Peter Kirn from Create Digital Music (CDM) hit the nail on the head with his review that describes SUBSTANCE as a studio:
“It’s better to describe SUBSTANCE as a studio than a big soundware pack — just a studio that comes with some easy-to-disassemble presets. You’re given the feeling of combining different flavors of rocket propellant and seeing where you wind up.
“Finally, someone understands that on one hand we’re on a tight deadline, and on the other, we’re still obsessive-compulsive about sound design and want to make sounds our own. Usually you have to sacrifice one or the other.
“This is really interesting to me because normally the complaint about software or presets is that it pushes you in a particular direction. In the case of Output’s stuff, though, I welcome that feeling — and I really normally don’t. So on one hand, you get the sensation that the sound designers knew what feeling you wanted before you could describe it yourself.”
Get the full scoop over at CDM. And if you’re curious, listen to SUBSTANCE in action for yourself.