Now there are two schools of thought on sampling CD's. School 1 is that you provide a sound around C3 it sounds OK just around there but there isn't going to be a huge range of notes that sound still like the original sample. School 2 is that you provide the samplist with multisamples, the same sample at say C2, C3, C4 & C5, its sampled 4 times and then mapped across the keyboard by the sampler and you get a much more accurate sound across a wider range of notes. The downfall of the latter method is that its a lot more work - in this case four times the amount and you get less sounds on the CD. If you don't want to use the sound at C3 its unlikely that you'll want to use it just because its pitched at C4.

This CD belongs firmly in the school 2 train of thought, this CD contains just 48 (yes forty eight) sounds, multisampled up to 8 times, that takes us up around 250-300 samples, but just 48 sounds..... I'm not sure if this is a record but I was mortified when I first opened this. It gets worse as well, one of the sounds is presented in two variations and two sounds in three variations, so that makes 43 original sounds.

Next point is the multi-sampling, in my opinion many of the samples are way too close in pitch, for example sample 1 - "Laserbeam" is presented at C3, E3, G3, B3, C4, E4, G4 & B4 - 8 samples across just 2 octaves. Now I don't have the most refined ear I am sure, but in some cases the samples do sound very, very similar. I would challenge anyone to tell me the difference between the samples C3 & E3 here and C3 sampled and played at E3. I would much preferred two mutisamples at C3 & C4 say and had 3 or 4 times the number of sounds. To be fair some sounds are presented in this C3, C4 approach but the large majority aren't.

Each sample is named and listed along with the pitches of the multisamples and broken down into 6 categories - very synthetic sounds, very Neuronium sounds, for other planets, mental sounds, digital dreams and ultra complex sounds. Some of the names aren't very descriptive - "Ultior" or "Neurodigit" don't mean a lot to me.

Very Synthetic Sounds - 7 sounds - Laserbeam and Solenmis are powerful analogue sounding lead lines, "Void" is an ethereal sounding space sound, very nice indeed. The four other sounds are less distinctive pads, though still very good.

Very Neuronium Sounds - 14 sounds - the largest grouping and as the name suggests sounds that are more typical of the Neuronium sound. The first 4 sounds are slow soft string like pads, very subtle and usable. The next 5 are slightly sharper bell/metallic sorts of pad sounds. On tracks 17 through 21 we have some more powerful pad type/lead sounds, a couple rather of the track dominating type. Track 19 "Majestic" is the best of the collection here just right for a power chord sort of lead sound.

For other planets - 6 sounds - As you might expect, slow, evolving deep space sounds, though actually mostly are quite short. Track 22 "Back to the Cosmos" is the pick of the bunch, slightly ethereal, modulating, sweeping deep drone. Very good.

Mental Sounds - 4 sounds - Bit of a lie really as there is nothing mental about these sounds, more of the gentle modulating slightly evolving pads, that could equally as well have belonged to any of the prior categories.

Digital Dreams - 5 sounds - We're into more complex sounds here, pads with throbs, sweeps and tinklings evolving around them. Quite excellent sounding but can be hard to place in a mix, but good examples to show off the sonic capabilities of your gear.

Ultra Complex Sounds - 7 sounds - Again a bit of a lie - wouldn't rate these sounds as any more complex than the Digital Dreams category, maybe they were harder to produce. More pad sounds with sweeps and modulations evolving around them. Again excellent sounding.

And as the a famous rabbit said - "that's all folks."