Review: Loopmasters Live Lounge, sample library by Andre Touhey

I don’t know what you think of when something gets labeled “Lounge music” but I simply associate this genre with downtempo music that makes me feel like… well, lounging I guess. Mellow beats and nice melodies, that kind of thing.

With Live Lounge, Andre Touhey delivers almost 480 loops in both Acidized Wav and REX formats, over 420 single sounds & fx, and 37 patches in various sampler formats.

Note: For this review I used the ZIP (main) version which includes everything I just mentioned. The Ableton version also includes 12 additional Groove Templates and 3 FX Racks, and the Reason version has 12 Redrum patches.

The wav loops are categorized in four folders:

• Bass (61 loops), includes acoustic, regular, and synth bass sounds.
• Drum (68 loops), with tempos between 90 and 130 bpm, includes 12 drum loops done on a vintage drumkit.
• Music (278 loops), brass, guitar, keys, motifs, strings, and synth sounds all in separate folders.
• Percussion (67 loops), various percussion instruments like bongos, congas, shakers, woodblock, triangle, etc.

Everything is neatly organized and labeled with sound type, bpm and key information. If you would toss all these samples in one big folder you’d still have no problem finding things.

The loops are mostly 8 to 16 measures long, with great melodic themes and authentic sounds.

Besides some useful drum hits and five multi-sampled instruments (bass, 2x organ, piano & rhodes), the single shot sounds include some unique and original things like scratched up beats, stabs and fx hits, beautiful rhodes chords and some lush pad sounds. You can load the samples in your sampler with the included patches for Kontakt, HALion, EXS24, sfz, and Reason NN-XT.

So what do I think?

This is one of the best sample libraries I have come across lately. The sounds are spot on for the genre; the right instruments & the right vibe.

I am impressed with the sounds in every single category, but if I’d have to pick some highlights I would say the guitar loops are brilliantly done, and the scratches and stabs in the single shot section are outstanding. Some of the beats combine laidback grooves with little glitchy programming, resulting in vintage sounds with an up-to-date vibe. Exceptionally creative sounds all around; Very funky, very chill. I don’t have to tell you this is perfect material for chopping up in your sampler.

In short Live Lounge is a complete package for creating tunes in the downtempo and soulful style of the Cafe Del Mar artists this sample pack was inspired by. 10/10

More information: Loopmasters / Live Lounge

Hey there, I'm Ronnie and I run Rekkerd.org. I'm a bedroom music producer and guitar player, and I love chicken vindaloo & all things glitch.