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DISCRETE DRUMS 

Apr 1, 2005,

By Mike Levine

Every time you look around, it seems as though another drum-loop library has been released. The musical styles of these products vary, but there's one...

EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP Symphonic Orchestra, Platinum Edition (Mac/Win) 

Dec 1, 2004,

By David Rubin

As computers become increasingly more powerful and mammoth hard drives become more affordable, desktop orchestrators are flocking to gargantuan multigigabyte...

BIGGA GIGGAS 

Dec 1, 2004,

By David Rubin

The solo saxophone is notoriously difficult to sample effectively because of the wide range of idiomatic sounds that the instrument can produce. Early...

SONIC REALITY 

Dec 1, 2004,

By Marty Cutler

It's not too difficult to find good acoustic guitar samples. But authentic, high-quality sounds for bluegrass and folk music are in relatively short supply....

Sonic Implants Atsiã: West African Dancing Drums (Giga, Kontakt, SoundFont) 

Aug 1, 2004,

By David Rubin

This single-disc library centers on the traditional percussion of the African Ewe tribe, which comes from a region that includes parts of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. In addition to the instruments of the Ewe, however, the library also includes instruments from elsewhere in West Africa and even from Brazil....

Discovery Firm Alma Flamenco (Audio, Acid, REX2) 

Aug 1, 2004,

By David Rubin

Discovery Firm’s popular Flamenco—Made in Spain CD offered desktop musicians a chance to add flamenco’s unique excitement and exotic rhythms to their musical mixes. The Japanese company has now reissued the content from the earlier CD as a new two-disc Alma Flamenco library ($55) that combines Red Book audio tracks with matching Acidized WAV and REX2 files....

Sony Pictures Digital Rhythm and Twang (Acidized WAV)  

Jun 1, 2004,

By Marty Cutler

Electronic Musician’s review of Sony’s Rhythm & Twang, a country-music oriented Acidized WAV sample library on CD-ROM....

eLab Smokers Delight (audio/WAV/REX) 

Mar 1, 2004,

By Marty Cutler

Smokers Delight ($99.95) hearkens back to that time before digital synths and quantizing. The 3-CD set includes an audio CD for auditioning files and two CD-ROMs filled with REX and Acidized WAV files of drum loops, short instrumental phrases, and single-hit drum samples, such as kicks, snares, and hi-hats....

PrimeSounds A Funky Future (audio/WAV/REX) 

Mar 1, 2004,

By Marty Cutler

Although PrimeSounds’ A Funky Future ($99.95) may not meet everyone’s definition of pure funk, it does deliver a fine collection of grooves, bass lines, and guitar-driven pads and effects....

Big Fish Audio LA Drum Sessions 

Feb 1, 2004,

By Marty Cutler

Big Fish Audio’s LA Drum Sessions ($99.95) consists of three CD-ROMs packed with acidized WAV-file grooves that you can easily arrange into a variety of song forms....

BIG FISH AUDIO Brush Artistry 

Dec 1, 2003,

By Marty Cutler

The Big Fish Brush Artistry is a percussion sample library that focuses on drums played with brushes. The collection covers a number of jazz and Latin styles....

SONIC IMPLANTSSYMPHONIC STRING COLLECTION 

Nov 1, 2003,

By Rob Shrock

With its considerable array of string articulations and its thoughtful preparation, Sonic Implants' Symphonic String Collection (SSC) is one of the finest...

BIG FISH AUDIO Tower of Funk by David Garibaldi 

Nov 1, 2003,

By Marty Cutler

Tower of Power may very well be the textbook purveyor of funk, and David Garibaldi provides the heartbeat for the band's energetic and propulsive style. Tower of Funk by David Garibaldi ($99.95) from Big Fish Audio offers Garibaldi's unique drumming in a CD-ROM of 16-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV files with an accompanying audio CD....

POWERFX The Samplist Guide to Jazz Drums 

Oct 1, 2003,

By Gene Porfido

Drummer Ralph Peterson provides a wealth of musical and historical information about jazz styles in his sound library The Samplist Guide to Jazz Drums, published by PowerFX. The collection is a CD-ROM of jazz-based loops and grooves in the WAV format, which includes video footage of the author demonstrating the rhythms visually....

DISCRETE DRUMS Series Two 

Oct 1, 2003,

By Marty Cutler

Electronic Musician’s Quick Pick review of the Discrete Drums Series Two collection, an 18-disc library of multitrack drum performances....

BIG FISH AUDIO Phat Beats from the Box 

Sep 1, 2003,

By Gino Robair

A Quick Pick review of Big Fish Audio’s sample collection Phat Beats from the Box, which features the vocal-percussion sounds of four well-known New York City artists: Kenny Mohammed, the Human Orchestra; Omri Anghel, the Human Beat; Baba; and Hesher....

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS FM7 1.1 (MAC/WIN) 

Jul 1, 2003,

By Brian Smithers

A review of Native Instruments FM7 version 1.1, an FM synthesizer plug-in with a friendly editing interface....

Zero-G Beats Working 

Jul 1, 2003,

By Dan Phillips

The Zero-G Beats Working sample collection includes nine CDs with 24-bit, 5.1 surround-format data for Digidesign Pro Tools and two discs with the same material mixed down to 16-bit stereo in audio and Acidized WAV formats....

The Ultimate Acoustic Drum Library 

Jul 1, 2003,

By Rob Shrock

Electronic Musician covers acoustic drum-kit libraries that attempt to capture the sound, flexibility, and dynamic range of a bona fide drum set....

EASTWEST 

Jun 1, 2003,

By Dan Phillips

In this loop collection from EastWest, Joey Kramer teams up with Aerosmith producer Marti Frederiksen to deliver an exciting assortment of rhythms à la carte....

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