Total Rex Review by Neil Fujio

Zero-G Total REX

Sitting in the studio in front of the computer or sampler or whatever and running out of musical ideas absolutely blows. I know how you feel! Fresh ideas for music aren’t always so easy to come by, and music-heads like us are always looking for new techniques and sounds to get a good track rolling. Every studio should have a good sized bundle of sample and loop libraries on hand, as well as a crate of vinyl or CDs to help solve this well-known problem. Zero-G offers an elegant line of products aimed at becoming a part of that collection, and for this review I will be taking a look at their Total REX library.

Total REX is a good sound library to start with if you don’t have a lot of other libraries from Zero-G in REX format. It consists of 15,000 royalty-free(!) loops selected from 42 Zero-G libraries all neatly organized into separate folders with names describing the sound or style. There’s a good range of styles covered here including ethnic/world music, trance, ambient, breaks, r’n’b, rock, jungle, and hip hop. The samples are 16-bit 44,100 Hz sample rate.

Total REX is a 2 DVD sound library in .rx2 (REX 2) format. “Rex” is a file format made by the Swedish software company Propellerheads, better known as “the dudes that made Reason.” (www.propellerheads.se) The .rex format basically breaks a loop apart into individual sounds allowing you to instantly map each sound to a button on your sampler or keyboard. It also allows you to change the tempo of a loop without changing the pitch or degrading the sound, and can shrink the file 40-60% smaller, again, without losing sound quality. It is compatible with nearly every brand of software out there, such as Reason, Pro Tools, Logic, Cakewalk, Stylus RMX, etc. A lot of sound libraries offer .rex along with other formats like .wav, .aiff, or .akai, but I think the way Zero-G has done it here is clever. Going with just .rex is a smart way to go because it saves you money and disk space, plus it has all those features. You can always convert the files into other formats so there’s no need to buy the same sound more than once.

Installation was a cinch-just drag or copy the folders from the 2 DVDs anywhere on your hard drive. In my computer I have a separate hard drive for samples so I used that one. Inside each folder there is a handy little memo about the sounds of that library which tells you a little bit about how it was made, who played on it, where it was recorded, etc. I suggest reading it-it will get you more hyped about the sounds. You will need the free program Adobe Reader to read each one. (www.adobe.com) The library is both Mac and Windows friendly. (Yes, it works with Linux-any program that loads .rex in fact.)

For this review, I started off by previewing the loops in the browser within Pro Tools (called “workspace”). I wasn’t able to sit through all 15,000 but I did manage to listen to a few thousand of them to get a good idea of what’s going on. I previewed about 5-10 loops from each folder and sub-folder, and of course I played around with a chunk of them in real music sessions. I kept track on a notepad of each section’s usefulness and sound quality, as well as authenticity. We don’t have room here to describe every section, so I just wrote a few lines about the ones that really stood out.

I was immediately impressed by all the percussion folders. The Brazilian, African, and Latin percussion sections are extremely useful in all sorts of urban and ethnic music. The fact that you can remap all the individual hits to your own buttons makes them even more dangerous. I found that the recordings of these sound clear and open. They feature a very good selection of the most popular instruments of these styles including the agogo, djembe, berimbau, caxi-caxi, conga, kalimba, etc., as long as you can forgive some of the odd misspellings. :-)

I thought that all of the Indian music sections were fantastic as well, mainly because the recording sounds so damn good, and I like how they provide so many separate recordings of each type of hit or pluck or bow. Those beautiful Indian instruments and textures are really allowed to shine here. These sounds will find their way into all your tracks that need some Indian flavor.

I was next taken by the guitar sections. My gosh, there is serious guitar playing skill demonstrated here. The feel of the playing is captured perfectly and I think anyone looking for both progressive and traditional playing is seriously gonna love this. It’s got everything from funk to ska. Thank you to whoever played those riffs.

Of course, the bass sections are right up to par with the guitar, as indeed most of them are created by the same guy. I found some truly gritty, dirty 70’s-out bass sounds that just satisfied me in the greatest way. I found the recordings very tasteful in texture-they really capture what a “dirty” or “clean” bass ought to sound like. Another thing I would like to add is the versatility of the bass sections-they offer clean/DI versions of each loop and a list of riffs that just blend together in a cohesive way. Envelope filters are everywhere!

Moving along to more electronic styles I found that the Chemical Beats/Synths, Pure Mayhem, and Cuckooland Unhinged sections were the ones that really caught my ear. In these sections you will find the craziest, psychedelic, over-the-top processed and mangled sounds of the group. Chemical Beats/Synths appeals to your excited state while Pure Mayhem and Cuckooland are filled with those deep, dark ambient textures. Good stuff. It’s too bad the drum and bass and trance sections were so disappointing compared to these. Compared to the powerful and exotic sounds offered in these sections, the drum and bass/trance sections seemed, well a little lacking. That said, I still ended up finding some gems in both the dnb and trance folders!

For urban beat miners, the Funk Construction and Grinding Beats sections absolutely kill. The shuffles and dancehall patterns are rock-solid, and the sounds are served ready-to-eat; you won’t need much processing. The bass is nice and thick and the highs are not too brittle. I particularly liked the fact that the Grinding Beats section offers loop versions with no kick or no snare, plus the traditional cuts and breaks. Pure Trip Hop and Return To Planet of the Breaks are also noteworthy cuts, the former being a little short lived but totally worth it. The Hip Hop and Swing Breakdown section will help to satisfy those nostalgic moments of watching Will Smith on “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Not surprisingly, I found that this section had the best 80’s/progressive breaks as well.

Finally I must say that the Drum Styles and Brass Elements sections add some great “live” feeling sounds to your armory. The Drum Styles section supplies a great deal on rock and metal, while the Brass Elements will cover your “horny” needs. Everyone loves a good brass section. I had fun using the brass in both urban and traditional ways, those horns can really add excitement to the mix, which is what I need!

Amongst 15,000 loops, of course there are going to be a few that you are not going to like, and perhaps a few that you’ll despise. But that’s not to say that this library isn’t a good deal, and for those that are worried about the price don’t because the urban and percussive sections alone are worth the price. Thrown in an absolutely sick bass collection, some crazy synth/FX, live drums n brass, a great Indian library, a couple of misspellings, a few harsh recording mistakes, and about 8,000 more useful rex loops and you have a Total REX library solution that will thicken your sound library at a modestly fair price. Check out the cheesy demo I made for your listening pleasure!

Note about the mp3 demo:

This medley was created entirely from the Total REX library using cut and paste with no processing except some very slight EQ on two drum loops to tame the highs a bit. I purposely left the loops unprocessed so that you could hear what the library sounds like. Enjoy!