Review and Discussion of Native Instrument's Battery

[Tweak]

Review of Battery
by Rich the Tweak can be read here:
http://studio-central.com/review_of_bat ... e_inst.htm

Native Instruments Battery Sampling Software (Macintosh and Windows)
More INFO! http://www.zzounds.com/a--3745/item--NINBATTERY




Here is an excerpt:

BATTERY breathes life into your drum samples. It boasts separate sound parameters for 54 Instruments, powerful modulation capabilities and an unbeatable ease of use. BATTERY is fast, effective, intelligent and convenient. It has sample-accurate timing, internal 32-bit resolution, up to 128 velocity layers per instrument and can play samples at any pitch - BATTERY fulfills even the highest demands regarding precision, sound quality and flexibility. Read more at the Native Instruments Site
http://www.native-instruments.com/index ... ingline_us

Tweak Writes:
Everything they said is true. If you are into sampled drums, hits, and rolling your own kits for your sequencer, I cannot imagine a better soft sampler than Battery. Soft Sampler? Well almost. Battery has no recording function, so you are not going to be able to run a mic to the kitchen while the significant other smashes vases, celebrating your new toy. But no big deal there, you surely have a little applet that records wave files somewhere on your computer. That's all you need to turn Battery into a full fledged digital sampler.

[sogibear]

Hello Tweakz,

Am new to your site but think it is awesome, my only regret is that i hadn't noticed how good it was sooner, i would have saved myself a lot of bother.

I'm using Battery and say one of you threads concerning multiple outputs, i shall put this into practice, however my real problem is that when i program a bar of hits; sometimes on playback Battery MISSES one or two hits whithin the bar of music.

the result is a very irritating slightly syncopated feel, which is definately not what you want if you had programmed a linear bar of Closed hi hat hits. The hits themselves are all represented as midi notes just fine. I'm not sure if the problem is with Logic Audio 5.0 or Battery, i'm using the Audiophile 2496 and am experiencing no other problems at all.

Thanks

[Tweak]

If you are using the EASI driver, switch to asio. Some Logic 5 versions (5.0 or 5.1 I think) had a problem with missing the 1st beat. Update to 5.51--that should cure it too.

[Aaron]

I use Battery for every track... I rely heavily on a complex beat... I use Battery and an SPD-6 as a trigger... Being a drummer it allows me to get the beats out exactly like I hear them in my head... I have several drum kits put together with Battery that I can load depending on the track I'm doing... The only better setup I can think of is a V-Drum kit with Battery... Battery is a staple program in my production...

[erikjames]

hey tweak,

sorry about the double-posts last week.

I'm using Groove agent (a software drum machine) in dp4 on osx, and i'm looking for a program that I can create my own drum maps with some killer samples (hiphop, rock, pop, country, etc.)

Would you suggest battery and a couple sample cds?

thanks,

e

[Ashermusic]

I used Battery for a long time. Since I bought Linplug's RM IV however I hardly use it. IMHO better GUI, loop playing ability, good collection of sounds, and its plays better with the other kids.

The upgrade, which N.I. told me well over a year ago was going to be "a major re-write" is disappointing and overpriced once again, IMHO..

[asa]

I'm looking to get something over the next few months for making some half decent drums tracks.....and Battery is obviously an option.

I just want to be able to program different sounds to my MIDI controller. The problem is that my computer's not up to running Battery 2. Does anyone know where I might be able to get hold of Battery 1?

[bibliofiend85]

Tweak, I'm in the market for a good soft sampler and I'm trying to be very careful to make sure I get the one that suits me best. I just have a few qeustions about battery.
1.Would you say that battery 2 is the best soft sampler that you've come across?
2. If not, whats better or equal to it would you say?
3.How does it compare to hardware samplers? you said a few things about this in your review but if you dont mind, could you elaborate. Like for instance, can you think of any hardware that tops battery?
thanks man.

[Tweak]

1. Heh. No.

2. Better for.....They are all unique and have their strengths and weaknesses

3. For drums it is easier to use than any hardware sampler I have used.

Its a great choice for drum sounds. For sampling keyboard stuff--strings, etc, it won't do well. its only designed for drums.

