BEST SERVICE Dance Mega Drums 2 Best Service regularly produces discs packed to the hilt with sounds, and with some 4,000 drum samples, Dance Mega Drums 2 ($99.95, two-disc set) is no exception. The first CD is entirely audio; the second offers audio and samples in Akai and E-mu formats. This set focuses on electronic sounds, primarily hip-hop and house styles, with stereo samples of drum kit elements, a smattering of percussion, some popular beatboxes (in mono), and whole kits.

Mega Choices In order to present so many samples, Best Service fits 35 to 48 samples into each track. This is a double-edged sword: there are too many sounds to index conveniently, and you're forced to audition the options as they blaze by. On the other hand, the samples and programming are very good, and you get an immense palette to choose from.

Mega Samples The kick drums run the gamut from punchy and tight to wildly experimental. You'll encounter synthy kicks with a resonant squidge, fat subsonic tones, full-bodied kicks with lots of "pop," and combinations like a bass drum crossed with a tambourine. Some kicks have a pinch of delay or reverse reverb, others a longer decay or a large reverb. Many can be used outside the standard bass drum role, transposed and flown into a piece as a cue or single-shot musical event.

The snares cover a lot of aural acreage. Most are bright, high-tuned hits with lots of sizzle and crunch. Many bring out the metallic aspect of the snare chain. Some of the samples have short delay tails; others use the combo effect to meld the snare with the sound of breaking glass, tambourine, or a twisted vocal bit. I particularly liked the one that sounded as if small stones were being rolled around inside the drum during its long decay.

There are a few very cool snaps, and a bunch of excellent claps. Hordes of unusual hi-hats are here, tweaked to sound squashed, synthy, noisy, ringing, and on and on. Likewise, a slew of ride and crash cymbals are presented. Shakers, tambourines, bongos, congas, toms, and tablas make up the percussion section.

A section of processed percussion adds even more appealing and strange sounds-all of them usable-onto the gargantuan heap of material on this CD.

Beatboxes include the Casio MT-36, Elka Wilgamat, Maestro 500, Roland CR-8, a couple of Univox machines, and the Alesis DM-5 and SR-16. With approximately 500 samples in this category, you will have plenty of options.

Whatever your dance style, you'll be sampling from this disc for a long time to come

quote:

Originally posted by Sirocco BEST SERVICE Dance Mega Drums 2 Best Service regularly produces discs packed to the hilt with sounds, and with some 4,000 drum samples, Dance Mega Drums 2 ($99.95, two-disc set) is no exception. The first CD is entirely audio; the second offers audio and samples in Akai and E-mu formats. This set focuses on electronic sounds, primarily hip-hop and house styles, with stereo samples of drum kit elements, a smattering of percussion, some popular beatboxes (in mono), and whole kits. Mega Choices In order to present so many samples, Best Service fits 35 to 48 samples into each track. This is a double-edged sword: there are too many sounds to index conveniently, and you're forced to audition the options as they blaze by. On the other hand, the samples and programming are very good, and you get an immense palette to choose from. Mega Samples The kick drums run the gamut from punchy and tight to wildly experimental. You'll encounter synthy kicks with a resonant squidge, fat subsonic tones, full-bodied kicks with lots of "pop," and combinations like a bass drum crossed with a tambourine. Some kicks have a pinch of delay or reverse reverb, others a longer decay or a large reverb. Many can be used outside the standard bass drum role, transposed and flown into a piece as a cue or single-shot musical event. The snares cover a lot of aural acreage. Most are bright, high-tuned hits with lots of sizzle and crunch. Many bring out the metallic aspect of the snare chain. Some of the samples have short delay tails; others use the combo effect to meld the snare with the sound of breaking glass, tambourine, or a twisted vocal bit. I particularly liked the one that sounded as if small stones were being rolled around inside the drum during its long decay. There are a few very cool snaps, and a bunch of excellent claps. Hordes of unusual hi-hats are here, tweaked to sound squashed, synthy, noisy, ringing, and on and on. Likewise, a slew of ride and crash cymbals are presented. Shakers, tambourines, bongos, congas, toms, and tablas make up the percussion section. A section of processed percussion adds even more appealing and strange sounds-all of them usable-onto the gargantuan heap of material on this CD. Beatboxes include the Casio MT-36, Elka Wilgamat, Maestro 500, Roland CR-8, a couple of Univox machines, and the Alesis DM-5 and SR-16. With approximately 500 samples in this category, you will have plenty of options. Whatever your dance style, you'll be sampling from this disc for a long time to come

what the hell? did you make it or something? its sounds like a ad instead of a recomendation... thanks though... i guess

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www.thomaspenton.com

i bought essential drums and percussion from him. good stuff

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Uncredible Haak on Soundcloud
Uncredible Haak - September 2008 mix

i'd prefer the Techno Trance Essentials from Überschall.
ok, you just get about 540 drum samples, but the quality is great.
beside this there's also a section with Drumloops, Basses and some cool effect-sounds.

the problem with DMD2 is that most of the samples are just ripped from different tracks...in a bad way. so you will hear a hihat on top of your sample or there's a vox in the background, sometimes the tail of the sample is cut away...alot of samples are hardly usefull.
just my 2 cents

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undefined [a:n'di'faind]: (adj) not precisely limited, determined, or distinguished...

quote:

Originally posted by Haak www.thomaspenton.com i bought essential drums and percussion from him. good stuff

i almost got a seazure from his site... AWESOME!!!

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quote:

Originally posted by cyrus2k2 i'd prefer the Techno Trance Essentials from Überschall. ok, you just get about 540 drum samples, but the quality is great. beside this there's also a section with Drumloops, Basses and some cool effect-sounds. the problem with DMD2 is that most of the samples are just ripped from different tracks...in a bad way. so you will hear a hihat on top of your sample or there's a vox in the background, sometimes the tail of the sample is cut away...alot of samples are hardly usefull. just my 2 cents

I second this, I've worked with this collection and the samples are really good. Not as many as I'd wish for, but the quality is very very high.

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Here's my latest: rolling tech house and laid-back progressive trance

http://soundcloud.com/wayfu



Chronology – a wayfinder discography in progress. Roughly sorted by date of creation.