5 STARS

The concept is simple but demanding: take several top-notch bass performers, record them using the best instruments, studios and equipment, and stick the results into your sampler. Sound designer Eric Persing and bassists Abraham Laboriel, Marcus Miller, and John Patitucci deliver, and impressively so, in Spectrasonics' Bass Legends.

Bass Legends is really two products in one: a collection of bass phrase loops and a library of multisamples matching the tone and style of each loop. The audio CD contains the loops only, while the CD-ROMs feature both the loops & the multisamples. All major sampler formats are supported on CD-ROM; I auditioned the Roland version.

The documentation devotes two pages each to bios of Laboriel, Miller and Patitucci; if you're not familiar with their names you'll definitely find that you've heard their work, as each boasts a long list of high-profile gigs far too numerous to detail here. Coming from three such magnificently talented, multifaceted players, the phrase loops are naturally superb. The styles span a wide range, from funk, rock and reggae, to swing and acid jazz. Overall, though, the selection of 39 patterns favors dance and hip-hop production. My favorites are John Patitucci's "Inner City" and "Acid Swing," two very funky acid-jazz lines played on acoustic bass.

Spectrasonics has made the phrase lops easy to use by recording each pattern 12 times, one for each key. (They call this the "Chromazones concept". ) Not only does this save you from worrying about transposition, it also means that you get a subtly different performance for each key, which can help to alleviate the sometimes static nature of phrase looping. Occasionally, an alternate version of a pattern is provided for a single key. Since each loop has a multisample that precisely matches its tone and style, you can also create your own breaks, ornamentations, and so on. The excellent documentation lists the phrases by tempo, which is practical. along with a brief description of musical style and playing technique (in case you're looking for, say a Cajun funk riff or an acoustic groove). Also included is a handy "pitch to tempo change chart," which explains how to alter the phrase tempos while keeping tuning intact, using half-step tuning adjustments. Spectrasoncis proudly proclaims Bass Legends to be "100% Copyright Clean", with no additional licensing fee required for use of the grooves or multi-samples in commercial productions. The license does, however, mandate giving credit to both the bassist (Laboriel, Miller, or Patitucci) and Spectrasonics.

Although the phrase loops are great, Bass Legends is worth purchasing for the multisamples alone. There are over 40 different bass sounds, including picked, fingered, slapped, popped, and muted clean electrics; half a dozen fretless basses; a couple of overdrive-colored electrics; and one sterling acoustic bass. Many use velocity-switched layers for greater expressiveness, and some also include extensive samples of special effects, including slides, string hits and scrapes, and so on.

Using the standard Roland patch-variation scheme, Bass Legends offers several - sometimes a dozen or more - different versions of each sound. Each is based on the same samples, ranging from those that use all of the samples (often edging memory usage right up to the 16 - megabyte mark) to less memory-intensive patches that stretch just a few of the samples across the keyboard. For the sounds that make use of velocity switching, the individual layers are also provided as separate, smaller patches. These patch variations are distinguished via an ultra-organized labeling system, using short suffixes for each file name. (This system, which Persing helped develop, was first introduced in the Roland libraries.) The labels make it easy to tell which patches use relatively greater or lesser amounts of memory, which ones use velocity switching, which use detuning for a chorus effect, etc. The combination of memory-usage options with clear, consistent labeling really makes working with the library a pleasure. Spectrasonics' efforts here are definitely appreciated.

There isn't enough room here to describe all of the samples in detail, so here are a few of the highlights. To start with, the Patitucci "JP Ac.Bs" patch is probably the best sampled acoustic bass I've ever heard. Using a three-way velocity switch, the main patch uses 52 samples to create an outstandingly realistic, eminently playable sound. Accessory patches offer over 30 "noise" samples (string noise, slaps, etc.), over twenty slides, and liberally multisampled harmonics. "JP Funk/x3" is a totally incredible three-way, velocity-switched funk bass, with a round tone at low velocities, a hard tone at medium-high velocities, and then a pop at the top of the range. The samples and programming work together exceptionally well, making this one wonderfully satisfying to play. JP Funk is also accompanied by a patch with 19 different "noise" samples, mostly of percussive string hits, which really help in creating a realistic rhythm part. Laboriel's "AL Samba" serves up a deep, round tone, with a subtle velocity switch bringing in a slight edge. "AL V.Funk" is a hard, bright slap/pop velocity switch that should cut clearly through any mix; the "Latin' bass is also a two-way switch, with a delicate, slightly hollow tone. Marcus Miller's "MM Warm Fretless" is a truly wonderful fretless bass sound: warm, thick, and filling, like hot cereal on a cold morning. It has replaced my previously favorite ballad bass. "MM HipHop" is a tight, muted picked bass, clean and punchy, while the harmonics of "MM Ultronix" are unexpectedly bell-like and ethereal."

In addition to being cool and fun to play, these sounds are useful in the real world. While I was just starting to get into this library, my production partner and I got a call to create some "alternative" music for a television show. The Patitucci "Grunge" bass, an overdriven sample with dynamics courtesy of velocity-controlled lowpass filtering, proved to be perfect for the job.

Bass Legends Vol. 1 is a genuinely superb product. The phrase loops are well-organized, exquisitely recorded, and brilliantly performed; the bass multisamples are flawlessly looped, expertly programmed, and lend themselves to expressive playing. I'd encourage anyone whose sampler is supported by Spectrasonics' CD-ROMs to go for that option rather than the audio CD; you don't want to miss out on those multisamples!