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All Reviews by glokraw


By glokraw
On 24th January 2009
Version: xp

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AlgoMusic Atomic

After using this AMB/AlgoMusic gem for an hour, I had its midi out simultaneously connected to and controlling my Yamaha keyboard, M42, M51, Enceladus, and 2 instances of Synth1, using its sequencer to play 5 great patches, one of it's own fine synth preset sounds, and two twelve string guitar sounds on the Yamaha rompler! Totally gobsmacked, I paced, and drank more coffee, pinched myself, looked at the PDF manual a bit, saved the combo as a Reaper project, and went back to the Yamaha, which lets you load two different drumkits, which share some sounds, but by putting them on offsetting octaves, shared sounds are re-grouped with other sounds, toss in echoes on one kit, delays on both, and then having an Atomic sequence simultaneously play:
1. each keypress as a different pair of percussion sounds
2. many pairs in the sequenced pattern when a key is held down
3. many repeats of the pattern played in syncopation
4. Notes outside the selected sequencer keyboard range still playing the internal hardware combo.

Want to turn your favourite ambient pad into an athletic dancer? Load the Atomic and Enceladus demos from www.algomusic.net, choose the Enceladus Pad Sea of Glass sound, give it a very fast attack, and shorten both the release and and sustain to around 10-20%, and use the default Hypergate sequence from Atomic to play it, by creating a receive on the Enceladus track, from the Atomic track, and turning on the Atomic Midi Out port. You can choose or design Atomic sounds that compliment your chosen synth sound, like the sounds in this example, or mute/mix the Atomic sounds to taste, while also triggering midi rompler/rack-synth sounds with the same sequence, if desired. (Now go back and drag out the release on Pad Sea of Glass, to about 75% to hear some nice extras for the dancer!)

To those of you with midi enabled hardware drum modules and synths, and those using softsynths and multitimbral romplers, Atomic may well alter your approach to music making. Now all my favorite hardware combinations are right inside Reaper, sharing the turf with software.
To those looking for an afforable new synth, with great sound and effects, Atomic is a bargain even without using the midi-out feature. The PDF manual covers the many different editing features, which pop up when you choose to use them.
There are 31 preset sequences to display the sound and rythm capabilities, which really shine when combined with hard and software you already love to work with. 9.5 out of 10, and truly great support from the AlgoMusic team!

(used with linux, but that is not currently an option in the review dialogs
so I fibbed, and said xp )
 
Last edited : 28th January 2009     

By glokraw
On 27th April 2008
Version: 4.6

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Wusik Wusik Station

A short review of Wusikstation...
A great strength in music creation is having both bread and butter sounds, and then a vast array of unique sounds to customize them with. Using the General Midi collection for Wusikstation, I can start with a nice 'normal' instrument, embellish as desired with synth controls and the FX section, then use the 3 extra sound slots to import other waveforms, so the imagination, and familiarity with the thousands of sounds included with Wusik, are the only limiting factors. Using Minihost, I can qickly audition the array of soundsets with just the down arrow key, and pressing the letter s, even with the eyes closed during a headache :wink: and then write down the favorite sounds, or copy them with a filemanager for a 'greatest hits' folder later. While time consuming, the end result can be a composing environment conducive to unique and high quality productions, with a very small learning curve, in one central, well organized interface.
There are some utube videos available that explain arpeggios, wavesequencing, and other features, but for composing ballads, and the basic commercial genres, it is easy to create new sounds to liven up the most common styles of music.
When It comes to support, The author, his customers, and many sound designers are quick to offer good advice, and quite often, bugs are squashed within a day of being reported. New features have been known to appear based on an aside in a forum post, and there is nearly always a special offer to $entice$ upgraders, or new users.
New 3rd party synths and sound collections using the Wusik engine and sound format are also of the highest quality, and more are always in the works. For the professional musician looking for a stable, low cpu vsti for live performance, for a studio songwriter looking for that special edge, for a production jingle author needing fast efficiency, and for the hobbyist who loves the creative craft of making great tunes in the style of choice, Wusikstation is a great tool, that just keeps on getting better month after month, year after year!
I would say dollar for dollar, this is the best of the many fine $options$ available. I look forward to the new version 5 evolving, and to using more of the great 3rd party sounds, and my own new creations that they inspire.
I score it all 8, for personal taste categories, 10 for support and value for money, as they are among the best available...
 
    
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