Zero‑G's Disco Gold provides over 800 loops presented in a 24‑bit, 44.1kHz stereo format, with some 1.7Gb of sample material in all. While '70s disco dominates, there is also a generous portion of '80s vibe, and this latter material captures the way in which disco became an influence on electro music.
The loops are organised into two main sections. The bulk of the samples are contained within 34 construction kits, each with a suitably useful title suggesting the mood or influence of that particular kit, as well as details of the original recording tempo and key. The exact contents of each kit varies, but all are well populated with individual loop layers. As well as the expected drums, bass and guitar, other instruments include synths, electric piano, strings, brass and a whole host of different percussion elements such as claps, cowbells, tambourines and bells. As might be expected, in the more '80s‑influenced kits, there's a slightly greater emphasis on synth‑based sounds. Loops vary in length, with most in the two‑ to eight‑bar range. Usefully, a number of the kits include 'variations', so there might, for example, be two different bass, guitar or piano loops labelled 'Part 1' and 'Part 2'. While these don't generally contain two different musical phrases (for instance, they couldn't be used for verse and chorus sections respectively), they do contain nice variations on the same basic musical phrase. That said, given the consistent musical flavour of many of the kits, it proved easy enough to mix and match elements to build a more traditional verse/chorus structure if required.
This ease of use is further enhanced by the second, smaller, element of the library, which is based on 'paired' loops. In this section, there are three categories of pairs: guitar and bass, synth and synth bass, and piano and electric piano. These are all totally independent of the loops within the construction kits but can, of course, be layered with the drum parts from the kits, to provide some alternative musical sections.
Given the library title, the musical styles are exactly what you might expect: classic Shakatak, Chic and Bootsie Collins. Media composers wanting a '70s Starsky and Hutch soundtrack could get stuck in here. The more obviously '80s-influenced sounds go from Paula Abdul to a couple of kits that are almost in Human League territory. This is not, of course, the first sample library to offer classic '70s/'80s dance loops, so from a musical perspective it might be said that there is nothing radically new on offer here. However, the playing and the sounds are authentic throughout and there are some great grooves. As disco sounds and sensibilities can be easily heard in lots of modern music styles, there ought to be plenty here to interest contemporary dance music producers. John Walden