dubdisciple

I still have not truly dived into the thousands of presets I have for pigments. I tend to work on a project, find sound I need and keep going 

59 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

My vote goes to Surge.

Love the background and history, commercial-to-open source, all of that, but I just can't find or create usable sounds with the thing. I always wind up going back to Hybrid 3 or Vacuum Pro and getting what I want very quickly.

The Orchestral Companions were a great way to get orchestra sounds for cheap 5 years ago, but since Orchestools came out for free, and is a better product both in their own ROMplers and as Sampletank libraries, I don't use them much anymore.

My son has got me to give Surge another try.  I did find a few usable presets.  I do find that interface unbearable at times

7 hours ago, ZincT said:

Captain Plugins. I know it's not really an instrument although it comes with some pretty decent sounds (e.g. Piano Strings) and Beat for drums.

I just find the UI extremely clunky and unintuitive compared to other similar things and the constant need to "phone home" is also frutsrating.
There's allegedly a new version out soon so I will keep my fingers crossed for an improved experience.

I tried to like captain but i always end up going back to scaler

7 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

I’m trying to “bond” with EZBass, but it hasn’t been, well, EZ.

 t

i feel that way about ezkeys but i admit, i have invested little time

It is tempting at that price

2 minutes ago, abacab said:

I was pretty much just into Chromophone, and I originally wasn't going to buy VA3, except that I had already collected quite a few of the AAS player soundbanks for it. Thanks to freebies and bundles. Although I had quite a few other VA synths, I was still intrigued by some of the sounds in the AAS banks, so I jumped!

I honestly bought Analog VA2 ( and subsequently upgraded to VA3) because I got one soundbank (Low End Theory) and wanted more control.  

Just now, abacab said:

In some cases, true.  That was my initial reaction to the Analog Orchestra, especially the brass.

But many of the reed and string sounds are musical and usable, as are the percussions.

Plus, if you are into sound design, there are probably some new VA programming tricks to be learned by disassembling a few of these presets in the synth editor. 🤓

That's an aspect that might be useful. I already picked something else, but may consider in the future. I don't use VA3 as much as I thought I would even though I like it and love company.

I get that, but imo still not worth at that price point. I do agree that this may be a godsend for someone else

18 minutes ago, scook said:

Melodyne does not work in real time.

Dupler does.

 

The price point is insane with software like melodyne doing the same thing

I wanted to like analog orchestra but it sounds like only a slight step above old General MIDI instruments

String Studio is an amazing synth that suffers from weak marketing and not enough people truly exploring the unique sounds it males.

26 minutes ago, Yan Filiatrault said:

Hesitating between an EQ I don't need at this price, or a drumstrip I don't need at 19$

I would go with the $19 plug you don't need if G.A.S. gods must be appeased. All of us have a glut of stuff we don't need or use. At least add to the clutter economically.

1 hour ago, Zay Bangxz said:

Can anyone help me I bought a HP laptop PC A whole studio mic mic stand headphones focusrite I plugged the focusrite to my laptop and downloaded cakewalk and when I imported the beat on cakewalk .. the beat it’s coming out my computer speaker and not my headphones and when I rap it’s going into my Computer not my mic it’s like I’m rapping to my computer not my mic I wanna use my studio equipment I’m new to recording and cakewalk 

This is one of the most helpful forums round, but this tactic ain't it.

I think I would be more forgiving of Iris if it played well with others. I have had DAWs blacklist it

Piggybacking off of my previous post. Are there instruments you really wanted to like, gave more than a few chances, but found it useless?

Iris 2: It sounds great in theory. It is a powerful beast of a synth/ sampler... and I NEVER use it. Once a year I will go through some tutorials, tell myself "this could be amazing if I took the time to learn it".  Not happening. 

Beatscape: This is going way back but this may be the biggest disappointment I ever had with an instrument.  I loved Renee's synths and I just knew he was going to give cakewalk the sampling drum solution it needed. Nope. 

Loom is Definitely the one that is my archtype for this thread. I didn't so much hate it as misunderstood and thus ignored it.

3 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

Nope. Can't think of even one.

There are a few that I've come to like better over time as my familiarity with them has grown.

But far more of them fall into the "I thought this would be better" category. Or worse, the "I can't believe I paid X$ for this!" category. Every time that has happened, I'd repeatedly revisit them, hoping I'd missed something, hoping that my investment hadn't been for nothing. And every time re-concluded "nope".

Interesting that you include SampleTank, which still tops my list of crushing disappointments despite having given it many chances to prove itself. Everyone's expectations are different.

