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Yikes! I believe that this is where I'll just stick with my Arturia DX7 V ...

I'm sure that I had an earlier version of Sonar Power as well, but it disappeared during a move 10 years ago... I had Sonar software from S1 up through Sonar Platinum for life, and only skipped a few updates. The Sonar Power series was like the "missing manual". ?

Rule #1: NI vouchers are useless. Proceed to Rule #2. Rule #2: Read Rule #1 again. ?

I started collecting AAS sound packs for the AAS Player long before I ever bought any of the Professional Series instruments. I liked the overall sounds of Chromaphone the best and eventually jumped in at Chromaphone 2 on half-off sale, and then upgraded to Chromaphone 3 and all the rest of its packs. My next pick was the Ultra Analog VA-3, for half-off. Have most of the packs for it now. I have a few packs for String Studio and Strum, but I'll probably wait for that. Fyi, I should mention for the folks that may have Ableton Live Suite, there are a few stock Live software instruments included that Ableton provided in collaboration with AAS. They're Analog, Collision, Electric, and Tension, which are based on Ultra Analog, Chromaphone, Lounge Lizard, and String Studio, respectively. They sound about the same, while utilizing the Ableton Device UI instead of the AAS original UI. And although they have a lot of factory presets, I have not compared the lists against any of the AAS originals.

Three things I have learned about the company mentioned in the OP. 1. When they release a new product. wait a year and chill. They will eventually fix the major bugs with the updates. 2. Make peace with the Product Manager, and become one with it. 3. Don't buy individual products. Wait for their Total Studio deals or group buys. The free stuff rocks!!! ?

Best line evah!!! ?

Yes, select by bank and choose Pigments 3.5.

It appears that the original Iris 1 owners, including Simon, did a major beat down on the v2 update due to disappointment. Long thread at KVR outlines the issues. So obviously it can be a touchy subject for them. But to anyone else who came along after Iris 2 was out (i.e., no history with v1), such as myself, it is a great synth and definitely a good value when bought on sale!

I found the official Iris 2 Supported Hosts list at iZotope: Supported Hosts: Ableton Live 9–11, Cubase 10–11, Digital Performer 10, FL Studio 12–20, Logic Pro X, Nuendo 10–11, Pro Tools 10–2021, Reaper 4–6, Reason 10, Studio One 4–5.

This thing sounds pretty good! I haven't figured out exactly what it's doing yet, but it sounds good!

Don't forget to check out AudioDeluxe and JRRshop for the best deal on that AAS pack! AudioDeluxe is giving away a free Melda EQ (MFreeformAnalogEQ) with any purchase until Dec 24th! https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/virtual-instruments/applied-acoustics-analog-orchestra-sound-pack-ultra-analog-va-3

I still have my Sonar 8 Power and my SonarX1 Power books on my shelf!

Double the Festive Fun This year, we're thrilled to be able to celebrate the holidays by offering a free giveaway from both iZotope and Native Instruments. Get Native Instruments' Play Series: TWENTY FIVE and iZotope's Trash 2 for FREE, plus enjoy 25% off any Native Instruments software product.* https://www.izotope.com/en/lp/izotope-ni-holiday.html *Voucher Terms and Conditions The Native Instruments e-voucher is valid for all Native Instruments software products in the NI Online Shop, excluding hardware, updates, upgrades, crossgrades, educational versions, and products already on special offer. The Native Instruments e-voucher is personalized and only for use by the appointed addressee/user. It is not transferable and may not be resold. Only one Native Instruments e-voucher can be used per product purchase. The Native Instruments e-voucher can only be redeemed at the NI Online Shop. The Native Instruments e-voucher may not be redeemed for cash. The Native Instruments special offer is valid from 16 December, 2021 until 4 January, 2022, at the NI online shop.

Sorry to hear that you had issues with Iris 2. The plugin hosts that I have loaded Iris 2 successfully in: Ableton Live, Cakewalk, Komplete Kontrol, NanoHost, Reaper, Studio One, Unify, & Waveform, and none of them had any issues with it that I can recall. I cannot speak for Cubase, FL Studio, Logic (Mac only), Pro Tools, Reason, or Bitwig, as I do not have those, or any others that I didn't mention. I'm strictly Windows 10 here as well.

Full disclosure: I have become a fanboy of Luftrum. All good stuff so far! I have his soundsets for Pigments, iZotope Iris 2, U-He Repro, and the Bioscape library for Kontakt. And when I can afford Omisphere, Diva, Zebra, and Dune, I will probably add Luftrum's soundsets for them as well!

