Sonicbytes ERA

The Sonicbytes ERA is a really good mid step sequencer and arp plug in. You can used multiple instruments, I think 12. You can use them in a very unique way that most programs wont allow you to use them in. One thing that really sticks out with this software is that you can use it for live performance and it can do wonders for you. The ERA can hold a bunch of different patterns and each one of them can take up to 15 or 16 different variations.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I ran it on my dual core running windows vista and it works just fine. I think I maybe had one back crash with it when it froze and I had to do a hard restart (pushing the power button) But besides that it worked fine. I really don’t feel the need for this though because I have other softwares that can do the same thing and some. As I said before, using it live would be the only reason I would use this consistently.


OVERALL OPINION

Overall, for the price of it its worth a try. Just not my cup of tea. Not saying its not good because its very good. I just have so many different software’s and plug ins that do the same as this and allow to do a lot more. So I really don’t have a use for this like I do the other programs. But If I was doing more live stuff I would def. have this in my arsenal and use it a lot. You will have a lot of control over your parameters (velocity, swing, delay and gates) with this software. So if those things are important to you , then you will love this software. Start using it right away, its very easy to set up and start using. No learning curve!

The Sonicbytes ERA software is a MIDI based software that is available for Windows platforms. It's a pretty simple piece of software, but there is definitely a good amount that can be done with it. Downloading and installing it should only take a matter of minutes as it can be downloaded directly from the website. You can use it within any sort of MIDI based synthesizer or sampler. The interface of the software is generally pretty simple once you get the hang of it. It's a really simple, almost old looking interface. I haven't ever had a need to check out the manual for this software...


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

When I was running Sonic Bytes, it was on a pc lap top with a 3.0 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. I ran it with a variety of different MIDI synthesizers when I didn't have any built in options. It's definitely a lot easier to use than a lot of arpeggiators in virtual synths, and it definitely allows you to do a lot more than you normally would be able to do. As far as performance goes, this software always doesn't take up any processing power at all, so the majority of users should be okay.


OVERALL OPINION

The main reason that I'd recommend the Sonic bytes to Windows/PC users is that it is really cheap and easy to understand! You can't go wrong with a wit it no matter how you look at it, so it's definitely worth grabbing this one just in case. It's also worth playing around with for a minute or two, as even though it looks simple and out of date, it still works great for getting quick synth or arp sounds in virtual synthesizers. While certainly not the prettiest piece of software, it's definitely worth the trade off. Go to the website and download it the newer updated version of this software , you will enjoy it.