Urban Takeova Review

Urban Takeova Review
By A.G.C. (Asthmatic Grapefruit Clinton)

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of hype that sound engineers in the Hip Hop and Urban sample game use to describe their products. One construction kit I came across stated that they would not be held responsible “for broken windows or spontaneous bowel movements when using this material.” This construction kit was Prime Loops Urban Takeova. As I got my hands on this kit I thought “this better be good or else”. Here is my judgment.

First thing I noticed after the lengthy download (it is over a Gig) was that there were full songs in the kit… I have not gotten a construction kit in sometime and this was a surprise to me. I listened to the beats and I gotta say… pretty nice. For someone trying to get some beats to rap or sing over “on the cheap” this kit gives a tremendous value but I do not really do either of these, I was more interested in those one hit samples included in the kit. I did not see how these songs could be of any use to me. I later found out the error of my ways…

After thinking that these beats were about the level of what I hear on the beat selling sites more or less I tossed them aside and moved on to the loops. Now everybody knows how big I am into Acid and loops so it was a lot of fun having some new loops to chop and pitch manipulate. They were acidized and so tempo manipulation was a breeze and they chopped really cleanly without feeling stiff. These are the current Urban grooves and sounds laid out for you to manipulate to your hearts’ content. This really took me back to when I first started making beats and I can say I wish I would have had loops of this quality and “newness” when I started out. Really impressive sounds and after using FL studio to further manipulate the loops I came up with a few beats the first day I had the pack…. More beats than I had made in a while, let alone one day.

I saved the part I was most interested in (or so I thought) for last…. The one hit samples. I put these in the FL Studio step sequencer and immediately I had a smile on my face, these are the sounds that I have been struggling to recreate from scratch all pristine and ready to be dropped into a beat! I thought, “naw, I’m just overexcited to have some new sounds” so I did a little experiment. I made a beat using none of the loops just one hit samples and stock FL Synths… and put them up in the Warbeats chat room for (the brutally honest) people to listen to and without exception the drums and sound FX samples I used got rave reviews. The response to my stock FL sounds was less than enthusiastic. Again I repeated this experiment in the beat feedback system and again… great response to the drum sounds but less than enthusiastic response to the synth sounds I choose this time using some of my favorite synths.

One of the comments caught my eye. Someone said they liked the horns and I realized I had subconsciously mimicked the horns’ sound of one of the beats in detail. This piqued my curiosity and I went though the construction kit using my synths to mimic the sounds in the pack. Using the drums, I got an even better response to the overall sound of the beats but the reactions to my arranging were less positive than what I wanted. Now I went back to the beats and used my own rhythms and melodies but mimicked the arrangements on the included beats and got the best response on the Warbeats chat that I ever did on one of my beats there. I intend to dissect this construction kit for some time in the near future. This is just a great way to learn to put together sounds that are currently used in Urban music styles.

So if you’re not sure “which instruments are used” in Urban styles, need low cost high quality beats, need that hot “new new” drum sample or are a “super looper” this would be the perfect pack for you and I’m looking forward to checking out more of Prime Loops offerings in the future.

In short, if you are into Urban styles and like me dig construction kits… get it. I did not have any broken windows or bowel movements but when they said, "It's never been easier to get in the flow!” they weren’t kidding or hyping anything. The only thing that would be easier is if they came to your house and made the beat for you.

You can find more information about Primeloops and their Urban Takeova at their website.