Undercover by Medway Studios

Percussion in much of today's music is filled with eclectic sounds that a beginning producer might have difficulty sourcing from their typical sound-pack.

While many sample collections focus on traditional acoustic, drum machine, or ethnic types of one shots, there is a shortage of the more esoteric 'found sounds' that many professional producers employ in their music to give it an interesting edge.

These are often recorded from bits of everyday household items lying around like pots, pans, or anything that makes an interesting noise.

And while I would encourage anyone interested in these sorts of sounds to experiment with their own recordings, Modeaudio have put together a very high quality package to get you going and possibly spark some ideas on developing your own personal samples.

What's Included?

The pack is called Undercover and features objects the Modeaudio crew have collected from various sources which have been expertly edited and layered in a collection of 10 kits and 230 separate sounds.

Upon loading the demo loop that comes with the project to show off the included drumkits I was immediately impressed with the groove they obtained despite no timing or velocity tricker within the MIDI part itself.

The samples really lend themselves to that tight organic rhythm that's common through multiple styles ranging from artists like Bonobo to even Radiohead's clicky type grooves, let alone techno or experiment house genres and downtempo.

Everything from kicks, snares, hats, blocks, metal type percussion is all represented here.

The dynamics of each sample have been chosen carefully which I think is integral to how well they sit together both sonically but timing-wise.

You could construct entire beats with these or just use them as garnish to liven up more straightforward drums in your existing library.

Take A Look

So if you're tired of the same old sounds resulting in stale beats, give these a shot to lend a new lease on life to your current drumkit collection.

Modeaudio even offer the samples at 96k for those who like to produce in higher sample rates.

You can check out the samples in more detail here.