Native Instruments has released Basement Era, a new Maschine Expansion capturing the jazzy, soulful sound of classic East Coast hip hop and boom bap. Crackling with punchy, vinyl-inspired drums, sliced jazz interludes, lo-fi vintage chords, and booming bass, Basement Era is described as "a crate digger's dream".
Here's what they say:
In the late 80s and early 90s, boom bap was king. On the East Coast, hip hop producers and artists like Pete Rock, Grand Puba, and Gang Starr's DJ Premier dropped beats dripping with jazz and soul. These crate diggers scoured shops and mined records for soulful hooks, jazzy breaks, and funky grooves to scratch, sample, and blend. And though the Golden Age eventually came to an end, hip hop instrumentalist Madlib ushered in a renaissance of this jazzy, sample-driven sound in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Bass guitar and ensemble one-shots mingle with jazzy flute and horn hooks, funky guitar licks, and vintage keyboard chord stabs, all organized by key. Crisp snares and FX are perfect for crafting gritty, head-nodding beats, while drum decays can be easily trimmed to fit any track. As a final touch, dusty, crackling vinyl sounds add texture, warmth, and authenticity. The result is a collection of kits packed with layered, melodic samples for producers and fans of the 90s sample-based hip hop sound.
Basement Era was created in collaboration with Raw Cutz, the creator of the Prospect Haze Maschine Expansion.
Basement Era runs in the latest version of Maschine software on the entire Maschine hardware family, and is available exclusively at the NI Online Shop.
A compact version of Basement Era is also available as an iMaschine 2 Expansion, for sketches on the go. Tracks can be exported to Maschine Studio, Maschine Jam, Maschine, and Maschine Mikro for completion.
Pricing and availability
Basement Era is available now at the NI Online Shop for $49 / 49 € / £44 / ¥ 6,280 / AU$ 79 and runs in the Maschine 2 software.
The iMaschine 2 expansion is available at the iMaschine 2 in-app store for $0.99 / 0,99 € / £0.79 / ¥ 120 / AU$ 1.29.