Sonoma Wire Works RiffWorks 2.1

Been making music and working with computers long enough to know when something works, it works and when something doesn't, it doesn't.

I tested this application with an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card, Windows XP, 2 gigs of RAM, plenty of power to handle it. If you don't have an ASIO capable card you're out of luck. But you probably don't want to mess with recording if you don't have one anyways. I did experience some freezing issues when I first installed, but it turned out to be a conflict with an old Asio4All installation conflicting with my M-Audio ASIO driver. Once I uninstalled it things worked fine. The Riffworks forums are active and there is plenty of help there for anyone having problems. Sonoma Wireworks seems to stand by their product.

Pretty easy. Almost too easy if you're used to a fully featured DAW like Cubase, Pro Tools, Sonar, etc. Everything is laid out on a single screen, so no menus or windows to confuse the easily confused. Installation is simple, provided you meet the requirements. See above for my notes on this. No MIDI support and very sparse VST support makes this program unsuitable for anyone trying to do serious recording work on it.

However, if you approach the software with the right attitude it can be a fantastic tool. Its basically a software looper, in the vein of the Boss RC-2, Akai Headrush, or more specifically a very user friendly take on the Echoplex Digital Pro. This makes it a fantastic tool for capturing ideas and songwriting. Its incredibly quick and easy to pick a drum loop, set a tempo and get your ideas down. And then you can jam over them and create layer after layer as you please. You can then go back and pan, add effects, delete, copy or paste the various loops and layers in any arrangement you want. Very cool.

Probably not going to impress any professional studio engineers or audiophiles with this software, but its perfectly good for any beginner or somebody using it as a scratchpad for songwriting. The built in effects are actually pretty good, the delay sounds great and synchs to your project tempo so its quick to dial in sounds, and it has nice EQ and filtering options. You've also got an all-in-one modulation job for phaser, flanger type sounds, reverb, compression and some weird but fun distortion/pitch shifting action for mangling your layers. Anyone with google and a proper DAW will likely laugh at these, but they're plenty effective for getting quick ideas down.

Overall, if you know what you're getting into I think this software is great. As a songwriting tool I found it to be fantastic. As a recording program I found it very simple, which might be great for somebody that would be easily lost in something like Sonar, but insulting for somebody that would not. I think this program gets a bad rap sometimes because people go into it with the wrong expectations. If you treat it as a software looper/arranger with some built in drums and effects you'll be very pleased. If you treat it like a fully featured DAW you'll want to run far, far away. There's a free version available for download so I highly recommend giving it a shot. For me, its kind of like the difference between notepad and Microsoft Office. When you've got serious work to do, something like Word is obviously what you need. But if you just want to scribble down some quick ideas after some spontaneous inspiration, nothing beats the quick simplicity of notepad. The same concept applies with Riffworks.

Advanced musican, using Steinberger, and EMU0404 into Riffworks and Amplitude plugin

Riffworks caused several crashes, out of nowhere (but then, most crashes are). I am usually using Amplitude LE 2 that comes with the product when Riffworks crashes. Sonoma does not seem very anxious fix this POS. I may not fully understand Riffworks but it seems you cannot record with the drums without those drums ending up in your loop. That is, you might want drums to allow your playing to be more in the groove, but you may want to use other drum loops in another program later. Also you cannot load audio files. I have other gripes but I could live with them if the program did not crash so often. Twice the crashes caused me to have to re-register Amplitude, which is a pain unto itself ... Make your guitar loops another way, whether with JamMan or other software, and use Acid or Mixcraft to make songs with them. Forget this product, at least for now.

Riffworks Standard is without a doubt the most useful recording tool I have ever used. In the last 2 years I have created a steady flow of songs and that has landed me opportunities to play live and make money from my art. Riffworks has literally lifted me from the basement to a professional level in a considerably short period of time.

