M-Audio Pro Sessions Vol. 15 - elektron:Machinedrum

20+ yrs in industry, several styles, mostly use acid, using m-audio since inception, using wharfdale studio monitors primarily

m-audio's stuff, in my opinion, is one of the lowest value products out there as far as samples go. not just his volume but in general. i own most of thier CDs and some are prett good, some just plain crap. but the biggest drawback is what you get for the money. the smallest amount of samples from pretty much any mfgr. $40 (new) for anywhere from about 100-200 MG of samples. compared to acid loops, for example, at 500-700 MG of samples for the same price. OK samples, just a poor value for the price

I've been making electronic music for a couple of years now. I lean towards the experimental stuff for the most part (Autechre, Alva.Noto, Add N to X, etc.). For the most part I'm using "elektron: Machinedrum" inside Reason 2.5 (ReDrum and Dr. Rex). I also use some of the loops in Ableton's Live in conjunction with Reason.

I've only been working with the library for a week, but I simply can't wait any longer to make my comments. Here we go...

Considering that an actual Machinedrum will cost you over a thousand dollars, this sound library represents a tremendous value for the money. If you're thinking about buying a Machinedrum, this library is an excellent way (ok, pretty much the ONLY way considering elektron's almost non-existent distribution) to get familiarized with its distinctive sounds and decide if you really want to make the investment.

Although the loops are nice, I bought "elektron:Machinedrum" for its oneshots (I prefer to make my own patterns). I was delighted to find that about half the library is made up of oneshots. Here's how many you get of each:
Bass Drums: 124
Cymbals: 26
Claps: 48
Hi Hats: 118
Snares: 221 !!!
Misc: 42
Percussion: 56

The emphasis throughout is on artificial sounding drums, but within this constraint there is a lot of variety (from obligatory 909/808 emulations to gentle pulses to distorted, but-reduced noise). It's all here, and this will be my main drum sound library for the forseeable future.

As far as criticism goes, M-Audio's Pro-Sessions loop libraries have a lot of redundancy because they supply the same loops in multiple formats: Acid, Aiff, Rex2. It would be better if there were separate editions for each format (and more loops on each disc).