less gear, although I really find each one of these tools very useful for the kind of productions I like to create.

This article was written by DJ Story.  Check out his website:

http://www.intuitivebeats.com

-In fact, i noticed that Reason was missing some big pads sounds. I had some on my QS8 but i wanted to have them directly in Reason so i started the sampling of these sounds.- Eric/Reason Fan.

And what a great job he has done. Man are these samples clear. Each and every one of them is clearly sampled and the patches made out of these samples are programmed just perfect.

Copy the refill to your Reason folder and you will have the best sounds from the Alesis Quadrasynth.

There are really a lot of samples in the refill. 546 Mb of compressed samples. That’s more then 1 Gb before a refill was made out of ‘m. Looping points are done very good. You won’t hear any

What do you get?:

NN-19:

• Bass 83 patches
• Classics 106 patches
• Keyboards 48 patches
• Synths 145 patches
• Pads 105 patches
• World 36 patches
• Others 67 patches
• Drums 30 patches
• Effects 60 patches

Redrum:

• 18 kits

The NN-19 Patches:

As i said these patches are really beautiful. Clean as can be and looped perfectly. The bass patches are very good. The 2basses1 is definately my favourite here. Superclean and very good dynamics.

The classics folder contains patches from great sounds from the past. Think of a B3 and other great instruments. In the keyboard folder you can find sounds like wurlitzer patches, a nice grand piano and a cool kalimba. But also some other nice sounds.

The synths folder contains some wicked material wich can be made with the Quadrasynth. Some very clean and high quality sounds if you ask me. In the world folder you will find cool sounds wich are perfect for creating live ambiances. I really love the brake drums. Wich sound very cool and realistically recreated in the quadrasynth. Sounds like panflute’s, celtic harp’s and more cool world sounds are also present in the folder. Eric is definately a man who knows what he’s doing. This cd is very professional. The quality is just perfect. There’s only great stuff on this cd.

680 NN-19 patches in total making this the biggest Reason refill available. And for 40$ it’s really, really a must have. Just open a pay pall acount and pay 40 $.

The Redrum Kits:

Some really clear drums in that synth. Wow those kicks come from beneath You get 18 kits wich are definately usable. very realistic hihats and percussion. You will absolutely find the drums you’ll need.

I said this before and i will say it again. This is a supercool refill. And for this price you definately get the jackpot. Superclear and usable sounds wich are ready to make your tunes even nicer.

Check out the full list of patches here: http://reason.fan.free.fr/liste_progs.htm