Native Instruments Battery VST 2 PC

i have been recording and programming at home for about 8 years, using Logic on a Macintosh (i use a G4-upgraded Biege G3 with 768 megs of RAM). i play guitar, bass, and enough keys to program............................ i have been using Battery, mainly for drums but also for some keyboard/synth patches, for a couple of years now as a VST in Logic/MacOS9 and also briefly as an Audio Unit in Logic/MacOSX (it performed fine as an Audio Unti, though i switched back for other reasons). i use two video monitors, a 17" CRT for mixers/Arrange/editors, adn a 15" CRT for instruments/effects. i also have used Tannoy Reveals passive nearfield monitors since '97 or so... when i was still using a Tascam 8-track. the Reveals are great, but i also check mixes on my Mirage hi-fi's, adn on a pair of Sony headphones i've had for years and know like the the back of my hand.

Battery is extremely easy to use, install, and authorise. i've never used automation with any of it's internal parameters, but i have no reason to suspect there would be a problem, as it's absolutely rock-solid in all other respects. routing multiple outputs and other tasks related to getting the best and most out of it are easy and intuitive. i suppose it would be easier to use with the option of low-pass and high-pass filters on each sample, but it would be more taxing on the computer possibly and it's not the end of the world as it's mutli-outputs place this ability in your hand . also, it's difficult to fine-tune pitch - not a problem for drums, but instrument patches can potentially present problems if i've recorded with a guitar or bass that has drifted a couple % away from 440hz="A" tune. anyway, one point each off for lack of filters and fine-tuning weirdness it is...

the sound quality of Battery is superb, as i discovered when i made a piano patch for it using Akai Splendid Grand samples. i later discovered a patch i could use with my Emagic EXSP24, which has fine sound quality, and i was immediately struck by how much better the Battery patch sounded! i use the EXSP24patch most frequently, as it's easier on the cpuand i had phasing problems i couldn't resolve with a couple of notes, but a fine demo of Battery's sound quality, for what it's worth.

i can't imagine making music without Battery, and my setup has become built around it. the included drum kits/sounds are amazing and very comprehensive - anything not included (eastern/African percussion, 909 and 808 kits) i've found for free on the web.

I would call my self a Serious hobbiest. I have done a few paying production jobs. I have a lot of time and money invested into my gear and I have seen a lot of it come and go over the years.

I use Mac. Just recently I bought a new 1.25 Ghz Dual Power Mac. I have been running Cubase 5.1-1r but am now upgrading to Cubase SL as the new macs are no longer 9.x bootable.

I monitor with Behringer Truth powered monitors and Sony and Audio Technica heaphones. My set up is mostly a collection of vintage and new synths. I also have a Fender Jag guitar and a Ibanez SG bass. I make everything from electronica, ambient, and progressive-indie rock.

I use Battery exclusively as a 'drum' module. I have found it the perfect sampler for my needs in this respect.

Very easy to get the hang of, it took me less than an hour to figure out everything in it. If you are in intuitive with computers, you won't have a problem at all. The on thing that bugs me is you can't copy and past cells. You can do this to some parameters but it is somewhat clunky when wanting to duplicate cells. For this and similar interface weaknesses I think it is just 'okay' for easy of use. It makes otherwise very easy tasks take a bit longer. But its easy to learn. One confusing thing at first is that each cell is in reference to a sample (or group of samples) and not necissarily a range of key assigments. these have to be set.. and can run over each other without manually mapping each cell. its a pain, and initially confusing, but you get used to it, and its easily better than any hardware sampler.

In addition to the 'what you put in you get out' it does have some interesting sound enhancers. You can increase the 'gain' and produce a saturated/overdrive effect. If I remember correctly you can also decrease the sample rate in Battery (per cell). So you get all lo-fi and oldschool. It also has a feature that I WISH other soft samplers had (Halion doesn't as far as I have been able to figure out after searching through all its parameters)... loop position, length, and sample start position are all assignable to a controler... My old ESP16plus could do this and I loved it. you can basicly scroll through a sample creating that stretched out feel that you can hear on The Matrix (when Neo goes through the phone into the real world). I wonder why NI didn't put that on Halion??

It doesn't matter to me that there are no filters in Battery. I prefer to add such things later, as I get better filters from other plugins.

I think it is definitely worth it. YOu get way more samples per bank than LM4, plus it is WAY more customizable. I don't know if you can compare it to Halion. I don't think Battery is meant to be a full on Sampler. But compared to other drum oriented samplers, it rocks. You can use Halion as a drum module, but in someways its overkill, in otherways, for half the price, you save some time in programming, and get something fully useable. I wish it had better interface and editing tools for moving/copying cells and samples from one location to another.

I've been playing music for over 10 years and play a number of instruments including piano. Mainly I use battery along with a midi sequencer such as Cubase, and only run it in stand-alone mode for creating banks. It is particularly well suited for electronic music and basic drum sampling but lacks many of the features found in a hardware sampler.

When choosing "replace sample" from the file menu, Battery allows you to drag and drop samples into cells. I found this incredibly efficient, not only creating banks, but for replacing samples on the fly. The rest of the interface is similarly intuitive and no manual is required for operation of the most complex features of the program.

Midi automation is very extensive. Battery allows you to map any continuous controller to any of it's sample manipulation features such as attack, decay, bit rate, pitch, etc.

The sound quality is comparable to any hardware sampler.

Using just a midi sequencer, a couple of sample disks, and Battery you can create whole electronic songs. This is the perfect tool for creating IDM and experimental electronica.

Before you buy I would suggest looking into Halion by Steinberg. It is a full featured VST sampler, and is more akin to a hardware sampler and costs about the same. However, setting up soundbanks takes much longer than with Battery, and for someone like me who bases entire songs on sample manipulation, this is a huge issue.

Battery has some great tweaking features, never crashes, and uses very little CPU. I would find it much more usable if it delt with note cuts differently than with a CC controlling an envelope.