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AirMusic Tech Xpand!2


Jim Fogle

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17 hours ago, Fleer said:

Yep. It’s gewd. But it’s free once in a while too. 

I've been telling myself that for quite a few years now. It seemed like it was quite often free back then and I did get it from somewhere or other, but binned it very soon after due to Pace/ilok causing other issues which disappeared as soon as it too was gone. Haven't seen it as a freebie since then and I wouldn't mind giving it another try now that ilok manager is better, but I'm determined not to be the one who blinks first..........I figure that I deserve it even more for free now considering the problems it caused me last time I tried it.

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1 hour ago, arlen2133 said:

@Jim Fogle do you need it now? 

I mean, we're really close to BF and they usually drop this one as a freebie if you buy something else...

if not, ten bucks is still pretty decent for this one as it's got a lot to offer.

@arlen2133, do any of us "need" most of what we want?  No but I already bought it for $8.39 US before you tried to dissuade me! :)  For me it is a tool I can use to learn how to use a non general midi standard multi-timbrel VSTi.   That's my justification and I'm gonna' stick with it.

I'm not looking forward to Black Friday.  There is going to be too many "I wants" and not enough money.  I have the same problem looking at food menus.  That's why I love buffet restaurants!  🙌

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I think I got Xpand!2 half a dozen years ago for $1 or less and it's been a workhorse ever since.

Got another license for it so that I can have it on all 4 computers in my possession.

For sheer number and quality of standard sounds in a resource-friendly wallet-friendly package, nothing can touch it.

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If anyone’s interested, still have a AIEP3 Select serial with:
DB-33, Mini Grand, Hybrid 3 , Loom, Strike 2, Structure 2, Transfuser 2, Velvet 2, Vacuum Pro & Fresh AIR Pack, theRiser & Flux Transitions

An honest offer gets them!

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17 minutes ago, Fleer said:

If anyone’s interested, still have a AIEP3 Select serial with:
DB-33, Mini Grand, Hybrid 3 , Loom, Strike 2, Structure 2, Transfuser 2, Velvet 2, Vacuum Pro & Fresh AIR Pack, theRiser & Flux Transitions

An honest offer gets them!

I would be very interested. Honestly ;)

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17 minutes ago, Fleer said:

If anyone’s interested, still have a AIEP3 Select serial with:
DB-33, Mini Grand, Hybrid 3 , Loom, Strike 2, Structure 2, Transfuser 2, Velvet 2, Vacuum Pro & Fresh AIR Pack, theRiser & Flux Transitions

An honest offer gets them!

But I sees ya ain't selling Xpand!2. Ha! xD

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I use Xpand!2 mainly for two reasons:

1. The ability to layer up to four different sounds in a very quick and easy way.

2. Sketching. The fast loading time/huge instrument list with easy root system makes it quick to find a good sketch sound early on in a song. Sometimes its a keeper, sometimes I later go for another sound. When an idea pops up I don't want to search for a proper sound in 20+ min (Z3TA+2, SynthMaster etc.)

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5 hours ago, Fleer said:

DB-33, Mini Grand, Hybrid 3 , Loom, Strike 2, Structure 2, Transfuser 2, Velvet 2, Vacuum Pro & Fresh AIR Pack, theRiser & Flux Transitions

For anyone interested, I can say that DB-33 is the Hammond B3 emulation I settled on after much testing, Hybrid 3 is a great synth for electronic dance/ambient sounds, and Vacuum Pro is my go-to for more traditional subtractive basses and pads. The rest I haven't tried.

None of them has ever crashed or exhibited any bug on my setup.

When I first got back into recording, I tried out a million of everything with the idea that I would pare it down to a smaller collection I could focus on, and all of the AIR stuff has made the cut.

The big complaint I've seen from the AIR user community is that development seems to have halted, but in my view, these are musical instruments. They already sound great and I could choose either of the synths and spend a month just learning how to program it. It would be nice if the GUI's scaled.

Of course I have to ask, Fleer, why are you dumping your AIEP3 bundle?

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Soft synths is kind of a "new" tool I'm exploring.  My musical tastes runs to Americana, classic country and soft rock and my main interest is learning audio production, not recording audio.  So my heaviest time and money investment  has been with PG Music's Band-in-a-Box and the RealTracks content.  All that was said to say I really haven't explored soft synths in much detail.

But now I want to learn more about using midi.  Band-in-a-Box has a lot of midi content but the Coyote WT and Synthfont64 included as their "normal" soft synth and, at different times, SampleTank or Sforzando players to playback the "high quality" patches PG Music provides.

I've messed with Sforzando and Synthfont some and I like using Sforzando but I want to branch explore a different interface and Xpand!2 is an inexpensive answer.

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1 hour ago, Jim Fogle said:

Soft synths is kind of a "new" tool I'm exploring.  My musical tastes runs to Americana, classic country and soft rock and my main interest is learning audio production, not recording audio.  So my heaviest time and money investment  has been with PG Music's Band-in-a-Box and the RealTracks content.  All that was said to say I really haven't explored soft synths in much detail.

But now I want to learn more about using midi.  Band-in-a-Box has a lot of midi content but the Coyote WT and Synthfont64 included as their "normal" soft synth and, at different times, SampleTank or Sforzando players to playback the "high quality" patches PG Music provides.

I've messed with Sforzando and Synthfont some and I like using Sforzando but I want to branch explore a different interface and Xpand!2 is an inexpensive answer.

I made the transition to software only synths 2-3 years ago, mainly for convenience so I had access to all my synth sounds outside the studio.

I spent about 3 months sampling all my hardware synths, so now I've got a bunch of keyboards in the loft and a 19U rack full of synth modules that is pretty much permanently switched off. I'll occasionally switch it on to tweak sounds (and then re-sample), or to help keep my studio warmer in the winter :)

Using soft synths is so convenient, I don't miss my hardware synths at all. In fact some of them actually sound better now that they're sampled, as the samples are being mixed in Cakewalks 64 bit engine rather than the internal 16 bit mixing in my 90's digital synths (or 16 bit with one bit disabled in the case of the MT-32/D110).

I do find however that I'm using my old sampled sounds less and less nowadays. My go to's now are usually Omnisphere, Synthmaster, Xpand!2 or Rapture Pro.

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My music is pretty bland and I'm not a keyboard player so it's all new to me.  I just wish Xpand!2 included a standalone program.  As a VST I find I'm having to learn using a VSTi in the DAW as well as the VSTi itself.  It's been a interesting experience.

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