| If you have heard of the Beat Thang program, you're | | | | The Beat Thang software has a fairly straightforward |
| probably interested to find out exactly what it does. I | | | | interface, which makes it easy to lay down drums and |
| mean, it can be pretty hard getting in the door when it | | | | instruments. For other patches, it can be a bit more |
| costs more than $100. I've been using it for a few | | | | difficult due to buggy features that were present |
| weeks now, and while it has been pretty good in some | | | | during testing. |
| aspects, it's certainly not an MPC equivalent. | | | | When you're competing against the likes of MOTU's |
| First of all, most software has an extremely hard time | | | | BPM program and Native Instruments' Maschine |
| emulating the warmth that hardware like the MPC | | | | software, you need to bring your A-game, and I do not |
| series provides. For the Beat Thang, it seems an | | | | think Beat Kangz Electronics truly delivered. This really |
| impossible task. Everything seems very digital, and all | | | | did look like a promising product. |
| the sounds you put through it adapt to its distinctly | | | | It certainly is fun to use sometimes, but the lack of |
| digital profile. When I demoed this for my music | | | | gritty sounds really disappoints, especially if making |
| production buddies, they all agreed: it is far from a | | | | underground hip hop tracks is your main priority. For the |
| faithful hardware emulation. | | | | price, you can definitely get better elsewhere. Perhaps |
| One positive thing about this program is the sample | | | | you're wondering whether I kept the Beat Thang; I did. |
| library. It is quite big for software of this kind. I did find a | | | | It's on my laptop. Why do I do this? Because, again, the |
| lot of small glitches within the patches included, but | | | | interface is very inviting and some of my young |
| overall it was a positive experience. A potential | | | | nephews are aspiring music producers, and letting |
| maiming ingredient is the lack of a step sequencer. I | | | | them play with the Beat Thang is probably a shortcut |
| honestly do not understand how any company could | | | | to using software productively. If you want to get |
| put out something like this and not bundle a step | | | | serious with your production game at all, I say stay |
| sequencer or piano roll with it. It makes editing very | | | | away from the Beat Thang and look to FL Studio or |
| hard and needing to go over the same things time and | | | | another well-established program first. |
| time again can really drain creativity. | | | | |