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AAS Summer Sale

Larry Shelby

By Larry Shelby
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Jason Neudorf

Jason Neudorf

Posted
Posted

AAS is interesting, set in Montreal.  If you pay a buck or so, you can get a sample at https://www.humblebundle.com/software/music-producer-pro-pack-synths-sounds-software

I'm not really a good reviewer, but, maybe a solid reputable B tier company? I'm sure that someone who's competent within the genres they make might pay $19 for a pack, if they actually want that genre.

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

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22 minutes ago, Fleer said:

Gotta love AAS, still pretty unique in da biz. 

AAS is a very customer friendly company and their plugins have always been trouble free for me. They've given away so many freebies over the years (I'm thinking about how they've given away a couple of free packs of your choice every year, I think it's either around Black Friday or the winter holidays), that I feel a sense of gratitude towards the brand. 

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PavlovsCat

PavlovsCat

Posted
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2 minutes ago, Jason Neudorf said:

AAS is interesting, set in Montreal.  If you pay a buck or so, you can get a sample at https://www.humblebundle.com/software/music-producer-pro-pack-synths-sounds-software

I'm not really a good reviewer, but, maybe a solid reputable B tier company? I'm sure that someone who's competent within the genres they make might pay $19 for a pack, if they actually want that genre.

That's a great deal. 

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Starship Krupa

Starship Krupa

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11 hours ago, Jason Neudorf said:

maybe a solid reputable B tier company?

I consider them to be an elite company. Chromaphone is a poll-topping synth.

Thanks for the Humble Bundle link.

Gonna haveta see if there are enough soundpacks I don't already have to justify the $20. I know I don't have Caffeine, Urban Trip, and Hop Riffs.

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kitekrazy

kitekrazy

Posted
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1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

I consider them to be an elite company. Chromaphone is a poll-topping synth.

Thanks for the Humble Bundle link.

Gonna haveta see if there are enough soundpacks I don't already have to justify the $20. I know I don't have Caffeine, Urban Trip, and Hop Riffs.

This one is underutilized if you only do presets.  This is probably the one to learn.

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Jason Neudorf

Jason Neudorf

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I didn't mean "B Tier" as an insult; My understanding is that AAS isn't legendary like the U-He synths, Omnisphere, Serum, Sylenth, or even pigments.  Its a step above quite a few others -- Cherry Audio DCO106, WA Imperfect, VirtualCZ, Soundspot Union don't have great reps at all.

There are SO MANY SYNTHS though, it'd be nice to have some sort of accepted classification.  I don't even know where someone would put Phase Plant, MSoundFactory,  Falcon.  A- ? Kontakt 5 might be a A+, but Kontakt 7 might be A-?  

AAAHHHHH

VA-3 isn't on the same level as Omnisphere or Diva, but it's still a decent product.

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audioschmaudio

audioschmaudio

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Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, Jason Neudorf said:

I didn't mean "B Tier" as an insult; My understanding is that AAS isn't legendary like the U-He synths, Omnisphere, Serum, Sylenth, or even pigments.  Its a step above quite a few others -- Cherry Audio DCO106, WA Imperfect, VirtualCZ, Soundspot Union don't have great reps at all.

There are SO MANY SYNTHS though, it'd be nice to have some sort of accepted classification.  I don't even know where someone would put Phase Plant, MSoundFactory,  Falcon.  A- ? Kontakt 5 might be a A+, but Kontakt 7 might be A-?  

AAAHHHHH

VA-3 isn't on the same level as Omnisphere or Diva, but it's still a decent product.

I don't have Chromaphone, so I have no opinion of my own, but I've often seen it being listed as one of the best. It's mentioned as one of the top 10 or so soft synths in online  articles by Sonic Academy, Music Radar, Unison and many more. 

So, without having tested it myself, in my brain it's saved under "Top tier soft synths".

I can imagine that the session plugins give AAS a bad reputation. Not because they sound bad, but because they look cheap and are being sold cheap, so that makes the company behind it appear cheap, in a negative way. Some of the very first plug-ins I ever bought were exactly this session bundle, also from HumbleBundle, in 2021. Being new to music production and not knowing anything about which companies are good, this instantly made me think of AAS as a low-budget company. Three years and some experience later I had to unlearn this association. And even those session plugins sound really good to me. Like when I need an acoustic guitar, Strum Session often turns out to be the one that sounds just right to me, despite having more expensive alternatives.

 

Edited by audioschmaudio
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CSistine

CSistine

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6 hours ago, Jason Neudorf said:

it'd be nice to have some sort of accepted classification

I understand your idea. But IMHO it's quite impossible, because it depends a lot of what someone is using it for (music genre, own presets vs. factory, bass/melodies/lead/chords ...). It's the same with comparing DAWs, there are no universal favorites!

Several times I was surprised with a synth when I was using a preset that I thought is awful in the first moment. When I had chosen the fitting octave position and purpose (rhythmic/melodic/accompanion...) it suddenly sounded great! ?

