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Hot
Steel Blues
Sound on Sound Review
5 Stars
Hot Steel Blues is a double CD-ROM sample set available in Akai,
Emu, Roland and Kurzweil formats, as well as on audio CD. Its Ilio
pedigree suggests it might be something a little bit special, as
the company have already received acclaim for their Fingerstyles
guitar sample library.
In some ways, producing a construction kit for blues is more 'do-able'
than for most other musical genres, as blues tends to follow a fairly
rigid root/sub-dominant/dominant chordal structure, with turnarounds
and endings in predictable places. Even so, the range of styles
available on this set is extraordinarily wide, including electric,
acoustic and slide examples where lead lines, chords and riffs are
all provided, and all with appropriate endings.
The playing is courtesy of American session player Terry Robbs,
who displays a tasteful, lyrical approach to the blues that just
oozes feel rather than pyrotechnic irrelevance. A number of guitars
and amps were used in the recording, including the obligatory Fender
Strat and a couple of dedicated lap and upright slide guitars and,
though some compression is evident, the sounds have a natural, fresh-from-the-studio
quality that would allow for further processing, if required. A
little natural amp noise is present, but both the electric and acoustic
recordings are to a very high standard.
The playing styles hint at the likes of John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy
and Muddy Waters, but also embrace a more modern blues feel. I was
particularly impressed by some of the 'unplugged'-style acoustic
chordal backings. The 'riffy' material, which is provided in a selection
of keys, never gets quite as far as Status Quo, but does impinge
upon R&B (proper R&B, that is, not the stuff some people
try to pass off as R&B in the dance market!). Broadly speaking,
the samples are divided into patterns, melodies and endings, where
patterns are mapped from notes C4 to B4, melodies are mapped from
C5 upwards, and endings (which are based on the same patterns but
with an ending built in) are mapped from C3 to B3.
Sample sets vary in size between 4Mb and 32Mb, and everything is
recorded in stereo. The CD-ROM sets also come with an audio CD for
quickly auditioning the examples prior to loading them, and all
samples are annotated with their tempo and key. Where complex chord
sequences are used, the chord names are provided, and there's a
brief description of each style in the accompanying booklet.
I can't really fault these samples for quality and usability, and
if you want a more overdriven amp tone there's no reason not to
route the lead lines through a decent guitar processor. I imagine
that most guitar players would rather play their own parts, even
if few can match the skills of Terry Robb, but anyone else needing
anything from a few blues licks to a full blues arrangement will
find this collection hard to beat. A thoroughly well-deserved five
stars.
Verdict - 5 out of 5 stars
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