Product Reviews by KVR Members

Summary: It's astounding to me that Cakewalk hasn't created an audio metronome for Sonar 3, or even allow the existing metronome to be routed through a DXi/VSTi. I'd bet this is on their list for the next version, but until then, Ping DXi should do the trick. But there are some issues.

Please note, I am harsh towards plugins in my reviews, even when they are low-cost or free. I do this to hopefully to allow people to know what they are getting, and what they aren't. On to the review...

I just bought the new version 3.00 which has a much better looking UI than the one in the KVR photo (go to the author's website to see it).

The UI is pretty clean and self-explanatory, but unfortunately, there are some bugs which make it slightly confusing. These bugs don't interfere with the key operation of the plugin.

The sound is fine for a metronome. Plus, the user can replace the samples with their own.

It's a one-trick pony, but it's better to use this pony than use any of the other work-arounds I've heard for an audio metronome.

The documentation is good but not perfect. There is one glaring omission regarding the count in - you must set Sonar 3's Metronome Count-In to 0 in order to use Ping's count-in feature. If you don't, you will be confused by what actually occurs.

There are no presets. Fortunately, there is a config file which can configure the default behavior of the plugin. Nice.

Unfortunately, customer support was non-existent. I emailed 3 times before purchase to ask some customer-service related questions, and I never received a reply. Despite that, I bought the thing on blind faith. Payment and web-based plugin delivery was flawless. I received the install instructions within 24 hours of purchase.

Stability: No problems, but note the documentation issue listed above, and the UI inconsistencies.

Value for money: It is a very good value for the money at $10. If it cost $30 or higher, I would be hesitant since I predict Sonar will include this functionality in the future.

Bottom line: If you need an audio metronome, buy this. I would buy it again if I had to, and I intend to put it in my default Sonar template which loads with every song. I recommend it despite all issues I listed above.

Note: As a reviewer, I try to be very hard on softsynths, free or otherwise. As a result, my rating scores might be lower than other equivalent reviews.

This is a neat little free softsynth. It works fine in Cubase SX and also Sonar via the VST to DX adaptor. There were no install hassles (simply copy the files to the VSTPlugins directory), and no crashes or other side effects of having this plugin installed.

The sound seems like it would be authentic, but I don't have a true, uh, "02-SM" to compare it to. Most of the included presets are pitch shifted +3 semitones, but that's because the MG EG1 is set to 5, and not 0. At 0, the pitch is correct. Controlling the knobs via mouse seems to be a hybrid linear/circular operation that works correct 75% of the time, but 25% of the time, the control works opposite of your mouse movement. The UI looks good and clean. There is no documentation.

Automation doesn't seem to be well implemented. I was unable to automate controls via VST automation in Cubase, and it didn't seem to respond to MIDI automation. I was able to automate certain parameters in Project 5, which will automate non-automatable softsynths, but unfortunately the internal naming structure of the softsynth is poor, so you need to hunt around for what you want. For example, to automate filter cutoff, you need to choose one of 4 identically named "Pitch" parameters.

I realize I'm being hard on a free softsynth, but I feel this will be useful to someone who wants to compare "02-SM" emulators in the future. This review might save them some time.