Urban Soul review at Sound on Sound Mag
Sound on Sound, May 2007
Loopmasters are certainly productive when it comes to their Origin Series: title 20 in the collection is Urban Soul. As with many of the earlier titles, it is dominated by loops, but it also features some of the key drum and instrument sounds configured for a number of popular software sampler formats. In total, there is 650MB of sample content, and an audio CD is also included.
The material is divided into a number of categories. Loops are provided for bass (separate electric and synth-based loops), drums, guitar, percussion, turntable scratches and a catch-all of 'musical loops'. The original recording tempos are generally in the 80-100 bpm range, giving the whole collection a nice down-tempo feel. Given the R&B/soul/hip-hop flavour, the drum (about 90 loops) and bass (100 loops) material is key and, in this regard, Urban Soul hits the target. There are some interesting drum loops featuring both classic and contemporary drum sounds. The electric bass loops are generally pretty mellow, but can also be quite complex harmonically, with a jazz edge. The synth-bass loops tend to be a little more aggressive-sounding and there are plenty of cone-flapping bass frequencies to be found amongst these.
The guitar loops are equally mellow and jazz influenced, while the 'musical' loops category includes similar Rhodes, synth and Wurlitzer chord sequences. The 18 'scratch' loops are very usable and the percussion loops are very good, although it's a shame there are not more.
Further folders include a range of one-shot samples of drum hits, vocal/FX and instrument sounds. The vocal and FX samples are a bit of a mixture, from brass hits to vocoder-processed vocal snatches. It's nothing drastically new, but it's nice ear-candy all the same. In addition to the sampler-based instrument sounds, small collections of one-shot chords are included for guitar, Rhodes and Wurlitzer. These cover a range of chord voicings, but are mostly quite exotic (Em9sus4 or Gm9, for example). They are, however, easy to combine with the bass lines. The 30 sampler patches mentioned earlier also add to the flexibility. They include various drum kits, bass, percussion, electric and nylon guitar, harp, marimba and Rhodes, amongst a few others. While these will not compete with a dedicated multisampled, velocity-layered instrument, they are playable and a very useful addition.
In terms of musical style, this is fairly laid-back stuff (think 'What They Do' by The Roots, 'Appletree' by Erykah Badu or 'Not Gon' Cry' by Mary J Blige), though the synth bass lines can give it a harder, hip-hop edge if required. Urban Soul represents good value for money and, while it may not break hugely new musical ground, what it does, it does pretty well.
4 STARS
