Cyclone Rocks!. I love this box. Others have pointed to its similarity to pHATmatic PRO. Well, kind of. I bought PPro also, which I think is better than Cyclone at distorting and effecting loops and slices, reversing direction, etc. However, I find Cyclone to be much more adept at slicing and dicing, and in choosing and re-arranging/re-ordering individual slices of the loop or of multiple loops. Triggering sequenced slices from individual loops is dead easy and logical, and triggering them live in sync with SONAR is a snap. Earlier versions of SONAR allowed one to paint, tempo match and pitch shift individual acidized loops onto audio tracks, which could previously be done only with ACID (et al). Now, Cyclone allows me to set up a single instance of 16 loop pads, and slice and re-sequence individual slices in any way I like, and trigger them accurately via MIDI (or live) in perfect sync with my SONAR project, without glitches, pops or crackles. Any time I use loops now I automatically bring them into Cyclone. I also like Cake's 'FxPAD' (DX, $19) as an excellent complement to Cyclone for adding morphing and modulating effects either in time with the project, or freeform. This combination somewhat matches (and in some ways surpasses) the effects advantage of PHat. I don't look at the Cyclone versus Phat Pro decision as an either/or question. Both have their place in a certain type of project. Phat is better at mangling and twisting. Cyclone is better at slicing and arranging. I'm glad I own them both, and I can't wait for the DXi version of Phat
