In the world of electronic music we often hear producers talk about the ‘groove’ or ‘rhythm’ of a piece of music, especially when it comes to sequencing drums and percussion. If you have ever tried to sequence a shaker or tambourine line from static samples you will know that getting that ‘human feel’ can be difficult.

Producers will often mix and layer sequenced drum hits with recorded live percussion to create ‘human-sounding’ drum tracks with more groove, life and energy…

Afro-Latin percussion Volume 1 offers an impressive collection of acoustic percussion loops and organic rhythms, perfect for layering with existing one-shot drum hits or building percussive ensembles to add excitement and rhythm to your drum tracks.

Volume 1 focuses on ‘light’ Afro- Caribbean and Latin American percussion instruments including; multiple shakers, cabasa, guiro, claves, sticks, bells, wood blocks and many other percussive ‘toys’. The library explores a wealth of different playing styles and rhythms which have been expertly played and recorded by world-class percussionist Ed Uribe and engineer Jeff Trueman from New York, USA.

The result is a unique and highly useable collection of Afro -Latin percussion loops/samples which suit a wide range of musical styles; from House music and electronic genres, to film scores and media applications.

All loops and samples have been recorded with multiple high-end microphones via API 3124 and Avalon VT737SP pre-amps, with sound sources being mixed to perfection (post recording) to achieve finalized high-quality stereo loops and performances.

What’s included in the library?

• 683 24-bit, 100% royalty-free acoustic percussion loops and single hits arranged into 4 main sections:

Percussion Loops – Raw

• 588 authentic Afro-Latin percussion loops and fills, carefully recorded at 126 BPM using a well thought-out selection of high-end microphones and pre-amps. In order to capture the authentic sound, dynamics and energy of Ed’s playing technique, the loops, fills and performances in this folder have been left completely ‘raw’, with only very minor editing and zero post processing
• 31 cabasa loops
• 41 clave loops
• 155 cowbell loops – featuring multiple expressive rhythms and fills from a variety of different percussive bells
• 49 guiro and cricket loops/fx
• 65 mixed percussive ensembles – featuring carefully layered performances from multiple sound sources to create expressive rhythmic ensembles and layered loops/fills
• 16 caxixi loops
• 36 maraca loops
• 27 shekere loops
• 60 shaker loops – featuring a wealth of patterns from 13 different shakers and toys
• 22 stick loops
• 24 tambourine loops
• 9 triangle loops
• 53 woodblock loops

Percussion loops – Time Corrected

• 456 time-corrected percussion loops - carefully created by editing the ‘raw’ percussion loops and performances
• The loops in this folder have been specifically created for those producers who require ‘machine tight’ timing in their music. Each loop has been time-corrected by carefully editing and moving individual transients/hits from within the performances

Percussion Loops – Rex

• 515 REX2 loops created from the ‘raw’ percussion loops and performances

Single Hits & FX

• 95 one-shot percussion hits and FX samples, recorded completely dry, leaving lots of headroom for post processing
• 16 clave samples
• 41 cowbell/bells samples
• 16 percussive FX samples
• 7 triangle samples
• 15 woodblock samples
• 5 sampler patches/kits in SFZ, Battery, Reason NN-XT and Kontakt formats

You can find in-depth info on the making of Afro-Latin Percussion on our blog, including recording techniques and equipment used, as well as a detailed write up from percussionist Ed Uribe exploring the different rhythms and ensembles common in Afro-Caribbean and Latin American percussion.

This library was designed to be a perfect accompaniment to Afro-Latin Percussion Vol 2, which features ‘drum heavy’ percussion instruments including; multiple congas, quinto and tumba drums, djembe, bongos, cajon, mini-timbales and timbales.