{"id":25461,"date":"2016-11-03T11:17:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=25461"},"modified":"2016-11-03T11:17:28","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:17:28","slug":"review-bigtone-edm-expansion-pack-for-z3ta-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2016\/11\/03\/review-bigtone-edm-expansion-pack-for-z3ta-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: BigTone EDM Expansion Pack for Z3TA+ 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Craig Anderton<\/em><\/p>\n

Sound Designer Nico Herz has done sound design for a variety of companies, of course including Cakewalk. BigTone EDM, for Z3TA+ 2, is (as you can probably guess from the name) designed for EDM. So if you\u2019re into traditional bluegrass, you probably should not continue reading this.<\/p>\n

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Anyway, the presets are designed for the EDM \u201csweet spot\u201d of 125bpm. There are 127 presets total, arranged as eight banks: 7 Bass, 19 Keys, 11 Leads, 20 Pads, 11 Sequences, 6 Sound FX, 19 Textures, and 34 Arps. I\u2019m going to assign each bank a letter grade average for two reasons\u2014it might be helpful, and because sounds are so subjective, if you end up disagreeing with me you\u2019ll know not to bother reading any sound reviews I do. Conversely, if you think my evaluations are correct, we can have an ongoing relationship with future sound reviews.<\/p>\n

Before going any further, note that I create presets and I\u2019m very, very picky. This is both good and bad, because I have definite preferences; what doesn\u2019t work for me might be what you\u2019ve always wanted, and vice versa. However this also means that I recognize when someone has put a lot of effort into crafting a set of patches, and in that respect, BigTone more than qualifies. The presets have, for lack of a better word, \u201cpassion\u201d and the worksmanship is excellent. It takes a tremendous amount of work to create something like this.<\/p>\n

Even the names are better than average, as many actually do give an idea of what to expect (e.g., \u201cFluctuating Decays,\u201d \u201cRinging Sweetness,\u201d \u201cAnalog Snapper Bass\u201d). More importantly, there are hints in parenthesis about what can modify the sound, such as \u201cpb+mw+at.\u201d This lets you know that yes, it\u2019s worth turning aftertouch recording back on in SONAR because there might be something useful happening if you press on the keys.<\/p>\n

However, I\u2019ll argue with Mr. Herz about these being best at 125bpm. Granted, they all work great at that tempo so I understand his point. But you can drop many of the Arps and sequenced sounds to 85bpm for some righteous hip-hop madness, add some spice to rap, or add ear candy to rock.<\/p>\n

GOING TO THE BANK<\/strong><\/p>\n

As to the banks themselves, the Arps are ideal for those background driving forces behind music that occasionally take the spotlight. I expect to hear the \u201cCatch the Smack\u201d and \u201cHollow Bass Sequence\u201d Arps on Netflix before too long in a movie suspense scene, with the tempo at 100 and perhaps filter resonance turned down. Overall the Arps are strong, and generally aggressive but without being rude. They slide very easily into existing productions; I suspect \u201cTech Stack\u201d will show up in a bunch of dance tracks, and the \u201cSophisticated Pumper\u201d patch is just waiting for me to write a song around it (at 91bpm…so there). I\u2019d give this bank a solid A.<\/p>\n

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The basses are okay; there are a couple standouts, they do offer something different, and they benefit from the mod wheel and bend where indicated. But I didn\u2019t find them as compelling as the other presets, so I\u2019d give them a C+. Next up, I found the Keys outstanding\u2014I\u2019d rate them an A+. They\u2019re sophisticated presets, and most have a \u201chaven\u2019t heard anything quite like that before\u201d quality that makes them a welcome addition to any set of presets. If some of the \u201cnew age\u201d synth sounds of the 80s became Harley-riding high-society biker chicks who wore lots of makeup but did so tastefully, they might sound something like this.<\/p>\n

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The leads are definitely designed to punch through the music, not provide a demure harmony in the background. I\u2019ll give them credit for not being stereotyped sounds, but I\u2019m not sure how much I\u2019d use them. I rate these a B-.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re looking for pads, although all the presets in BigTone are well-crafted, the pads go the extra mile for being extremely versatile. I could hear them as taking center stage in chill, providing breathy atmospherics in trance, offering some relief in hard trance, and showing up all over the place in movies. If I had to describe them in a word, I\u2019d use \u201ccinematic\u201d in both scope and depth. Another A+ all around.<\/p>\n

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The sequences are also outstanding (and not just because it\u2019s reassuring to know someone else is fascinated with \u201cone-finger\u201d sequences). They\u2019re idea-starters, song backbones, fine embellishments to something chugging along intensely at 125bpm…all told, although not every sequence will be everybody\u2019s favorite, every sequence will be somebody\u2019s favorite. They get a solid A.<\/p>\n

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The sound FX are…well, sound FX, which means if they\u2019re in the right place at the right time, they\u2019re great and otherwise, they\u2019re not of much use. I must say that the Sunny LAX sound FX are my first call SFX, but it\u2019s always good to have choices and several of BigTone\u2019s will end up being in the right place at the right time for me. I\u2019ll go for a B+.<\/p>\n

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The Textures are like sound effects that got a PhD, and then married pads. As such they\u2019re more universally useful than sound FX per se, because they have a very musical component. If for no other reason than originality and their passionate vibe, another A+.<\/p>\n

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So there you have it. Interestingly, the banks that got the lowest grades have the fewest presets and the ones with the highest grades have the most number of presets so to me, this means significant value compared to sets that have a few great patches and the rest are so-so. But I can\u2019t emphasize enough that even the ones that didn\u2019t strike my fancy were up to the same level of craftsmanship as the others. If you have a Z3TA+ 2, these sounds will breathe new life into it\u2014and don\u2019t believe that it\u2019s only good for EDM at 125bpm. Good sounds are good sounds, regardless of the music that hosts them.<\/p>\n

Listen to the sound examples!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Craig Anderton Sound Designer Nico Herz has done sound design for a variety of companies, of course including Cakewalk. BigTone EDM, for Z3TA+ 2, is (as you can probably guess from the name) designed for EDM. So if you\u2019re into traditional bluegrass, you probably should not continue reading this. Anyway, the presets are designed … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Review: BigTone EDM Expansion Pack for Z3TA+ 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[225,49,53,54,1604],"tags":[2702,12,2703,1522,1747,1748],"class_list":["post-25461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-edm-music-production","category-sonar","category-windows-7","category-windows-8","category-z3ta-2","tag-bigtone-edm","tag-cakewalk","tag-nico-hertz","tag-z3ta-2","tag-z3ta-2-presets","tag-z3ta-2-sounds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}