End of story? Not quite. Each construction kit typically has 30–50 files—much more than average, and they’re relatively short. These loops are like little micro-hooks, and you could cherry-pick a few files from several construction kits to provide a foundation for your own original material. Once you overdub some leads, percussion, voice, and some pads, you’ll end up with something no one would ever recognize as being inspired by a sample CD.

While not incredibly original or unusual, I use sample CDs such as this quite a bit as they present a neutral canvas on which you can imprint your own personality, and work well in many contexts. And like other Big Fish construction kit CDs, they’re great when you have to put together something stylistically coherent under a tight deadline.

Contact: Big Fish Audio, www.bigfishaudio.com
Format: DVD-ROM with 25 construction kits duplicated as WAV, REX, RMX, and Apple Loops files; 24-bit/44.1kHz
List Price: $99.95