Craig Fowler

I'd really like the mandolin. Must resist...Maybe next year!

I did think there was more room sound baked in at first - but not as much as Garritan (which has the advantage of it being a beautiful sounding room!). But, as with Garritan dialling back the release sample volume and, of course, lowering the mid/decca tree/room mics also helps. Something that I wrestled with at first was that there seemed to be two separate reverb controls, so I you *think* you should have a nice, close sound -- but you still don't! There's much less room sound in the studio B libraries (both uprights, Bluthner, Bosie 280). And I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I feel like the room sound is harder to tame on the Steinway than the other big grands. I understand the charm of Garritan - I like it too. But it's practicing with the VSLs that I think has really helped my technique.

Well, about $400 is for the full packages, not the standards...and the standards are definitely not 'lite' versions! $136 for the uprights put them quite a bit under the price of Modern U ($169). $200 for the standard CFX is pricey but not crazy. All that to say, these are clearly not cheap instruments - but they are wonderful, not just for production but for practice. And that ain't something more than a handful of other piano VIs can lay claim to. I've got all 7 of the Synchron pianos now, and they've brought me a huge amount of pleasure! Sorry if I'm getting protective of my babies!

They will if they want what the library offers ? But yes, I think so. It is pricey, but it's not in a different ballpark to a really good orchestral brass library (e.g., VSL Synchron brass). And if you haven't played with this developer's recent horn/clarinet libraries, yet, give 'em a whirl - They. Are. Extraordinary! Jaw-droppingly gorgeous and amazing results. The straightaheadsamples jazz libraries really are pushing boundaries with the smart delay feature. They're the best of the best at what they do IMO. I don't know if I'll ever buy this as I don't think I'd get enough use from it to justify the cost, but I bet it's a ton of fun!

The YouTube demo sounds great! I really like this developer - and in case anyone else cares about the backstory, I love that the two Yamaha piano libraries were created as part of his degree requirements. Pretty sure nothing from my uni years brought anyone that much enjoyment!

11gb library for a machine that had 48kb of memory and I associate with the sound of tape loading. What's next? Soundpaint internet dial tone?

Yes

I don't *know*, but other NI bundles I've had have been just a single license!

Can't see you getting this any cheaper! Playability is top notch, but it's a timbre that can be a bit polarizing.

Does "for Spark and Apollo" mean that UAD aren't making new plugs for satellite owners? It's annoying enough that they don't give two hoots about Windows users, without Windows satellite users being doubly shafted!

Right, a year ago at this price I'd have bitten even if I wasn't sure I had an immediate use for it. My no-brainer, "I'll find a use for it" price threshold has dropped to about $20 though!

Looks like a really nice freebie!

Agreed, Fleer. The old lady is still lovely! And no matter how many bosie libraries I have, I still keep the emperor on my drives. These were the first libraries I bought. I'm really attached to them!

Again???!

I love how Waves have now gone to the sale-on-the-sale-price approach to marketing. Bless.

Although you can only use machine activation on the freebies; paid products require either iLok dongle or cloud (which is fine for me, just wasn't sure if you knew and thought you might be irked if you only found out after buying something).

I think this sounds really good; I don't play in Spitfire's pool but I'm tempted by this.

It's a great deal! I remember paying about $500 for a tribute ASAT back in '03-'04!

This has been around long enough that I imagine most people have it, but anyone who doesn't should buy it! Lovely sounding reverb. Am curious how low it goes at PA.

For me, yes. I have EZD2 and SD2. I hardly ever use SD2. Take it with a grain of salt, and all - I'm in this to have fun, and EZD2 is really fun. I know that in terms of sound and flexibility, SD is a level above, but I don't actually have the skills to make the most of it. If I had more time to play with DAW stuff, maybe I'd be more inclined to use SD more than I do.

Eden is terrific!

Any thoughts on Crispy Tuner? Does pitch correction sound natural with it?

I'd be looking instead at the Kuassa Matchlock which is on sale at Best Service for about $25 IIRC. It's *really* good.

You know you want to...

FWIW Ed, the C3 is really lovely - the Intimate patch is a thing of beauty. And these aren't *that* HD intensive!!