Xenos Soundworks has a new sound bank to add to their already impressive track record. It features Massive in its most famous and potentially most flattering light: as a tool for violent, modulated dubstep mayhem. If you’re after the sounds of the late aughts/early tens dubstep sound, Uber Brutal Dubstep delivers – and for those seeking the deeper, darker vibes, Xenos has another Massive bank catering more to that genre, “Deep Dubstep and Dark Garage”.
This review came from using the Uber Brutal Dubstep sound bank as one would in reality, by making a track with it. You can take a listen to the resulting track below (no external processing was applied to any of the synth sounds, but there was EQ and compression on the master).
Overall, the sound bank is well organized, taking full advantage of Massive’s patch browser and, crucially, its modulation abilities. All patches not only have all eight macros assigned, but additionally use velocity sensitivity in a unique way. Very few of the patches actually use velocity to control volume. Instead, it controls things like envelope or performer depth, allowing the sounds to vary in intensity while maintaining a consistent volume. This kind of attention to detail gives the library a feeling of professionalism and cohesiveness between the different patches.
Higher Keys: Leads, Pads, and Bells
For a sound bank intended for bass music, Uber Brutal Dubstep does a good job with the other synth categories necessary for making a complete song. The leads, pads, and other non-bass sounds are all high quality. Some hidden gems come from unexpected places, such as the often-overlooked “Misc” and “Sound Effects” tags. They have character, and, simply put, are lots of fun.
The downside, however, is that there are not many of them. For example, the “Organ” category contains only one sound, and the “Synth Pad” category only two. The “Synth Lead”, “Synth Misc”, and “Sound Effects” categories are slightly better populated. The scarcity of certain types of sounds makes them seem like loose ends or even afterthoughts, though. While the decision to leave out more pads, organs, and the like is probably due to a desire to focus on the bass sounds (this is a dubstep library, after all), the minimalism goes a bit too far and instead feels like something is missing. The higher sounds are great, which only makes me wonder what other goodies I’m missing out on. On the other hand, there is plenty to use when it’s time to…
Drop It Like It’s Hot: The Basses
This is the real meat and potatoes of the library. And what a hot potato it is. It attempts to cover all the basses from deep subs to robotic formant growls to noisy, distorted mid-range blasts. The clever use of modulation shines here. Xenos’ use of macros and carefully chosen parameters to map to velocity makes these basses playable and able to evolve with a minimum of effort. The heavy use of performers also makes many of these basses punchy and rhythmic, meaning they can fit right into a track without having to fiddle with automation to get the timing just right.
Each of the many bass presets brings something new to the table. Unfortunately, sometimes in the pursuit of dirtiness the basses lack definition. The distortion makes them noisy and overly chaotic, to the point where the pitch becomes overshadowed by the modulation. Luckily, Massive is a synth and not a rompler, so backing off a little on the distortion and resonance will often fix this, as will lowering the velocity.
The Verdict
“Uber Brutal Dubstep” is an excellent library for dirty, hard dubstep and dubstep-inspired music. The extensive modulation routings make it easy to use right out of the gate, but its well-assigned velocity and macro controls make it versatile enough to fit the needs of your specific track. Perhaps this isn’t “the only hard dubstep library you’ll ever need,” but as a source of quality sounds ready to be used, Uber Brutal Dubstep does the job admirably.
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Uber Brutal Dubstep (NI Massive Sound Bank)
“Uber Brutal Dubstep” is an excellent library for dirty, hard dubstep and dubstep-inspired music. The extensive modulation routings make it easy to use right out of the gate, but its well-assigned velocity and macro controls make it versatile enough to fit the needs of your specific track.
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Content Quality9
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Pricing9
