Atomic

OS: XP
System: Dell XPS
MEM: 4gb
HD: 500gb
Intel 3.0

Host: Ableton Live 7.0
Rewired: Propellerhead’s Reason 4.0
Sound Card/Interface: MOTU 828 MKII


So after reading the first review posted of this VST I decided to look into it more as I had never heard of this VST manufacturer or the Atomic VST for that matter. But when I saw that it was a 16 step circular sequencer with MIDI out capabilities as well as a soft synth I bought it on the spot. The installation was quick and painless, just a simple yes, yes, ok and enter the password/key that was given at time of purchase as well as in an email. Once I initiated the program in Live I did hit a few stumbling blocks. First off Atomic for what I can see has no free run MIDI out so as to have the 16 step sequencer stay playing automatically without having to send midi note events directly to it. So in Live or for that matter any host you must add it as a MIDI VST then draw in MIDI notes in a clip and or trigger the sequencer with a MIDI controller/keyboard. But once I figured this out I hit another issue with not being able to get it to stop spitting out synth sounds and just be a sequencer. In live I got around this by muting its speaker/track activator button.

Its MIDI out functions located at bottom mid right are simply easy to adjust. In Live you must do a little basic MIDI routing to get Atomic to trigger another soft synth. First insert a soft synth and make sure its MIDI from properties are pointing to Atomics MIDI track. Then in Atomic change it’s MIDI out properties to reflect your new inserted soft synth, and be sure to mute Atomics audio. Once this is done you should be able to hear your slaved soft synth. Atomics MIDI out preferences also have a few neat little tricks. As simple as it is you can adjust two LFO and a LFO step sequencer, and send there MIDI messages to a number of parameters of your soft synth. Atomic does this by way of CC values so instead of seeing a list of parameters marked pitch bend, mod wheel, pan, frequency and so forth to choose from you have to choose a corresponding CC value. Unless you know specifically what you’re doing here you have no way of knowing the result, However that’s almost part of the fun of Atomics’ MIDI out functions.

In my first working attempt I routed Atomics’ MIDI out to Propellerhead’s Reason via Rewire within Live. I had it Control the notes of a Malstrom as well as other random parameters by way of LFOs and such. The result was intriguing enough to be satisfied with my new purchase. However adjusting Atomics’ sequencer knobs really didn’t seem to do much in the way of velocity, pitch and so on…..But maybe I’m missing something here? But what I came up with I immediately added to a current work in progress and it gave me the tonal uplifting to a segment that I had been looking for. In the beginning though at one point the main center sequencer windo started scrolling through developer credits and I could not figure out how to return it back to the defualt screen, so I had to delete it and start from scratch.



As far as its Synth capabilities I honestly don’t care, I have so many soft synths and noise makers that I’ve barely scratched the surface on I’m not too interested in it, but I did give it a little try and as far as sound output goes its marginal to my opinion. But for the price as a sound generating synth it’s a good buy. But there maybe better free ones if ya ask me. All in all for the price as a synth and a very neat little MIDI sequencer I give it 2 thumbs up.

On a side note I did buy at the same time due to a package discount the ElectraBass v1.2 and when I attempted an install I got an error due to corrupt install files, downloaded it a second time and same issue. I’ll try it again today and if all else fails AlgoMusic will be hearing from me.


-SeRVe-
www.myspace.com/serveonlineRead Review

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 )Read Review