REVIEW

 

Electrolines

 

Sound on Sound, 12-2009

www.soundonsound.com

 

(…)

 

As indicated by the name, Electrolines is primarily a collection of bass and lead lines. The 800MB of material is organised into 78 ´themes´, with original recording tempos that tend to cluster around a club-friendly 130bpm. These themes are not construction kits, but instead contain multiple versions of a single melodic phrase, with each version played using a different synth sound ot with different processing applied.

 

The sound sources themselves sound big, fat and analogue and, given the musical target (serious club-orientated Techno, Hard House and Trance, for example) they´re spot on. The processing, including the application of lots of different filtering, means there´s plenty of variety in the sounds in a particular theme. The basic sounds go from thumping bass though to aggressive leads, with some of the themes containing as many as 20 variations. Indeed, some of the sounds are pretty extreme - so if you do audition, take care with your playback levels or you might find you speaker cones flapping on the floor.

 

The playing is equally extreme. While a small number of the themes are gentler in nature, in general, the ´melodic´ content is challenging;  this material is not going to find it´s way into too many romantic love songs. Less obviously melodic material by Tiesto or Underworld, for example, might get you into the right ballpark and, in the main, I would think that the material is more obviously suited to tracks aimed at clubs rather than the mainstream commercial music charts.

 

Given that this is a collection of lead and bass lines, it doesn´t stand on it´s own and obviously need to to add the other elements necessary to create a complete track. The flexibility, and the sheer quantity of material provided, certainly means the Electrolines gives you a decent bang for your buck. However, this library is aimed at quite a specialist market, so I´d recommend that you try to audition before making a purchase.

 

Rating: 5 Stars

 

 

Electrolines
Electrolines
99.00 €
800 MB, 1024 Loops & Phrases
Cover