LO-FI TAPES FROM MARS

Lo-Fi Drums, Synths & Acoustic Instruments Re-Sampled to Tape

Lo-Fi Tapes From Mars is a collection of heavily textured one-shots and loops created by processing hi-fi recordings of acoustic drums, drum machines, guitar, bass, and synths with bit and sample rate reduction, compression, overdrive, vinyl simulation, filtering, chorus and recording the results to cassette and 1/4" tape. The results: some of the most textured drum and synth one-shots and loops in the SFM collection to date. 

Inside you'll find drum grooves, tops and one-shots, bass, synths, electric and acoustic guitars, keys, and songstarters in the style of lo-fi beats and indie bedroom pop. Ranging from soft, smooth melodies and dusty grooves to crunchy, distorted loops covered in hiss, sample rate reduction and tape saturation, this collection showcases all of the slight imperfections that make old, portable samplers and tape machines so addictive.

Dr Sample meets Indie Tapes

The concept of Lo-Fi Tapes was to take the musical, dreamy vibe of Indie Tapes From Mars and combine it with the grit of the Dr. Sample From Mars.

With Indie Tapes, we explored the sound of real instruments, analog synths, acoustic drums and vintage drum machines recorded to tape, with songwriting and the character of home recording at the center of the pack. This time around, we took that same ideology but applied it through the lens of two of our favorite lo-fi samplers. 

We've been obsessed with these little boxes for years. The SP-202 was one of our first samplers, and along with the 303 and 404 became the foundation of Dr. Sample From Mars. Their limitations are a huge part of what makes them special: reduced sample rates, crunchy conversion, simple filters and effects, and a workflow that encourages you to keep sampling and re-sampling.

Lo-Fi Tapes From Mars is the natural fusion of these two products: musical, lofi and printed to tape!

Sampled, Re-Sampled & Recorded to Tape

We started by playing the melodic material from scratch using electric bass, acoustic and electric guitars, a Wurlitzer 200a, and a mix of analog and hybrid synths including the Juno-60, Juno-106 and 3rd Wave.

For drums, we combined acoustic kits with classic samplers like the MPC60 and vintage rhythm boxes including our CR-78, Minipops and Rhythm Ace.

A huge part of the sound came from the SP-202 and SP-404. The SP-202 has four different sampling modes Hi-Fi, Normal, Lo-Fi 1 and Lo-Fi 2. The SP-404 has a LoFi sampling mode along with a LoFi effect. We made heavy use of all these different modes for light lofi dust all the way to heavy degraded madness. Other sampler effects we used include drive, compression, vinyl simulation, filtering, pitching, chorus, reverb and isolators.

From there, everything was recorded to either cassette or 1/4" tape! The tape adds another layer of warmth, saturation, noise, compression, warble and subtle imperfections, giving the sounds that final worn-in quality that digital processing alone doesn't quite capture.

The goal wasn't to make everything sound old for the sake of it. We wanted to build a collection around the things that make this gear so fun to use in the first place: limitations, happy accidents, degradation and the feeling that every pass through the hardware changes the sound in all the right ways.

What You Get

Inside you'll find 330 loops and 250 one-shots, recorded at 24-bit / 44.1kHz and ready to drop into your sampler or DAW.

Lo-Fi Tapes is about the point where musical ideas and small samplers collide. Ranging from smooth guitars, mellow synths, round basses and laid-back drum grooves with just the right amount of sampler crunch and tape warmth, all the way to heavily pitched and filtered sounds, distorted drums and degraded melodies!

By combining real instruments, vintage drum machines, classic lo-fi samplers and multiple tape formats, we've created a collection that feels worn-in from the start: dusty, dreamy, crunchy, warped and ready to become part of something new.