D'Cota by Steinberg, that is.
It certainly is interesting looking and the demo sounds on the CM disc last month were enough to tempt me into looking furhter. Trouble is, I can't find a demo on the Steinberg site - is is my inability to navigate a site or is there really no demo ?

Is anyone using it ?
Along with Absynth, this is on my list, but I need more than a few CM samples to part with the readies...
CP

Try to find a warez version to try it out.
But imho : no demo->no buy.

Hi there,

unfortunately there's no demo of D'cota.
Despite of that this synth really is very good. Fat characterful analogue. Spectrum osc stuff is incredible and has a distinct sound. The wave thingie is fun and brings some interesting sounds especially with this phrase sequencer thingie. Steinberg wants you to go the hard way to go to your dealer and check it out there.

if you want to go the whole hog (not just the pink piglet) get virsyn tera- does the same things as dcota and more.

Good, it's not just me then

Easymode, I agree with you - how am I supposed to ascertain whether this synth can offer me anything over those I already own (Reaktor, Rhino, Cronox) if I can't get my hands on a demo
I don't get the chance to visit dealers and all of my purchases are made after playing with a demo and then swiping the credit card.

Bajongo, I take it that you have this synth then ?

I had the same problem when looking to demo PLEX.
Bit of a poor policy on Steinberg's part imo
CP

Catspad wrote:

... Bajongo, I take it that you have this synth then ? I had the same problem when looking to demo PLEX. Bit of a poor policy on Steinberg's part imo CP

Hey Catspad,

yes I own this cool synth.

Strange tht everybody has demos and Steinberg refuses to do some for their VSTis. Plex is a little different as it has a 180MB file for the sample stuff so I wouldn't download such a huge demo, no matter how cool the synth is.

perhaps it is a anti crack policy. Crackers often use demo's to make full versions of it ..to erase restrictions the author build.

it sounds like a product worth buying. Let's say I would be paid very very very good. I would buy this right away .. the sound has quite some character and €249 sounds like a valuable price ! especially the Erol Erguen demo sound file impressed me ...I know a demo sound file isn't always qualifying .... I hear people that build up magnificent sounddemo`s with freeware. At a certain point it isn't very clear anymore what is the quality of a synth and what is the quality of the musician that build the sound demo. Hearing a good sound demo doesn't always mean the product would do the same to your sound. btw the only vsti demo software I see at Steinberg is the Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V vsti

Erol Erguen kept the sound demo very unprocessed which gives a good demonstration on the sound. I would like to try before I buy, but .... I also understand security is a difficult matter in a time when the wolfs are lurking to attack literally every release that's out.

Remco

I checked out a friend's D'cota and I plan to order it REAL SOON!

I am blown away with the synth. Great preset, great sound, easy to program.

What I really like it is actually sounds like different synths. Rhino has a similar effect, but doesn't have the pre-sets yet...

There have been people that said D'cota wa different from VirSyn TERA although not much has been elaborated. I'd like to know the differences (if any) beyond the interface.

If I remember correctly D'cota was a simplified TERA but had at least one feature that was more powerful than TERA had while TERA included more overall features.

As for sound quality, if it is a scaled down version of TERA you might be better going with them, they have a demo and they have good customer service. Also, the price isn't much more and online stores sell it around the same discount as D'cota is being sold, no more than $20 additonal cost.

Steinberg does a terrible job of marketing their VSTis and it's a shame as it looks like they've been putting together a pretty good lineup of late and with the new ones scheduled to ship soon.

Remco, I think the reason demos are so easy to crack is the program is often the same as the full version with a few disabled features so in terms of crackers it is easier. It's probably not cost effective to companies to make a demo that is truly incomplete yet conveys the features of the full version. That would be my guess. Although if you consider it, NI has demos for everything, even Kontakt.

