On Sun, 1 Jan 2017 14:03:27 -0500
jonetsu <jonetsu(a)teksavvy.com> wrote:
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.
There's so much choice of great looking and sounding plugins for Windows
that it's easy to spend hundreds in no time. I bought the Arturia V
collection and easily justify it by thinking of what I would have given
for any one of the original instruments, at the time. Virtual instruments
are so much better than the originals in so many ways. But not in all ways.
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.
Thanks. Installed as easily as the others, but -
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
_wow! Haven't got further than 'Antivirus'. That one voice preset will
keep me amused until bedtime.
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
Should blend well. One of the videos in the link is unavailable, but I
like the idea of it, so may come back to it. Plenty to explore in just
Beatzille. Thanks again.
--
John.