I have found with the rhythmical stuff in these libraries you can also get too carried away with how these sound designers have programmed these things too. If you are holding down a key too long and just getting into how those grooves are playing then that is nice and enjoyable but it is not so much about you then anymore.
I find you can get into the MixPads a lot and get onto much more subtle aspects to the groove. It is nice to turn these parts into audio and use them creatively in your own manner. I find after turning anything to audio you can do things like shift a part by an eighth note for example and everything sounds completely different again.
There are ways to play even the grooves in a very individual way so they end up sounding quite different to when you first find them. The more interesting the playing the more interesting the grooves end up coming out.
The one shot patches are the real key to how to use those sounds. Create your own grooves first in mind and build them yourself. That is when it sounds the most exciting to me anyway and comes alive. And like no other in terms of what you can get Alchemy to play.
The full version has the power obviously to be able to engage the original programming and be able to modify it to suit your own ideas more. It is interesting to reverse engineer how these sounds are created too, you certainly find a lot out about the synth in question. I am still surviving perfectly happily with Alchemy player only but I can see the real advantages of having the full version too. The player certainly allows massive amounts of sound modification as well. It has to be one of the best players out there and you can get into it and a very nice sound library for free too. Something nice that Camel have done for us. I have certainly spent a lot more and bought many of their libraries but they have all proved worthwhile for me anyway.
The
DubStep library is pretty cool too. I had to get it for a project a client hired me for and use some DubStep bass sounds in there and they are wild to say the least. The grooves in that one are interesting too. It is pretty hard in places but also lush and smooth too in the pads etc..
Steamworx is also one of my faves. They all are actually.
'Water' is very nice though I must agree with everyone on that. It is so subtle in parts too. I love how some of the grooves sound right on the very first note.