Waveform Organic Techno

Waveform Recordings’ latest offering delivers top quality techno content, even if it isn’t necessarily very ‘organic’.

Waveform Recordings are rightly regarded as one of the world’s leading sample companies thanks to their solid track record of delivering finger-on-the-pulse collections which surf the crest of the latest tech-house and techno wave with aplomb. Naturally, when their newest offering was released we got excited.

When Organic Techno dropped on our desktop we weren’t sure what to expect, but we suspected that the machine-driven grooves typically associated with the genre would be replaced by swathes of organic percussion. Although such rhythms do make an appearance, a lot of the content here isn’t very organic, per se. It feels as though deep techno might be a more apt description. But, nit-picking aside, what we have here is a superlative slab of contemporary techno that combines the raw, industrial sound favoured by the likes of Shed with the deeper, house-informed style of Moodtrap and the techier vibes of tINI or Davide Squillace.

One of the key strengths of the Waveform team is their ability to hone in on a sound and recreate it with stunning authenticity – and that skill can be heard in abundance throughout Organic Techno. Whether it’s the rough, powerful beats, the restrained analogue music loops or their credible take on vocals, everything here sounds authentic and ready to work the dancefloor.

As you might expect from a techno release, the beats form the backbone of the collection, with folders of drums, percussion and kick-free tops all included. There’s more than enough beat-making ammo to kickstart your next track. The drum loops are generally offered as complete grooves with between two and four variants per loop. And by complete, I mean well-balanced, powerful, club-ready stompers. These sound so punchy, precise and heavy you almost feel guilty using them. It’s like they’ve gone and done all the hard work for you – just fire up a beat and you’ve got the foundations of a track right there.

The kick-free tops are a jacking amalgamation of clattering claps and skittering hats which layer seamlessly on top of the stripped beats. The percussion loops too have been finely sculpted to slot perfectly into the mix with the minimum of fuss. Here you’ll find neatly recorded and re-sequenced tribal lines rubbing shoulders with more traditional electronic and synthetic grooves. Add this to the excellent supply of drum hits and there’s enough here to keep even the most demanding techno producers happy.

The rest of the collection is given over to melodics, vocals and FX. The music loops are essentially analogue atmospherics with the odd understated melodic line. They’re simple but effective and instantly add a deepness and warmth to the mix, with that sense of submersion and tense ambience that seems all the rage in techno at the moment. Continuing the ‘of the moment’ theme, the vocal loop folder nails the current trend for haunting pitch-shifted vocals that blur the line between old school Chicago house and contemporary UK bass.

All in all, if you’re making European-leaning techno and tech-house then this is an excellent choice loaded with top quality, cutting-edge sounds. It might not be all that organic, but it’s still rather excellent.