Review: Wave Alchemy Drum Tools 01 - Minimal Techno & Tech House

Library: Drum Tools 01 - Minimal Techno & Tech House
Format: Downloadable WAVs with mapped instruments for popular soft samplers.
Genre: Any genre that need electronic drum sounds
Developers Site: Wave Alchemy
Distributed by: Loopmasters
Price: £39.95
Demo: On product page (A selection of free samples from the library are also available here)

There is certainly no shortage of sample libraries on the market these days. Compared to even 5 years ago, the sheer volume of samples available to musicians to buy is almost overwhelming. Even with that taken into account, however, there is no doubt that loops dominate the market, and it can sometimes be difficult for musicians who prefer to program all their beats from scratch to find a good selection of single hit drum samples. Fortunately, a few developers have stepped up recently to fill that void, among them, the very talented guys at Wave Alchemy.

Their latest release consists of nearly 2,000 single electronic drum and percussion hits all expertly processed through an array of very pricey, high end gear. Although the name of the library indicates that it was created with Minimal Techno and Tech House in mind, you'll find these samples are extremely usable in virtually any genre that needs purely electronic drum sounds. Although the samples come pre-compressed and EQed to perfection, the settings are generally transparent enough that if you need to do further processing to make them more appropriate for your genre of choice, you can do so fairly easily. Sounds are all in 24-bit WAV format (16-bit versions are also included for all you luddites) and, helpfully, sample instruments for Ableton Live, Battery, EXS24, Halion, Kontakt, and NNXT are also included to save you the trouble of mapping all the sounds out manually.

Sounds are neatly arranged into folders for claps, crash cymbals, drum kits, drum tools (more on this in a second), glitch, hihats, kick drums, percussion, snare drums, sound effects, and a folder of bonus sounds made up of TB-303 riffs and chord/stab sounds. Most of these folders are further divided into descriptive categories to help you find the type of sound you're after (for example, classic, layered, processed, punchy, etc.) much more quickly and efficiently.

If you're familiar with Wave Alchemy's products, I probably don't have to bother telling you how great these sound. The kicks have plenty of oomph and the perfect amount of low end, the snares smack and crack in the mix, the cymbals sizzle and cut through, and the percussion, glitch, and heavily processed sounds all sparkle with originality and can add lots of interest to an otherwise ho-hum drum track. There really are very few other companies who do electronic drum sounds as well as Wave Alchemy. Many sample developers brag about their studio full of expensive kit, but few show that they truly know how to use it to its fullest as well as these guys.

If you find yourself skeptical, head on over to the Drum Tools web page where you can download a selection of free samples from this library and check them out yourself. I hate to come across as a fan boy, as I have nothing to do with the company, but I've yet to receive a library from these guys that wasn't spectacular. This one is no exception. If you need electronic drum sounds of uncompromising quality, this ought to be one of the first places you look. [10/10}