Virtual Percussion Synths

BPM (Beat Production Machine) is compatible with Windows Xp ,Vista , 7 and Mac OSX. I haven't encountered any problems regarding the help manual, everything is pretty well explained and the functions are easily accessible. The general configuration is great,everything works fast and the interface easy to follow and use. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software performs well without using a lot of cpu resources and it provides some great balance between the human touch and the pc programming of the drums. The gear is very stable, I hadn't had any errors working with it. I've been using for about 1 month, and I gotta admit it works very well , I've used this machine more in my pop , rock composition. OVERALL OPINION What I like most about it is the feel that this drum induce which are some classic drum machines of the 80's and 90's. I like a lot the library provided with it, which consists on 15 gb of pure drums , it has a drum machine-style operation with advanced virtual instrument that allows your creativity to reach a higher level. This product has over 10,000 individual samples , over 1,000 new drum and percussion loops that have a 24-bit 96 kHz audio quality. It also contains over 200 drum kits + patterns , over 100 urban multi-sampled instruments , some great comprehensive percussion samples, patterns and loops. Another great aspect of this product is that is has 64 pads per scene , great controls to mute , solo , change velocity , etc . My opinion about the value of price is very good , this product comes with a vast library that allows to make something unique and it costs only 300 $. Knowing what I know, I would buy this product because it's one of the best drum sequencing I have ever tried.

The DrumSynth Live by Image Line is a plug in that came with my version of fl studio. I hardly ever use it and it just doesn’t seem good enough to me. It seems like vst that they through together as fast as possible and didn’t even try to make it look attractive. Its very dull and old looking. I am not sure when it came out but it looks like it could have came out with the original version of fl studio when it came out. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE There are far too many good vst’s for drums that you can purchase to day that are way better than DrumSynth Live. I am not sure if they are still actually trying to sell Drum Synth live but if they are do not buy it. Look around for some other drum and percussion synths. There are some really good ones like addictive drums or toontrack or a bunch of other ones that you can get for free from KVR audio and they will be way better than drumSyth live. Fl Studio and ImageLine dropped the ball with this one. But its kind of confusing to use. Its too much work just to get it to do what you want it to do. OVERALL OPINION I am someone who takes the drum parts of my tracks serious and I do a lot of eq ing ad changing my drums a lot but trying to do everything with DrumSynth Live was horrible to me. This program will not get used again and will just sit on my hard drive. I would un install it if I could figure out how. Do not buy it, there are far to many other programs that are out that are way better. Save your money and get one that will last you for a long time.

Installing is pretty simple. It's rather large compared to some simple synth plugins so it will take some time. Pop in the the first disc, then the second, install, and authorize. There is a little bug where the folder you put the files in has to be in the same folder as another particular file. I can't remember off the top of my head but it's very common and simply googling is an easy way to find a solution. Other than that, though, it's fine. The manual is nice and thorough, and the GUI is pretty easy to get the hang of, it just takes some experimenting because there are a lot of features. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE It is a little CPU intensive. Not like an EWQL plugin, but I definitely can't be running 3 instances of it at the same time. I use a Dell XPS studio computer with Windows 7 running FL Studio 10. My computer has six cores and 6GB of RAM, so if you have a computer less suited for music than you may have some issues running Stylus RMX. It has never crashed on me though, it's always been very stable. I've been using it for about 2 years. OVERALL OPINION Your going to find that you'll need to go through a lot of crap to find some gems. Personally I think the gems are worth it, others may not. I like to use Stylus RMX for tambourine loops and other percussion. I never really use it for full drum loops. Usually these sound very generic. The percussion loops are pretty nice though. There is a wide variety to choose from and every now and then I find something that fits so well into my track that I wouldn't find anywhere else. So Stylus has it's ups and downs. The GUI is nice, and it has some nice features. I can't quite find out how to route multiple loops to different mixer channels from one instance though. That's a negative. People say it can be done, but I'm nos sure. Overall it's a good addition to my studio and a lot of my tracks wouldn't be the same without it. I'd recommend it.

This synth works fairly well in my setup. The only issue I have is there seems to be a 1/2 second worth of latency between when you select a cell and when it actually lights up and makes a noise. I have not needed the manual as this is very similar to Logic 9's Ultrabeat. Yes, the setup is very simple and all functions can be accessed quite easily. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Besides the pause in the cell selection, everything else seems to work great. It did cause Ableton 8 to crash a few times when I first started using it but it hasn't happend in the past month or so. Ableton 8 can be kinda buggy lately so I can't blame this entirely on the plugin. Well, because of the latency issue in the cell selection, I am giving this synth a 7 out of 10. Its quite annoying but not necessarily a deal breaker. I have been using this plugin for about two months. OVERALL OPINION What I liked most about this plugin and the reason I got it was the interface. It is very similar to Logic's Ultrabeat and I am very comfortable using that drum synth. So, I am writing more and more in Ableton 8 and wanted the Ultrabeat "feel" in that DAW. What I don't like about it is really only the latency issue. They are only a few sounds to this guy but I think the simplicity is really refreshing and better for me as opposed to hundreds of options. I paid $79 for this synth and for the most part, I am happy with it. Precision and quality of the sound it pretty good. I give it a 9 out of 10. Good electronic drum sounds and with a little tweaking, some really tasty beats. I used Ultrabeat a lot and love it. This is a good replacement when writing in ableton. Yes, I would make the same choice again.

(Originally written by Hur/translated from Audiofanzine FR) - Did you have any problems during installation? Yes. - Did you encounter any incompatibility problems? No. - Is the overall configuration easy? No. Is the user's manual clear and comprehensive? Yes. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE - What's your computer? (motherboard/CPU/RAM/HDD/sound card..) Modern PC but not very powerful, Ableton Live 7 - Does the software work correctly with your setup? Yes. - How is the performance? (if quantifiable) Pffff - What about the hardware+software configuration stability? Stable OVERALL OPINION - How long have you been using it? About 45 minutes! - Which feature do you like the most / the least? Pros: Design, not bad but not original. Cons: Few presets provided and they don't work with LIVE 7. It seems it all comes from the matrix, which isn't very practical and whose settings have a clear effect on the wave form of each oscillator as well as the filter. Other settings don't affect the sound... or maybe my ears are the problem... I'm utterly disappointed because the only sounds I got out of it were something between a fart and a huge xylophone, even though I gave it my best and I was motivated and positive! Freeware tools like Microtonic or Drumatic 3 are more interesting to create big bass drum sounds. Even some virtual analog synthesizers, or samplers, of course... - Did you try any other models before buying it? Yes - How would you rate its value for money? Excellent, it's free. - Based on your experience, would you buy this product again? No.