 

I think the marketing hype after such a long wait painted them into an impossible corner, but when I weigh it for what it is vs expectations, I find it a good value. It's shortcomings as a solo instrument are exactly what makes it usable for me as a background instrument. Thanks for your perspective.

Scaler is becoming Thanos when it comes to these programs. Each update seems to tread on area of competitors.

Does anyone else ever go back through instruments you were totally unimpressed with initially and then discovered it was a hidden gem? For me the following vsts were about to hit the trash after sitting for years.

Loom by AIR-

I didn't even remember installing it.  I am sure it came with my VX49 controller. It looked confusing and seemed only good for making weird sound design noise.  As I was cleaning my computer and looking for vsts that actually worked with Akai's VIP software, I discovered this synth is a beast and an amazing implementation of additive synthesis. I have since upgraded to Loom II 

Digital Synsations by UVI

Sure I got this free about 7 years ago. My initial impressions were that it was clunky and inferior to other retro emulations like Arturia collections.  I decided to open it again before deleting and decided it had its own charm.  Although I wouldn't recommend to anyone who already had a glut of vintage synths, to the newcomer, this often free collection is a good gateway to classic sounds like the 90s house organ or whitney Houston ballad pianos.

Sampletank by IK Multimedia

Although I have always thought it somewhat unfair to compare to products like Kontakt, the lane it is in creates inevitable comparisons. Overall, very few ST libraries are on par with Kontakt libraries...and that's ok.  Sometimes I forget about ST because of all the other stuff I have, and then I need a simple instrument to sit in the mix rather than be the star and there it is. ST instruments DO sound thin compared to the heavy hitter libraries, but some of those libraries have me doing so much to make them play well with other sounds or are such CPU hogs it is not worth it.  

Instachord by WA productions

In a world that is being absolutely owned by Scaler, Instachord is a forgotten stepchild. In part I blame WA for not truly showcasing true potential. The interface is not very intuitive.  Recently I ran across a Youtuber using it for guitar while explaining why in some situations instachord actually works better for guitar.  I decided to use exact same chord progression in both and there were definite cases where Instachord worked for me. Overall Scaler is better and latest update closes guitar gap some, Instachord has value and was saved from garbage bin

As abacab eluded to, If I developed a truly quality guitar plug that was more than simply a collection of samples, I would sell as a premium product. This is exactly what native instruments does. You receive ok guitars free but for as low as $50 (often on sale for half) you can have a session guitarist instrument that works in free player. 

As already stated, most DAWs have some form of guitar preset but are generally more suited for electronic music rather than quality guitar emulation. I think this is because to truly get a convincing guitar sound takes either very innovative modeling ( like IK's MODO bass or AAS strum session) or heavy sampling and advanced articulations like Kontakt. The expense is probably not worth it.  Oddly enough, Maschine may offer the best non-third-party guitar since it includes Komplete Select. The factory guitars are not bad that come with Kontakt player.  Also, several DAWs have given away decent guitar plugs via third party. Cakewalk used to give away strum session and Presonus gave away Sparkle.   I think overall, developing a guitar plugin pleasing to actual guitarists is more challenging than developing workhorse synths and romplers.

6 hours ago, telecode 101 said:

Man.. Pigments investment has paid itself off. I picked it up in the intro sale and it has been patched and updated so many times.  Bravo Arturia. !!

Same. I was iffy at first, but it is my most used synth now and they keep improving it at no addition cost.

15 hours ago, Marc Cormier said:

Its an AI mastering tool...how does this compare to Ozone 9 Advanced?

If you want something more "automatic" , Ozone is probably the way to go. Ozone has more modules and it's mastering assistant is more user friendly . like all AI products you still have to use ears.

On 12/4/2021 at 3:21 PM, abacab said:

Arturia finally sent me an offer to buy the full V Collection 8 for $249. At the time all I owned was Pigments, Piano V, and Analog Lab 4/5.

They sent me a 199 offer. Tempting but i am soooo broke right now.

19 hours ago, michelanglois said:

Hello, I am unable to reactivate Nectar Element 1. I have the activation key, but no way to activate the plugin! I have gone to great lengths with the support of Izotope, but they are unable to find a solution except to offer me to buy the latest version. As I have old projects with Nectar Element 1, it is only with this version that I want to continue developing. Anyone have a solution? Thanks

I noticed a couple of my old izotope plugs won't activate. I think in some ways nectar elements 1 was a better product in terms of control than successors