Stylus RMX – An Impartial Review

Basically, Stylus RMX is one of the best groove based virtual instrumental plug-in that provides users with an impressive control over production and performance of grooves using advanced technologies and controls. 

This virtual plug-in is designed to provide users with multi-page interference with the merged properties of groove control, brand new collections of sounds and instruments that provides endless options to craft grooves impressively.

Some Key Features of Stylus RMX

Stylus RMX is a unique looping machine that is designed to provide users with a powerful flexibility to create and operate grooves using endless options of sounds from the library core. The plug-in too has some of the most advanced and innovative features that give the user direct control over loops or groves and thus enhance the possibilities with it significantly.

Controlled User Interference 

Stylus is a powerful module that is gracefully crafted to improve user interference and is perfectly designed to include effects, speeding or slowing loops with different limiters, tempos, filters and all sorts of possibilities.

Different Kits and Modes

The plug-in is featured with more than 500 multi-patches, 300 drum kits with multiple options of channel setups, FX, Chaos, etc. being really flexible with the user interference, the plug-in has different remixing or looping modes like slice mode, groove mode, semi grove mode and chaos mode that have their own individual features and allows the user to access and switch between endless options of loop collection.

An Overview of Stylus RMX features

The most impressive features of Stylus that outclasses the plug-in over others is the massive collection of 7.4 GB sound library, which is expandable and allows users to import their own creations with the sample files. 

This helps them to create and re-create notes more easily and comfortably.

Equipped with innovative chaos designer, stereo audio groves, eight part multibral and eight stereo outputs, the plug-in comes with easy and powerful organizing parameters. It has a remarkable collection of professional effects like power filter, valve radio, vintage compresses, stereo imager are just a few from the list.  

The plug-in consists of easy MIDI control, SAGE technology, multi-mode power filter, ADHR envelopes and three hours of video tutorials that provides easy learning skills to the user and consequently enhances the performance with it.

What Reviews Say About the Real Time Groove Module – Stylus RMX

With its impressive features and endless options of controlling and producing grooves or loops, Stylus RMX is pronounced as the ultimate groove factory by the leading professionals of musical industry.

Users advocate the module with an extraordinary extent of control and support it provides in handling tempos, pitches and source materials as simply implausible. The plug-in covers a wide range of possibilities with its versatile and user friendly approach. The tool is one astonishing module that is simple, powerful and provides users with top quality instruments and grooves.           

Musicians Who Do Use Looping to Their Advantage

With that characteristic repetitive pattern, musicians are trying to utilize the technique for their jamming sessions, recordings and even live performances.  That is why the looping technique has become an essential element of musical sessions and an advantage for the musicians who do use it. Here’s how:

Revolutionized Recording Techniques

Looping was basically set off as the musical background for video games, but in a short period of time, musicians recognized the possibilities they could generate with the help of loops and in next to no time adapted it. The technique developed into a recording advantage because now solo musicians could also make musical compositions as good as one’s who worked in groups.  

Like most emerging musical talents, Steve Lawson and Lobelia prefer to use looping techniques during their recording sessions.  In their words “recording with it (looping techniques) has eased the whole process with conveniences like repetitive guitar riffs, hooks or drum patterns.”

Unlike the classical style of musical composition, looping provides with different measures to improve and enhance a recording experience. Moreover, musical composition created over loops underlines the maturity of instrumental parts through manners like layering and helps in creating different sound effects.

Using of loops has certainly enhanced the way these musicians frittered extensive jamming sessions for something exclusive. Loops allow to work around a repetitive melody and work around it with various other rhythmic patterns.       

Most Useful During Live Performances

Apart from endless hours of jamming in recording studios, looping techniques provided out the most helpful hand to musicians during live performances.  Recording in studio with software is something totally different to what a live performance requires. While addressing a live audience you can’t just let the slightest of error ruin your performance. However, with looping, such errors can be covered up easily without much of a notice. 

Musicians like KT Tunstall, Michael Manring and Zoe Keating are on familiar terms with looping and use them during their live performances.  For instance, Zoe Keating, the popular cellist and composer uses looping software with various starts and stops during her live performances. Similarly, popular American bass guitarist Michael Manring loves to experiment with looping and is generally noticed using loops during his performances.  

Using looping especially during live performances allows musicians to maintain the flow of the music without breaking. Not only with musical instruments, looping is also being used o to replace electronic instruments. Moreover, using loops during performances allows musicians to combine musical effects with different live instruments and add effects of drums, guitar loop riffs and vocal samples together.  

Using Music Loops without Pissing Anyone Off

Before we start to enhance our knowledge about using music loops in a more skillful manner, let us begin by discussing the basics of looping.

In the most simplest words, looping means playing a repeated section in a musical composition. You don’t necessarily need real instruments for looping, since you can do the same with looping software too.

However, this isn’t as simple as it sounds. Let’s find out how it works and how can use loops without pissing off people.

Using Musical Loops for mixing

The most prominent use of looping is in DJing, where DJs mostly use looping for filling the gaps when changing tracks. Loops provide a rhythmic pattern that acts as catalyst of blending the ends of two different tracks together. 

Using music loops for such illustrations allows one to choose the desired tune while mixing and brings in new records to a preferred baseline. This will create a repetitive section between the tracks, providing enough time to add new sounds and play it with a perfect timing.

Mixing musical loops with tracks is a bit time consuming, especially if you’re still a novice at that. Be watchful about mixing when playing for an audience. Mixing tunes on the spot could turn disastrous. Plan in advance what you want and prepare the loops you’ll use.     

