If you’ve ever been interested in exploring the possibilities of creating your own bass lines and beats, RD3 Groovebox, retailing at $4.85 and offering a free trial, is a cost effective way to do that. It is best suited to electronic music, and provides the consumer with a portable synthesizer and beat machine.
It is made up of 3 main windows, namely Beats; BassLine; and Mixer. BassLine is a real time synth, and has a virtual keyboard; a 16 step sequencer; as well as a variety of effects and manners in which you can change the sound. It is very similar to the famous Roland 303. It produces high quality sound, and, because it makes use of multitouch, you are able to change more than 1 parameter at a time. It also provides a Follow key, so you are able to experiment with the keys and this will be recorded into the pattern. The only problem here is a small one of timing, it tends to lag somewhat, although it was very close and you are able to edit the end result.
The Beats window is basically a drum machine. There are 8 different types of drum kits to choose from, including DMX; RZI; 606; 909 and 808, and once you’ve decided which one you’re going to use the Beats window displays 6 different channels fro your drums, 1 for each type in the kit, and provides individual punch controls for each one. It also proved a 16 step sequencer, and although the drums give good sound you will need external speakers or headphones to follow the bassline, since the phone speakers are not big enough to handle those low tones.
The Mixer window is the one you use to put all your separate sound together. Here you are able to distort the bassline if you wish; adjust the volume settings for the beats and bass; set the tempo for your song; and start or stop playback. You will see that you are able to create 4 different bass and beat patterns per song, and, from this window you can select which one to play. You are also able to choose to loop each one, or play them at random intervals.
When you’re finished creating your songs you are able to save them, although this procedure did have 1 hiccup. When selecting the Save option it always asks for you to name the file, and, should you wish to save the file with the same name, you will have to remember what it’s called. However, The new version has a new save dialog with a ‘save as’ and a ‘overwrite’ option.
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