What did you try to capture in this pack?
I tried to include a wide range of shuffle grooves, from subtle to heavy swing, mostly focusing on pop, rock and funk music.

With only shuffles, was it hard to still create such a diverse collection?
No, there’s a lot of material to be inspired by, and within the concept of shuffle there’s a lot of room for variation.

The shuffled groove has a lot of history – from the early days of jazz and blues, through the funk era, the AOR age and all the way up through to today. What does the shuffle mean to you?
It’s impossible to find a tune that has no shuffle in it unless it is 100% programmed. As human beings we are imperfect and we tend to introduce shuffle even in the straightest of rhythms, it just feels right to do it. Basically, in a shuffle groove, the offbeat notes are delayed in time. The amount of delay determines how heavy the swing feels. Most straight rock tunes played by humans have a very subtle shuffle to them, while a slow jazz or hip-hop tune might have a heavier swing. It can get very complex with some songs varying the amount of shuffle within a measure of music!

Some say that playing a shuffle is an art – do you agree?
Yes, as with any other element of music you can hone in on finer and finer aspects of it. Phrasing, timing, dynamics, envelope and sound are all part of shaping the groove and can be varied ad infinitum.

Name some favorite players that you think master the art of playing shuffled music!
On drums, Bernard Purdie, John Bonham and Jeff Porcaro are some of the masters of shuffled backbeat grooves. On the keyboards, my personal favorites are Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder.

What do you hope users will take away from this pack?
I hope they will have fun and create new and interesting tunes with it!