5 STARS

When I reviewed the original Liquid Grooves collection in June '97, I was attracted by its mesmerising rhythms and the interesting textures that came from combining electronic sounds with processed real percussion. The different rhythms were available as layers, making it easy to create a track that 'builds' or one that uses an unusual combination of elements. However, as with all ordinary sample CDs, there was little you could do to change the tempo without suffering a corresponding change in timbre.

Now Liquid Grooves has been released in the Groove Control format. This not only allows tempo changes to be managed with consummate ease, but also the use of quantization to change the rhythms in creative ways. Groove Control works by providing each loop as a set of samples where each individual beat is actually a separate sample. A MIDI file accompanies each loop, and if you look at it on a sequencer edit page, you'll find it's simply a series of ascending notes in semitone intervals. Each note is pre-mapped to the appropriate beat in the loop, so all you need to do is load up the samples, load in the corresponding MIDI file and start work. The package also includes MIDI files already in both Cubase and Logic formats, which made life particularly easy for me. When you change the tempo of the MIDI file, the samples follow. The clever part, however, is that as the MIDI note length changes, so does the length of the sampled sound that plays back, so you never end up in the situation where there are gaps between notes or obvious overlaps. I tried dropping loops to 50 percent of their original speed, then doubling their original speed, and found the result to be surprisingly natural and seamless right across the range. What's more, you can take one layer of a 4/4 loop and quantise it to twelves or some other figure to create rhythmic variations or polyrhythms Ð no longer are you restricted by what the sample designer gives you. You can even add swing to a pattern, use only part of a pattern or even drop notes out altogether. And it's all in stereo.

For anyone who hasn't used Liquid Grooves before, I can strongly recommend it for ambient music, films, commercials or Enigma-type material that crosses over between New Age and dance. Many of the rhythms have a world crossover feel. Brushed snare drums rub shoulders with Wavedrums, native clay drums and more familiar percussion, which are all treated in ways that are both adventurous and tasteful. The standard of the sounds and their rhythmic content can't be praised enough, and making all this available in the Groove Control format has extended their usefulness enormously.

-Paul White