Mode Audio Klang Found Percussion Hits Review

For us producers, we all remember what it was that made us want to make beats. Whether it is from playing in school band (guilty), beat-boxing with the radio, even that corny ass toy keyboard with 8-bit presets, it had to start somewhere. Then there were the ones that would beat on the kitchen table, make drum sets out of boxes and cans, and would shake the salt shakers. Wouldn’t it be great to have a kit like that we could load directly into our sequencers? Meet Klang; Found Percussion Hits by Mode Audio (@modeaudio). This kit contains over 125 hits sampled from various sources such as paper bags, jar lids, bike helmets, and cardboard boxes. It comes ready to go in Maschine format. If Maschine isn’t your cup of tea, never you worry. Mode Audio has already taken the liberty to supply this kit in NI Battery Format, Kontakt (full version required), Reason Refill, Ableton Live Pack, FL Studio Pack, and Logic Pack. Off the bat, I am pretty impressed that a sound designer does more than give you the WAV file, but prepared to use with your favorite sampler.

When I first read the synopsis of what all this kit entailed, I was very aroused (maybe that was a poor word choice) excited. I could remember driving my great grandmother nuts with my constant beating of her wood floors in the bedroom, and using pens and pencils on her coffee table. I couldn’t wait to dig in. Once I dug in, I found myself happy and upset at the same time. While the idea was great, it just didn’t hit home enough for me. While some of the sounds are extremely useable by themselves, some are just kind of DIW (dead in the water). Especially the hits that are intended to be similar to bass drums just kinda thud and that’s it. No real resonance or body to them. The sounds that are useable are similar to bells, and some shakers. A few of the deeper kick sounds are great.

The samples are recorded at a very good quality, and the guys and gals at Mode Audio did excellent with that. I feel while this kit may not be the stand out in drum kits that us producers are used to purchasing, I feel a lot of the sounds in this kit would be excellent for layering with other sounds to enhance your sound. So, on a scale of 1-16 pads (1 being Marques Colston’s lateral vs the Seahawks, and 16 being that sick Paul George dunk), for me this kit comes in at 9 pads. Head over to Mode Audio to check out this kit and others!

James Jaxin (@jaxin414)

Forum Moderator MaschineMasters.com

Product Review Specialist MaschineMasters.com