Relatively new to the sample market, No Dough Samples have quickly built a solid reputation thanks to their purist knack of showcasing classic gear.
No Dough’s collections of functional and well-crafted sampler kits, loops and hits are bolstered by the fact that the company’s sound designers stick to the genre they know best: house.
The rich, warm and rounded quality of their output is the common thread that ties together the label’s back catalogue. And it’s this passion for analogue authenticity which has seen them garner fans from across the house music fraternity, from Wolf Music’s soul-infused house heavyweights KRL and Medlar to the futuristic deep house of Catz N Dogz.
Having already explored FM classics like the DX7 and TX81z and the subtractive Alpha Juno, in NDS-303 Acid Jam the NDS boys have turned their attention to another legendary synth in the form of the Roland TB-303.
And an acid jam is exactly what it is: 1,265 synth and bass workouts ranging from squealing and squelchy peak-time lines to deeper rolling grooves with a funky edge. The loops have a raw energy and vibe which seems to say as much about the quality of the kit used during recording (including a selection of tube preamps and EQs – not to mention the 303 itself, owned by co-creator Suddi Raval of Manchester rave innovators Together) as it does about the apparent fun the NDS team had rocking out while making them.
So what how does this 1.2GB acid monster break down? There’s six folders in all, entitled Main Loops, Bassline Loops, Square Loops, Lead Loops, Distorted Loops and FX Loops. The only slight headscratcher here was trying to work out the difference between the Main and Lead folders – I’m still not sure what the difference is meant to be. Elsewhere, the Bassline folder is a standout, delivering everything from gliding rollers and Pacman-style gobblers to classic acid house squelchers and raspers.
The FX and Distorted folders delivered even more analogue filth, feeding the loops through a host of outboard delays, reverbs and distortion units to beef up the sounds even further. No Dough tell us that the 303 was fed through a Mackie analogue desk (“circa 1990”) with the input cranked until it distorted in order to recreate “the authentic tone people were getting back then – the UK sound”. While some of the loops are very liberal in the use of effects, the results undeniably served up some authentic analogue-heavy action that instantly added depth and warmth to the mix.
Overall, the pack is throughly considered throughout, from the myriad of variants offered for each loop – tinkering with sequences, distortion, resonance, cut-off and more to make track progression a breeze – to the knowledgable use of vintage outboard processing, plus the inherent quality of the loop progressions themselves.
The TB-303 helped define a genre, but this pack will find favour amongst producers far beyond the realms of acid house. These expertly captured lines are sure to appeal to a much wider audience. Whether it’s the future garage of Jacques Greene’s ‘(Baby I Don’t Know) What You Want’, the basement-infused ‘Acid Jackson’ from Boddika or even the saccharine EDM of Rihanna’s ‘Where Have You Been’, the enduring appeal of the 303 is undeniable. If you’re seeking the distinctive sound of a vintage synth which now commands eye-watering second-hand prices, you could do a lot worse than Acid Jam.