Summary - Audio quality is very good. Most of the samples are very powerful sounding, there is little here that you'd describe as anonymous, probably aided by a lot of compression. There is some noise present in quite a few of the samples, and in a few its quite obtrusive, no doubt caused by the noisy outputs of some of the vintage gear used as a source for the samples. I'd certainly be looking here to use some noise reduction software if the sample was at all prominent.

I really liked this CD, there are lots of excellent samples that really grab your attention, and beg to be used. Whilst there are a few odd ones in the collection and some that I wonder how they could be used in context with other sounds as they are so dominant sounding, all in all though if these are the sounds that you like and use its a collection you'd come back to again and again. There are lots of powerful sounds, lots of unusual sounds and a lot of creative sounds.

The layout could have been a little more user friendly, the sounds tend to jump from one sort to another and back again without any pattern or order, or if there is its not apparent. Also with the 4 synthesiser sections the margins between some of the samples in each section is rather difficult to gauge and for example the Ambience section has a few short samples that could have appeared in the Synth Notes section. Just makes finding and auditioning samples that little bit more difficult than it need be.

This won't be a sample CD that will appeal to everyone, the sounds almost universally have a lot of processing applied. Like wise as you'd expect from an analogue collection the sounds do sound that way, an obvious thing to say of course but it does mean that some of the complexity and harshness of digital sounds is missing. For example with the Ambience section, layering a glass or crystal type pad with some of the samples would add an extra dimension.

This CD will appeal to a lot of groups. In mainstream music industrial and harder dance styles will be able to make use of the loops and synth sounds. But probably most use would be had by soundtrack makers or game producers, there's a number of samples you can just picture fitting in perfectly in to a Science Fiction production. But other genres of music shouldn't discount this collection, there is a lot of interesting material here and if your looking for something just a little away from the norm then you may well find it here.

Overall - Excellent offbeat collection of analogue loops and synth sounds - 9/10.

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