Cardiak Present’s The Clinic Review

            Let’s be real here. When most of us go to the clinic it’s usually not a good thing. Usually getting something cleared up from the weekend, or needing a doctor’s note to get out of work. But when you put the homie Cardiak’s name in front of that clinic, well you’ve got yourself one clean sounding drum kit. The kits just keep on comin and with his latest release, you’ll have your heart in the right place on this kit.

Inside you’ll find 7 folders neatly labeled with what’s inside. The kicks folder is loaded with 29 wav samples that will define your tracks. Punchy and to the point, these kicks will not require much, if any, layering. Most of these knock right around the 95Hz range, leaving you plenty of room to place an 808 or bass line underneath without clashing frequencies. Some of these kicks do have some slight air in them, but a plugin like NI’s Transient Master can help cut out some of that.

There is also a folder of live hats that are very crisp and well recorded. I’m not sure of the type of hat used (maybe a Zildjian), but you get 15 samples of it. I would think the idea of this was to place all 15 samples onto your pads and play it like a real hi hat section. Setting choke groups or even pad links, to get you that feel if you are without a plugin like Addictive Drums. That is what I see myself doing with those samples and can see many others doing the same.

There are also snare, 808, percussive samples and transition effects to round out The Clinic. While the snares are nice and snappy for the most part, I felt like they didn’t capture the ear like the kicks and hats did. The eight 808 samples included were again nice, but aren’t anything most of us don’t already have in a sample kit that comes with an 808 library. Frankly with the release of 808 Warfare, it’s very difficult for any 808 that is included in any kit to do something to impress this content reviewer.

At the end, The Clinic is a well-rounded kit that will more than suffice to spark creativity. Again, the live hats and kicks are the stars of this kit. On a scale of 1-16 pads (1 being that Britney Spears no Auto-Tune recording and 16 being Da RockWilder) The Clinic comes in at a cool 11 pads.

PICK IT UP HERE!

James Jaxin (@jaxin414)

Forum Moderator MaschineMasters.com

Product Review Specialist MaschineMasters.com