Break Tweaker $49

[jtnyc]

http://www.pluginboutique.com/products/ ... e1a2db4e57

Any opinions about this plug? I've been interested in getting a beat sequencer of some kind. I'm attracted to all the modulation and manipulation this seems to offer. I've checked out Geist 2 recently and thought it was pretty cool, but wasn't blown away.

Any users out there care to comment?

Thanks -

[Piet De Ridder]

For $49, I'd bite. I bought it, a few years ago, for nearly six times that price (though that included the expansion packs as well).
It is a really creative piece of software and most reviews, then and since, have been mainly positive with only two recurring criticisms: the limited number of tracks and the absence of 'swing' (meaning that BreakTweaker is limited to straight, binary rhythms and can't do anything with a triple/shuffle feel). Also: the stutter thing is perhaps starting to show its age a little, some people feel.

Some reading material:
The Sound On Sound review: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun14/a ... weaker.htm
The MusicRadar review: http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/ ... ker-597372
But, to keep things balanced, several critical and dismissive comments in the original Gearslutz-thread: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/9783864-post1.html

I must admit though, I bought it for a specific job and haven't used it a lot since. Either way, it's definitely worth $49.

_

[Guy Rowland]

I broadly concur with Piet, though I'd add a few more criticisms:

1. Only showing 1 1/2 bars is an ever-present thorn in its side
2. CPU use can be very heavy (combining it with UVI Relayer can bring a powerhouse to its knees)
3. A few missing crucial internal FX (delay, reverb)
4. Lack of consistency in factory mapping outputs

On 4, what that means is that Kick doesn't always appear on track 1, so if you break out the outputs into the DAW to, say, overcome problems in (3), you'll be forever having to, well, tweak. Quite a well named product, actually. Oh, and

5. iZotope have said there will be no further development

Which I think is crazy - most of the problems shouldn't be that hard to fix, and it kind of throws away all the development they put into it and acts as a massive deterrent to buying any more iZotope instruments. And hence all these fire sales. Insane policy.

BUT - for all that, at $49 it has a lot going for it. It's 70% of a killer product. As long as you know the limitations going in, it's still useful. I hesitate to use it because of all of the above and will typically find a path of less resistance, but nevertheless I have used it on several occasions and got good results after some faffing - and usually rendering.

[Lawrence]

JT- do you use Cubase? There's this built in glitcher that's sort of interesting - can't remember what's it's called at the mo. I found it sort of fiddly but I got pretty good results on a project.

Edit- "Loopmash"

[jtnyc]

Thanks for info guys -

No Lawrence, Logic X here.

I demoed it last night and even at 49$ I'm gonna pass for many of the reasons Piet and Guy mentioned.