Groove Agent 5 - your opinions and alternatives

[Ian Mackie]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know your opinion and experience with Groove Agent 5.

Is it your your main drum production program? Or do you only use it for specific things?
Or did you try it for a while but them decided to use another program you found that was better?
Or did you just find some other drum software that you think is amazing so don´t even bother with Groove Agent?

Let me know please!

I want to sequence beats for electronica and also acoustic kits for ´normal songs´. I lean towards more of the experimental side of things, so I am interested in Groove Agent as I know it can do a little bit of drum sculpting and sound design. But also sometimes I need a simple 4/4 beat using analogue drum machine style sounds.

Groove Agent 5 really appeals to me, but for some reason I feel like I am missing out on something cooler out there.

ALL OPINIONS WILL BE HELPFUL!! The good things and bad !

Many thanks!!

[Iva]

you should buy it if you're using Cubase. Otherwise Geist 2 seems better alternative. I have them both. Use GA5 more often. But I am in Cubase.

[Ian Mackie]

Thanks for the Geist 2 suggestion Iva.

Yes I should have mentioned I´m using Cubase 10. But! I can use other drum software within Cubase, so it´s not the only deciding factor for me.

[JiggSaw]

you should buy it if you're using Cubase. Otherwise Geist 2 seems better alternative. I have them both. Use GA5 more often. But I am in Cubase.

I'm an Ableton Live user but I'm curious about what makes Geist 2 better than GA5.

[kevvvvv]

XLN XO is definitely cool - a better way of working, at least for me

[Googly Smythe]

...
for some reason I feel like I am missing out on something cooler out there.
...

The other man's grass and all that.
You have GA5 SE, use that as a demo. Try the Steinberg expansion packs, they are quite good, albeit expensive. You can load your own samples into it, and not just drums, any samples. And Cubase comes with dozens of acoustic and electronic drum samples.
If you don't want anally-extensive control over kit pieces, GA will do the job.

[zoidkirb]

I have ga5, it's pretty well featured. Dragging your samples onto pads, layering them, velocity layer or round robin options , various sound design tricks (envelopes, filters, pitch, decompose etc) are all pretty straightforward and powerful. Built in sequencer options are nice, and you can drag and drop from ga5 right into cubase or just trigger each pattern via midi.
I hate most of the fx built into the patches so first up I usually disable them. If you're using an acoustic kit with one click you can export each individual output to channels in the cubase mixer which is very useful

[Ian Mackie]

Cheers all!! Very helpful indeed.

XLN XO looks very cool too.

Some of the features in Groove Agent 5 look pretty good and what zoidkirb and Googly Smithe have talked about makes me think it´s the right tool for me.

I have looked around a bit as there is ALOT of drum software out there, reading about Battery 4, Xfer Nerve, iZotope BreakTweaker, Softube Heartbeat, etc.

I guess most do similar things, but with a slightly different workflow.

[SJ_Digriz]

I use a combination of BFD, GA5 and Jamstix. For just drums I use BFD. If I'm building a kit or want detailed pattern control I use GA5. But I typically end up driving the other two from jamstix letting the engine make things a bit more unique.

[GRUMP]

To make a Long Story Short: one of GA's biggest Advantages is, that you don't invest your Time in a Software that won't be there for Long. Steinberg...

I can't say anything negative about it. Only checked the Beat Agent, don't need the Others and probably much more of its Potential. OK - The FX are no mangeling Toys.

I'd recommend it to anyone working seriously. Luv the Workflow. The Library is awesome, the Grooves very inspirative. I had hoped for more"Electro Classics/Pop" and less ahm... Teenage Stuff... but thats what sells at the Moment.?

[Ian Mackie]

Yes a combinationn of drum software is probably a good thing too.

In terms of direct competition, who is the main competitors to Groove Agent 5 then?

[BBFG#]

In terms of direct competition, who is the main competitors to Groove Agent 5 then?

Maschine and Geist.

[Ian Mackie]

Sooo...Maschine and Geist are the two main beat making software for professionals?

I guess what people use depends on if they use Logic, Ableton, Cubase or FL Studio etc

[Calenberger]

The Drummer in Logic is ... errrmm ... unbeatable

[BBFG#]

The Drummer in Logic is ... errrmm ...

In comparison;
The drummer in Logic is limited...