1 Jan
2017
1 Jan
'17
8:03 p.m.
On Sun, 1 Jan 2017 16:08:17 +0000
John Murphy <rosegardener(a)freeode.co.uk> wrote:
I try to favour commercial products which support
Linux, so it's good
to see u-he virtual synthesizers in beta testing for the platform.
At one point in time I was considering seriously to build a Windows
machine in order to get some of those synths and plugins that seems so
wonderful. By coincidence I read a reply from Dave Phillips in which
he mentioned using a u-he synth. I give it a try and dropped the
Windows project in favour of getting some of these synths and plugins
as I was thoroughly impressed by the range of expressiveness. Quite
often I build tracks using acoustic guitar, so I need to have sounds
that can be subtle and detailed in their colours.
I've been enjoying auditioning in their Zebra2
today. Time
constraints stop me doing much more than that, so the fifteen minute
demo (until it goes out of tune) works well for me. I tried their
Repro yesterday. The demo for that is noisy after a few minutes. I'll
try the free ones as well.
The free u-he synths are actually quite good. Even the weird
TripleCheese, winner of a KVR development award, that's built on a
series of 3 comb filters, has interesting sounds to offer.
Zebralette and Beatzille are scaled down versions of Zebra2 and
Bazille, so they basically offer the same quality. Beatzille, which was
produced for the German Beat magazine of same name can be downloaded
from:
http://www.vstplanet.com/Instruments/VST_Synthesizers38.htm#Beatzille
Would be good if other commercial VST producers (I
like d16 and
Arturia) support the Linux platform too. Rebooting to MS Windows for
state-of-the-art music tools hasn't been enjoyable. Wouldn't have
wanted to miss the d-16 LuSH101 though.
One synth that I discovered recently, designed by Wolfram Franke of
Waldorf and Taiho Yamada of Alesis and M-Audio Venom, as well
as graphic designer Kristina Childs, is Biotek. It is built on a
sampling platform called Acktion of which there's no documentation yet
but seems to offer manipulation of samples to a certain degree. In any
case the idea is about the blending of nature and technology. I still
have to explore that synth thoroughly. so far I find much fun in
exploring sounds in there. Depending on the complexities of the sound
patch, can require more work to fit in a mix, though.
https://www.tracktion.com/products/biotek
I haven't used audio tools on Linux for some time
and it's great to
see everything working so well, without much configuration on Mint
18. Ardour is looking superb and I was able to find all I needed to
know to get plugins and my keyboard and interface working. Many
thanks to all contributors and -
The only aspect I had to configure is the real-time response of the
kernel, to be able to have no perceptible delay when recording acoustic
guitar while wearing headphones for the playback.
Happy new year!
Best wishes, cheers !
u-he Linux Public Beta thread at KVRaudio:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=424953