Ableton Forum

So I'm looking at investing in some loop-processing/creating tools.

I've been looking at Stylus RMX, and it seems to be a pretty sweet plugin, but I'm a little turned off that the only way you can import your own sounds is by using REX loops, as I don't have ReCycle.

I have a fair number of loops that I work with for my tunes, but I mostly just chop them up by hand and slice-to-MIDI them, but it isn't as creative a workflow as I'd like and I end up getting frustrated.

ReCycle seems to be a nice tool for chopping up/processing loops, but much of the functionality seems to be available within Live already.

Stylus RMX looks pretty sweet, and its Chaos engine seems like a great way to keep loops from sounding stale.

ReCycle is 250, Stylus is 400. Stylus seems to have more value for its price tag.

Anyone have any recommendations on the two? How stable is each? Can I use them both as plugs on tracks, or will I have to ReWire for REX? How much of what ReCycle does can I do already with Live?

do you not like how ableton works w/ rex loops currently? we use to have stylus in the studio but we've all switched over to ableton's adaptation of rex/slice to midi for the time being and we prefer it. Have you looked at something like Nerve as an alternative to both as I've heard stylus is about to get a major overhaul.

Whoa - never even heard of Nerve, but that looks it fits the bill for what I'm looking for.

Will check out the demo when I get home.

Wow - looking at some videos and messing with the demo a tiny bit on my lunch break, Nerve looks amazing.

I'm sold.

Just to clear things up for others...

Recycle is a seperate app. It is not a plugin, it cannot be used inside a DAW.
You would open Recycle as a seperate app and use it to slice an audio file and save as a REX file.

You can then import that REX file into Ableton or import it into RMX using the Spectrasonics 'SAGE converter'.

RMX is an awesome plugin... its inbuilt library is really big (8 + gigs corelibrary and 8 gigs of expansion packs = 16 gig library)
Full audio manipulation functions (envelopes,lft,eq,filters, groove manipulation, etc) and lots of effects (can even effect just a single slice of the loop).
RMX can only import REX files.. so you need Recylce to create REX files to then import them into RMX.. it is a pain..but worth it.IMHO

Recycle is a seperate app. It is not a plugin, it cannot be used inside a DAW.
You would open Recycle as a seperate app and use it to slice an audio file and save as a REX file.

Okay, thanks - I was not aware of this. I thought it was a plug, but if it's standalone, I think that puts it out of the running.

I think Nerve is tickling me a lot right now. RMX may come later, but for now I think that's the best price-value ratio for my purposes.

RMX has soooo many different ways to mangle and twist the loops that come with it, you could spend years with what they give you. Especially the RMX Xpanded version they sell now, which comes with 6 additional sound libraries over the core RMX library. Not just loops either, but some kick ass single hits you can use to write your own patterns, all with Stylus's built in effects and what not. Definitely gets my vote over Nerve or ReCycle.

Tarekith wrote:RMX has soooo many different ways to mangle and twist the loops that come with it, you could spend years with what they give you. Especially the RMX Xpanded version they sell now, which comes with 6 additional sound libraries over the core RMX library. Not just loops either, but some kick ass single hits you can use to write your own patterns, all with Stylus's built in effects and what not. Definitely gets my vote over Nerve or ReCycle.

Yeah, after spending a little time with Nerve, I'm not as impressed as I thought I'd be. It's definitely much more of a proper 'drum machine' than I thought it was, which in hindsight makes sense (it's right there in the description) but was slightly disappointing.

I think RMX is going to be it, although I wish there were a way to try it before dropping 400 bones on the thing. I can get the Xpansion pack for $379 through Guitar Center and I have a 10% off coupon there, so may end up just doing that when I get my tax refund.

if your gonna get RMX check ZZounds they have good deals call and talk to them about the price and they will work with sometime.

What benefits apart from loops library you experts see in using stylus over Live alone?
I'm a noobie about slices and their usage so I'd like an explanation because Stylus RMX
pops up frequently.

- Best
- Pasha

Here is a vote for Recycle! Bought it in 2003 or so and still use it today. Slicing is more precise than in Live and you get new single samples from your loop, which i prefer over Lives method of just playing zones. Its a few more clicks in the workflow though. Spectrasonics is a shit company, they charge money from you if you want to resell your stuff. I have Stylus RMX and Atmosphere but i haven't even installed it. They are RAM hogs and make me easily run into an "out of memory" message...

esky wrote:Spectrasonics is a shit company, they charge money from you if you want to resell your stuff. I have Stylus RMX and Atmosphere but i haven't even installed it.

Just to bring some balance to this statement... Many companies charge a fee for licence transfers, some companies simply don't allow transfers period, so there's nothing uniquely bad going on here.

Spectrasonics is pretty up front about the fact that they treat loyal customers well, and I can say this has most definitely been my experience. Major free upgrades to RMX and Omnisphere that could very easily have been paid for upgrades. Trilian was a free upgrade because of the inconvenience the Trilogy wrapper caused Mac users. I think Omnisphere was a $99 upgrade for those who owned Atmosphere, Trilogy/Trilian and RMX.

Pasha wrote:What benefits apart from loops library you experts see in using stylus over Live alone?
I'm a noobie about slices and their usage so I'd like an explanation because Stylus RMX
pops up frequently.

- Best
- Pasha

Great effects (better sounding than Live's in some cases), easy to quickly randomize a patterns, or try different variations of it, add simple fills, plus it has some really nice live performance functions if that's your thing. Here's a review I did awhile back:

http://www.abletonlivedj.com/index.php? ... &Itemid=87

polyslax wrote:

esky wrote:Spectrasonics is a shit company, they charge money from you if you want to resell your stuff. I have Stylus RMX and Atmosphere but i haven't even installed it.

Just to bring some balance to this statement... Many companies charge a fee for licence transfers, some companies simply don't allow transfers period, so there's nothing uniquely bad going on here.

Spectrasonics is pretty up front about the fact that they treat loyal customers well, and I can say this has most definitely been my experience. Major free upgrades to RMX and Omnisphere that could very easily have been paid for upgrades. Trilian was a free upgrade because of the inconvenience the Trilogy wrapper caused Mac users. I think Omnisphere was a $99 upgrade for those who owned Atmosphere, Trilogy/Trilian and RMX.

Then sorry for beeing a little unbalanced.... You are indeed a loyal Spectrasonics customer. I don't know any other audio plugin company that wants cash money for license transfer. Can you name me one...? Just to avoid buying their stuff...

esky wrote:I don't know any other audio plugin company that wants cash money for license transfer. Can you name me one...? Just to avoid buying their stuff...

Sure: Camel Audio, Waves, fXpansion, Tone2... just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are others.