Arturia has constructed a fairly complete software studio built around the eye of the storm: the instrument and effect modules. Of the 13 instruments, five fall into the drum-machine category, five are synthesizers, and three are sample-playback machines. Making up the 10 effects are chorus, compressor, distortion, dual delay, flanger, lowpass filter, reverb, ring mod, sequence filter and vocoder.

All of Storm's effects produce a sound quality that is impressive for the price and passable for finished songs. The dual delay automatically synchs to tempo and can create intricate delay panning effects. Five types of reverb include Small, Medium, Large, Cathedral and Tunnel, and an x-y axis determines the clarity and absorption of the virtual room. The lowpass and sequence filters are also excellent for achieving filtered build-ups and interesting rhythms. One slight disappointment is the lack of user effects settings, but whatever setting is saved for an effect inside a Storm file will be preserved when the file is reopened.

The new compressor can make beats stand out in the mix and beef up other parts but, like all compressors, should not be overused. The module contains a few preset settings, or users can set their own attack, release and gain levels. A screen also illustrates the input and output levels.

Vocoders are heavily in demand by dance producers, and the new Storm 2.0 vocoder pulls enough weight to again justify almost the entire price of Storm. It includes a two-oscillator synthesizer for the input signal to modify. The input can come from any Storm instrument. The Mix knob mixes the input signal with the vocoder synth, and the Smooth knob adjusts the level of articulation of the vocoded voice. In keeping with the Storm style, the vocoder uses an x-y control surface to modify the filter, oscillator and LFO settings of the vocoder synthesizer.