I've tried every NI product that seemed appealing and the demo convinced me it was worth getting. Steinberg got me for PPG Wave and Attack, but both were bought because I have great faith in Waldorf. They have a great track record. And because I had a (deadbeat) client that wanted a PLEX sound library which required me to jump through hoops to get. [insert cat calls and hisses] I still think PLEX is completely misunderstood but like any other synth is not right for everybody.

I've been considering VerSyn Tera and now D'Cota. From what I read D'Cota is missing a few features that Tera has, but D'Cota also has more features in the spectrum synthasis area. Since this is the area that draws me to these products I am leading towards D'Cota. But, I don't like to buy anything without trying it out.

Robert

The current issue of Keyboard magazine has a full article decribing D'Cota and comparing and contrasting it to VeraSyn Tera. I don't remember the specifics enough to say what they were (I don't want to give false info). Right now I am looking at Z3ta+.

JeffN

X-Bruce-since you asked in the other thread too....

It's been a while since I fiddled with VirSyn,but my feelings were that it was not very intuitive.Some non-standard operations if I remember right,and some things that seemed like they should be simple didn't work the way I though they would.Admittedly,it could just be me.I liked the look,graphically,but OTOH there are a lot rows of controls packed into those screens.

In contrast,D'Cota has less parameters available,and they are laid out in groups here and there on the interface.The modal nature is really what hooked me.You only see the interface for the type of synthesis you are using at the time,so you never have to switch to a different screen unless you start to program a completely different sound.Contrasted with other synths,VirSyn included,that still show unavailable or irrelevant controls,but maybe greyed out,this is a great idea.

Sonically,I liked the presets much better in D'Cota.I believe one of the 3 types of synthesis may not be offered in VirSyn (or maybe just not quite the same??).When you load a preset in D'Cota,it is pretty easy to see what is going on at a glance (not that I always understand it),as opposed to having to take a minute and track down how a sound is programmed.

HTH!

I can't remember now what the thing was that it CAN do that virsyn can't, but... (if I remember correctly) I think the thing that it can't do that Virsyn can is use the spectral oscillator at the same time as the other modes.

That might be it Liondream, it's also a nice feature which can be done as a work-around in TERA by using two tracks on the same midi channel.

TERA was and still is difficult for me to grasp but I hate manuals unless absolutely needed and the TERA manual is good. But D'cota sounds like something I probably would have looked at first myself although I reiterate - VirSyn has great customer support. They did a lot of hand holding and responses to dumb questions, believe me there are some dumb questions no matter what the popular phrase implores you to believe. So in my book they are incredible for not sending me off to a FAQ and for actually answering an email and not having a forum or form email. I like what a lot of the larger companies are doing but their support frequently lacks.

I like the demos of D'cota as well. Still, no demo is a drawback.

If I recall correctly, D'Cota has some type of wave synthesis that is not in Vera Synth, but don't quote me.

JeffN

From the review in Keyboard:

"...Tera doesn't have the Wave page's synthesis mode, namely Steinberg/VirSyn's take on Karplus-Strong synthesis, a thoroughly exotic form of sound generation that is most often used to physically model plucked string characteristics."

And yes, D'cota is very, VERY cool.

no demo for me = no $ for you

Bruce,
You make some good points. I've been taking some time looking at D'Cota. I posted a few question on the Steiny site, but NO answer

Anyway. Another cool feature on D'cota is you can assign up to eight sounds to one midi channel, for HUGE stacks. You can also assign pans and up to four outputs. All, of course, if you PC can handle it and it multi channel and multi outputs.

It sounds like it would be different enough to matter sound wise, iDavid. So far everyone likes D'cota and those who have VirSyn TERA like it too. They work kind of similarly. You can use as many channels as you want in Virsyn to make multilayers, splits, all that kind of stuff. I don't really see the need to do so as those kind of sounds usually dominate a mix, otoh I tend to love creating pads and synth sounds that do the same thing.

I think Steinberg and VirSyn got something out of this deal. I'm sure Cube will compliment TERA nicely. It's a good time to be using software synths.

And of course, I HAVE to be different here.....

