Dance eJay 4

• More than 5,000 royalty free club sounds
• 48 track sound mixer
• Voice, groove and hyper generators
• Extensive FX studio
• Equalizer, Booster and Audio Mixer
• Music Animator
• Record your own samples and voices

Dance fans beware, you could soon be exchanging your nightlife for a night in front of your PC with Dance eJay 4–another CD-ROM in the phenomenally successful eJay range. If you’re a fan of dance masters such as Cut La Roc or Milk & Sugar you’re going to be very happy indeed–updated features mean Dance eJay 4 comes with 5,000 royalty-free, exclusive Trance, Latin, Brazil, Europop, Tech House, Disco House, 2-Step and Garage club sounds (including exclusive samples from Cut La Roc and Milk & Sugar); a voice generator that will create robotic voices and cool electronic voice samples; an e-card generator that allows you to send your mix to friends, and a “Vocoder” that will add that classic touch by compressing and synthesising your samples.

Designed to bring the technology of thousands of pounds worth of equipment to the desktop for less than £30, the buzzword for this program is undoubtedly “easy”–it is simple to install and ridiculously straightforward to operate thanks to drag-and-drop features. As with previous versions, just select a loop, base line and drums (a drum computer, 16-track drum sequencer and more than 500 special drum grooves mean you won’t miss a beat) then start adding vocals and rifts from the samples provided. (The more experienced and adventurous eJays may prefer to record their own.) Forty-eight tracks-50 per cent more than previously–mean your mix can be as complicated as your imagination will allow.

As with all eJay products, Dance eJay 4 is fully compatible with others in the series, and together with the eJay Online Sound Archive, you will never run out of samples or inspiration. —Lucie Naylor