Published on May 30th, 2002.
Author: Scot.Solida
Category: Virtual Instruments.

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Review of Bitshift Audio – pHATmatik PRO!
Review brought to you by Scot Solida : Scot Solida.
www : Traxmusic.org

pHATmatik PRO by Bitshift Audio as reviewed by Scot Solida.

I once had a friend who used to say that the definition of “genius” was when someone puts things together in a way that no one has thought of before, but seems painfully obvious to everyone once it’s been done. If this is true, then pHATmatik Pro is pure genius. You know; even if it’s not true, pHATmatik Pro is still a work of genius.

pHATmatik Pro is a “loop slicing” tool, and a heck of a lot more, besides. It’s also the plug-in instrument by which those slices are played back, manipulated and synchronized to your song. It’s currently available as a VSTi plug-in for Windows based sequencers, and will very shortly also be available as a Dxi plug-in for you Sonar users. A Mac version is under construction, too.

What exactly is a “loop slicing” tool for? Well, a sample loop is imported into any one of pHATmatik Pro’s sixteen channels (yup, it’s multi-timbral), and pPro automatically detects the transients of each beat, and slices that loop into it’s constituent hits. It then assigns those hits chromatically up the keyboard, and generates a MIDI file of the playback position. This MIDI file can be exported to your song, then cut, copied, and rearranged. Users of Propellerhead’s seminal ReCycle program have been using this technique to rearrange rhythms in their hardware sampler for years. Unlike ReCycle, however, pHATmatik Pro not only alleviates the need for an external hardware or software sampler, but also dispenses with the inconvenience of shuttling back and forth between your host sequencer and another application. Most importantly, however, pHATmatik Pro will import and export standard .wav and aiff files, as well as reading “Acidized” waves. ReCycle limits you to Propellerhead’s own proprietary .rex 2 format. As far as I know, only Propellerhead’s own Reason and Steinberg’s Cubase support .rex 2 files. Bitshift should be commended for taking a stand against proprietary formats that lock the user into a particular company’s product line.

Installation of pHATmatik Pro is quick and painless, without annoying “challenges” and “responses”. You’ll be up and running as soon as you download it.
Once it’s installed, you can open it up in your host sequencer via the usual methods. It runs smoothly in all of the hosts that I tried it in, including Fruityloops, Cubasis, and Sonar via FXPansion’s VST Adapter and also DirectiXer 2.0 (though these wrappers will be unnecessary when the Dxi version is released).

After you’ve opened it, you’ll be met with a stylish blue and gray interface, dominated by the loop display window. A mouse-click on the file icon will review the loop browser, from which you can select the loops you want loaded into any given channel. You can preview a loop by clicking on it in the browser. It will then be previewed at he project’s tempo. A nice touch. Double clicking the loop will insert it into pHATmatik Pro and it will be displayed in the loop view. It’s then a simple matter to slice the loop into constituent parts via the provided icons. You can adjust the sensitivity of the slicing as well.

When this is done, you can export your MIDI file of the slice positions, either by clicking on the export icon which will open a “save” window, or by “alt” clicking on the file icon, and dragging it directly into the host. This is a real time saver, and is beautifully implemented.

Once you’ve sliced the loop, then the real fun starts. A slice can be selected by clicking on it in the loop view, or by activating the MIDI select function. This will allow you to choose an individual slice by playing it’s assigned key from your MIDI controller, or by playing back the slices via the host sequencer. Once selected, you can edit the individual slice in a staggering variety of ways. You can choose whether it plays forward, backward, looped forward or backward (with adjustable loop points), or looped forward/backward or backward/forward. This can make for some startling “stutter” or echo effects, as well as changing the slice’s character altogether. You can also change the pitch, pan and level of the slice, as well as introducing high or low pass resonant filtering into the chain. The filter sounds lovely, and a lot of care was obviously put into making it musically useful. There are also pitch and amplitude envelopes for each slice.

When you’ve mangled each slice to taste, the loop is spat through a master section that includes not only sync’able delay, but two sync’able LFOs with a variety of useful waveshapes. These can be used to manipulate a variety of destinations, including filter, pitch and filter envelope via a handy and intuitive modulation grid. There is also a delicious distortion effect as well as a comb filter, and a master resonant filter.

All of this may sound a bit bewildering, but the online manual and tutorial make getting to know pHATmatik Pro a breeze. The manual is written clearly, and intelligently, and will help even a novice get the most out of pPro.

CPU usage is remarkably low, and it is quite possible to load multiple channels with loops on even a modest machine. There are none of the odd, intermittent CPU spikes I’ve seen with other plug-ins, and I could not make the thing crash, no matter what I threw at it.

There are lots of wonderful and useful touches throughout the design of pHATmatik Pro, and it’s obvious that the developer put a lot of care into straddling the gap between usable features and intuitive interface. It’s also obvious that he listens quite closely to the wishes of the end user. The support beyond reproach.

pHATmatik Pro is available directly from www.bitshiftaudio.com for $99, which is quite a bargain, when you consider it can single-handedly multiply even the most played out, stale loop discs into a whole new and endless collection of beats and rhythms. If you have any interest in creating music with samples and loops, it would be utter folly to pass this one up.

Enjoy,

Scot Solida

Some pHATmatik PRO links:

• Bitshift Audio: bitshiftaudio.com
• Direct Download of free pHATmatik PRO demo.
• Purchase pHATmatik PRO @ Bitshift Audio

Overall impression: 9.75/10
Ease of use: 9/10
Timing: 10/10
Stability: 10/10
Value: 10/10
Learning curve: no more than an hour for the experienced user, perhaps three or four for the novice. It will take some time to gain familiarity with the huge amount of possibilities on offer.

Review brought to you by:
www: Traxmusic.Org
Member: Scot Solida.
From: bitshiftaudio.com

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