Groove Monkee : :
www.groovemonkee.com

review brought to you by Devon Brent.
www: Traxmusic.org

On The Surface

Ever have those thoughts of ‘My kingdom for a decent drum track’? I know I have those days when I can’t scratch out a decent track to save my life. If your pockets are deep enough, or you have the right host or plugin, drum grooves can be had in the form of BFD, Groove Agent, Slicy Drummer, and the like, but what happens when mostly what’s lining your pockets is skint lint? What happens when the thought of the next loop CD just makes your stomach churn into knots? This is where the Groove Monkee comes out to play.

What’s a Groove Monkee?

Groove Monkee is a new developer that provides drum loops, but in a very flexible fashion. They are all standard MIDI type 1 and type 0 files of mostly 2 measures apiece, mapped out to trigger GM mapped drum kits. They are currently shipping 2 full products out featuring Funk, Hip Hop, and R&B loops for one, and Rock loops for the other. Each set features well over 1,000 loops for your perusal.

The variety of styles within these genres is also quite vast. Funk offers us such styles as Down South, East Cost, West Cost, Old School, House, and New Jack, along with fills, shuffles, slow grooves, and more. Rock features such styles as Alternative, Ballad, Blues Rock, Classic, Contemporary, Funk, Hard Rock, Pop, Progressive, Metal, and Punk, and includes bonus material like additional fills and intros. These MIDI files can be used in Acid, Fruity Loops, Sonar, Cubase, Logic, or really anything that handles the import of standard MIDI files.

Usin’ the Monkee

Enough about the loops, so how are they? Personally not being a “drummer” myself, but like to program my own drums, they are pretty darn good! What really made them shine is the fact that they are not groove quantized, so the life has not been squeezed out of them. The loops feel very alive, and not so flaccid like some loops I’ve heard.

While it’s really hard to talk down about MIDI loops that are so cheap, starting at $24.95 for the introductory offer, there are a few caveats that you should be aware of. Managing raw MIDI loops isn’t so easy to do compared to using such products as Slicy Drummer or Groove Agent for example, but both products are also much more expensive. Also, drag and drop into Cubase/Nuendo is not exactly the nicest of experiences either, but I blame Steinberg for messing up that feature, and not on the Monkee here.

Conclusion

Really, what all is there to say about a nice drum loop library? We got loops, they’re inexpensive, they even have a money back guarantee! Not a lot in the music or software industry that gives you that type of promise.

So what do you have to lose? You can either go out with your girlfriend for dinner one night, or get more grooves than you can shake a… well, a stick at. If you need a cost effective way to improve your drum tracks, check these loops out at groovemonkee.com. They have free examples available on their webpage for you to check out for yourself before you even take the plunge too.

Review brought to you by: Devon Brent.
www: Traxmusic.Org.