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Spitfire LABS should be near the top of the freebie libraries list, IMO!

For those with Akai VIP 3, you can layer up to eight synths in a VIP multi, so it is possible to build a mammoth Korg + Unify multi (1–8 patches from 1 or more plugins). The VIP preset browser has presets tagged by "Instrument | Timbre | Style | Articulation". So using the presets in VIP it is possible to build a multi for the Korg M1 and Wavestation, and then add Unify as another instrument in any 1 of the 8 VIP patch channels (layers). Unify presets are not VIP mapped, but you can open up the Unify GUI within VIP, and manually choose the Unify presets and additional Unify layers you wish within a Unify instance. Korg M1: 1524 VIP presets Korg Wavestation: VIP 900 presets Unify: Unlimited layers of any plugin. One really neat trick here is that Unify can open VST3 plugins, even wile running as a VST2 plugin at the time. In this instance VIP 3 cannot run VST3 plugins natively, but with a little Unify magic, BOOM! Load a VST3 only layer inside of Unify, inside of VST2 only VIP!

SynthMaster 3 will be a free upgrade for all Everything Bundle owners. It is now expected mid-2022. Per the recent dev update posting at KVR forums.

I wish the coupon would be valid past 12/7. I picked up the u-he Repro synth for 50% off during the u-he/NI sale, and no regrets with that one! Probably the best sounding synth I have at the moment. So I might be interested in another u-he synth such as Diva or Zebra, but pretty tapped out after all the sales earlier this year + Black Friday month.

I got the Kontakt 6 crossgrade at 50% off this year during an NI sale, for about $124. That opens the door to a lot of free or very cheap libraries!!!

What? No percale sheets??? 🤣

Beware of the free Spitfire BBCSO Discovery library! That pulled me into the Core upgrade! 😂

I upgraded last year, so I'm good for now.

That sounds about right, but with one clarification. The new EDIT panel is in the Syntronik 2 application UI (i.e., the new oscillator wave sets), not SampleTank 4. But apparently since the Syntronik 2 presets use the SampleTank 4 engine, they will appear as ST4 presets in the ST4 Editor. It's a bit different than the Syntronik 2 Editor, but you can access the mod matrix using ST4, just not the wave sets.

Just the sounds have a time limit. The programs themselves are always available.

Unfortunately, SampleTank 4 installs ALL of the presets for your ST4 edition by default. The assumption is that you will download and install all available sample content. That second part is of course optional, but the presets without samples will give an error if you try to load them. They should have done the presets and sample content in a more modular structure, so that you could pick and choose.

I am referring to the new preset in Syntronik 2 CS, 'Roppongi Nights Drone'. It is a version 2 preset for V-80. Maybe you don't need to have the version one instrument installed to see this preset in CS, as it uses the v2 synth engine. I wasn't really sure when I made that statement. This preset is not available in version 1, and Syntronik 1 was not updated. I have Syntronik 1 Deluxe, so this was not a "clean" install on my PC. Meaning that I already had the full instrument collection from Syntronik 1 on-board, and then added the Syntronik 2 CS. So the legacy instruments and presets show up in Syntronik 2, as well as the Syntronik 2 CS presets. Ditto for SampleTank 4.

Well Matt, the bad news is that LatencyMon conclusion says that your PC (as currently configured) is not able to handle real-time audio. That in itself needs to be investigated and corrected. Until you do that and can get a clean test, you are likely to experience the same issues. The buffer underruns mentioned here mean that for whatever reason (to be determined), the CPU is tied up with a DPC (Deferred Procedure Call) most likely from a driver. Whenever the CPU is locked up with a DPC for more than a brief moment, it cannot service the real-time audio buffer, and then you will get drop-outs in your audio output. If you know somebody tech savvy that can help, there are some steps that can be taken to optimize a PC for real-time audio. Or you can Google for some step-by-step checklists on that topic. You stated that you just upgraded to Windows 11 back at the beginning of the month. That is new territory that I have not explored yet, and it's hard to say if that possibly tipped your PC over some invisible line into excessive DPC latency. Each PC is unique, and laptops can offer additional challenges. They are designed and configured by default for power saving and CPU throttling. That runs up against real-time audio performance, which can actually be more demanding than gaming and video editing. Those use cases can buffer an unlimited amount of data, and do not run in real-time. So a PC that is very powerful in those other applications is not necessarily optimized for real-time audio. So if anything, start checking your Windows settings for power and CPU settings that may have changed, and make sure you are set up for max performance. Maybe with some thorough detective work it can be sorted out. But that LatencyMon report is just a starting point, as it doesn't actually tell you what you need to fix. Just that there is a real problem!

