LowRider Weather Maschine Expansion Review

            California Love, Ain’t Nothing But a G Thang, and Regulators are all classic west coast bangers. How can you deny the smooth rhythms and bumpin bass of these songs? It can be the year 2066, I’ll be 80 years old, and if one of those songs came on, God willing my great grand kids will be able to recite the lyrics to all 3 of these. Our friends over at TheMaschineWarehouse.com have given us an opportunity to make our very own west coast bangers with their new Maschine Expansion entitled “LowRider Weather (LRW).” Packed with 200 instruments, and 400 drums and sound effects, you’ll find yourself ironing up a khaki suit and lacing up some chucks.

            You will find everything you’ll ever need when browsing LRW’s instruments. Everything from bass, keys, organs, and bells is loaded into this kit. While most of the sounds utilize the effects in Maschine, some all have effects placed right on them such as chorus and phaser. While browsing I found that the stand out section in the instruments (besides synths which we’ll get to) is the bass section. One thing I’ve always loved about the west coast sound is the blend of electric bass guitars and synth basses coming together to create that ultimate rattle. Maschine Warehouse really came with it here where you’ll find over 20 sub pumping bass instruments that will lay the foundation to all your west coast inspired bangers. With so many sounds in this expansion, you’ll be hard pressed not to get something going to not make Dre go “Hell Yeah.”

The Synth section of LRW comes packed with analog, whiny goodness. I find myself scrunching my face time and time again when I press middle “C” on a new sound. The sound design of The Maschine Warehouse has once again impressed. I find that many of the polyphonic synths have an almost late 1980s feel to them while still remaining modern and not sounding outdated. Many of these synths will inspired you to take an acid trip, or make you feel like you were born in the wrong decade. Either way, I know everyone will be indeed getting these sounds into your next project.

LRW also comes packed with over 30 Maschine ready kits ranging from drums, guitar licks, and even vocoder vocal stabs.  Checking in with 19 drum kits, LRW drums are classic and cutting edge all at the same time. They hit hard and create their own space in your mix. While I must admit for some of these drums EQ will be necessary, trust me, you won’t be mad at the selection. The Maschine Warehouse has also packed LRW with vocoder vocal samples as well. Tune these bad boys up, and throw them into your track and find a Cali based artist to spit a love song about the Golden State. There are many other awesome kits inside LRW and you just have to grab the expansion to check them all out.

Once again, The Maschine Warehouse has not only impressed, but raised the bar in sound design when it comes to creating expansions for your Native Instruments Maschine. I highly encourage everyone to get LRW, it may be designed for west coast rap, but you can literally create any and all styles of music with this expansion. On a scale of 1-16 pads (Drum Roll please) Low Rider Weather checks in at 15 out of 16 pads. Do NOT hesitate; get over to Themaschinewarehouse.com and get this expansion right MEOW!

James Jaxin (@jaxin414)

Forum Moderator MaschineMasters.com

Product Review Specialist MaschineMasters.com