More Percussionism reviews
Percussionism reviewed at Music Mart!
PERCUSSIONISM
Keeping the best till last though, Percussionism showcases Harvey Summers once again, this time sticking entirely to drums and reaching tempos of up to 160BPM. The basic loops include full mixes, FX variations, and all the component parts of each loop, so you can come up with endless fills and variations. There are also Atmospheric Percussion sounds and longer effects such as gongs, rainsticks and spring drums, and finally more than 1200 individual drum hits numbered for easy mapping. Most sampling instruments will be able to load these in sets, automatically mapping them to chromatic scales of notes.
The main intent of this package is to add very lifelike percussion parts to existing drum tracks, and a lot of thought has gone into the process - "ghost notes" between strong hits are often left in, the sub-conscious result being a much more lifelike performance, and even the single hits are in stereo so any compiled kit will have a lifelike stereo spread. Little attempt has been made to normalise all hits to the same volume, so complete kits will retain a lifelike sense of dynamic variation.
The unusual percussion instruments such as wind chimes and talking drums are great, but when the main loops including African, Egyptian and Latin styles are fired up, the effect is consistently powerful. In fact this package could well have been titled Percussion/World.
Percussionism Reviewed at Headstrong HQ.com 9/10
Firstly i would like to point out that i was really looking forward to this sample cd. The reason for this is that these days were are bombarded with new synths and vst instruments and there seems to be so few decent percussion sample cd's on the market. I find it so important in a recording to get the rhythm and percussion tight and working together. It also needs to have the right feel and expresssion. Lastly on this note 'but importantly' it needs to be recorded well.
The first thing that stood out with this percussion cd was the sound quality and the ambience. I fired up cubase sx (my sequencer of choice) and started to put some loops together. As i layered the loops i found them to sit tight in the mix. I also found the choice of tempo to be varied and immediately found the tempo i wanted to work with. I imported some conga loops at 130 BPM and they sat in the mix perfect. The loop had a really human feel and hadnt been over produced or made to sound quantised or robotic. I soon began to venture into other areas of sounds and imported tambourine and shakers. Everything i added sounded great. All loops and samples were grouped well and i soon found what i was looking for. The choice is good enough to keep even the most adventurous producer satisfied as you discover a full range with everything from 'rain sticks' to spring drums and gongs.
Any new amateur producer would have a field day imposting these loops into acid or reason and would be smiling from ear to ear with the results they got in seconds. The tempos range from 80bpm to 160bpm and samples are presented in both wav and Rx2 formats. There are over 1200 single hits.The realistic feel you get is really pleasing from the loops and the lack of 'normailising' is a bonus dute to the fact the different hits have different volumes. Capturing this and not altering it obviously adds to the real feel as you discover the ghost hits etc that are hanging in the background of a loop.
I wont head into too much detail in this section as that will follow in the cd description below but i will close this section with this summery, This percussion cd is a bargain and instantly inspires you to write a new track. I genuinly wish there were lots more percussion sample cds around as their flavour on a track is priceless. This cd will be at my side in the studio for a long time. If i were 'Loopmasters' id be proud of this offering but most of all id be hard at work recording 'Percussionism' 2.
!!Highly recommended!! Our rating ...9/10
Percussionism Mini-review - COmputer Music
Posted: 26/04/2005
Percussionism is a selection of percussion loops and hits that can be used to inject more reality and warmth into a rhythm section.
It includes full mixes featuring several percussive instruments alongside individual loops for all instruments included in the mixes at tempos ranging from 60bpm to 160bpm. Many styles are covered including Latin, African, Egyptian, Progressive, Jazz, Funk and Indian, along with more unusual loops and atmospheric percussion effects. The instruments on offer include all of the usual suspects (tambourines, shakers, gongs, talking drums, bongos, congas, bells, djembe, triangles, blocks, bass drums, snares and cymbals) plus a variety of more exotic offerings (tabla, wind chimes, spring drums, berimbau, bougaraboo, bendir, bodrahn and sudo).
More than 2,500 samples are on offer, including 1,300 single hits and 650 Wav loops, and 550 Rex2 loops which can be used at different tempos. All in all, it’s a rather nice little package!
4/5
Percussionism reviewed at VI mag (USA)
Percussionism, the oldest of the libraries reviewed here, is (surprise) a library of percussion sounds and loops produced by Harvey Summers. The loops are organized into 23 folders based on tempos ranging from 60 to 160 bpm. Most folders contain a fully-mixed percussion bed plus two to five remixes, as well as breakdowns of the individual instrument tracks (such as bass, snare, different conga licks, and shaker). A few folders contain simpler arrangements such as just udus, or bougaraboo plus bells.
Typical length is 2 or 4 bars. This is augmented by over 350 1-bar shaker, cabassa, jingle stick, rainstick, and tambourine loops organized in 80, 100, 120, 140, and 160 bpm folders. There’s also a good number of single-shot sounds, including over 70 “atmospheric percussion” samples of gongs, rainsticks, spring and talking drums, water bowls, and wind chimes, plus hundreds of single hits of a wide variety of percussion instruments with corresponding Reason patches.
The style of the percussion beds leans towards heavy African (which I like), although there are certainly Middle Eastern through Western styles and influences as well. (If your tastes lean more South American than South African, check out the Loopmasters AfroLatin Producer library.) These parts are not overplayed, making it easier to mix them with other loops. The recording quality is good, with a very immediate feel that doesn’t lose the room’s vibe. Overall, an excellent toolkit to add to your library.