Is this going to be the Voltage Modular Killer?

Have to agree!!! As the dust has settled a bit, I am finding that Syntronik 2 CS is a very nice upgrade to Syntronik 1 (I have Deluxe). Too bad they had such a rough time with the initial release! If you want to see the new presets that are available, open up SampleTank 4 and just list the Syntronik 2 CS presets. There are quite a few provided for CS, most for the new instruments, but they included some for the Syntronik 1 instruments. All of them are capable of opening up in the editor in either the Syntronik 2 or the SampleTank UI. For example if you have Syntronik V-80 from v1, take a look at the new preset 'Roppongi Nights Drone'. It's Syntronik 2 compatible. For an even bigger sound switch it from Legato to Poly mode! It's great as a solo lead with glide, but as a big poly fat pad! Wowza!

Well they are not actually just MIDI loops. Loops are typically static unless you manually transform them. These are MIDI style phrases that adapt in the Ujam GUI to your fingering and key signature (automatically transpose), but they will loop as long as you hold the note down, or latch. For example, if you drag a MIDI style phrase from Ujam and drop it into a DAW track, it will inherit the root note that you are playing. Say you are in the key of C Major, play a phrase holding a 'C' note, and drag the phrase into the track. You will get a MIDI pattern based on C. If you follow that by playing the same phrase, but holding an 'E' note, and then dragging that into the DAW track will result in a MIDI phrase based on the 'E' note. And so on. You can build up a chord progression that way in your DAW track.

Syntronik 2 is not really a ST3 or ST4 library, so I gave it a unique path on my samples drive. You make a good point though about needing to identify a sub-folder if you go that route.

I held off on any Syntronik 2 CS install attempts until today. Saw too many reports of issues both here and at KVR, and decided to wait. I think IK has fixed the big problems since the initial release. I didn't have to authorize anything today. IKPM did it automatically. So that authorization part was as smooth as butter today! The C:\User\Public\Documents was the only thing that I had to fix manually, and then rescan. 100% good here now. 👍

See my post here:

Of the 3 Ujam drums that I now have (Phat, Heavy, and Solid), I would say that Solid is probably the most generally useful, for pretty much anything.

Reid Rosefelt (Tiger the Frog) recently did a YouTube comparing TT EZBass with the Ujam Bass. His conclusion is that both are good, and have different uses. TT is better for finishing a song, where Ujam is better at being a virtual player in real time.

Haven't tried that yet, but if the MIDI in the DAW track can still trigger an instance of EZKeys correctly, then Kontakt will probably need some adjustments.

I found out that I already had the midi pack "Dream Pop". I only have the EZK upright piano, so I was curious about the sounds in those two expansions.

Well I took a deep breath and installed Syntronik 2 CS today. Good news, it found all of my Syntronik 1 presets, and everything was authorized! 👍 Bad news, is that it installed the new 3GB sound library on my boot drive in a folder in "C:\Users\Public\Documents\IK Multimedia\Syntronik 2". Had to move it manually to my content drive, and set the new path in Syntronik 2 options. Simple fix. Good news! The presets and samples load very quickly now, compared to Syntronik 1. Even the Syntronik 1 instruments. Whooo-Hooo! 👍 Bad news, I had to adjust the new Syntronik 2 content path in SampleTank 4, and remove the reference to "C:\Users\Public\Documents\IK Multimedia\Syntronik 2". Simple fix. Good news, all is working very well now, and with no issues!