Modulok is one of the entries of the KVR Developer Challenge 2012 and my favorite so far, Modulok is a sample pack by WaveShaper, made with a couple of vintage synths, two semi-modular synths and some analog effects. It features more than 360 unique samples and are really well organized into categories and subcategories, and then labeled to give you an idea of the sample. Sample quality is 44Khz 24 bit stereo WAV.
If you don’t know what a sample pack is, is a collection of sound files recorded and/or sythesized, and put together so you can integrate it into a song, beat, video or anything you want.
The highlight in this library is that is really original, extremely easy to use and the sounds are REALLY useful, its not one of those packs full of crap-samples.
Ease Of Use
I was impressed with this pack, it was so easy to start working and I got everything done in minutes, I usually spend 30 seconds to 1 minute choosing the right sample, and with this pack, I got them ready really fast and I only changed a sample once after choosing my kit.
The labels on the kit are a feature that nobody seems to care, but that can make your workflow really smooth, these aren’t your kick_01, kick_02 … kick_32 kits, you actually get a hint of what the sample will sound like, we have to agree that [Deep Smooth Kick], [Driven Kick] are more likely to be remembered and define the sample better than kick_03 and kick_44. Some are really funny like [maxiweirdo deceleration], [abstract perc nice] (my girlfriend and I, label files and photos with cool, nice, yeah, etc. So that one got a laugh out of me).
Turn On
The samples are very musical and flexible, you can experiment with them by changing pitch, evelope, stacking and adding creative effects. (I didn’t apply any creative FX on my demo because I wanted you to hear the dry samples, I might try that for another review…) And they sit REALLY well in a mix, they didn’t require any EQ or compression or anything, you know YMMV but they worked that way for me.
Turn Off
I couldn’t find something negative or lacking on this pack for me, maybe some more crash style cymbals would have made it even easier for me on this particular demo, but there are 360 samples to choose from and I quickly got something else that worked, probably if you have a very particular sound in your head it might be hard to get it, but that is one of the best features of this pack, its really original and it gets your creativity flowing.
Price
Free, but remember that this is an entry on the KVR Developer Challenge so please consider giving this entry a VOTE and checking the other kits at his site.
Demo
I made a demo (My first demo) using just samples from the pack, only that I used a the ComboV organ plugin to give it a laidback vibe. I only used a delay on the intro and all the samples are 100% dry no FX, I just added some saturation from the FerricTDS plugin (Concidentally, the winner of the KVR challenge ’09) on the master channel because I always add drive to everything. If I could add drive to this review I would.
Conclusion
This is a pack that I really enjoyed working with, I got a kit really quick and the samples are very well recorded, the sounds are really well thought and I appreciate the time spent on this, the labels are extremely helpful to get an idea of the sound, and that shows the care that WaveShaper put in this and every of his projects.
If you have to use an specific set or genre specific (808 kick, 909 hats, Trance kick, House claps) you probably are in the wrong place but there are another WaveShaper kits for that. But that doesn’t make this kit less useful I was looking for a crash cymbal style on a analog/modular pack… I just had to browse and I got something accordingly.
More info on: http://waveshaper.12r.org
Product and download page HERE!!!!!
Comment if you like it or have any other good sample pack to recommend. 🙂
WornOutJunkie 
Reblogged this on hear and know.