Established producers were divided. Some, like Datsik and Downlink, reportedly scoffed—"cheating," "cookie-cutter," "ruining the art." But others stayed silent, because they were quietly using the kicks and snares themselves. The industry secret was that everyone was using Vengeance samples, they just wouldn't admit it.
Manuel, for his part, was unbothered. He released Vol.2 in 2012, which included more "brostep" oriented sounds (the Skrillex-style screechy, mid-range FM basses). Then Vol.3 in 2013. Each one was more processed, more aggressive, and more over-the-top. The arms race had begun. To stand out, you now needed to process the already processed samples, leading to an escalating war of distortion, compression, and sheer loudness. vengeance essential dubstep
The backlash was brutal. Forums like Dubstepforum.com erupted with threads titled "Vengeance is Killing Creativity" and "How to Spot a Vengeance Producer." The ultimate insult was "Vengeance-core"—a producer whose entire sound was just unprocessed loops from the pack, barely rearranged. Established producers were divided
For the bedroom producer, it was a religious experience. Suddenly, you could drag and drop a "VES1_Kick_17.wav," layer a "VES1_Snare_09.wav," and drop a "VES1_BassLoop_Growl_04.wav" onto the timeline, and within ten minutes, you had a track that sounded professional . It had weight . It had that sound . Manuel, for his part, was unbothered