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audioschmaudio

audioschmaudio

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, CSistine said:

Several times I was surprised with a synth when I was using a preset that I thought is awful in the first moment. When I had chosen the fitting octave position and purpose (rhythmic/melodic/accompanion...) it suddenly sounded great! ?

So true. That's why for testing presets I've made an Ableton Live template with a bunch of MIDI clips that have no overlapping notes, some MIDI clips with overlapping notes, some with low notes, some with high notes, MIDI clips with melodies, MIDI clips with chord progressions, with chord stabs, fast melodies, slow melodies, etc.
When I just play some random notes on my MIDI controller, a preset might sound awful. But play the right clip, bam, best preset ever.

I also remember how surprised I was when I first realized how much difference the arrangement/layering/context makes. I had this template from F9 Audio and listened to some tracks in solo. Without the layering of synths and without all the other stuff going on at the same time, some synth sounded so different, I wouldn't have guessed that it could sound like it does in the full arrangement.

Edited by audioschmaudio
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Starship Krupa

Starship Krupa

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10 hours ago, Jason Neudorf said:

Cherry Audio DCO106, WA Imperfect, VirtualCZ, Soundspot Union don't have great reps at all.

I wouldn't put DC-106 in there with the other ones you mentioned. Somewhere between the top tier and stuff like Union and Imperfect. I think it sounds great, really good basses.

It's a matter of personal taste and perception. A|A|S have a fancy aura to me. That modeling engine of theirs is amazing. They must use the same basic engine for most of their synths, at least the ones that they sell soundpacks for. Their player will play any of them. Objec Delay is a fine, fine processor, too.

The ones that I think are real sleepers are Hybrid 3 and Vacuum Pro, especially the former. Very light on the CPU and sound great.

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Pat Osterday

Pat Osterday

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Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

The ones that I think are real sleepers are Hybrid 3 and Vacuum Pro, especially the former. Very light on the CPU and sound great.

Off topic, I know, but as a Mac user, I was very pleased to see Air reviving those old synths and doing Apple silicon versions.  I always thought Vacuum Pro had a great sound to it.

I dig AAS and need to use UA more.  The free player with Swatches is pretty impressive and very awesome they do the Christmas preset freebie pick!

I use Logic more than Live, but nice to have the AAS instruments there too.

Edited by Pat Osterday
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Magic Russ

Magic Russ

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I like and use Lounge Lizard a lot.

I really respect what Chromophone is capable of but it doesn't find itself onto many of my tracks.   I have similar feelings for String Studio.

Objeq Delay is brilliant.  It does things virtually none other can.

Ultra Analog is not one of my go-to synths.  

Strum is a great idea and a wonderful tool for composition.  However, it's sound is painfully unrealistic.  The acoustic sounds can be passable with heavy processing but the electric sounds are only slightly better than 90s GM sounds.  The only time I have actually tracked anything with it was on a song where I ran one of Strum's acoustic sounds into Vinyl, so it gave a fair imitation of something from an old record.

Their modular unit seems ok for what it is.  I'm not super into the whole modular thing, but it is not currently one of the most respected offerings in that space.  It would be better with some polyphonic abilities.  It was a severely limited when it came out but they have been making good progress with some of the added components.

Tassman was really great, especially considering when it came out.

 

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Magic Russ

Magic Russ

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One other thing about AAS.  Do not listen to any of the demos or jams featuring Thiago Pinheiro when you are figuring out which sound packs to order.  That man is dangerous and a menace to your wallet.  He could make Computer Music's CM-101 synth from the early days of VST sound like a boutique synth.

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MrFigg

MrFigg

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Lounge Lizard was the first VST I bought when Reason finally could load ‘em. I now have about a million Rhodes and Wurlis and the rest.  I don’t have Lounge Lizard installed any more. I keep wondering about Chromaphome. I may have to trial it one day. 

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kitekrazy

kitekrazy

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19 hours ago, Jason Neudorf said:

I didn't mean "B Tier" as an insult; My understanding is that AAS isn't legendary like the U-He synths, Omnisphere, Serum, Sylenth, or even pigments.  Its a step above quite a few others -- Cherry Audio DCO106, WA Imperfect, VirtualCZ, Soundspot Union don't have great reps at all.

There are SO MANY SYNTHS though, it'd be nice to have some sort of accepted classification.  I don't even know where someone would put Phase Plant, MSoundFactory,  Falcon.  A- ? Kontakt 5 might be a A+, but Kontakt 7 might be A-?  

AAAHHHHH

VA-3 isn't on the same level as Omnisphere or Diva, but it's still a decent product.

Apple and oranges. 

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kitekrazy

kitekrazy

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3 hours ago, Magic Russ said:

One other thing about AAS.  Do not listen to any of the demos or jams featuring Thiago Pinheiro when you are figuring out which sound packs to order.  That man is dangerous and a menace to your wallet.  He could make Computer Music's CM-101 synth from the early days of VST sound like a boutique synth.

Actually those demos don't do much for me.  I want to hear how they sit with other instruments. 

AAS is also behind some of the basic synths in Live.

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