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The Echo’s. The Delay. The Pads. The Reverb. Yes that’s right folks! Everyone loves a little ambient music in their life!

Ambient seems to be one of those musical styles that fits onto all genres of music and its fundamental characteristics could be taken to make even the heaviest of tracks have its ‘psychedelically chill out’ moments.

Full to the brim of tranquil stabs, Vibrant Pulses, and one of the most comprehensive selections of relaxing chord progressions this side of a massive attack greatest hits CD. Prime loops have delivered yet another outstanding sample pack for an unbeatably low cost.

Ambient loops are simply incredible and are a must for any great established or aspiring producer out there. These loops will make your dance tracks swell, your pop tracks shine, your rocks ballads weepy and your Dubstep tracks extra stand out from the generic. What can I say? Everyone loves a bit of ambient music!

This pack is one of the most extensively diverse for its price range and caters for all your production need with over 120 different Textures, Loops, arpeggios, sequencer lines, Drones and much much more. These fantastically well-produced samples will add that ‘missing link’ you so dearly require for your own masterpieces in the making.

As with most of Prime loops sample packs, Their Royalty-free, You your legal shackles have been cut and you’re free to let your creativity evolve worry free.

Keeping up to their reputation of bringing you the best, Prime loops have used some of the top synths in the business right to your hard drive, such as –

• Roland Alpha Juno
• Roland Juno – 106
• Roland MKS – 10
• Polyvox
• Korg

..And more. As well as having these samples pre-formatted to WAV, Apple Loops, Fruity Loops and more, Prime loops really are the producers best friend when it come to making like a whole lot easier.

Prime Loops have really stepped up to their podium with this pack. As mentioned, You don’t have to be an ambient fan to get some use out of these sounds, Its all about the experimentation, a must for fan of musical expression.

Head over to their official website and check out their sample track compiled form the sounds you get.

Homepage: http://www.primeloops.com/

“The definitive new supplier of modern, cutting edge sound libraries.”

As I read this statement from Prime Loops I’m saying to myself, modern? Cutting edge? That would imply that these loops had to be unique, beyond compare, a break away sound. Man did they deliver…These fellows at Prime Loops really know how to generate sound.

From the single shot’s to the full loop, every sound is crystal clear with a precision that is second to none. I started out with the “Tribal Percussion Loops”. It really is a chore to find a decent sounding conga. I was skeptical. As I opened the refill I noticed that Prime Loops not only had Congas, they threw in Bongo’s, Cajon, Djembe, Low conga’s a vast array of percussions and single hits. If that wasn’t enough, they also gave you the option of Wav File or Rex File.

I always like the ability to use a sample in multiple platforms. So, using this in Propellerheads Reason’s NN-XT and REX2 format is crucial, giving me much more control. So how do the drums sound? Off the Hook! The sounds are modern. I have been producing for Fifteen years.

I have heard millions of sounds. What I really appreciated with Prime Loops, the sounds are fresh. These loops bring forward and reveal a very clean sound. Not repetitive, grey or worn. Crisp with a definite understanding of how music works. In this loop library, there are a multitude of Genre to choose from. Be it Hip Hop, Electro, House, Breakbeat, Electronica. You will not be disappointed. A big thumb’s up for the lads at PrimeLoops.

Homepage: http://www.primeloops.com/

These days music producers are surrounded by choices. Whether your thinking of investing in a new Midi controller, the latest recording software or any other piece of kit, that fact remains the same, the choices can be pretty overwhelming to say the least. Sample Packs are no exception.

With some of the top companies in the industry all competing for you to invest in their product, any producer, no matter how experienced, would be a little flustered with the decision of which packs to add to their musical arsenal.

Prime Loops are one of the few companies out there today that needs no introduction. Priding themselves on their extremely professional sounding samples, Prime loops have brought some of the most impressive and diverse to the music industry at prices so reasonable that even the ‘budget’ producers out there could afford.

So lets get into their latest sample collections to hit the shelves.

Urban and Dance Vocals

This massive 390 file + collection focuses on some of the key elements from genres such as Drum n’ Bass, Electro, Garage and House to name a few. Bringing us some of the sharpest loops and most diverse vocals that could ever grace your hard drive.

All vocals come in a large selection of tempos, keeping the often time consuming task of time-stretching loops to an absolute minimum. Living up to their reputation of giving the customers the best, prime Loops have enlisted the talents of one the industries top names, Non other than Majestic. One of the biggest names in the scene on your tracks will really give them the professional sound that you so long for.

If your like me, then you will spend a large amount of time searching for the perfect vocals to fit your work. With the Urban and Dance vocal pack, rest assured the perfect vocal loop isn’t far away, 

Essential Music Loops

The music production is ripe with genre specific loop and sample packs. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending your hard earned cash on a Hip-Hop pack and then coming to realise that a trance synth would fit the mix so much better. Well Prime loops have knocked that problem right out of the park with their Essential music loops collection. With a 2GB plus collection at your disposal, this collection is sure to cover all your production needs no matter what your style with is 800 plus sounds. As mentioned, this pack isn’t genre specific, it’s essentially 5 different sample packs crammed into one affordable super pack, giving you the best from -

• R&B Progressions
• Dubhop scores
• Ambient funk
• Planet of the orchestra
• Orchestraland classic string loops

The vast variety here is Perfect if your finding your strings in your hip hop tracks will benefit more from a more realistic orchestral section, or if your composing for film. This collection would be perfect in the hands of the experimental producer, as the different sounds work well when crossed into other sub genres, prefect for cutting loose.

All sounds come in a number of formats, including .WAV files, ensuring the sample you require is ready to go when you want it. All you have to do is drop into your DAW or sampler and let the magic happen

The days of spending ours hunting online for royalty free samples are long gone. Once you have purchased the sample pack, you’re free to use the sounds in whatever way you want, A big plus when it come to cutting the legal business out of the works.

In short ladies and gentlemen, if you’re after top quality at a brilliant price, Then Prime loops are the way forward.

Homepage: http://www.primeloops.com/

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.

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

Nucleus Soundlab’s release, ReCombination, takes Reason’s Combinator to a new height in a big way. Sound designers Adam Fielding, Ronald Hajewski, Shaun Wallace, Bill Chrapcynski, Nick Hutton, Ed Bauman, and Jeremy Janzen, each craft masterpiece after masterpiece in every patch they designed with extreme professional detail.

The release is available for purchase in 2 downloadable formats – ReFill, and Multi-Format (suitable for loading in a variety of non-Reason software and hardware samplers.), you can also purchase this release in a Multi-Format DVD as third option.

From the technical aspect of this release, ReCombination comes loaded with 200 Combinator patches, 183 NN-XT patches, 25 Malstrom patches, and 8 Subtractor patches. In addition each Combinator patch uses all 8 virtual controls giving you outstanding control over each patch, great for live and studio settings.

The Combinator breaks down into 11 folders: Atmo Sequences, Melodic Sequences, Percussive Sequences, Modulation Sequences, Bass, FX Atmo, Guitar and Plucked, Keyboard Splits, Keyboards and Polys, Leads, and Pads. The NN-XT breaks down into an jaw dropping 17 folders. The Malstrom and Subtractor each come with 1 folder a piece respectively.

This release is so massive in the sheer number of patches alone that I found myself picking and choosing my personal favorites from each device of the entire product down to the very folder. It’s a bit of a cliche to hear sometimes, but there really were so many great patches that it was hard to pick just one! Since there were so many great patches I’ve decided to list my top 2 favorite patches from each folder in the Combinator as this is the powerhouse of this release. Read the rest of this entry »