To Create a Musical Phrase

Usage of music loops becomes more interesting with longer hours of mixing and playing. It allows us to keep a certain musical phrase or pattern throughout the set. For instance, if a certain section of a track seems like an interesting rhythm, we can loop it and use it at different occurrences for a sync mix.

This option can get more interesting with a collection of gripping, riveting music loops that are evenly blended to create a precise musical phrase. This is one common technique most professional DJs use and it works quite brilliantly with sporadical musical patterns.

Although, using music loops to create a phrase might sound an interesting option, over use of this technique will never outclass you as the best. Therefore, use music loops in moderation and follow a certain set pattern only.

Creating a Classical Loop Roll

It’s that one big thing everyone wants to try, isn’t it! To create a classical loop roll we select a certain section of the track i.e. usually quite smaller than what we usually have. Now we repeat the section nearly eight o twelve times continuously while shorting the section to half with each rhythmic break. The repetition creates a rhythmic electric buzz that can be used to fill the gaps between plugging and drops.

The creation and usage of loop roll is somewhat dependent on the software we prefer. We can use the loop roll to add excitement during the drops or even as cue point and a release point. However, like all looping techniques, it requires dedicated practice but no repetitive usage.      

How to create your own drum loops with virtual instruments

Samples of drums that were used to create loops can be used after some overdubbing in your own sampler.

However, that is a lengthy process and it is advisable to make your own drum loops. Editing is very easy in loops, you just need to import some samples into a hard disk multitask recording program. Arrange them in any order you want, add the tempo to create your own loops.

You can save these tracks as AIFF or Wav files. Loops can be created in any tempo, but if you might want to convert them into stretchable ones later make them with the REX techniques or Acidization. A tempo of 100BPM is highly recommended. Let’s take a look step by step.

1. Collecting Samples

After you collect the drum samples, create tracks where you want to hold them. Before starting keep in mind that creating a template will make life easy for you, when you might wants to create more loops.

Tip- A free windows program Stomper can give you analog drum sound effect

2. Add the Tempo

Once the template is created in DAW set your tempo and value for snap.

Tip- Start with the snapped drums first and add the human touch later.

3. Placement of Samples

After the samples have been allocated make your loop, set the volume and pan settings optimally.

Tip- You can either place sounds individually on their own tracks or you can spread them on different tracks.

This method enables you to lower or higher the non-accented and accented hats and you do not affect the quarter notes too.

4. Saving and bouncing

This is the final step in the whole process. You can choose between bouncing all parts together inside a stereo or mono track that can be saved as an AIFF or Wav file. Or you can make a mix in stereo version and instead of kick add reverb to the drums.

Tip- make a separate file for every drum sound and save all these variations in a folder.

5. Flexibility with Variations

When each sound is saved in its own dependent file it will allow you a greater flexibility when creating loops with variations. You can do the following-

·         Moving the track back and forth will teach you the applications feel factor. Moving the snare ahead will give it a nervous effect and behind for an effect that feels laid back.

·         If you are able to maintain the original duration the change the pich when working in a digital editor for audio. Timbral variations will be created by this.

·         You can create remix variations by dropping out tracks that are individual. When there is a sound on each track it is easy to drop it out or to add parts while remixing.

·         You can also create virtual aux busses by selecting sounds you want to process and then bouncing them. 

Author Bio: Ryan is CEO at Thelooploft. He has expertise in creating MIDI loops as well as Guitar loops. Besides business, he has interest in playing baseball.

Tips on how to get more from Your Drum Loops

A drum loop is basically that section of the music which is cut in such a way that it seamlessly plays the sound of drums indefinitely or in a loop. It can range from a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the composer. They are usually created to work as a convenient underscore on which the composition is built. They can be combined with bass line loops. The following tips have been suggested keeping Ableton Live in mind but can also be used with DAW.

1. Chop the loop

Try and change the arrangement of the loops after chopping them. This comes very handy when you want to create your library drums.

2. Audio channels

After rearranging plan a scheme for placing chopped slices in their independent audio positions. This will enable you to add different effects to various parts and it wont effect the drum hits at all. The only problem with drum and guitar loops is that when you want to add an effect it affects the kick and the hi hats. The overall sound can be effected by it.

3. Return channels

Always try to put all your different effects in to the return channels instead of loading them into your audio channels. This will save a lot of space in your CPU and let you add more instruments later. Most Ableton Live users find that effects in return will help in mastering the audio drums. In other words with all of it in one return all the effects for the snare will be in one channel  and have no loads effect on layered hit of snare.

4. Multiply your drum hits

You dint need to stop at one kick or snare. You can try it innumerable times. The more the layering the bigger the sound that will be created. Most people have come to expect this with genres of bass, drum and dubstep. One layer might work once but layering is always more impressive.

5. Adding drum patterns

Be creative with drum patterns and don’t hold back when using them. The option of DJ the Prodigy will provide complexity to the underlining drum sounds in your track.

For eg- Fire Starter has a drum beat as main, but it can also be used a abreak beat loop in the back.

This technique is commonly used in Glitch and Break Beat

6. Use of transposition

When the drum hits are chopped up the glitch effect can be added very easily using transposition. When using Ableton Live always remember that transpositions can be done only in multiples in increasing order. Or else they will not sound in sync.

For eg- if a drum hit is transposed three semitones then the next one should be -6 or -9 or +6 or +9. This is just a tip not a rule.

7. Conversion into a MIDI track

The audio sample can be converted into a MIDI track very easily using Ableton Live. The arrangement can be changed of the loops and you will end up getting your own unique loop. It just not limits you here, sustain decay; release and attack can also be added for alteration.