Music Tech Review Of "Dark Matter - Experiments In Dub"
After a slow start, dubstep based sample packs are now pouring into the MTM office – and like ever- expanding genre itself, they tend to fall into two camps: either dark and aggressive or sparser and more dub-like. This latest pack from Loopmasters falls more into the latter category and features samples by artists associated with seminal Multiverse Studios.
The download only pack contains 270MB of 24-bit/44.1kHz WAV and REX loops, plus 108MB of hits with accompanying patches in EXS24, HALion, Kontakt, NN-XT and SFZ formats, Reason Refill, Apple Loops and Ableton Live versions are also available as separate downloads. The samples are divided into 20 construction kits that contain complete beat loops plus individual drum, bass and synth parts 140-143BPM. You can expect to find deep head-nodding dubstep grooves alongside more shuffling broken beats, with a combination of snarling synths, raspy effects and deeper lead sounds.
The artists represented include Ginz, Moving Ninja and Pinch, with each lending a slightly different twist to the genre. This is the pack’s strongest point: by having similar artists you get loops that work well together, but still with a decent degree of variety in the production techniques used.
In addition to the loops there are 82 ready-to-play synth, bass and drum instrument patches. Although these all feature the same tight production, they are spread across several folders in order to mimic the layout of the construction kits.
Overall, there’s not much to really blow you away but the production of each sound and drum hit is super-tight and would work well on the dance floor, with carefully EQ’ed kicks allowing space for your speaker-destroying bass lines. If you are writing this kind of dubstep, this pack comes highly recommended.
