Via: dcs.leeds.ac.uk (csvax1.ARPA); Mon, 6 Apr 92 12:48:08 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Date:         Mon, 6 Apr 1992 12:43:40 BST
From:         The Brown Bottle <ross-c@DCS.LEEDS.AC.UK>
Subject:      Sampling CD review
Comments: To: SYNTH-L@AUVM.AMERICAN.edu

Sampling CD review: Simon Harris: Beats, Breaks, and Scratches, Vol 8.
		(subtitled: The Ultimate Breakbeat Collection)

I'm not a sampler of great experience, as (e.g.) Scott Fisher is, but
have started buying sample CDs, to debug the realtime sampler software
I'm developing.

This CD is rather "special purpose", so first I'll give a very
quick overview.

It is a standard CD price (15 pounds RRP, I paid 12.49) sample CD, which is
short, and doesn't have a very large amound of material. It is pointed
directly at "DJs and Producers". The CD has 13 breakbeats, which are not
single cycles, but have been looped and extended out to three minute
tracks. It then has 49 "sound bites" sampled from dance music, television,
videos etc. Total time about 43 minutes (from my memory).

[Quick overview ends]

Since there are only thirteen breakbeats I'll comment on each seperately.

(1) Bananas, a fairly funky beat, which sounds like it was sampled from
the intro from Nenah Cherry's "Buffalo Stance".

(2) Different screams. Sounds like a fairly standard 8-beat, with man and
woman's screams. Even if you overlay your own music over the top, the
screams (actually UH! and laughter) will probably be too repetitive.

(3) Fastjazz. Drum beat only, the title says it all.

(4) Africa. Drum beat with small amount of flute comping audible. Flute is
quiet enough to avoid the problems with (2)

(5) Muthabeats. 70's style funk with bass and guitar comping, up-tempo.

(6) Wha-cha saying. Much more modern funk. Probably one of the coolest things
I have ever heard. Synth bass (?) + guitar + synth.

(7) Protest break. Train sound is a bit annoying.

(8) Autobeats. More mainstream funk, with bass + guitar.

(9) Camp Kutchi Loop. African funk.

(10) Black Beat. Long (8 bars) loop of highly cliche' heavy metal. With bass
+ heavy guitar.

(11) Don't mess. Sounds like a drum solo excerpt. Fast.

(12) Ska bassline. As the title says.

(13) Goodfoot. Moderate paced funk + UH! Could this be James Brown?

These loops start suddenly, and fade out at the end. I think that this CD can
be classed in a grey area between pure sample CDs and normal music. I have
come up with many non-sampling uses for these loops, practicing solos on guitar
improvisation of songs, rap, etc. Also, you can listen to the CD in its own
right. Sort of like a minimalist record for the dance set. More variation
than Thursday Afternoon (:-) ).

The remainder of the CD has 49 samples. Most of these are from funk and
rap records. Some variations on UH, yo, etc. A lot of sound bites have been
taken from movies, etc. Pretty standard stuff, nothing really stands out. Some
of the samples are rather long, and the resulting sample files can be megabytes
at high sampling rates.

Musical excerpts include a fair number of drum rolls, vocal hits etc.

Standout samples are a usuable "Don't touch that dial", and an old
television "But we had one more important sound we wanted you to hear".

Many of these sound-effects are clipped sharply at the beginnings and
ends, and, since they were sampled off vinyl there is quite a bit of
noise in the background. I found I have to put "fadeouts" at the ends
of the samples to avoid clicks. But this may be my relative lack of
sampling experience.

As a final word, I would say that this CD is OK to good value for money.
Given that its' price is less than a third of other sample CDs, and that
you don't really get as much as you do on other CDs. The looped tracks
mean that this CD could well be of interest to non-sampler owners (who
won't be reading this anyway).


[End of review]

I am still collecting Sample CD reviews, if you have any, please send
a review to: ross-c@dcs.leeds.ac.uk

Thanx!

Ross-c
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth,rec.audio.pro