I’ve been doing a hell of a lot of audio work lately.. I’ve written, without posting, extensive blog entries on the subject.. So.. this is sorta like somewhere mid stream in all of this and I’m not sure if it makes full sense out of context, but what the hell.

Ok.. so what is Aurtria Storm? In the past people have called it Reason Lite, but it’s really a totally other sort of beast. Storm has a legacy of being on the consumer side of sound production.. and then sorta swerving into the pro side.. I’ve had it for years but never really bothered to learn how to use it as I bought it at a time when I didn’t think I’d be able to afford Reason, shortly after words I actually was able to afford it, and so Storm has just sorta fell by the way side. Consequently my description will be a little on the unreliable narrator side of things.

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of work with Reaktor.. with various sound generating devices that you can basically tweak parameters of while recording to create evolving sound scapes… basically. Well Storm allows you to record and edit your tweaking.. and then, at the end of the process.. export the audio..

I was over tired as I headed into Storm.. and not really in the mood to figure much of anything out.. and having forgotten whatever I had figured out in the past.. So I basically auditioned a few devices and just started to play around. .throwing a few effects on a few things.. and eventually crafting something out of it.

The trouble is.. from my point of view.. I didn’t actually create anything that could be thought of as anything other then crap. That said.. I did sorta find a direction to walk in.. and headed down that path a few steps anyway. My feeling is “so what if it’s crap, we can process the hell out of it until it turns into something of some value somewhere.” This strikes me as a fairly reasonable attitude to take in these matters… I mean there really is something to be said for screwing around with your process.. going in directions where you don’t have so much control over results.. So I feel that there’s some value in this.. It’s just that that value hasn’t materialized for me yet.

My impression of Storm at this point? Well… I feel that I’m too damn ignorant to have a real opinion of the matter.. but that’s not to say I’m without fear. My fear is that it’s just total junk. I mean who are those Aurtria folks kidding anyway? You call that a synthesizer, you call that an effect? I mean you get these really ugly sounding devices.. and not ugly in the good sense of the word.. ugly in some cheesy 80s pop synth sounding sense that’s not anything I’d ever want to be associated with.

Aurtria has a reputation for making some pretty outstanding emulations of classic synthesizers.. On the box, that I still have.. it features ringing endorsements from the likes of DJ Spooky.. I’ve read some killer reviews of Storm as one of the most underrated programs out there.. On the box it says things like: 14 instruments, 10 effects, 11 composition assistance.. what the hell is a composition assistant? It goes on…

My feeling is it’s probably a pretty good piece of gear once you learn it.. or in my case.. maybe remember it.. But until that point it’s pretty much rubbish.

What a strange blog entry from me, ha?

A few latter: I just navigated my browser on over to Aurtuia’s Storm Product page. I can’t believe there still on version 3.. Which was around how many years ago? Um.. guys, I think its time for an upgrade..

Anyway here’s a video that shows you a little of what its all about:

Kinda makes it look pretty cool, ha?

Here’s a video they got “on the history of Storm.”

I object to the description “cutting edge.” Sure.. if you go back 3 or 4 years.. maybe.. But today there are lots of tools out there that comes with lots of instruments and lots of effects.. A lot more then what Storm has on offer.. and with greater depth.. Of course Storm is now listing for $150 which is a hell of a lot less money then my precious Reason but…

Well it doesn’t help that my computer doesn’t even meet Storms minimum system specs.. There’s a certain point at which I just have to stop and accept that I can’t really push things much further..

What I plan to do is use my Storm creations as raw building blocks for further adventures.. And we’ll just see what happens.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 9:27 am and is filed under Music Production, Zar Matt A Thustra's Deep Space Adventures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.