Sound Solutions, Vol. 12

INTERACTIVE RAVE MACHINE (WAV-Version from the CD Audio "Rave Trax 2")

Keyboard / USA - 2 / 98

If you´re aiming to produce hot dance tracks, but you want to bypass the sampler entirely and do it all in your PC, Masterbits may have just the stuff you need. Pop Interactive Rave Machine into your sequencer/audio recorder, and you´ll be jamming in no time. Well, it´s a little more complicated than that. In order to get more than two tracks of audio playing at once, you´ll have to copy the samples to your hard drive. A CD drive just isn´t fast enough to access several files at once for audio playback. But it´s fine for auditioning stereo sample files. To browse through Interactive Rave Machine (Vol. 12 in a series that also includes titles like Tekkno Therapy and Dance Delight), I used a software utility called SampleSearch, which includes on the CD-ROM. Also included is a demo version of a 4-track sample player called WinAudio; both are manufactured by a Dutch company called Zadok. WinAudio failed to play back through my soundcard, and its main track window has no scroll bar, so I wasn´t impressed, but Sample Search was actually more convenient for browsing than Cubase VST, since the latter forces you to hold down the mouse button while you´re auditioning sounds in the file dialog box. Greg had no trouble playing the WAV files on his Power Mac using Netscape Navigator and an audio plug-in.

Interactive Rave Machine ist the WAV format version for PC users of Masterbits Rave Trax Vol. 2 audio CD. It´s packed with dance synth riffs, all matched at 150 bpm and all in the key of A minor (or C major). A few samples have clicks or other naughty artifacts in them, but most are clean and mix-ready. Some users might prefer to have a variety of tempos and keys, but if you´re mainly interested in exploring this type of musicmaking from the ground up, you´ll undoubtedly be happy to have a maximum number of good-sounding combinations with a minimum potential for frustration. Masterbits points out that putting everything in one key and tempo is especially useful for musicians who are using inexpensive audio multitrack programs that lack time-scretching and pitch-shifting utilities.

The chord patterns in the Poly Sqolder set the tone for the collection: They´re consistently catchy. Most are four -eight bars in length, and use a variety of familiar chord progressions. Insistent eighth - and sixteenth - note pulsing is common, as are nifty stereo delays. You´ll also run into a few slower arpeggios suitable for counterpoint lines. The 303-style bass lines are full of stimulating syncopations, and many include four-bar filter sweeps. They don´t always match the roots of the chord progessions, however - it´s up to you to mix and match. ´Nice fat snyth bass loops,´ Greg commented.

The drum loops, again, are tight and stylish, with big beefy kicks. silky hi-hats , and snappy syncopations on blippy, squelchy synths. Some are more than eight bars long, and include a good number of layered instrument entrances suitable for cutting apart and reorganizing in your sequencer. `I like the diversity of EQ treatments in the drum loops, ´Greg pointed out. `Some are rounded and warm, others are hard-edged.´

And where would a self-respecting dance mix be without a soul singer wailing, ´Don´t stop.´ ´Make me lose control´, or the ever-popular `Ooh`? Some hits and special FX samples are also included, as are a dozen-odd radio broadcast samples of a Russian-accented radio announcer saying things like `Man´s first flight into cosmic space´. The latter are not cleared for commercial release, unlike the rest of the CD, but they´re bound to be fun to play with at home. The single drum and bass notes are intended for use in a sampler, but since many PC soundcards include user RAM for loading samples, even the samplerless may be able to take advantage of them. Tuning the multisampled bass notes an octave apart was probably a mistake: Since the range of a typical bass part is limited, I´d much rather hear them a fourth or a fifth apart.

If you insist on being cutting-edge, you may feel the style of Interactive Rave Machine is a tiny bit dated. `Many of these dance beats have been heard before,`Greg agreed. `I´ll give Masterbits credit for the solid batch of jungle loops, though. `Who knows? You might like to mangle some of the cliches and turn them into something radically fresh. And if you only want to do a little experimenting with musical clip-art, you could do a lot worse. - Jim Aikin

Rave Trax II - AWE Magazine - 3/97

  SORRY - A TRANSLATION WILL FOLLOW WITH THE NEXT UPDATE

Was braucht man für eine normale Technoproduktion? Polyphone Rave-Lines, Monophone Sequenzerlinien (auch Arpeggios, eine Bass-Line, natürlich Drum-Loops, ein paar Vocals und als Würze vielleicht noch ein paar Specials (Singlehits o.ä.) und fertig ist der Song. So einfach ist das. Und alle Zutaten gibt´s auf einer CD; und da habe ich eine gute und eine schlechte Nachricht. Zunächst die schlechte: die Tempos und Tonarten sind genormt; alles ist auf 150 bpm, und alles in a-moll. Und nun die gute Nachricht: es paßt (fast) alles zu allem; Kompatibilitätsprobleme gibt´s nicht mehr, Zeitprobleme könnt ihr vergessen. Das ist für viele Anwendungsbereiche ein nicht zu unterschätzender Vorteil, vorausgesetzt, Tempo 150 ist okay und die Vocal-Leute (sofern man überhaupt eigene Vocals produziert und dabei die Tonhöhe auch eine Rolle spielt) kommen mit a-moll zurecht.

Die mitgelieferten Vocals strotzen nicht unbedingt vor Originalität (Babe, babe, babe...; Come on, babe...), aber etwas solltet ihr doch auch noch selbst machen, oder...?

Für alle Ex-Tääterrrää-Fans gibt´s noch ein paar Schräg-Grooves der "Vermona DRM", einem 909-Clone aus dem "VEB Harmoniawerke Kligenthal" der "German Democratic Republic", und die klingt in etwa so, wie Herkunft und Name es vermuten lassen. Für Liebhaber skurriler Abgefahrenheit vielleicht die Offenbarung, wer weiß.

"Hierrr arrrr de paionierrrs of de..." die schöne russische Radio-Stimme mit ihrem markanten Oxford-Englisch als bonustrack steht der Vermona DRM in puncto Originalität zwar in nichts nach, der Alltagswert aber dürfte nicht übermäßig hoch sein, zumal die zehn Tracks, die einer englischsprachigen, von russischem Akzent geprägten Radiosendung entstammen könnten, nicht lizensiert sind und damit nur bei Mutters Geburtstag (o.ä.), nicht aber auf professionellen Produktionen erklingen dürfen.

Wie dem auch sei, der Rest der Scheibe ist, mit der Einschränkung, daß man 150 bpm/a-moll - Fan ist, im Bereich Rave wirklich sehr alltagstauglich. Der Sound stimmt, die Auswahl stimmt, und für genügend Abwechslung ist gesorgt.

Gesamturteil: Wirklich gut.

Back to CD "RAVE TRAX 2"

© 1998 MASTERBITS GERMANY