Riffworks represents creativity, It is just so easy to be creative when you got every trick and tool at your fingertips without wasting time screwing around in menu systems. There is no bs when it comes to recording with RW Standard. The learning curve is swift and steady... The sound you will produce has the capability of sounding as good as anything from a real studio. Riffworks also introduces some very useful technologys, such as Instant drummer and Sonoma 7 Realtime effects. Not just drum loops and static recorded effects but a Organic 'Thinking' Drummer you can actually jam with. Not to mention effects you control on your live playing and can be adjusted or removed AFTER recording!

Currently there is no direct midi support, however Ive found a way to record midi in riffworks. The workaround I use is lineout my audigy 2 Zs soundcard into Riffworks via the Toneport Ux2 interface. Works like a charm..

The manual, which is great by the way, can be called up with click of just one button from the Riffworks Workbench.

The amplitube software creates mindblowingly realistic amplification, but more often that not I prefer to use my toneport UX2 so I can record a wide range of real instruments like guitar, keyboards, bass, vocals even a stereo micing solution for other instruments like flute, harp or that 7 stringed piece of wood you picked up in South America. Though Riffworks supports any number of devices such as the firepod, mbox guitarport, stealth plugs etc.

Riffworks can be used by the beginner or seasoned studio pro alike. Its going to sound better depending on your knowledge and skill using the Realtime effects like EQ, Multi band compression, limiting, Delay, Reverb, Modulation, Wah, etc. If you are a beginner, Every song you make will sound better and better, and you can always go back and remix past work as you gain experience.

There are so many addtional features that are integrated into the Riffworks recording system I could go on all day. I will just say this, if you are a producer or recording engineer who has their doubts, rest assured, Riffworks has a Wav-out capability, for process mastering for cutting cds, A 4x Rex file player,
A huge host of VST plugin support, and much more. You cannot lose at 130 ???...

SonomaWire Works staff is always listening in a dedicated forum to a growing usergroup and consistantly making improvements, always adding new features and providing fast and professional customer support.
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/forums/index.php

I've been recording for 15+ years at home and in studios, using a variety of tools and software, each one serving it's own purpose.
I write and record everything from metal, blues and alternative to counrty and jazz. Presently I use a Pentium 4 pc with Riffworks 2.1 for 90% of my personal recordings. One of the great things about riffworks is the ability to use my guitar proccessor(Line6 PODxtL) as the soundcard through the USB port of the pc.

Riffworks 2.1 has an Easy-to-use interface and comes as Standard(uses multiple input devices) or a keyed-to-line6 products version.
Unfortuately at this time there aren't any midi implementations yet but this is not out of the realm of possibilities for future updates.
Full duplex abilities with 24bit recordings for proffesional sound.
Comes with a descriptive users manual and regular updates are available from the Sonoma website.

Another great thing about Riffworks is the sound. 24bit, stereo recording and Instant Drummer sessions created by real drummers with properties like tempo and intensity that can be manipulated to the user's descretion. Downfall- If your like me and have been incorperating midi-files as backing tracks into your recordings, then this may prove difficult but not impossible(with the use of other recording applications like Acid or Reason).

Riffworks is relatively inexpensive and if your goal is CD quality recordings in short periods of time then Riffworks is definitely worth purchasing. As for myself, I will continue to use Riffworks with hopes to see an update in the future that will allow the user to import Midi-files and other common file-types like Wav. and Mp3's.

I???ve been doing computer-based recording since 1996 and have used just about every computer-based recording software on the market. I must say Sonoma Wire Works RiffWorks software is awe-inspiring. Keep It Simple is the design of RiffWorks. Their focus is to make a product that allows you to make music without being a recording engineer.

The drummer feature is better than any drum machine or software I have ever used. They don???t skimp on the drummers they give you either. There are more you can buy, but you can do plenty with the 9 that come with it. Just get a beat going, click record, and start jamming. If you get something that you like, you can keep the recording as a loop and even change up the drums after you???ve recorded it. (I do a lot of acoustic work and use the drums as a time keeper when I???m recording my riffs and then remove them afterwards.) Then you can string your loops together to make songs by dragging them into the song timeline window at the top of the screen. It???s really cool because it???s so easy to try different arrangements. You just drag the riffs in the order you want them in the song and then click play. If you want to try a different arrangement, just move the riff to a different spot in the song. It couldn???t be much easier.

