Review: Prime Loops Bleep Machine

Library: Bleep Machine
Format: Downloadable WAV, AIFF, Ableton Live Pack, Apple Loops, and more
Genre: Any Electronic Genre
Distributed by: Prime Loops
Price: £8.46
Demo: Audio demos on the product page.

At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking the title of this sample library refers to the machine used to cover up swearing on television, but in actuality, this new release from Prime Loops consists of over 100 synthetic FX oriented sounds. Claiming to draw its influences from 1960's synth FX like those made famous by the BBC radiophonic workshop, Bleep Machine aims to give those classic types of sounds a more contemporary sheen.

The library is divide up into seven sub-folders named Blaster FX (sounds created with LFO modulation), Bleep FX Loops (tempo-synced, tweaky, rhythmic effects), Drop & Mod FX (both downward and upward sweeps along with ring modulated sounds), LFO FX (LFO-modulated sounds where the LFO's rate is modulated), Noise & Reverse FX (sounds made with white noise & reverse/"build-up" type sounds), Percussion FX (short, one-shot analog percussion sounds), and Zap FX (I'll bet you can guess what these are). The handful of loops list the BPM in the file name, and in the rare instances of loops with melodic content include the key of the loop.

The quality throughout is excellent and authentically retro sounding. It's hard not to think of Kraftwerk when hearing a lot of these sounds, so if that's your thing, you'll definitely want to check these out. Everything has a very vintage vibe to it and all but a handful come across as extremely useful, especially if you don't have any of that vintage gear at your disposal. When effects (like reverb, etc.) are present, they are tastefully subtle, allowing you to do further processing of your own if you so choose. All in all, and excellent collection at a very reasonable price. If you need some old school, tweaky analog sounds for your next production, be sure to give this one a look. [10/10]