Spectrasonics
Metamorphosis 21st Century Grooves

Audio CD or 4 CD-ROM set (Akai/EOS, Giga, Roland)
300 processed remix loops.

Pros: Excellent sound quality. Creative processing. WAV files included with CD-ROM package. Groove Control and tempo-matched versions of loops are provided.

Cons: Audio CD package doesn't include WAV file CD-ROM.

Bottom Line: A fresh-sounding and extremely well-produced collection of grooves.

Spectrasonics, dist. by Ilio Entertainments, 800-747-4546 or 818-707-7222, www.com, www.spectrasonics.net

$99 (audio CD); $199 (CD-ROMs)

Unlike other sample libraries aimed at a specific genre such as hip-hop or big beat, Metamorphosis is all over the place musically speaking, and that's a good thing. For starters, the tempos range from 53 bpm to the heart-racing territory of 164 bpm. You'll find everything from sizzling electronic and ethnic-sounding percussion loops to gut-busting kicks that thump out of the speakers with all the angst of an Outkast cut. Whether you're into trip-hop, the latest flavor of drum 'n' bass, or tribal-like trance, there are treasures to be found.

The sound quality is top-notch throughout, as you might expect from an Eric Persing-produced library. There's an emphasis on funky and extreme sound design that should provide inspiration enough to kick-start even the most stalled project. On the aptly titled "Undergroove," for example, swimming, warbly submarine-like pings and a scratchy beat are combined to create a hybrid of Shaft meets Das Boot. Filter sweeps, multi-tap delays, flangers, and distortion effects are just the tip of the iceberg.

Some of the elements that make up these loops came from a variety of software such as Native Instruments Reaktor, Propellerheads Reason and Rebirth, and Rhizomatic's Absynth, all of which adds a "future-retro" quality to some of the material.

A number of loops have pitched elements, which might make it hard to fit them into "off-key" tracks. This is where having Groove Control versions of the loops comes in handy. These are programs containing individual slices of every element in a pattern, which can be played back using the accompanying MIDI files (included on a Mac/PC-compatible CD). Using GC programs, I found that I could coarse-tune discordant hits to the right pitches without compromising the feel of the loops.

Of course, there are more creative uses for Groove Control, such as rearranging the loop components to make new grooves, or replacing kick drums with alternate sounds. One of my favorite tricks is to change the overall feel of a GC loop by using my sequencer's swing quantize function.

Additionally, all of the loops are presented in Groove Menus, which are programs consisting of loops tuned so as to all be at the same tempo. These tempo-matched programs allow you to mix and match grooves on the fly from your keyboard, which can be a fun way to get your creative juices bubbling. Since these loops are presented at incremental tempos (60, 65, 70, 75 bpm, and so on), you'll need to use your sampler's tuning parameter to get the loops to play at in-between tempos. I'm not a fan the Groove Menu concept, since it doesn't allow you to match the feel of one loop to another, only their tempos, and to do this you need to dig inside your sampler's editing pages, which can sometimes be a creative intrusion. However, this might not be an issue for everyone.

If you compose music for film or multimedia, or produce dance remixes, you'll undoubtedly find plenty to love in this library. The loops are not only impressive from a production standpoint, they're incredibly musical and inspirational, which is why we've given Metamorphosis a Key Buy.

-JOHN KROGH