MusicRadar

The new colour-coding helps differentiate cell types.

1 of 3 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review
• Manufacturer's Description

Beat-downers

With all of its new features, it would be easy to overlook any shortcomings in Battery 3, but inevitably, there’s still room for improvement. From a user perspective, to get the most from it, you really need to play it from a MIDI controller. When clicking the mouse, velocity is fixed (though it can adjusted), so there’s no context-sensitive playback. This means you can miss out on the multilayered nature of the kits (many of which have 30 or more velocity layers) or the ‘note off’ cells. What’s more, with different kits loading different cell matrix arrangements, it’s easy to get confused as to how cells and notes line up.

Ultimately, though, if you use beats in your music-making (like most of the Western world), Battery 3 is a fantastic instrument. Once you’ve used it, you’ll realise just how important a good drum machine is. Sure, you can achieve much of what it offers using a standard sampler, but doing so would undoubtedly take longer. What’s more, if you ever get bored, Battery 3 also offers the flexibility and creative tools to keep your beats, loops and any other sounds on the cutting edge. Factor in the fantastic sound set and at £150 it’s pretty much a bargain buy.