[bibliofiend85]

Ok I'm just alittle confused now, So it's not good for sampling synth parts out of songs and stuff? just drums?
So you cant just sample anything? it has to specificly be drums? No choruses, or vocals, or synths or anything? Just drums? Can you elaborate alittle on that?

And also What are some other good soft sampers that you know of?

Thanks for the guide you put together on your site I found it really helpful, specially the section on midi. Theres not to many places you can go that just hand out info like that. People usually have other agendas and are trying to sell something. So thanks.

[Lock Down]

Ok I'm just alittle confused now, So it's not good for sampling synth parts out of songs and stuff? just drums?
So you cant just sample anything? it has to specificly be drums? No choruses, or vocals, or synths or anything? Just drums? Can you elaborate alittle on that?

And also What are some other good soft sampers that you know of?

Thanks for the guide you put together on your site I found it really helpful, specially the section on midi. Theres not to many places you can go that just hand out info like that. People usually have other agendas and are trying to sell something. So thanks.

Yeah, Battery is ONLY fo drums. If you want a full-fledged soft sampler, then look into Kontakt.

[boodahblaze]

Ok I'm just alittle confused now, So it's not good for sampling synth parts out of songs and stuff? just drums?
So you cant just sample anything? it has to specificly be drums? No choruses, or vocals, or synths or anything? Just drums? Can you elaborate alittle on that?

And also What are some other good soft sampers that you know of?

Thanks for the guide you put together on your site I found it really helpful, specially the section on midi. Theres not to many places you can go that just hand out info like that. People usually have other agendas and are trying to sell something. So thanks.

Yeah, Battery is ONLY fo drums. If you want a full-fledged soft sampler, then look into Kontakt.

Wrong. Battery is not only for drums. think of it as the software based Akai MPC - 2000/3000/4000. You can use it to create basslines, chop up synth/horns/stings lines to remake new grooves, etc.

[chopman83]

Yes, you can load any type of sound into Battery that you like, but it's feature set is tailor made for drum sounds. I use it live with my TrapKAT electronic drumset for drum sounds as well as melodic percussive sounds...I could use it for other melodic sounds (synths, strings, pads, choirs, etc...) but I use Kontakt for those sounds.

[henalcos]

I'm using this software but I don't how to record what I do... the only way that I find out is using the "record what I'm listening" from de sound card... but it is not good at all if I want to record more than one track...

If somebody know how... please answer me...

[Tweak]

Are you using it in a sequencer?

[henalcos]

actually I use the Acid but I read in the battery manual that it dont work on Acid, only on cubase, sonar and other ones as a midi controller... I'm not sure about it... If you can tall me more I'll be glad... If the only way to record it is in this softwares tell me how...

thanks a lot...

[daddijonez]

you know how in an mpc you can hit a pad and let's say it was assigned a snare,and you want it to roll like at 1/32. can you make this happen in battery 2?

[orjanbeats]

Does anybody know which one uses the most resources from the computer, Battery 1 or Battery 2? My cousin has a license of Battery 1, I can get it for real cheap since he's switching to Reason. I don't actually care to much about the new features in Battery 2, I just want a good drum sampler. But it would have been kinda sad if the version 1 had issues and used up a lot of CPU, you know Sorry for my english, I'm from Norway.

Thanks, I love your site Tweak

[dloadu]

Battery 3 is great like Rich says but I've had to go back down to v2 because I just can't get v3 to audition sounds like v2. In v 2 before you load a cell (in Cubase at least) you heard the sound just by clicking on it in the browse window. That meant you could skim through a bunch of samples and choose something you liked very easily. Not happening in v3. So annoying! Is it a bug or just an option I can't find? Anybody got any ideas?

[Twitch]

It works fine for me.. there is an update.. Which I recommend doing...

[CHRISTina FAITH]

It works the same on v3. You may need to do as the previous tweaker said and update.

[dbit]

Question, with Battery 3, it seems that all the kits load up with the midi key map mapped to a drum map, and even if I edit the default key map to chromatic it still reverts to drum map when I load up a kit. Is there any simple way to switch the key map to a chromatic setup, i.e. sounds on every key of a standard keyboard?

[Deefex]

i love battery. i tried vers. 3. but i wasn't really impressed with it. and i was also annoyed how some things got moved around. and that not hearing the sample in the browser was annoying to me too. so i decided to use ver. 2. i even like the gui of 2 better anyways.