In our rush to tell you about Cosmos, Waves’ new free sample management software, we neglected to give much mention to CR8, the company’s new sampler plugin.
This is said to “take everything fun and exciting about sampling and put it all inside a fast, easy workflow,” which sounds good to us, particularly as you can currently purchase CR8 for just $10.
You have eight sample layers, enabling you to stack and mix samples, or split them across your keys. There are also five stretching algorithms: Voice, Beats, Melodic, Harmonic and Classic. Each of these offers independent control of pitch and time.
Speaking of which, key and BPM analysis means that it should be easy to make samples ‘fit’ your current project, and there are loop, reverse and freeze playback options.
Sound-shaping controls include filters and ADSR envelopes, and there are four LFO/sequencer modulators. Your keyboard’s aftertouch, velocity, mod wheel and pitch wheel can be assigned to the majority of CR8’s controls, too.
CR8 is designed to integrate directly with Cosmos - which comes with 2,500 free samples - and gives you more than 800 presets. It runs on PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats, and can be purchased now from the Waves website, where you’ll also find a demo.
