Catanya

I wish the demo of this were a fully usable 30day demo instead of a partially locked demo. This software looks at face value to be unique. What it is is a arpeggio creator. If you have no ability in this area this is a great product. I won't knock the product because it is solid. It is well laid out and once you figure out how to incorporate it into your DAW the presets are very easy to use. It takes a little while understand what you are doing when you program the sequences yourself. Adding notes is easy, understanding how to produce a desired effect takes some trial and error at first. Essentially Catnaya creates and arpeggio from chords you layout in your step sequencer. So in closing if you are good at laying down arpeggios in you step sequencer this product will not save you any time. It does do exactly what it is supposed to and it does it well.

While many VSTis contain their own arpeggio features, this external VST takes things quite a bit beyond the normal up/down/rand style of pattern. Its main focus is to produce MIDI patterns given keyboard input (usually in the form of chords). In this respect it starts to resemble phrase generation systems such as Korg's Karma etc.

Installation was simple and the tutorial videos on their web site get you up and running quickly. The UI is large and clear. Functions are well presented and the preset browser makes navigation very simple.

To my mind its biggest selling point was the extensive preset patterns provided. With over 1000 patterns in well organised categories, you will find plenty of usable and creative ways to process your MIDI input. The presets cover many bases; melodic chord work, bass lines, drums etc etc and many styles; classical, rock, dance, world etc.

At the moment the main negative point is the lack of a manual, but their website has handy tutorials and posts on KvR have indicated a manual is in the works.

If you find yourself in a bit of rut composition wise, this plugin could very well unblock those creative juices again.

FT