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Author: Review by: Computer Music
Computer Music:
"This collection manages to capture the essence of old-skool hip-house and electro beautifully. The drum and percussion elements are its real high point, along with some suitably meaty lead sounds. 17 construction kits are supplied * plus a large number of additional loops and hits * meaning you're getting good value for money. While you're not going to find anything particularly revolutionary here, if you're looking to capture that unique b-boy sound of the 80s and give it a modern twist (a trick that seems to be all the rage at the moment * just ask Mylo!) then this is the title for you."
VERDICT: 7/10
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Author: Review by: Sound On Sound
Sound On Sound - Reviewed by John Walden
Many SOS readers will be familiar with Tekniks, as we have reviewed their two popular Ghetto Grooves titles in previous issues. Both of these were aimed at R&B and hip-hop. In contrast, Ghetto Electro is aimed somewhere in the ground between the electronica and house genres. The CD is dominated by a collection of loops, but a small number of multisampled synth instruments (each based on a small number of single-note samples) are also provided, with patch settings suitable for EXS24, Halion, Kontakt, and Mach Five included. As with the Ghetto Grooves titles, an assortment of individual drum hits is also present, covering crash cymbal, hi-hat, kick, snare, and percussion.
The loops are divided into several groups. First up are 17 construction kits, each based upon a smallish number (usually six or seven) of individual loops. Further folders contain a collection of 280 drum loops, 84 special-effects loops and 96 synth loops. The original recording tempos of the loops are dominated by the dance-friendly range of 120-140bpm. With the exception of the special-effects category (which contains various hits, bleeps, whooshes, and the occasional processed vocal sample), the loops within each folder are organised into tempo-based subfolders.
The musical contents are interesting - in terms of styles, think Fischerspooner with the occasional nod to '80s Madonna, New Order, or OMD and some occasional grittiness more akin to hip-hop. The construction kits provide a very simple means of getting a quick groove working, although there is probably only enough variety within each kit to build one element of a song structure. That said, the styles are consistent enough across the collection to make mixing and matching between the kits or loop folders fairly easy. The drum loops are dominated by classic dance-based drum-machine sounds and, although there are some processed loops, things are generally presented fairly clean to allow flexibility for user experimentation. The collection of synth loops features lots of arpeggio patterns and some chord stabs, while the multisampled instruments come with suitably descriptive patch names such as Filthy Sine, Mozzie Saw, and Liquid Phat Ñ perhaps nothing stunningly new in terms of content, but there is some good stuff here that would work really well for club anthems.
On the downside, as in the Ghetto Grooves libraries, the WAVs have not been Acidised. While most loop-manipulation software now does a good job of working out original tempos, having to add the root-note pitch of melodic or bass loops manually does make working with these loops a little slower than with Acidised files. That said, a very clear PDF file is included on the CD that indicates the original pitches of all the loops. The organisation of the material into tempo-based subfolders is also perhaps unnecessary given that so many users now have access to excellent tempo-matching tools in software, and putting all the drum loops into a single folder would have resulted in much more efficient organisation, particularly when auditioning the loops. These organisational details aside, there is plenty of material Ñ well over 700 loops in total Ñ and for producers of house-influenced music Ghetto Electro would be a good buy.
RATING: 4/5
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