Alberto Arranz
Introduction
For those of you who don't know Groove Agent, it's a virtual instrument packed with rhythmic patterns and drum sounds. It puts hundreds of grooves and loops at your disposal, in many different styles and sounds, all of them perfectly adapted to your tempo.
Version 2 comes with 50% more musical styles and drum kits: 27 new sound types offering the latest in Old Skool Hip Hop, Retro Rock, Punk and Grunge grooves, and a long list more...
Main features of the new version
- More than 80 styles programmed by professional musicians.
- 25 complexity levels, also including fills, breaks and different nuances.
- Instant combination of styles and different kits
- 24-bit sounds.
- Separate dry and wet ambiences.
- 8 stereo outputs for easy routing
- "Humanize" controls to touch up and perfect the realism
- New "solo" button
- VST, DXi, AU, ReWire, etc...
Installing and getting started
Installation is extremely simple. In a few minutes the installation process is complete and up and running. You don't have to do anything strange. Insert the disc, click install and you're off...
Then, when you open your sequencer (in our case we chose Cubase SX3 for the test), the new instrument is already available among your tools. Select VST Instruments, Groove Agent, and the new guest appears on screen.
The screen is very simple and intuitive. On one side you have a slider that lets you select the style you want for your rhythms: samba, reggae, bossa nova, funk, fusion and a very long list more, which you can see in detail in the attached screenshots.
The playback speed of the rhythm automatically adapts to the tempo of your song. However, you can introduce variations with a button that halves the speed.
Next to that slider, there's another one that sweeps through the kit's sound type according to the year you select, for example a 1960s, '70s or '80s "vibe," etc. The truth is that the rhythmic patterns become somewhat more complex as you get closer to more recent dates.
At the bottom, you have the description (sample name) of all the pieces that are playing. You can mute the ones you're not interested in and even swap a piece of the kit for another you like better: your favorite snare or whatever variations occur to you. This way you can combine possibilities; for example, use complex rhythmic patterns from the '90s with sounds from any of the available eras. All of this can be combined for each piece of the kit.
You can use Groove Agent as a sophisticated drum machine with quality samples, synced to the song's tempo. You also have an "accent" button that emphasizes the part of the bar you choose (usually a crash or splash cymbal sounds). Another virtual button serves as a break, which is inserted into the bar playing at the moment you press it. Adding to its resources, you get the option of choosing between snare or rim sound in the rhythmic pattern you choose, plus "humanize" parameters to avoid a mechanical feel.
Conclusions
This is an extremely easy-to-use virtual instrument, very intuitive and with no complications of any kind. I find it a convenient, fast tool that can handle the drum and percussion tracks of your songs with realism and a certain virtuosity. It can also serve as a source of inspiration. Greater flexibility wouldn't hurt, for example having the kit pieces available on the master instrument (keyboard, etc.) so we could program bars of our songs, customizing the drum track 100%. In any case, I see Groove Agent as software that aims to be efficient while making the job as easy as possible, which is why, if you want it to sound wonderful without having to do practically anything, this is your software.
To see the technical specifications and rating table, download the magazine in PDF