Gear Review: Loopmasters - Berlin Falling (Sample Pack by Pablo Decoder)
Written by Youri Jozee
Wednesday, 29 June 2011 12:06
Gear - Loopmasters, the quintessential online source for all things sample related, has just released a new sample pack crafted by Berlin-based producer Pablo Decoder. Let’s put it to the test…
This sample pack is based on the contemporary sound of dance capital number one: Berlin. And no, that doesn’t mean this bundle revolves strictly around minimal beats and cut-up bits of percussion. This pack comes in handy if you’re looking to create either smooth deep house, pumping techno or more experimental hybrids like the latest releases on Christian Smith’s Tronic label for instance. Weighing in at 650 MB, the very affordable Berlin Falling package includes 520 samples, 337 loops (between 122 – 126 BPM), 182 One Shot Samples, and just over 50 patches for Reason NNXt, Halion, Kontakt, EXS and SFZ compatible soft samplers (Apple Loops, Reason Refill and Ableton Live versions are also available separately) in 3 separate folders (each containing a few subfolders). That’s cool and all, but how does all that sound? Simple, hella cool…
We tested the Berlin Falling pack using our standard testing setup, which consists of Ableton 7 as the main sequencer, Battery 3 for drums, and a bunch of other tools such as Sylenth 1 (VST) a Clavia Nord Rack 2 hardware synth and a separate MIDI-keyboard.
SOUNDS & FX
-Analogue Tones
Let’s check out the Analogue Tones first. In this folder we find a diversity of Bass and Synths. The bass sounds vary from wobbly to acidy, and are great to use in deep- and tech-house-flavored cuts. The synths are a bit basic, but are a great pick if you like to play around with synth fx in the background of your composition.
-FX
This section offers a wide range of fx, most of which are dubby waves and distorted soars. These sounds may need a bit of modulation here and there, but definitely come in handy for producing deep techno tracks or big room progressive bangers.
-Drum Hits
This section is probably the most useful of them all, as it provides a serious load of a-class beats, cymbals, hi-hats, snares and what not, adding a solid punch to your rhythms. The Kick section has pretty much all types of kick drums you can possible wish for, and the same goes for the collection of claps and hi-hats which sound really great even without any additional adjustment. Real solid stuff, thumbs up!
WAV Loops
The second main folder of this pack contains premade loops divided into Bass, Drum, Synth, Top (bongos & drums mostly) and Vocal sounds. Now, high quality, usable loops are hard to come by, but this section has the answers. The drum loops are great if you want to create a basic beat loop in just a few clicks, while the bass and synths spice up your own rhythms with some serious floor-rocking noise. The Top loops are designed to put some booty-shaking (tribal-styled) drums to your tracks, while the vocals can add a bit of mumbling and humming, if that’s your thing. Again, very impressive.
-REX (patches)
The patches in Berlin Falling are divided into Bass, Drums, Synth, Top, and Male & Female Vocals. We used Ableton’s standard sampler for testing and were amazed by the sheer simplicity of combining these to our premade MIDI-tracks. Each patch, whether you choose a rocking bass loop or one of the vocals, sound incredibly crispy and, again, very useful for fx. Top stuff!
Our verdict:
This sample packs makes us happy. For under GBP 25, you get a whopping amount of clear crisp sounds ready to be used in your soon-to-be ass-whooping productions. Most definitely a package to use if you’re looking for high quality samples for professional use.
Rating: 8.4/10
Manufacturer: Loopmasters Price: GBP 24.95
Click here to purchase this package!
