Arturia Storm 3 review

Arturia is probably best known for its virtual recreations of classic Moog synths, but the company also makes its own studio package.

Storm isn’t really a challenger to all-singing, all-dancing sequencers such as Steinberg Cubase SE and Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio.

Instead it’s much more similar to the likes of Propellerheads Reason, where you create your own custom studio by selecting modules from a predefined list and slotting them into a virtual rack.

The software includes 14 virtual instruments that cover a pretty broad range of sounds.

For example, the Arsenic module can be used to create old Roland TB303 acid bass lines, but if you want a heavier bottom end, the Bass 52 synth provides sounds close to real bass instruments.

As well as the monophonic synths there are a few polyphonic instruments that are suitable for creating melodies or chord sequences.

No studio would be complete without a bunch of samplers and Storm includes two of these (or three if you count the novelty vinyl deck module that lets you scratch samples).

The Eztrack sampler lets you record audio into the program from your soundcard and then play it back along with your other musical patterns.

The second module, called H3OPlus, is what you’ll mostly use for adding the pre-recorded loops from the program disc into your compositions.

It’s a neat little four-track sample player that automatically time stretches loops to fit your tracks.

Naturally there’s also a range of effects that you can add into the rack, including distortion, delay (or echo in layman’s speak), flange and chorus modules. Setting up effects routing is very easy because each synth and sampler module has its own effects ‘send’ mini-window.

Music creation in Storm is achieved by first building short patterns of notes and then stringing them together in the main sequencer, so pretty much all the modules have their own built-in piano-roll editor for creating these patterns.

These editors appear in the middle of the module and, as they are quite small, can be a little bit tricky to program with a mouse, but fortunately you can call up a much larger grid view where editing is a little easier.

If you don’t fancy creating your own patterns straight away, Arturia has pre-loaded the modules with sequences and samples that you can string together to build new songs. However, there aren’t all that many of them, and the quality isn’t always great.

To build the patterns and samples into a track, you use the sequencer at the top of the main interface. It’s not always as intuitive as it should be, so you’ll have to spend a little time figuring out how it works, but with practice you can create quite complex arrangements.

However, the editing tools are quite limited, so it’s not as powerful as the arrange windows in the likes of Cubase SE or Sonar Home Studio.

Although there’s no real upgrade path from Storm, the software does support the Rewire protocol, which means it can link in with other Rewire-compatible applications such as Sonar and Cubase.

All in all, this is a good application for those who want to create electronic or dance music, as it provides a decent range of modules in one relatively easy-to-use package.

However, the price is a little bit high and it doesn’t have the raw features to compete with the likes of Steinberg Cubase SE and Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio for more general music making.

This article is part of a group test of budget audio-sequencing softwa re. Others are:
Intro and Editor's Choice
Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 4
Image Line FL Studio 6
Magix Music Studio 11 Deluxe
Steinberg Cubase SE 3
Setting up your home studio