Soundwise

Yes! And the crash happens immediately. No debugging message is shown. The plugin is simply blacklisted. If <=2.6.15 works and >2.6.15 doesn't it means something is not right with latter releases. I mean, the 2.6.16 wasn't a huge rewrite of the code, yet they couldn't spot the bug. Maybe less maniacal approach could be more productive. But if it works for them, let it work. Didn't mean to hijack this thread. We need to stop discussing this subject.

Thanks for your tips, guys. I've gone through all these steps and then some. Submitted support tickets to UVI. They suggested some silly trouble shooting steps to try, and kept on asking same questions. Their best idea was to use a remote connection to my PC, which I'll never allow to anyone, no matter what. Nice people, but not very qualified at what they do. I suspect, the core code is outsourced, while the support crew has a very vague idea of how their product works. I can be wrong, of course! But if the product doesn't work as expected and the support is useless, I'd rather stay away from it. Hope you'll have lots of fun with UVI based products.

Just demoed it. Certainly not as sluggish as other PG products, slick UI, not scalable, but usable. Sounds better than previous versions, but (still) has severe aliasing, audible with high gain settings on high pitched notes. Doesn't perform as good as competing ampsims, which all work fine at 96kHz/16samples on my Scarlett 6i6 1st gen. FX2 works as expected only at 44.1kHz/16 samples. At other sample rates it becomes a ring modulator or requires higher buffer settings. Still feels like the initial attack is processed by an SSL type compressor and then fed into all other modules. Definitely wrong approach! Guitar match is an interesting feature, but considering the price point, I'll stick with Peavey ReValver with similar functionality, better audio quality and clever pricing.

Ditto! I still hope to become more proficient at playing keyboard, until then I'll keep my 16 guitars and countless amps/cabs/preamps/pedals/multiFX intact.

I wonder, if the $20 upgrade path is permanent price or just a special introduction offer. I hope, they'll keep it at $20.

I can't use anything higher than 2.6.15, because they all crash right after launch.

I once was very optimistic about the UVI Workstation. However I'm stuck with a version which is already two years since the release. All later versions do not work on my PC (i7 Kaby Lake based). I had contacted their support quite a few times but they couldn't help, nor were they willing to fix the bug that caused the crash. So I prefer not to invest in UVI products. YMMV.

Bought it. Not sure why. Hopefully it'll grow on me and will be used extensively in the near future. Not really impressed so far.

I've been eyeing the Character plugin for a while. At this price it's a great buy. BUT, I have already collected a bunch of saturation plugins. So my question is, has anyone compared it to other popular saturation plugins, e.g., Saturator X by IKM? Is it worth adding this plugin to collection?

Not that I needed yet another synth, but I couldn't resist the deal and snatched... TWO synths! I demoed CODEX and really liked it's preset tones. Sounded awesome to me. Had no time to try the Flow Synth, but at this price it was a no-brainer. Will have explore it later.

I have no idea what technology is used in BIAS Amp or ReValver, and never heard or performed a comparison between these amp sims and Kemper, so I'll take your word for it. But I'm not sure that Bias or ReValver use a simple FFT to capture the tone. I had tried to profile some tube gear with ACT Combo and could hardly tell the real thing from the profiled one. As for TH-U, it still is to be tested and compared to Kemper. Hopefully, it's in the same league.

Ditto! I always use a high quality tube preamp before my AI. It has a fixed gain ratio about 4/1, which always provides superior clean tone, enhanced with vacuum tube harmonics. The impact isn't noticeable unless you A/B the recorded signal, DI vs this preamp.

PA heavy hitters get better discount. That's why some people see $29, while others get $49.

You can do this in ReValver and Bias Amp. So, there's nothing revolutionary. But the ability to use Kemper profiles is the main reason why I purchased the TH-U upgrade.

TH3 is alright. It has some usable sounds, but it's not my number one for anything, be it clean, crunch or lead tones. TH-U is not a game changer either. Changing preamp/poweramp tubes feel more like switching between different IRs. Hard to explain, but even though it sounds different and, to a certain degree, reminiscent of the modeled amplifier, it still doesn't feel right. But I think with the right set if RIG profiles and IRs TH-U should sound and feel very close to the real gear.

Maybe I should demo it first. Not really impressed with the tones so far. Shimmering reverb is just OK, Rig Player... well, maybe it'll grow on me with some great online profiles, but the provided profiles are nothing to write home about. I get better tones with AT4 and RV4, which also allows to use profiled amps/pedals/rigs, and tweak schematics when needed.

Bought the upgrade without even demoing it first. I'm sure it's worth the invested money. Downloading the demo now. It's so sloooowww...

I suggest you try the ToneBoosters Reverb 4. It sounds awesome! Recently I've been going through all reverbs plugins installed on my system (20+), and was blown away by the quality of this plugin.

Back in the 90s it was amazing that even relatively cheap keyboards could do an entire arrangement on the fly. You just had to pick a song part and play some chords. After almost 30 years we are finally getting closer to similar functionality in virtual instruments. Yes, they do sound better, more realistic and have more articulations. But honestly, any serious production of live oriented music (rock, pop, jazz, country, etc) still sounds best with the real players playing their real instruments. So, although all such tools are very welcome, I hope they will be priced reasonably. Can't see myself paying for a virtual instrument the same amount of cash as for a real bass. And obviously all small studios will avoid releasing tracks with auto-accompanying instruments in order to avoid sounding just like everybody else.

That's easy! Just insert this plugin across all tracks you want to mix with it. Then assign each track to a subgroup, e.g., Kick and Snare to Drums group (Chris like to call them buckets), guitar tracks to Guitar group or buckets, etc. Then you'll be able to open any instance of the plugin and mix from there the way Chris does with his console.

Isn't it what ProChannel is all about? I chose Sonar for this functionality. Obviously CLA plugins sounds somewhat different, but I prefer the workflow of the ProChannel. It's so genius! BTW, did anyone notice that Chris is talking to me?

Thanks, guys! Still no Levels license after two days. Guess, we need to contact the support.

I only see Grow serial in my account and no LEVELS license is available to me nor via Focusrite neither in the MTM user area. Anyone got the Levels license?

I thinks I'm spoiled with the REAPER's way of doing this. They've also implemented similar logic to the Mute buttons. Grouping controls is great for something that's just set and leave. It would be even better to use hotkeys and modifier key(s) plus mouse click for that. So adding adding these functions to the keyboard shortcuts list and applying the similar logic to the Mute buttons is my FR. Could work like this: Hold [Ctrl + Shift + A] and click select tracks to add them to A group, Hold [Ctrl + Shift + B] and click select tracks to add them to B group, etc Clicking on a control assigned to A group with the [Ctrl + Shift + B] combination automatically reassigns that control to B group, etc. Also there is a Solo selected tracks command WITH an assignable hotkey in the Track View, but it does not work in the Console View.

Great ideas! I particularly like #4 but fail to see how is this different from clicking on an effect in the FX bin.