by Evan James

Community wrap-up: Uplifting sample flips from Datsunn, DYVN, DDS, & more

With 2020 safely behind us, it's time to revisit some uplifting moments from the past weeks.

2020 – undoubtedly one of the longest years of our collective lives – is officially over. And while there’s no way of knowing what awaits us in 2021, one thing’s for certain: When the events of the the past 12 months pushed us to the brink, many of you responded with a radical act of inclusion and hope that brought a heightened sense of community, passion, and purpose. So for our first community wrap-up of the year, we’re sharing a selection of recent videos that joyfully celebrate the healing power of creative defiance.

Knives out

Wanna slice and dice like the pros? MASCHINE guru and Hip Hop producer AG’s got your back. In this video, the East Coast adept demonstrates five ingenious approaches to chopping samples with precision, style, and speed. If your current solutions just aren’t cutting it, then check out AG’s soulful approach to the manual, grid, split, detect, and duplicate options. With chops this vibey, you’ll be slicing like Salt Bae in no time.

Setting the record straight

There’s just nothing like the sound of freshly-squeezed vinyl. Watch beatmaker Boombap Art sample a secret jazz record directly into his MASCHINE Mikro MK3 and drop a lumbering Lo Fi beat over the top with a little help from his KOMPLETE M32. May the soothing symphony of crisp snares and punchy kicks swimming in waves of warm, analog crackle compel you to quit shopping around and harvest your dusty vinyl vibes straight from the source.

Bonus track

After cranking out 30 straight days of fire beats for her Jamuary 2021 challenge, finger-drumming phenom Gnarly closes it all out with one final fiery farewell: A jazzy, genre-bending beat swaddled in stirringly psychedelic neo-soul. Try not to bob along – we dare you.

Calling All Bounty Hunters! 

Canada’s favorite genre-defying producer Datsunn is back with a fiery sci-fi flip from a galaxy far, far away. Experience this stirring sonic tribute to The Mandalorian, whose sweeping cinematic score gets the full Datsunn treatment: drenched in funk soul musicality and dripping with hip hop sensibilities. The force is strong with this one.

High quality, low fidelity

Within the space of a few days in December, both Native Instruments and German beatmaker, DYVN, unveiled new projects to the world: NI’s CRATE CUTS Expansion and DYVN’s adorable newborn daughter (Hi, Freya Solvi!). Watch the Lo-Fi aficionado dig through CRATE CUTS’ samples, one-shots, presets, and loops before declaring it his favorite Expansion ever and summoning a cloud of soothing, rainy-day beats to last you until the Spring.

Soul magic

The tail end of 2020 also saw the release of Native Instruments’ SOUL MAGIC Expansion, which collected a half century of authentic Soul sounds and textures. And now, thanks to Michigan native and Certified Gold music producer DDS, you can take an in-depth tour of every sample, kit, loop, and preset the Expansion has to offer. For a real treat, pour yourself a toasty beverage and kick back with five decades of era-defining sounds.

Related articles