I thought D'Cota was ok, but certainly not worth the price of admission. I might have paid $50 for it, but not $199. Please play with it before you buy it. It was 'cool', but not that cool, or 'amazing' beyond what I already own.

Devon

i own d'cota und i definately do not regret that i bought it

it's similar to virsyn, yes, but has extra features.
it lacks the modular features, but the spectrum section is bigger and better and the wave section is completely new, and the interface is simply better
the soundquality is the same, great, just great.

so it's NOT just a smaller virsyn, owning them both is worth it

Next time I'm at a store with D'cota loaded I'll have to check it out
(laughs hysterically just thinking about a store even knowing they have a demo on one of their computers...)

The only important difference between the two, IMO is that you can actually get going with music with D'cota and be productive.

TERA is just too labor intensive.

D'cota's got THE sound, the feel and convenience.

Thats all

never trried d'cota, but tera isn't that bad to program. It cant be as time intensive as something like absynth.

I have both and Absynth was simple to me, it made sense in a H.R. Geiger kind of way UI wise. Without knowing what I everything was or how deep I could go it was easy to start from scratch and get good quality sounds.

VirSyn TERA took a lot longer to get around and I still sometimes need the manual. That said it's one of the most versitle synths - period - and is worth the work.

And I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on this, but there you have it. I've looked at D'cota's interface and it is easier to comprehend. Whether the intuitive nature of an interface makes for more creative work is on a individual basis.

You can't compare D'Cota or Tera with Absynth, they sounds total different! D'Cota and Tera are in the same leage (sound), but D'Cota is much easier to program. Perhaps you should wait of the upcoming VirSyn Cube!?

PS: I hate VST's without demos!(hello Steinberg!)
The same with products with a bullshit copyprotection like "dongle", "pace" or "call and responce"! I would not buy such things and if you don't buy too, not long, and this stupid products are blow away from the market! We have it in our hands...

perhaps a bit off topic Darwinian
but what do you find a good crack-prevention ?

A copyprotection like by my NI Pro 53, FM 7, Absynth or Model-E! The CD is not to so easy to copy and from time to time to lay in.
Against illegal crackers there is no way to protect, is an illussion! If I had buy my software for a lot of money, so I will not punish for this with stupid copyprotections! No, I have already enough synths and buy only products with a friendly user behavior and service!

sounds fair

btw ... what a wonderfull sig !

wrote that yourself ?

...last ot question from me

Isn't D'Cota what was previously Nexus?

It does look very interesting and I do think that the original Nexus represented state of the art from Mike.

However, the fact that Steinberg distributes it is a big minus as far as I'm concerned. I know - it's a terrible bias to have, but I recognise it.

That said, if D'Cota had a demo, I would love to see where this product ended up. My software shopping is only done on the internet - the chances of me going to a dealer to look at D'Cota is zero!

Caleb,

I think the upcoming Xphrase from Steinberg is what became of the Nexus project.

/Yoss

Caleb wrote:

Isn't D'Cota what was previously Nexus? It does look very interesting and I do think that the original Nexus represented state of the art from Mike. However, the fact that Steinberg distributes it is a big minus as far as I'm concerned. I know - it's a terrible bias to have, but I recognise it. That said, if D'Cota had a demo, I would love to see where this product ended up. My software shopping is only done on the internet - the chances of me going to a dealer to look at D'Cota is zero!

Hey Caleb,

D'cota isn't that what was previously Nexus. The upcoming X Phraze seems to be what Mike is doing instead of Nexus.

Ah OK. My bad!

Was wondering why Mike hadn't chimed in on this thread. Now I know why.

Yossarian wrote:

Caleb, I think the upcoming Xphrase from Steinberg is what became of the Nexus project. /Yoss

Hey Yossarian,

I didn't see your reply. therefor the doubled info.

x_bruce wrote:

I'm sure Cube will compliment TERA nicely. It's a good time to be using software synths.

Hi Bruce,
The Cube is certainly going to be in a class all by itself.