I absolutely love Beatstation but its missing a few things that would put it over the top for me. Currently I’m using it in sort of a skinny puppy vein, sampling odd soundbyte bits onto the drum pads and bass and triggering them live from a midi keyboard in stand alone mode. Occasionally I make a drum loop in idrum and drag the midi file over to Beatstation but that has really limited appeal because it just loops over and over. Beatstation could really be a fantastic comprehensive stand alone product but it needs some work. My main issue is the lack of a sequencer for anything. If I could sequence a bunch of midi drum loops together in stand alone mode that would be great, instead I have to use it in plugin mode with a DAW if I want to do this. Even a midi recorder would help, to record a jam or an audio recorder that could sample internally what I played so I can maybe loop it back on a drum pad. A dedicated Filter or LFO on the Bass/Lead parts would be nice too. Now if none of this is in the works for the future it would at least be nice of you guys to crank out BTX kits so we can use the midi in our DAW.
All these issues aside, the best thing about beatstation is the ability to sample right into the program. It makes part of the process of making music very immediate, like using an old Akai S01 sampler.
