Detroit Chords by AskAudio
Soulful House straight from the Detroit in your DAW. ModeAudio's Detroit Chords brings the best chord patches to Reason, Ableton, Logic and audio samples. GW Childs checks out this 1.3 GB pack.
House Music is hotter than ever. But getting the sound right, especially in terms of getting the right bass patch, the right stab, the right lead, and even the right pad can be a frustrating experience, if you're new to the genre. Thankfully, ModeAudio have released an amazing bunch of patches for Reason, Ableton, Logic, or as basic audio files. Let's take a look at Detroit Chords, and see if it's a pack that can fulfill all of your House fantasies!
Oh, those Basses!
Like all of the ModeAudio releases, the bass patches (20 in total) are awesome. The low end is plenty beefy, and there's enough in the middle on each of the patches that you'll be able to get some secondary usages, outside of just filling in low end. I had a lot of fun with the Belly Laugh patch, and really appreciated that all of the patches in Detroit Chords are expertly mapped within Ableton's Instrument Rack, and the most helpful Macros that were set up for Filter Frequency, Filter Res, and more. These are sample basses patches. But the mappings and macro assignments bring a lot of life and character.
Lots of Chords
While there are some bass patches, Detroit Chords really is all about the Chords. Filled with a whopping total of 100 stabs, minor 9s, major 7ths, inversions, and even fifths. They made sure that you don't need to know anything about chords, or music theory. Just load up one of the patches, and feel your way through, as you pluck out complicated melodies. All of the patches are marked with the type of chord that they emit, once triggered. So, if you do have some knowledge of your chords, you'll appreciate being able to sort through a list of amazing patches and narrow down your search before you even start playing.
I will say that I would've appreciated just a little more in the macro assignments, in this particular department. Filter Cutoff and Resonance are usually only a couple of the tweaks you usually make on a chord. I wouldn't have minded a few patches, that stack internally with sample mapping, so you can scroll between different chord variations. But, once I looked at the price tag, I can see why they leave a few things for you to do on your own.
Channel Strips and Examples
Like most of the ModeAudio Collections, you get a song file that contains channel strips that ModeAudio have set up for you and give some great examples of engineering for House Music. Compressors and EQs are already assigned to empty tracks, when you open the session. Bass, a few chord patches and drums are already there, set up, EQ'd and ready to go. All you have to do is start plugging in your ideas! I really love this one added bit of polish. Not everyone has a knowledge of mixing, and engineering. Some people just want to jam!
Conclusion
After acquiring this brilliant pack of chords and basses... And, a few really nice pads, I feel a lot more confident for the moment when that next House remix comes into my inbox. There really is a chord for every kind of track, and situation. But none of the work that it usually takes making them sound good!
Pros: An amazing pack of chorded patches intended for House music that really capture the sound. Some excellent bass patches are included and some great examples channel strips that you can copy, and use for your own purposes.
Cons: There could be a few more macro knob assignments for the chorded patches. Maybe even some stacked, layered patches.
