Jazz Essentials II shies away from the traditional loops and samples phrasing for something more authentic. Alex Holmes gets into the swing of things…

Price $49.99
Contact Beta Monkey Music

Jazz Essentials II key features:

• Acoustic jazz drum stems
• 32 Full length drum tracks, 15 fill tracks
• 94 single hits
• Slow, fast, Latin and 3/4 jazz styles
• 16-bit/24-bit Wav or Apple Loops formats

Jazz Essentials II from Beta Monkey Music is a large collection of live acoustic jazz drums that includes traditional slow, fast, Latin and 3/4 playing styles from 60 to 200bpm. The nature of jazz means that the playing has swing and natural phrasing and Beta Monkey felt that chopping it into the confines of four bar loops didn’t fit with the style.

As such, there are 32 full-length track performances of varying lengths, 15 extended tracks full of drum fills, and a bonus folder of 94 single hits. Although this isn’t ideal for pulling up quick loops, it offers up a much more natural performance, and having the full take is good inspiration for improvisation.

It’s a different take on an acoustic drum pack that might not fit everyone’s workflow, but the superb performances and longer run time offer up a unique opportunity for more natural sounding tracks.