There's also the option to play loops at half or double speed relative to the host sequencer. The need to manually import Groove Control MIDI files separately to the audio loops has been eradicated, and like Apple Loops and similar systems, loops may now be directly auditioned from within a file browser at the tempo of the host sequencer. The original Stylus was based on Ultimate Sound Bank's UVI engine, but the new SAGE engine was designed in house at Spectrasonics and so is rather better adapted to Stylus 's needs. According to the Spectrasonics web site, those customers who registered a new copy of Stylus for the first time after January 1st, 2004 will be upgraded free of charge (apart from shipping costs, that is).
Amongst the sequencers supported are Apple Logic (including Logic v7) and Garage Band, MOTU Digital Performer, Digidesign Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase SX and Nuendo, V-Stack, Fruity Loops, and Sony Acid Pro plus Cakewalk Sonar and Project 5. Installation is from two DVDs, and a third disk currently contains instructional videos in place of a paper manual.
Stylus RMX is compatible with Macintosh OS X (Audio Units, RTAS, and VST) and Windows (VST) plug-in formats and existing Stylus owners can upgrade for what seems to me to be a very attractive price - $99.
This combination has a lot of tricks up its electronic sleeve, including the ability to allow you to use any groove or combination of grooves at any tempo with some impressive pitch, processing and effects pyrotechnics thrown in. It is still essentially a groove-based virtual instrument plug-in, mainly for creating rhythmic loops, but in this new incarnation, it combines the flexibility of the Spectrasonics Groove Control loop format with the company's new SAGE instrument front end (Spectrasonics Advanced Groove Engine). Although Stylus RMX has the same purple livery (and retail price!) as the original Stylus, and includes all the original Stylus 'urban'-type beats, scratches and sounds within its greatly extended library, it is actually far more sophisticated than Stylus, and has a completely revamped underlying technology.
A Capture feature allows the spontaneous audio chaos patterns to be made into a MIDI file, dragged and dropped into the host sequencer, and played back again for further editing by the user.It may share the same name, but Spectrasonics' new Stylus RMX is a very different software instrument from the original Stylus, with a completely reconstructed underlying sound engine and a ton of new features.Įver since we saw Stylus RMX demonstrated for the first time, we've been itching to get our hands on it. The results can be subtle or extreme by setting the simple to use controls. With simple controls, the user can introduce musical Chaos into the groove, which allows it to have constantly evolving variations- giving the impression that the audio grooves are improvising.
Of the many new capabilities in Stylus RMX, possibly the most innovative feature is the Chaos Designer™. Stylus RMX also can be expanded with existing Groove Control CD-ROM libraries and even REX files – which opens the door for musicians to utilize their own audio loops within the powerful S.A.G.E. Xpanders” for Stylus RMX at $99US retail each.
Stylus RMX marks Spectrasonics’ first expandable virtual instrument, with a series of five new “ S.A.G.E. Spectrasonics’ in-house development team created the new instrument from the ground up, with dozens of new features including the ground-breaking Chaos Designer™, a completely redesigned multi-page user interface, a new core library of sounds, all with a focus on realtime groove creation and performance. Stylus RMX is the first product to offer the combined power of Groove Control™ with Spectrasonics Advanced Groove Engine (S.A.G.E.™) technology giving users dramatic new control over groove production and performance. Stylus RMX is a completely new groove-based virtual instrument plug-in for Macintosh and Windows.