Hello Composers, Mike here! =)
And today I will share my thoughts on Heat Up 3, a VST plugin by Initial Audio aimed at Urban music styles like Hip Hop, RnB etc.
For my review I got my hands on the Essentials Bundle, which includes the factory sound bank + RnB, Urban and Studio essentials. But there are many more expansion modules you can add on if you want.
My Overall Impression: The greatest thing about this VST Plugin in my opinion is how extremely fast you can dive in and find great presets in all kinds of styles and categories of sounds.
Everything is clearly organized and labeled in the browser to make sure you can go with the flow of inspiration, and focus on your music.
The Sound of Heat Up 3
You get a whole lot of them. Over 1.200 Unique Presets in the Essentials Bundle. The main aspect of these sounds are that they have that grit and dirty quality that is perfect for urban music styles.
You will get a whole range of categories to choose from that pretty much covers all grounds: Basses, Keys, Strings, Brass, Leads, Plucks, Bells, Choirs, and a lot more. Even drum kits, hits and effects are included.
And if you want to dive deeper, they offer lots of expansion packs in various styles.
Here is a track I made using several instances of Heat Up 3 together with orchestral sample libraries to make an orchestral hip hop beat.
In this composition I used 4 instances of Heat Up: Electric keys for comping, low brass for power, lead for the main melody, and a high lead for a second melody in the final chorus. Then I used some orchestral sample libraries with real strings and brass to get that cinematic meets urban hip hop type vibe.
My Favorite things about Heat Up 3
1. The Ultra Fast Workflow
You can dive into the browser, quickly choose the category you want, then just try out a few presets until you find a good one that suits your current track.
2. The Easy Interface
This is not a deep plugin with lots of pages and sub pages of features. And that is its main advantage. It’s a go-to sound bank for various instruments and sounds you want to use straight away, with minimal tweaking. Good for inspiration, great for efficiency.
3. The Efficient CPU usage
Since this is essentially a Rompler (playing back samples), it is very easy on the CPU. Which is great since I often use way too many CPU-intensive plugins and sample libraries as it is. With Heat Up 3 you can stack up many instances in your project, without your computer struggling from it.
Learn More about Heat Up 3
Do you want to learn more about Heat Up 3, and find out if this is the perfect tool for improving your inspiration and workflow when producing urban style music?