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All Reviews by Phaedo

By Phaedo
On 30th June 2004
Version: SX2

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Yes | No		 Steinberg Cubase

Kind of amazing no-one's ever reviewed this, but here goes: as far as I'm concerned, Cubase is the premier sequencer on the planet. Logic may have better effects, Sonar may have more features, but for multi-tracking audio and midi, it's really hard to beat.

For me, the out and out coolest thing that no other sequencer has is the ability to comp audio directly in the arrange (project) window. It has proper PDC, although it doesn't support sidechains.

In general terms, things have been well worked out, but not quite everything. Key commands are logical and complete, with a couple of notable omissions (e.g. there's no way to switch software monitoring on or off, grr...). The mixer is powerful, allowing you to show or hide whatever you like.

On the other hand, there are some notable irritations. First up, it's not entirely stable. This is made worse by the fact that VSTs can bring it down on startup, and it won't even tell you which one did it (be careful...). Secondly, its effects aren't really the equal of Sonar 3 Producer or Logic (especially Logic) which effectively means you're going to spend more money quite soon after purchase. Thirdly, every so often it manages to semi-corrupt a project file. Let's hope you'd exported all the presets...
 
    

By Phaedo
On 17th July 2003
Version: 2.0

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  GUI
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Features
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VFM
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LinPlug Free Alpha

It's a crime that this thing is offered for free. You've got a polyphonic 2 oscillator synth with effects, LFOs, and more routing options than a MiniMoog. And they're using it just to promote their other products.

A warning: this review is critical. That's not to say it's a bad review. Actually, the product is great.

There's a couple of nastinesses about the user interface. The full waveform name isn't displayed. The knobs to my mind sit rather uneasily between a 2d and 3d look. The worst bit, though, is the preset manager, which fails to open in the correct directory. This is, of course, a matter of taste. I just don't much like it.
On the other hand, the interface is simple and easy to use (unlike plenty of other synths). In particular, the ability to octave-shift the oscillators is very easy to play with.

Is the sound that "classic analogue"? To my ears, not quite, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The presets don't necessarily jump out at you, but there's a lot of workman-like, usable stuff in there.

There are, however, a lot of waveforms, and the jewel in the crown: polyphonic note stealing. Human played pads sound wonderful with this (you can also achieve the effect through careful editing, obviously...) It's a pity none of the presets have limited polyphony to show this off immediately.

As you've probably gathered, I use this thing for pad sounds. Synth basses don't really interest me, and, good though it is, I think there are better free synths for leads.

Feature-wise, I'd say it was "just right". There's enough features to be useful and creative with it, but it doesn't have the kitchen sink and if you want more, you can go buy Albino...

Have to admit, I've never actually read the manual or used the technical support, so I've given them 10. I've never seen it crash either, so that's a genuine 10.

Value for money and value for time is excellent. I guarantee that if you download it and start messing around, it won't be an hour before you can find something to use on a tune. I wouldn't have Alpha dominate the tune but frankly, too many synths try to.

If you've got too many synths already, you really don't need another. On the other hand, if you're starting out, or you just want a different texture for one song, go get it, it won't disappoint you. This isn't one of those free synths where you get what you pay for. It's one of those that leaves you feeling like you've stolen from the developer.
 
    
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