is it just me or are there fewer vsti's being released these days?

Well recently there has been, waldorf attack, NI's Battery, Absynth, Reaktor3, Dr-008, PentagonI, and several more.

VSTi's are growing up. People have faster computers, and expect better-sounding, more flexible VSTi's.

DR-002 took four days to write.
DR-005 took four weeks.
DR-008 took four months!

Well, OK, maybe a bit of "artistic license" with the numbers there but actually it's pretty close to the truth. Also, it's kind of the same situation as with DX and VST plug-ins... first there were only a few (I think it was 3-4 months between the first Cubase to support VSTi, and the first 3rd-party VSTi), then over about eighteen months the market _exploded_... seems like every week someone announced something new. Then, at some point, the market got over-saturated and shrank right back, to the point where today there's hardly any new DX plugs coming out. There's some danger that the same could happen with VSTi's, but I think there's still enough good ideas out there waiting to be created that it won't happen just yet.

quote:

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DR-002 took four days to write.
DR-005 took four weeks.
DR-008 took four months!

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Well, DR-011 can then be expected in 4 years, right
Simply mathematics!

Cheers

Toby
www.tobybear.de

At this stage I'm not terribly concerned about a lack of new VSTi on the market.

To my mind the arena is actually getting exciting. A softsynth like Pentagon would have cost a bomb only a short time ago. Now, you've got fantastic synth value for under $100. Look at Linplug, Big Tick, FXpansion, Muon camps also for great synths of amazing quality for less that we could dream of paying not long ago.

At the same time, people are starting to take things in new directions. VSampler turned soft-samplers into a revolution, Native Instruments accomplished the amazing with the B4, Logic audio screwed us all with the amazing Wurlitzer and Rhodes emulator that I cannot use *sob* and FMHeaven is set to take the throne as the definitive FM Soft-synth for a truly ridiculous price.

And let's not forget the freebie market where mda rule supreme with the JX10, DX10, Piano and ePiano. These synths have to come close to setting the standard for freeware VSTi.

So have we reached glut....? You've gotta be kidding!SmartElectronix only just gave us a new way to open up and say "AH!" with Skidder and other fascinating effects/instruments for free, Bleepo2 come from nowhere with a cacaphony to be tamed and Tobybear has a list of projects longer that the Nile with which to tantalize us - SickSynth being the latest and greatest. And let's not forget the quirky ReFX offering of QuadraSID that takes a traditional emulation concept and applies it to something noone else seemed to be thinking of - the rebirth of the beloved 64 sound. Junglist also seems to be exciting people's imagination at the moment and that's a very recent offering.

The good thing is - maybe we only had to wait a week for another one oscillator synth of dubious quality, but now we're waiting a bit longer to get instruments that are either excellent renditions of traditional concepts or fascinating explorations into new a wildly exciting areas. Roll on I say roll on!!!!

The ones that I want to see soon at the market are VSTIs of PPD as PM50 and TRIBONE that are being promised to months, almost one year.

Right on, Caleb,

What's interesting with VSTIs now today is the diversification.

- The sampler race is still on (not over by a mile).

- Boutique specialist niche synths are emerging ... tau pro, junglist, and more to come.

- Although drum machines/synths have become amazing, they still have some distance to go.

- Samples and synthesis is only beginning ... see Cronox.

- Pentagon sounds like a real synth ... and not many do that yet.

I think it's all just starting, rather than ending, and I haven't even mentioned half a dozen other quality names, all with plans in the pipeline.

What's really helping is that designers are starting to work together, and realise there's more to be gained by combining to tackle ever bigger projects.

Best of all, the sales overheads on the web are miniscule, so prices stay reasonably cheap.

btw: Angus's 4 months of effort shows. Not much touches DR-008. Way to go.

I suuure hope Angus ports DR-008 to OS X...



Hey, I gotta annoy the guy every so often about this.