Sampla - Hip Hop Production Sampler

User Interface 7/10

The good side: It's like working with an mpc, there are little buttons all over to lcick to get things done, like importing samples, changing views, etc. For someone moving to a DAW from an MPC this could be a positive

The bad side: I like everything laid out in plain view, for me, i wasn't too hot on it, but i could find everything

Features 6/10
apart from the slicing feature it does nothing your standard bundled DAW or freeware sampler doesn't, a single filter, an envelope, an LFO for the filter, EQ, chorus, and delay.

For those in need of slicing, it works pretty well. The automapping to MIDI is definitely handy, but something i prefer to do in other vst's (or rather, natively in ableton)

It brings nothing new, or nothing very "oldskool" either. It could have done with a bitcrusher and saturator for some "flava"

Sound 3/10
I'll admit it, I first looked into this for inspiration. To play with some preset slices, throw down some synth hooks, and get new ideas.

WOW was I let down. The sounds of an MPC are nowhere here... they are closer to the bundled sounds of fruity loops.

If you want to produce some dirty south uber phat "rap beatz" to put on youtube, then the samples will work for you. For anything oldschool, genre pushing, or "dope", look elsewhere.

The demos of this plugin sound promising, but they are the perfect combination of the best loops in this pack. If you dont throw it all together like that, i doubt it would sound exciting.

Price vs Value

You're essentially paying for an automapping, slicing sampler here, with a lot of bundled content that is very very bland.

If you're willing to part with $150 for an automapping slicer, go for it. Me? I'll stick to ableton, or freeware for that matter.

Verdict:

Oh so glad I demoed it before purchasing. At first I was excited as I was starting a wonky/j dilla style project, and wanted some MPC inspiration.

Deleted it an hour after I installed it, yikes!