| When you think of Image Line, what exactly comes to | | | | such as thickness, material, tension and shaping. These |
| your head? If you answered like me, your answer | | | | all shape the sounds in different ways, and you can |
| would be Fruity Loops. Wait a minute... except it's not | | | | experiment in real time thanks to its real-time |
| called that anymore, is it? It's now FL Studio. I think | | | | modulation engine which allows for this. |
| we're up to version 9. Anyway, Image Line have been | | | | One way that modification has been made interesting |
| busy bees, releasing a batch of processors and plugins | | | | is the velocity triggering capability. This means that you |
| that are not only compatible with the FL Studio | | | | do not need to twist knobs as you go about |
| program but every VST host out there. | | | | programming a nice pattern; no, you simply hit each |
| It is no surprise that their recent drum synths offering, | | | | note naturally and depending on the velocity with which |
| then, has gotten a lot of attention. With the existing | | | | the sound was triggered, altering and dynamic levels of |
| user base as big as it is, it wasn't hard to find guinea | | | | tension and thickness (for example) are applied. A |
| pigs to test drive the new system. I have had the | | | | combination of these effects can make a sound |
| pleasure of testing the new drum synth Drumaxx for a | | | | indistinguishable from its source. You can certainly |
| few days now. Truth be told right here: it's not the | | | | have some fun here... |
| greatest thing in the world, but it does deliver what it | | | | So if you are on the fence about these products, I |
| promises. | | | | would say download a demo version of the package. I |
| One of the most interesting aspects of Drumaxx is | | | | didn't like a few of the things about it, and found about |
| the 16 modelled drum pads it offers, where you can | | | | 20% of the sounds very weak or unimaginative which |
| load up various drum sounds and samples for | | | | was unexpected coming from this veteran player in |
| triggering. On that note, you can trigger the actual | | | | the audio game. One thing that made me warm to |
| sounds with your mouse, external equipment | | | | their marketing efforts was the promise of one |
| (connected via MIDI or USB) and also via the | | | | donation to Haiti from every sale, as well as a |
| in-sequencer MIDI tracks that you can compose in FL | | | | pay-how-much-you-think-it's-worth pricing system that |
| Studio, Cubase or whatever other host you are using. | | | | will stay in effect for a little while longer. |
| Several parameters are included for easy modification, | | | | |