5 STARS

This sample library brims with exotic percussion and infectious grooves.

Supreme Beats is billed as a "percussion library", and they aren't kidding about the "library" part. Producer Bashiri Johnson and developer Spectrasonics have provided a comprehensive set of loops and instruments that includes percussion from all seven continents. In fact, the only category not represented is the standard drum set. Originally, the collection came as an elegantly packaged, boxed set of four audio CDs:

African, Contemporary, Dance/Hip Hop, and World. Recently, the manufacturer released a fifth, separately available audio disc called International.

You can now also get the complete library on two CD-ROM collections at $199 each. In the CD-ROM format, African is paired with Contemporary on one set, World with Dance on another, and the material from International is divided between the two CD-ROMs. The CD-ROMs are available in all popular formats, including Roland, Akai/E-mu/Ensoniq ASR-10, Digidesign SampleCell, and Kurzweil K-2000. I auditioned the Roland version.

Supreme Beats is primarily a collection of percussion loops, though the audio CDs include a modest selection of single hits and the CD-ROMs have a large selection. The grooves are generally full and complex, with many percussion parts playing at once. Most, but not all, offer various solo'ed or submixed loops in addition to the main mix; in some, the amount of solo'ed instruments is extensive. Several Dance/Hip Hop and Contemporary selections are actually intricate and innovative mini-compositions that extend traditional patterns into new territory.

Producer/Percussionist/Composer Bashiri Johnson is the prime mover behind Supreme Beats. Johnson, whose list of recording credits includes Madonna, Donald Fagen, and Whitney Houston, has taken great care with this project and is clearly proud of his efforts and those of his collaborators. The copious liner notes, sprinkled with photos of smiling percussionists, gush with appreciation for the various players. Johnson's musical commitment and personal involvement in the project are evident in the loops: these are distinctive, exuberant tracks, brimming with vitality. And as one would expect from a musician of Johnson's caliber, the audio quality and performances are consistently excellent. As a percussionist and drum programmer, I enjoyed just listening to the tracks by themselves (especially on the African, World and International discs), using the sub-mixes to sort out the intricate interweavings of the parts.

Two pieces that stand out in the African set are "Ju Ju" and the ultra-fast (138 bpm) "Gyana HiLife." Both feature complex, layered loops, with all parts available separately. Many of the African Grooves contain vocal chanting; my favorite of these is the driving "Yebo," which offers several different mixes with and without vocals. "Triangle Rabbit," from the Dance/Hip Hop set, is a complex groove utilizing bongos, udo, patum tube, shakers, and triangle. This is topped by a solo on the "German Rabbit," a pull cord-style talking children's toy that makes some pretty demented scratch-like sounds. In addition to the full mix, there are several submixes (sans bongos, rabbit, etc.), and each individual part is also available separately. "Daoud Mishabash" and "Daoud Bash French" (also from Dance/Hip Hop) are very cool patterns that, unfortunately, aren't as thoroughly broken down into component parts. Both feature harmonica prominently, but full mixes without the harmonica are not available. This tonally and harmonically restricts the usefulness of these loops. "Timbale Bash," from the International CD and the African/Contemporary CD-ROM, is one of those Latin beats that absolutely forces your body to move. (My heel is still bobbing up and down as I write.) I also love the controlled chaos of the ultra-fast triplets in "Two Conga Bells," although I wish it was also available with solo'ed parts.

Most of the grooves are available in two or three different tempos that have been carefully chosen to ease mixing and matching of parts between different grooves. There are only a handful of tempos in all, with most loops clocking in at 93, 108, and 120 bpm. On the Roland version, the files are named so that they can be sorted by tempo, making it simple to call up a list of all the loops at, say, 108 bpm. While were on the subject of file organization, kudos to Spectrasonics for arranging solo'ed percussion parts under instrument type (such as "Tamborine" and "Tabla"), as well as by the loops that they are used in. This means that, instead of having to remember which groove had that cool shaker part I'm looking for, I can just load up a bank of all the shakers on the disc. Because the Roland file system allows sample data to be shared by multiple patches, this uses up almost no additional space on the disc.

As mentioned previously, the CD-ROMs feature a much larger selection of single hits than the audio CDs. Also, the CD-ROMs usually offer not only a selection of different articulations and dynamic levels for each instrument but multiple hits with subtle variations on the same basic articulation. There are more than one hundred conga samples, for example, most of them in stereo. This thoroughness is highly appreciated, as it makes it much easier to create dynamic, living percussion parts, either as supplements to the loops or in their own right.

Because the single hits were culled from the loop, rather than being sampled individually, their variety and pristine audio quality are all the more impressive. They have none of the clipped ambiences or instrument leakage that mar other collections. Some, however, aren't as highly developed and expressive as they might have been in the context of a "single-hits only" collection. Only a few patches offer Velocity switching, for instance.

This is a knockout library. The performances and recordings are stellar, the CD-ROMs are attractively priced; I'd recommend that anyone considering the 4-disc boxed set fork over the extra $100 and buy both CD-ROMs. That way you get the sounds pre-formatted for your sampler - a great time saver. But regardless of your preference - audio CDs or CD-ROMs- if you're looking for a set of percussion loops, it's hard to imagine you'll go wrong here.