Even just a little live percussion can go a long way when it comes to adding life to your drum patterns, and the latest library from 5pin Media – Tribal Percussion – is packed with live-sounding loops.

Once downloaded and uncompressed, you get 1.GB of material in 24-bit WAV and REX formats, with a Live Pack available separately. This is a large pack with several different sections, so it’s probably best to break these down before getting into the detail.

First up is the main collection of 435 acoustic percussion loops, where you’ll find Congas, Claps, and Claves alongside Djembes, Darabukas and Birinbau instruments. These loops have a loose, un-quantized feel that could instantly add a live vibe to any track. If you need more rigid rhythms you can easily quantize the REX versions.

Next up are the 18 kit loops that feature five or six individual parts that work well together, plus five variations with the loops combined and mixed. You’ll then find a large collection of hits and deeply multi-sampled instruments with velocity layering and round robin in NN-XT, Kontakt, and Battery formats.

These are an excellent addition and a great way for you to make natural-sounding percussion grooves. To make the pack more flexible, 5Pin Media has included several groove templates and a collection of 479 MIDI loops so you can try the rhythms using your own sounds.

Finally, there are electronic 808 loops, additional percussion hits and side-chained and effected vocal atmosphere sounds.  This is an extensive collection of well-recorded loops and hits with minimum processing to allow for your own effects. The addition of MIDI loops and multi-sampled instruments makes for an incredibly flexible package.

Verdict: 9/10