Jump to content

AIR Music Tech Bassline, Tubesynth, Solina, Odyessy, Mellotron, Hype, and Electric


cclarry

Recommended Posts

A lot of this looks like repackaged tech from their old instruments such as Vacuum, Hybrid, DB-33, and Velvet.

Guess the legacy stuff is never going to get an update. And AIR should definitely provide an upgrade path for existing customers of their synth collection. These prices look too high compared to the current competition.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

These are basically the stock synths that come with MPC. They are decent emulations and I use them mostly because they work well within the MPC environment and are low resource. I don't think at that price they are worth it individually though with so many other options.    Hype synth is most versatile. I like the sound of mellotron best, but pales in comparison to both arturia and gforce options.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

That Hype synth is the only one out of the bunch that seemed halfway interesting to me, as sort of a new take on Hybrid 3. I've always thought that Hybrid would be a great synth with a facelift. It sounds great, but the GUI is horrible.

"Cover everything from hard-hitting plucks to sultry melodic leads with this preset and macro-based synth combining multiple synth engines (wavetable, FM, virtual analogue, multi-sample) all in one easy to use interface.

Hype builds on a legacy of over 20 years of excellence in Synthesis brought to you by the same world-class team who made the highly acclaimed Synth Engines inside Hybrid 3, the Riser and Loom 2 to name a few!"

I'd say that maybe AIR is arriving late to the game with this. There are too many other good premium and even free synths like Vital out there today.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I certainly wouldn't buy hype separately at that price or even for sale.  It's a good stock synth option though. Hybrid is super ugly but quite functional.  My favorite air synth by far is Loom II.  I think one thing actually in Air's favor is the copycat nature of pro and amateur pop creators.  The fact that MPC based hip-hop/ pop producers use these plugins may sway people who simply want to use what was used on a song they liked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have several AIR plugins from several years ago, but they've had so many problems -- including a problem that required me to rollback Windows 10 (which I later found their customer support knew about for the better part of a year without fixing) --  that were neglected for so long, I would never buy anything from them again unless it was ridiculously cheap and I've seen A LOT of people at this forum and KVR posting very similar show stopper issues. Consequently, I feel a duty to make sure others get a heads up before going down the AIR / InMusic path. Plus, InMusic often puts AIR plugins on sale for a small fraction of their retail price -- like $10 or less.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

At one time, AIR Music Tech was an exclusive instrument bundle for Pro Tools. You know, THAT industry standard! :)

So under the hood it was leading tech, at one time.

But since the inMusic acquisition, they have apparently been squeezing every dime out of the intellectual property, while keeping any new development investment low. Not my idea of a grand business model except to corporate MBA's with their eyes focused strictly on the bottom line, rather than the customer.

As an AIR, SONiVOX, and AKAI customer for many years, I feel that inMusic could have done much more with what they acquired. I feel that I got some good value from their products for a while, but from a loyalty perspective I'm not likely to buy into their new stuff.

Edited by abacab
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, abacab said:

At one time, AIR Music Tech was an exclusive instrument bundle for Pro Tools. You know, THAT industry standard! :)

So under the hood it was leading tech, at one time.

But since the inMusic acquisition, they have apparently been squeezing every dime out of the intellectual property, while keeping any new development investment low. Not my idea of a grand business model except to corporate MBA's with their eyes focused strictly on the bottom line, rather than the customer.

As an AIR, SONiVOX, and AKAI customer for many years, I feel that inMusic could have done much more with what they acquired. I feel that I got some good value from their products for a while, but from a loyalty perspective I'm not likely to buy into their new stuff.

I totally agree that inmusic business model sucks for consumer. Poor customer service, products that seem abandoned, lack of updates( tons of products have no vst3 version and products like noc cannot run vst3) and a lot of nebulous marketing always has me hesitant to purchase anything by them. At the same time, some products offer great value. As ugly as air instruments are, they are still very usable. A good chunk of pop music can still be made using primarily air synths. I stuck hybrid in a song last week because it just fit.  With that said, i can't see myself buying anything new either. I already have most of the old ones.   Even if I had interest in the synths, it would be wiser to catch MPC software on sale since you could get all of them for the price of one and have a decent drum machine/sampler/production station as a bonus.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, dubdisciple said:

As ugly as air instruments are, they are still very usable.

That's probably what bothers me the most. The wasted potential that could have been. If they had just been a bit more aggressive with GUI facelifts, bug fixes, and customer support, they likely could have remained a leading brand. But the management clearly had no vision for that. I cringe every time I read their marketing blurbs these days...

Relying on P.T. Barnum's wisdom isn't the ideal way to run a business:

  • Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.
  • You can fool most of the people most of the time.

 

Edited by abacab
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, abacab said:

That's probably what bothers me the most. The wasted potential that could have been. If they had just been a bit more aggressive with GUI facelifts, bug fixes, and customer support, they likely could have remained a leading brand. But the management clearly had no vision for that. I cringe every time I read their marketing blurbs these days...

Relying on P.T. Barnum's wisdom isn't the ideal way to run a business:

  • Many people are gullible, and we can expect this to continue.
  • You can fool most of the people most of the time.

 

They did give effects a facelift. They work exactly the same but look a lot better.  Very simple but i suspect because target was mpc users who use much smaller screen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Carlos Iglesias said:

I would also have doubts knowing how they abandon their products.

It's hard to justify a purchase with that doubt in mind. There are plenty of well supported alternatives available.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...