The Forums and people at Sonoma Wire Works are great. They are an extremely positive group of people dedicated to their product and are helpful in pretty much every aspect of music production. There are no dumb questions and you will get real answers to your question or comment, instead of flames.

Computer Specs
I will say that you should have a computer that is pretty beefy and that well exceeds the minimum specs listed for this. If you don???t, you will have a lot of problems. A fast hard drive (7200 rpm +) 2 GB of RAM or more will be a great help. Also, make sure you don???t have other programs running when you are recording, like instant messengers, email, internet weather, and other things you may have starting automatically when you turn your computer on. If you can, dedicate a separate computer tower to this. That is what I???ve done. I setup a KVM Switch (Keyboard, Video, and Mouse) to share my KVM between the two towers so I just push a button to switch between them.
Also, make sure you check out the ASIO device compatibility list for the software, to make sure your hardware interface will work with it. The Line 6 hardware works really well.

Summary
I got this a year ago and I???m still blown away by it. Even though this software is marketed for recording guitars, you can record pretty much any instrument or vocals that you want to with it. I have been using it to record full songs and I know a few people who have produced full CDs with it.

I think it has been the best money I???ve spent on music equipment in a long time. There are still so many features that I didn???t cover in this review, and they will make your sewer pipes rattle and the dust on your guitar turn into sweet, sweet music.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

Peace,
Jamie Nelson

Guitar
2.1
Amplitube 2
Recording
MacBook Pro
Event studio 8 w/ digi 002 console + protools LE

plug and play
no problems
stealth plug
great sound with minimal effort
basic instructions - learn more from "tweaking"

sound is satisfactory to my ears
tweaking is the fun part
amplitube 2 is the definition of expressiveness
either mono or stereo, I prefer mono

literally a bang for the buck
only product of its kind
gets the creative juices flowing. No dislikes. Amplitube 2.0 as a plug in.
Crashes on occasion
I like the simplicity. Keep it simple.

My background consists of 25+ years of noodling a jamming until finally I finally stubled on an insanely user friendly program RiffWorks, by a small independant company called Sonoma WireWorks.

From the minute I opened the program I was intrigued by the look of the user interface. Simulating a "rack" of vintage audio equipment, it is both familiar but fresh. The learning curve is amazingly small considering what you can get done in a few minutes. Pick a tempo and time signature. Then pick an Instant Drummer style. Adjust the variation and intensity on the fly while previewing your settings or just jam along for fun. The possibilties and uses for this program are up to the users imagination really. There is a ton flexability inherently built in because RiffWorks was concieved and desigend by a guitar players and musicians. The fact that it works so well is the icing on the cake.

RiffWorks is the backbone of this incredible piece of software, but there is so much more. Once you create a few riffs with the built in Instant Drummer you might want to explore the other backup options. Perhaps you have some REX files you would like to record with....or a midi trigger device. The Rewire and Metronome optins just add to the party. Adding piano, synth and other patches are possible with Rewire capable programs like Reason. There is nothing like being your own one man (or woman) band for the night and having a recording to share.

After you have a song put together faster than you ever have before, RiffCast it and get feedback from fellow musicians and enjoy a wide variety of original songs in the meantime.

Think that is it?....wait until you try RiffLink, the online collaboration feaure included with RiffWorks 2.1. Creating online musical collaborations is now a reality. RiffLink has spawned a few online "virtual" bands and more than a few fine collaborations. For the money I can think of no better purchase for any guitar player with a thirst for creating music with ease...and with people from all over the world.

No, I do not work for Sonoma, but I am a Junkie for the software they sell. Try it and you will be hooked.

Sonoma has a reputation for having one of the best suppot teams around. If you can't get a quick answer from one of the actual programmer / developers, there is a very supportive group of people on the user forum always ready to figure it out and throw a solo on top...

The program interface is top notch.

Besides the great built in features, Riffworks allows you to add almost infinate effects including guitar amp models.

Sonoma RiffWorks is the best bang for your musical buck...hands down.