"...Zero-G and Mixman teamed to produce a winner in the K-Klass Mixman Soundisc. For 50 smackers you get plenty of brilliantly played and generally well-recorded snippets to make floorfilling dance music...."

The material is served on two platters: a 65-minute audio CD and a CDROM that contains WAV files, Mixman TRK files, and Mixman Studio LE for Windows-in case you don't own this dynamite Key Buy-winning loop-manipulation/remixing program (reviewed June '98). Mixman's software allows you to sync different beats and perform time compression and expansion in real time. "This collection makes sense in the Mixman construction-kit context," noted Greg Rule, "since the files are matched harmonically and rhythmically. Compared to other dance sample CDs out there, though, it isn't as appealing to me as a standalone product."

Packed onto the K-Klass discs are bouncy drum loops, rafter-shaking bass lines, four-on-the-floor kicks, sizzling hi-hat patterns, a smattering of trendy piano, electric piano, and organ chord progressions and licks, a handful of processed vocal lines, rhythmic and non-rhythmic sounds effects, cliched string passages, and more. "Some of the material on this disc is processed with reverb or delay," Greg complained. "Unless effects are used in a more creative or extreme way, I prefer to get my source loops dry, and add the processing later." Greg also found fault with the bass sounds: "The bass lines are well played, but many of the synth patches used are noisy-and a bit too '80s DX7-sounding for my taste."

There are some pleasant surprises within the Lead Synths section, surprising because they're more rhythmic than lead-oriented. My favorite is "Frog Down,"which sounds somewhat like a mouth harp played in a dry well, but with a squishy quality. "Thiquid" is a spicy little arpeggiated line sprinkled with fast note stutters. Less spicy but equally useful is "Latin Bounce,' whose source sounds more electric guitar than synth. For real leads, look in the Keyboard folder. Here you'll find the one-and-a-half-minute "Dissed EPiano," a tasty distorted Rhodes solo featuring some cool scales and chordal passages.

Drum loops are divided into four categories: Conga, Four On The Floor, Grab Bag, and Top Loops. Maybe it's just me, but I think some of the otherwise excellent patterns are spoiled by incessant handclaps. (Then again I hated disco, so there ya go.) A much more effective percussion element is the cute little scratch in the Grab Bag loop "Clean Scratch." Besides, there's a whole folder full of different styles of daps. I'd rather have the option of adding them to a pattern myself.

The skimpy documentation provides only a title for each event, the track number in which it appears, and its sequential position within the track. If you're working with the audio tracks or WAV files, you won't have a clue about any tempos, because they aren't given in the liner notes. Tons of potent stuff comes on K-Klass. You may find a few of the samples inspirational even if you aren't cranking out dance tracks."