Review: No Dough Records Deconstructed 2

Product: Deconstructed 2 Sample Library
Format: Downloadable 24-bit WAVs and instruments for Kontakt, Battery, EXS-24, Halion, and Reason NNXT, Loops also in REX2 format
Genre: House, Techno, Dance
Developers site: http://www.nodoughmusic.com
Price: €19.99
Demo: Audio demos on product page. Deconstructed 1 available free with site registration.

There's no question that we live in somewhat scary times for the music industry. But it's also hard to deny that we're living in exciting times, too. The uncertainty of the music business has lead artists and labels alike to begin experimenting with new ways of exposing their music to the world and generating income, many of them quite innovative. Take this product, for example. No Dough Records is a record label specializing mainly in house music. Keenly aware that many electronic music listeners also make their own music, No Dough has decided to begin releasing sample libraries giving those listeners access to some of the tools and sounds used by the artists on the label. A great idea to be sure... but does the content match that greatness? Read on...

This library comes in the form of a nearly 2 and a half GB download, so right off the bat you know they aren't skimping on content. Indeed, there are over 2600 individual samples as 24-bit/44.1k WAV files. All loops come in REX2 format as well. Additionally, the library contains mappings of the samples in a variety of popular soft sampler formats including Battery, Kontakt, EXS-24, Halion, and Reason NNXT so you can get started making music right away. The sounds are helpfully organized in folders dividing the material up into categories for Kick Drums, Bass (both guitar and synth), Percussion, Claps, Snares, FX, Bells, Hats, Loops, and Synth Sounds. These categories are further broken down into sub-folders often adding additional descriptors to help you find the type of sound you're after quickly.

The sounds themselves are generally very lightly processed when they are processed at all, so you have as much flexibility as you like when it comes to making them fit into your own mix and mixing style. If your tastes run a bit toward the harder side of things, you'll definitely want to process these further, as most of them have a rather light feel to my ears. The recording quality is generally very good although there is a fair degree of inconsistency in the levels from sample to sample that might require you to tweak things a bit to get things balanced as you like them.

As for the quality of the sounds themselves? I found them to be a bit of a mixed bag. Keep in mind I don't make house music, so your mileage may vary, but although I did find some really nice drum sounds, there are also a lot of anemic sounding and slightly dated entries among the selection that don't quite match up to the quality you might find in a commercial developer's libraries. The loops were also kind of iffy. There is some good stuff to be found, but many of the percussion loops, for example, are simple enough that anyone with halfway decent drum programming skills could pull off similar results without much effort. This could definitely come in handy for absolute beginners or people working under a deadline looking to save time, but I found little here to inspire or surprise me. The musical loops fare much better giving a range of house riffs to work with that run the gamut from straightforward to very quirky.

Where does the library shine? I found the bass and synth sounds to be the best features here. The basses have plenty of low-end balls and the various synth chords and pads cover a decent range of timbres, many with a cool retro/80's feel to them. The hat and shaker loops are also quite nice and are great for adding instant feel to your arrangements.

It's clear that a lot of work went into this library and when they get it right, they really get it right. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of searching through some of the more "ho-hum" sounds to find them. It's not that this is a bad sample library by any means. It's just that especially recently, there are a lot of up and coming sample developers who are producing some absolutely stunning libraries combining extremely polished sounds with very creative sound design and it's hard for a library like this to compete. That said, this library does represent a good bang for your buck if you make house music on the lighter end of the spectrum and don't mind doing a little searching to find the gems. I hope No Dough keeps at it and further refines their libraries. The organization, the variety of formats, and the value for your money here is perfect. With a higher ratio of really interesting, inspiring sounds to go with that, they could make a monster library for sure. [6/10]