Vernon Barnes

The upgrade from 5 to 6 only required you to install the new synths leaving the others alone. This appears to be the same for the current upgrade. Issues occured when they made new versions of the existing synths. One thing I like about Arturia is they make all the maintainance releases available if you have not upgraded. The reason to upgrade from 5 or 6 at the moment is just the new synths.

Looks like the 99 euro price includes VAT, an extra 20% would have been a absolute deal breaker, but I am still undecided at this price. Having 'trons a plenty I think tis one will be superfluous. I have a XILS4 but the Arturia one is a little different and I liked it when I demoed it a while back. Maybe I will demo the CZ later.

A wonder if there will be any deals on the upgrade from version 6?

No, just external backup drives. I suspect the power only port on the hub is not isolated probably from the data side and the computer is trying to communicate with the phone. I will keep a phone charger in the studio in future just incase I need it.

Last night I was trying to use Cakewalk but it was very slow and unresponsive to mouse commands. I shut it down an rebooted the computer, the problem persisted. So what's changed? I had plugged my phone into what is supposed to be a charge only port on my powered USB hub. I disconnected the phone and all was well. The issue may be specific to the particular hub, but it's one to watch out for.

I really like the Post Rock EZX. I had not intended to buy any more EZX and if I got more Toontrack drums buy SDX but this one has a really good an unique sound.

The spoken parts are by Elton John. Something else that's upset the hard core "prog" snobs.

Working for me now thanks.

This track has stirred up a storm on social media because its not what people think Steven Wilson should sound like. Its very different but I like it.

Thanks Peter, I dont have ST4, only ST4 CS, my post was unclear. Anyway I will wait and see what support says.

Certainly something glitchy going on with the authorization of the sound content. The ST4 serials do not work and there are no other serials in my account. I created a help ticket. I thought it was to good to be true when all my ST3 content and the earlier ST2 and Mirioslave stuff I had imported into ST 3 was added without any drama.

Is it worth the effort if you don't intend to purchase any further content? Having been underwhelmed by ST3 I have had zero intrest in ST4 up to now. What about importing ST3 instruments. The specs seem to imply it can be done using ST3 CS?

B4 is the only one I have on this list. It was good but I never use it now as I avoid 32 bit plugins. My disappointment with NI was long ago when they stopped supporting it. GSI's VB3 is better and its my goto now.

Some of those Zero G libraries regularly go on sale. Do they still use NI for authorisation? I suppose the writing was on the wall for the EastWest stuff when they dumped Kontakt and introduced their own player. Presumably EW will no longer pay NI to support their copy protection / registration on these old libraries.

Because of Corona virus I am panic buying virtual instruments and plugins.

Well I went ahead and bought it. I have been curious for a while but held off on price. I like it. I have some other options like Arturia's Solina V, Hollow Sun's Prog Pack and Soniccouture's " The Attic 2" The Attic 2 is probably closest in range of sounds available. I think the VSM has a certain immediacy that makes it easier to layer different sources together and shape the results. The filter and envelope options for each layer give a lot of scope for editing. Being able to control the filters with after touch is useful too. That said The Attic, being a Kontakt (player) library does leave you the option of building layered multis far beyond the two sources available in VSM and It has non- string machine instruments. VSM has way more presets. I am pretty happy with the purchase even though it was a non essential for me given my other options. These things take me back to the days when as a spotty student oik I got to try a Solina in a local music shop. They had the amp up loud as all it took was for me to play a few block chords to bl-ow me away with the power.

Yes.

This is very tempting. But I really don't need more drums, really. And I have rototoms in BFD3 and............

This happened to me. Never got it resolved, gave up.

I have them all but Strategy, They are good and versatile and will do what you want. They are as good as you will get at this price. As you already have the full version of Kontakt also look at Indiginus, these are close to the Acoustic Samples in capability for strumming but have more articulations for solo work. https://www.indiginus.com/ Alternatively, but a lot more expensive are the Orange Tree guitars for Kontakt player which have a wider range of articulations and features. https://www.orangetreesamples.com/products

I would say the UVI stuff is closer to Arturia's analog lab than the individual Arturia synths. It's probably more directly compairable with IK's Syntronic in concept.

9 point something GB. Looks like you have to download the whole thing again.

Ridiculously slow download at the moment, download estimates in excess of one day. Cancelled, and I will try again later.

Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol gives you a common browser for many different products including EastWest, Arturia, AAS XILs Labs and of course NIs own products. There are even sound clips that give an indication of the sound of a patch before you load it. It's designed to work with NI hardware but you can still use the browser functions without. Downside is instruments need to be NKS compatable to appear automatically, the list is growing slowly. You can create your own mapping however and have anything appear in the user tab. I think AKAI have something similar that is less dependent on a standard.