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in the instrument, from conventional instruments to found objects, processed electronics, noises both straight up and prearranged into rhythmic or textural “happenings”, and hundreds of short audio loops of all kinds. The Pre X effects’ most important module is Dirt. Because convolution picks up and magnifies specific frequencies in unusual ways, adding even a tiny bit of distortion to a signal before it’s processed can lead to a totally different final timbre. There are knobs for Blast (tube-style distortion), Crush (bit reduction) and Ruin (sample rate reduction). Use with caution! Then come Sequence and Groove modules for arpeggiation and sequence loops, a Contour effect (a one-knob compressor/limiter), and Repeat (a tempo-based delay). Note that in X-LOOPS, the Sequence and Groove modules are replaced by a simple 1-band eq plus high- and lowpass filters. The X module lets you select an X-File (impulse response) from a menu of hundreds of fascinating choices. There’s everything from reverberant spaces and resonances to signal processing gear, filter sweeps, and even loops repurposed for impulse-response duty, and this one choice can and will completely transform how a preset sounds and behaves. There’s months or years of tonal exploration in the X-Files alone. The X-Factor knob (controlled by the Mod Wheel as a default) controls how much convolution is applied to the dry signal—this produces complete transformation of input sounds from recognizable sources to shimmering, warbling, reverberant textures that float above a mix with a life of their own... right up until you catch a resonant frequency and your level jumps by 20 dB! Because of that, the interface provides X-In and X-Out knobs to balance input and output gain for the X-Engine. The X-Size and X-Time knobs are interesting; they control how long the impulse response lasts, but they do it in different ways. The X-Size knob actually timestretches or time-compresses the impulse response, so things “happen” faster or slower, whereas the X-Time knob cuts off the impulse response after a certain amount of time. Combining changes to these two knob settings can produce amazing changes in timbre, which can be controlled in real time (up to a point—the X-Engine can stutter and chatter if you tweak either parameter too quickly in mid-note). Finally there are controls to sync the impulse response’s length and timing to the host tempo or to reverse it (another world of cool noises awaits!). The Post X effects put the finishing touch on your sound with modules for Space (reverb), Filter (a multimode resonant filter with basic controls), Color (a simple 3-band eq), and Rotate (an autopanner). Naturally, everything can be MIDI-controlled, with ENGINE’s usual MIDI learn functions and parameter automation close at hand. Getting crazy I have been working with Galaxy X for about two months now, and have been picking my way through the hundreds of presets and discovering how even tiny changes can produce completely different sounds. If you’re the sort of person who revels in playing with sound and hunting down cool timbres other folks may not have heard yet, Galaxy X is a big ol’ playground that you won’t get tired of very quickly. One thing I should point out is that as expected from any well-designed sample-based instrument, the sounds and loops in Galaxy X are fantastic just on their own.

For playing back nifty layers of keyboard instruments, synths, noise sources, acoustic and electronic toys, piano soundboard resonances, and all manner of glitchy loops, Galaxy X excels and inspires. The many Pre X and Post X effects let you tweak and sculpt your sounds to within an inch of their lives... and that’s even before you touch the mod wheel and let the X-Engine loose. There is something special and otherworldly about convolution reverb at the heart of a playable instrument; it can be wild and unpredictable at times, but for many patches it can add a lovely sheen that smears out and transforms discernible rhythms and tempos into malleable, flowing soundscapes. It is a reverb, after all, so there will be times when a small amount of X-Engine will simply sound like the Sources have been placed in a recognizable space, but there will be many other presets where the X-Engine takes you someplace amazing and strange. I could routinely get my 8-core Mac Pro with 4 GB of RAM running Ableton Live 8.2.8 under Mac OS X 10.6.8 to go over 20% CPU load just by opening a single instance of Galaxy X, but once it was up and running, adding polyphony didn’t boost the load very much at all, with two-fisted chords barely tickling 24%. An older dual-core machine might choke on Galaxy X, but newer computers shouldn’t have any issues at all. Aside from the triple-installation hassles, I have to give Galaxy Instruments major props for the design and implementation of Galaxy X, and thanks to Best Service for releasing it. If you dig mangling sampled audio, if you dig convolution reverb, or if you just plain dig sounds that twist and turn and warp inward on themselves and explode outward as you play them, Galaxy X is an amazing trip and well worth exploring... and as of a couple of months ago, Best Service does offer a small free subset of the Galaxy X library for you to test out on any install of ENGINE. I bet you’ll have a blast... I sure did.

Delivery: roughly 16 GB of content; digital download or boxed set of four DVDs (three for Galaxy X plus one for ENGINE) Format: Windows XP/Vista/7, VST/RTAS/standalone; Mac OS X 10.4+, VST/RTAS/AU/standalone Copy protection: challenge/response (three codes, one for each DVD) Licensing: single user/multiple computers Documentation: 19-page Library Manual (data specific to Galaxy X plus ENGINE basics), printed with boxed version and available as a PDF; ENGINE has a 175-page PDF manual Price: $269 (price slightly different for download and subject to exchange rates) More from: Best Service, www.bestservice.de; Galaxy Instruments, www.galaxy-instruments.com
RECORDING September 2012

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Recording - September 2012

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