Elemental Studio Percussion | EQ Magazine

One of my favorite loop library applications is percussion, because percussive parts are often repetitive anyway. This library is nothing but percussion, using a wide variety of percussion instruments. Tempos range from 80 to 240BPM; you'll even find 3/4 and 5/4 loops (thank you!), as well as one-shot hits if you want to customize the loops or create your own.

The WAV files are Acidized, and stretch reasonably well. One handy feature is that within the folders, each file has an identifying number. Identical numbers were recorded as part of a multitrack session, and therefore work well together (e.g., an 04 Tambourine part fits with an 04 Djembe part). However, these are suggestions, not restrictions, as I found that most loops with dissimilar numbers worked reasonably well as a team. The recordings are relatively low-level; there's plenty of headroom for the transients to do their thing and as percussion is generally mixed low, you can just bring the loops in and they'll fit.

This is not an exotic library, but a utilitarian one. Having a good media browser in your host is a plus, as you can scan through the different loops and import those that strike your fancy. Elemental Percussion is like a good session musician who shows up on time, does what you want, doesn't require a second take-and delivers the goods. -Craig Anderton