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All Reviews by Armadillo


By Armadillo
On 17th May 2004
Version: 1.00

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Spectrasonics Stylus Classic

Stylus has something like 1000 kicks, 1000 snares and 500 hihats + loads of loops. Phew. Now that is a lot to audition. They all sound great, but it's a bit of a pain finding the right one, as they are not categorized.

Most of the sounds are aimed at hip hop/funk but you can find something for most styles though. The loops are mainly these 2 styles and Drum n' Bass for the faster loops. That's not too much of a problem as I usually removes the kick and snares and then you have tons of posibilities again. All the loops sound superb, although too much alike.
The biggest problem with Stylus is that it's not multitimbral. Sure you can use all the drumhits in a loop in one instance, but once you want another snare you have to open another Stylus. That's a bit of a pain when you are sequencing. But Stylus RMX which comes out in September should take care of that. Can't wait. It'll turn a great ROMpler into a superb one. Eric's sounds are just the best.
I don't give it as high scores as someone does, as I think it can get improved a lot, and I know it will be.
I'm sure once Stylus RMX comes out I'll rate it 10 in all categories. And the upgrade will be free for everyone who buys it now. I'm sure it will be the king of drum machines then.
 
    

By Armadillo
On 16th May 2004
Version: 1.83

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Ultimate Sound Bank Plugsound Vol. 4: Hip Hop Toolkit

woohoo... my first review.

I needed a plugin for RnB and this is the only dedicated one there is.

Interface: pretty staightforward. It's a ROMpler so you have a limited amount of control over the sounds and it's therefore very easy to use.

Sound: This is the most important thing I suppose. All the sounds a categorized. First is the loops. They are topclass especially the Timbaland style loops. Very well programmed. Each loop is also chopped up into hits which makes it easier to create your own loops.
You have different instruments; basses, keyboards, guitars, synths, and vinyl noises. The basses are great. Keyboard are your standard ep, organ etc. which you can find so many places. Guitars suck at bit as you could expect, and the synths are ok, but not more than that.
Then there's some phrases; bassloops, fx loops, guitarloops and synthloops. Hmm.... I can't see myself having much use for those. I would much rather have preferred some brass phrazes instead of synths. The synths phrazed just sound too much techno. FX phrazes are also a bit off.

Features: well, it's a ROMpler so it's obviously not loaded with features, but you have the usual envelopes, lfo and filter. A nice addition is portamento, not outstanding but it give it all a bit more life.

Documentation: is quite limited, but it's pretty straightforward anyway so you don't really need it.

Presets: well, I've already mentioned that I suppose.
Drums - superb, phrazes - not very inspiring, instrument - a mixture, nothing out of this world, but some decent ones especially the basses.

Customer support: haven't had need for that.

Value for money: Considering it only costs £20 more than a audio sample CD I think it's great value.

Stability: I haven't had any problem.

So, if you are looking for something to create contemporary RnB/Hip hop with this is not a bad choice. But keep in mind that it's mostly the drums that shines. Having said that, not many ROMpler sell for £80 though.
 
    
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