I think that iZotope Iris 2 falls into a similar misunderstood category. It is unique, and does some very interesting things with spectral filtering. I think it was ignored by many who were looking for a do-it-all type of synth. I think that Loom and Iris are specialists. Just great for what they are! Biotek 1 & 2 by Tracktion is another example of a very good synth, capable of some very unique soundscapes, blending samples with analog VA. The presets are awesome, but for rolling your own, the modulations are just a bit complex for everyday use. The mind behind that design is Wolfram Franke, formerly of Waldorf. He most recently worked on the new mega FM synth from Tracktion, "F.'em". Another quite complex synth, with 11 operators, 2 of which are multi-sample, with modulations galore. I think that those are types of synths that you might not need every day, but you never know when you are looking for new inspiration, that one of those might be exactly what you need!

The keyboard player, obviously! ?

Luftrum 23 is 50% off at Luftrum until Dec 28th with promo code "snowisfalling". $29 $14.50 https://www.luftrum.com/luftrum23/ Wishlist no more, LOL! Totally understood, and I wasn't trying to add any confusion! Just pointing out in general that you can add substantially to the Pigments factory banks with select Arturia and 3rd party banks. Pigments is good for GAS, LOL!

I find that I struggle to keep my favorites up front as the list grows with time and accumulation, LOL. But there are some that I haven't opened in a good while. Not really ready to trash most of them yet, except in cases where they are obvious duplicates of function, because I like options! In consideration for the garbage bin, synths don't require as much space as sampled instruments. So I'm likely to keep them around unless they are buggy, have missing or incomplete documentation, or end-of-life for support. Or I have something else that is equivalent, but better! So in regards to those just mentioned, I made a few comments... Loom by AIR I have upgraded to Loom II also. I recently rediscovered this because there is now a "unified" preset library for Loom II available for Unify users. This synth is one of a kind, and is a good option to have around. Loom II added some great new presets, including many by sound designer Richard Devine. Digital Synsations by UVI I got this for free as well. Needed some hard drive space, so have temporarily removed it until I upgrade my drive. But it is a good digital synth emulation if you don't mind putting up with synth samples for oscillators, instead of circuit modeling. In the same sampled synth category as IK Syntronik, and Tracktion RetroMod. I think that sampled synths can offer very good sound, but at the expense of total tweakability of a virtual synth emulation. I think that their best use is as virtual ROMplers. SampleTank by IK Multimedia I started with ST3 (free with an iRig Keys 25), but I think that the instrument sound quality and variety improved in SampleTank 4 MAX and now is superior to the Kontakt Factory Library. But the open ecosystem of Kontakt has made it an industry standard that's wide open to NI and 3rd party instruments that blow ST away. The custom scripted UI's in Kontakt are far superior to the way the SampleTank interface works. And ST4 can be a system hog if you load it up. But for simple instruments, it can be an easy go-to. Instachord by WA productions Don't have that one, because I already have Scaler 2 and my plans are to learn that first, before moving on to something else, if needed.

This video demo of a virtual guitarist doing battle with a real guitarist always cracks me up! The keyboardist is using a Roli Seaboard with MPE, so that's cheating a little bit, LOL! But he has the technique!

My total is 2162 presets. I have the additional 4 Arturia Pigments banks that came out with 3.0, Amethyst, Malachite, Ochre, & Onyx. Plus a few others including Synthwave 2085 from the Arturia store, and Luftrum 23 - Soundbank for Pigments 2 & 3. Up to 50% off at Luftrum until Dec 28th with promo code "snowisfalling". $29 $14.50 https://www.luftrum.com/luftrum23/

Sorry to hear Analog Orchestra missed the freebie list for some folks. It would be a fine choice! Since I already had it, I grabbed the Ultra Analog VA-3 pack 'Kicks and Snares'. Why? You can never have too many kicks and snares! https://www.applied-acoustics.com/kicks-and-snares/ "Along with its 30 kicks, 30 snares, and 25 rhythm grooves, hi-hats and various percussions were added to the pack for good measure, making Kicks and Snares a complete drum track solution for your projects."

I ran the 8DIO downloader today, and everything just worked automagically! Nice freebie! https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2021/12/11/8dio-new-hybrid-rhythms/

Cameron also mentioned native Mac M1 compatibility with this Pigments 3.5 release.

To see just the 150 new presets in either Pigments or Analog Lab V, select only the Pigments 3.5 factory library under Banks!