Hip Hop City | EQ Magazine

Something about this DVD-ROM really works. It's not that all the loops are amazingly spectacular; it's that they work together well, provide a solid foundation, and there's no filler. You can use the construction kits as is, but I mix and match a lot - although the kits are in various keys, much of the best material (drums, percussion, scratches, etc.) isn't key-dependent and adds different flavors to other kits. Speaking of scratches, there's a ton of good ones; there are also selected one-shot hits in each kit. Tempos range from 70 to 140BPM, but hover mostly around 100BPM. As to quality control, some drum loops end with a fraction of a second of attack, while some other types of loops end abruptly, with a click. Still, a quick exponential fade solves either problem, and what really counts - musical, muscular, and useable loops - is in place. Again, let me emphasize this isn't ground-breaking material, but that's also its strength: Hip Hop City is like the bass player who always shows up on time, plays in time and with feeling, is grateful for the paycheck, and smiles a lot . . . in other words, the bass player you keep calling back. The fact that this collection has a good attitude, lots of variety, strong playing, and still weighs in for under $70 is impressive - check out the example at www.eqmag.com.