For the second African Secret volume, Quazibeat once again headed to South Africa to record with the county's foremost traditional and modern musicians. This library contains more than 1.5GB of .WAV files and 750MB of REX2 loops, covering a huge range of instruments from traditional African instruments such as the berimbau, mbira and talking drum to more Western instruments such as the bass guitar, saxophone and violin, played in an African style.
The musicianship is of the highest order, with some fantastic rhythms being played out on the various percussion instruments provided within the library African music is open overlooked, with more attention given to Asian and South American vibes. However, this library should stand as a testament to the quality of music coming out of the continent, and provides a unique flavour.
If you're looking for a taste of Africa to sweeten your productions, this is a good place to start although not all of the loops instantly made us think of Africa (particularly some of the melodic loops made with less ethnic instruments). The most obvious use, as with many ethnic sample libraries, is in hip hop arrangements. However, we found that many of the rhythms were suited to simpler blues arrangements, particularly some of the more unusual instruments, such as the berimbau.
In addition to the main library the DVD contains a bonus folder, with just shy of 1OOMB of samples from the first collection.
Verdict – This selection of melodic and rhythmic loops from South Africa could be the inspiration for the next Graceland. MH |
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