Product Spotlight: Loopmasters Funk Guitars

Product Spotlight: Loopmasters Funk Guitars

10 July, 2008 | 10.00AM

• Written by: francispreve
• Filed under: Music News: loopmasters, rob humphreys

Loopmasters’ new Funk Guitar Samplepack is chock-a-block full of funky house goodness.

Produced by Rob Humphreys, this collection includes both bass and guitar loops in a variety of tempos and keys.

And at 120MB, you can even download it for only $29.95 from Big Fish Audio for truly immediate gratification.

We took it out for a spin this month, so here’s our take on the collection.

As you’ve probably guessed, the overall vibe of the Funk Guitar collection is decidedly housey, dripping with soul and funk elements - think Naked Music and early Om and you get the idea.

But that’s certainly not to say that the elements are dated.

“Timeless” is probably a better word.

The samplepack includes both WAV and REX2 formats, so it’s compatible with pretty much every DAW on the market, including mainstays like Propellerhead Reason and Ableton Live.

The collection is divided into two sections - bass and guitar - which are further organized by tempo and key.

Available BPMs are 90, 100, 110, 120, and 130 BPM, which helps this collection cover a lot of ground tempo-wise, since extreme time-stretching can add unpleasant artifacts.

Having additional REX2 files available is really quite handy, since REX files are pre-sliced into individual samples, allowing for easy rearranging of each sampled note into entirely new riffs.

Guitars

The funk guitar section lives up to its name with really funky loops in a wide variety of playing styles, from finger-picking to disco chord chops to “boom-chicka-bow-wow” wah-wah pedal licks.

In addition, a few of the guitar bits are processed with chorus, overdrive, exotic filtering and bitcrushing, which can be useful for beginners who want loops that are ready-to-go with a minimum of additional production.

There are also straight-up-no-chaser dry samples, so you can add your own processing as needed.

All in all, the feel of these grooves is spot on, with tasteful playing that’s human without being sloppy.

Basses

The bass guitar loop selection is equally varied, with loops that are dry, chorused, or even with a bit of phaser, which is eerily reminiscent of “For The Love Of Money” by The O’Jays.

(If you’re a classic house producer who doesn’t know who the O’Jays are, well, you should check out this Wikipedia entry and get up to speed. ;)

While there are a few awkward loops, like bass with reverb or chorus (which can muddy the low frequencies), the range of loops and playing styles is so useful that it’s easy to skip over these and get right to the good stuff.

After all, if you want to add processing, you can easily do that via effects plug-ins within your DAW of choice.

Bottom line

Funk Guitars is an essential loop collection for classic house producers with a flair for 70’s soul, but it could also serve as the basis for more unusual sonic excursions by intrepid producers looking for a more organic feel in their tech tracks.

And at $29.95, it’s a terrific value.

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