I have most of the NI drums stuff 50s,60s,70s, Drumlab, Studio Drummer and Battery 4 and although the samples sound fantastic played on their own I’ve found my Groove Agent 3 based songs mix easier and the drums sit better in the mix. I’ve had some cracking results with Groove Agent (the original) and GA3. I can’t say I’ve used GA4 much - more out of lack of time to learn it than anything else. In the same way I LOVE The Grand - I’ve got most of the NI piano samplers that are supposedly miles better but my old creaky (original) The Grand is my first choice piano - it cuts through like no other piano I’ve got - especially for bass reinforcement. I tried the Grand 3 and didn’t like it!
I do agree though that the new interface is a problem - when I want to get some basic drums down fast I still go to GA3. Steinberg are clearly trying to complete with NI Battery and forgot that some people actually like the old interface and when you’re tracking demos or sketching ideas GA 1-3 is superb.
I am a Groove Agent 4 newbie. I build all my own kits and I mostly program my own patterns (although I occasionally use something like the NI Drummer or EZDrummer series for things that require a more traditional drum approach), so the Beat Agent portion is where I’ve spent all of my time in GA 4.
For someone like me, who likes to create bespoke kits and program patterns during composition, Groove Agent 4 is one of the best tools I’ve used.
While I don’t share the complaints of most of the people in this thread (since I don’t use the acoustic or percussion agents) I do sympathize. I’ve used Native Instruments Battery 3 in possibly every single project I’ve done since I entered the digital age in 2010. Aside from the ugly and occasionally unresponsive UI, it is nearly the perfect drum sampler. When Native Instruments dropped nearly all of Battery’s unique kit-building features in the Battery 4 update it felt like a sort of betrayal. Why couldn’t they just add new features and improvements without taking away all the things that used to make Battery unique?
Anyway, so far I think Groove Agent 4 is great, but I do seem to be using it in a different way from most of the people in this thread.
EDIT: I’m also curious if some of the folks here who do more jazzy stuff have found any of the Groove Agent expansions useful? I noticed there was a Jazz one out- Jazz Essentials?
I’ve been with Groove Agent since the original GA1 years ago, and it has always been a great tool for composition, as well as, at times, a cool and convenient addition to live studio tracks (Yeah, believe it or not). I still use Groove Agent 3 along with Groove Agent 4 (Two very different beasts, to be sure) and find both tools indispensable in a variety of situations.
In Cubase Pro 8 or Nuendo 6.5, via JBridge, you can’t find an easier tool than Groove Agent 3 for laying a quick drum track when inspiration hits, one that can be easily edited or augmented, and further enhanced with Groove Agent 4. I’m not a note for note from scratch drum programmer, but editing a performance by world-class drummers in either of these tools couldn’t be more user friendly, at least for me. I think the confusion for many was the expectation that Groove Agent 4 was going to be the next iteration of GA3, when in fact it is a completely different workflow. Unfortunate naming convention, I think, but the tool itself is great when you get used to it, which doesn’t take very long, truthfully. It’s all subjective, of course, but the critics have this one wrong. Can’t please everyone
The critics don’t have it wrong - work flow is everything, GA + 2 and 3 all worked the same way and people got used to that way of working could produce what they want really fast. I would find something similar to what I want, dump the midi plus a handful of fill I like and then manually edit to taste - still driving GA. GA4 is a completely different product aimed at a different market - it’s more like NI Battery 3 than GA, GA2 or GA3. Steinberg should have at least had the decency to retire Grove Agent if they didn’t want to continue the product as it stood and call GA4 something else - it’s not the same VSTi. I do own GA4 and am struggling to find any genuine reason why it’s better than GA4 SE supplied with Cubase. If it’s just kits then I got plenty of samples I could have used to build up new kits with SE.
I’m curious - did people here try the demo before shelling out for the full version? I tried the demo - realised what it is and what its not, uninstalled and haven’t look back since…
For those enjoying GA4 - excellent , more power to you…
For those that bought without checking it out 1st, and are now regretting the purchase… mmm tough tackie?
I know most Jedi Groove Agent users here won’t need it, but it’s available for those new to the program and want to skip the initial confusion with it.
I’ve just spent maybe… 3 hours of a day off trying to install Cubase AI LE 8 that came with my UR22 interface.
Unreal ordeal.
I was mainly interested in trying out Groove Agent 4 SE, and the chord editor. Despite moving the “additional content” folder around to different folders, I can’t get Cubase to recognize Groove Agent is in there. Or any other VSTs for that matter, but that’s another problem.
I long for GA 1/2. It was the quickest way to get an idea to a song, and despite all of the fans of it seen referencing across the internet, it’s baffling Steinberg just ignores that.
PLEASE, MYSTICAL INVISIBLE DEVELOPERS OF GA 1 and GA 2, HEAR MY CALL! RELEASE AN X64 COMPATIBLE VERSION! YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING, JUST RECOMPILE! PUHLEEZ!
The partnership between Bornemark and Steinberg has dissolved long ago.
Steinberg are no longer in charge of the code. Groove Agent 1/2/3 or the Virtual Guitarist instrument (a real shame - another great VSTi by all accounts) have nothing to do with Steinberg anymore.
Write to Sven at Bornemark and see if you can get any answers there… http://bornemark.se/
I was in contact with Sven Bornemark when development of the excellent software “Broomstick Bass” was stopped. He said he did not possess the source codes himself and that was impossible for him to develop it further. Perhaps it is the same situation with GA. I will contact him and find out.