A library named Raw Power brings to mind heavy metal; in reality it covers a wide variety of modern rock genres. Producers Jay Price and Jez Miller have chosen an unusual organizational structure. There are five main stylistic folders, called Alternative USA 145 bpm, Artskool 135 bpm, England’s Dreaming 140 bpm, New Wave 120 bpm, and New York Underground 130 bpm.

Each of these contains folders of roughly 150 mostly 2-bar bass, drums (both patterns and fills), guitar, and synth loops. But these are not simple construction kits?for example the basses may be synthetic, fuzzed, straight, or flanged; the drums may be big-room acoustic kits or techno-processed machines. The styles range from the ’70s through the present, solidly anchored in the ’80s. Many of the drum loops in a given folder are related, although this is not always obvious from their names.



Most of the guitar and many of the bass loops are presented in different keys (a big plus), but you get only a single 2-bar loop for each key (not great for variety). Finally, a Toolbox folder contains nearly 200 single-shot samples and corresponding Reason patches. In short, there’s a lot of material here, but it will take some thought and work to realize its full potential. If you are doing short commercials, or higher-energy trance-like styles (such as early Chemical Brothers), you’ll very happy!