This would have to be one of the coolest VST plug ins I have seen and the most versatile. Strictly speaking it is different from the other VST plug ins available as it is not a sound module and can't be programmed, however if you are in the middle of a song and you're stuck for a loop/one shot and you've searched all your sample CD's the POWERFX's SOUND SHUTTLE is the perfect solution. The Sound Shuttle retails for a measly $19 (US) and comes with 10 credits. (Retail value for the 10 credits is $10 US effectively making the Sound Shuttle's price only $9 US) and is extremely easy to use. At this stage the plug in only works on the PC platform and in Fruityloops, Cubase and Ableton Live, however this should not deter a majority of users as these are the more popular programs for remixers and producers. Mac users should have a version available soon, but at the time of writing the date was not available. All I can suggest is keep checking the POWERFX web site. You will also need to be connected to the internet to see how the plug in is so useful. (If you are not on the net you will receive an error message). I tested the plug in using an AMD 2000xp, 512 meg DDRam, 7200 RPM Hard Drive, 56 Dial Up Modem and Cubase as the software. With these specs I was expecting the retrieval of samples from the Power FX web site to be slow, however I found the opposite, as the plug in access the database itself it doesn't use the Flash interface of the web site This means that dial up users will be able to find the samples quickly. Use of the plug in is very simple, you select the type of sample required, the tempo, the genre, the instrument and whether you want one shot/loop/FX and then choose the format (WAV, Aiff or Acid) and press search. One thing I would suggest is select 2000 for the max results as if you select say 50 and there are over 200 samples you can only access the 50 samples. (There is no next button) Listening to the samples is very easy either click on the sample to listen (If preview is checked) or click once then press listen. You can adjust the sound, loop it endlessly or if the preview box is checked it will play automatically. I preferred to turn this feature off. If you like one of the samples you can either mark it and come back to it later. (Marking stores it in the database so you can listen later) or click buy to buy it. If you choose the later you are prompted again to ensure you want to buy the sample. (A very neat feature stops you accidentally wasting a credit). If you clicked yes, a download dialog box appears and you can select where you want to download the sample to. The samples can also be listen to in real time with your project. This enables you to get a very good feel for the sample and whether it will suit your project. Now if you have marked or bought samples and you want to use them again. You can do a search using only marked or bought. Enabling you to access the database and retrieve the samples you have bought. THey can then be dragged and dropped straight into the project (This is in Cubase) where you want them. If all this wasn't enough and you want to do a search for pads. There is a feature enabling you to do a keyword search. Below you will see a screen shot of the search I have done for pads. 
Now, as you can see, the listing is all over the place. But just like an Excel spreadsheet of your directory listing in Windows. We can easily change the sort order of the samples. Simple double click at the top of the column that you want to sort on. As seen below sorted on BPM: 
One thing to note on using this sort function. If you have selected 100 as the search parameter and and you then click on the BPM this will change the search and return the first 100 items in the database (for this example) of BPM not the previous search results. This is why I tend to use the maximum number for the search. All in all this is an excellent VST plug in and is worth the $19 that PowerFX are asking. Remember that $19 includes $10 worth of credits. Once you use it you wont use the web site interface again. Only to top up your credits and that can be done by clicking on the "BUY MORE" button. There is a section on The PowerFX web site which has some tutorials on how to use the plug in,but with about 15mins of playing around with the plug in, I had mastered it and was well on my way to completing my project. You can purchase this Sound Shuttle directly from PowerFX and the price of $19 US includes 10 credits and in my opinion it is worth it. Review by DJ Scott-e | 
