I was able to get a copy of Vapor by East West and forgot to mention it.

It is part of their Platinum series of soft synths using the N.I. Kompakt synth engine. If you don't mind N.I. read on.

Vapor is a 2.2 gigabyte sample collection bound to two volumes on your CD and will only work in the Kompakt instance designed for it. This is how most of these libraries, if not all, work. Kompakt is a decent synth engine with about as much to more synth power than Sampletank 2, but Sampletank 2 absolutely kills it in the effects department. Most effects are very simple with as little as one parameter to change (chorus). Where this interface shines is the hands on approach to envelopes. Again, because I'm a Kontakt user it seems slim in terms of flexibility but for a $100 synth with 2.2 gigs of samples you can't expect more. Want to really work with it, consider purchasing Kontakt, it is vastly more capable and very difficult to learn. Intensity of programming seems to create complexity in tweaking.

So, we have an acceptable effects section, a good midrange priced synth engine and a bunch of really good sounding samples. Unlike some sample programs that let you use one channel get ready to layer, split or tweak existing MULTI patches. Kompakt has 8 channels of instruments. The typical MULTI uses 3 patches but not a lot of CPU. Think of Vapor as a hipper, vastly cheaper rompler that has lots of presets, some easily capable of use alone. They are in catagories of
ARP, 56 samples
Bass, 52 samples
FX, 125 samples
Lead, 95 samples (may have 16 duplicates but it probably not)
Pad, ~350 samples

Quite simple really. Vapor is very much a modern synth that takes old style samples and mixes them with newer technology samples that are not on your average workstation or mid level keyboard. In return, don't look for great pianos, organs or drums. If you need this on Vapor pass. Look at the more expensive Sampletank 2, Atmosphere (which is a specialty synth in it's own right, Sonik Synth and so on. Keep in mind you can but 2 to 3 of these synth libraries for the same price. So, although there is a lot of sound capability and sounds hin Vapor, color it a specialty synth. And while it ain't analog, it's not icy cold either.

The presets are deep with lots of arpeggiations, many with sustained segments that turn into arpeggiations. A bit of work with the ADSHR in the amp and you have a really nice backing sound for a textured, moving pad or lead. In particular, there is nothing stupid or painfully dated here. This is a great alternative to hardware type synths minus the meat and potato sounds but insanely high on the useful pad, lead and bass sounds. Kompakt is almost idiot proof and anyone can learn it. The included 30 page manual will have you up and running quickly. Should you want to keep safe harbor with MULTIS there is at least a full bank of them. Perhaps this is a down side but I don't agree. You are gently encouraged to create your own ounds, thank goodness! Just keep in mind that you have 8 channels and each one can be the same midi channel or any you choose. While simple and light on effects you might not even use them although if you do you'll be happy to hear they sound excellent.

Verdict - for new synthesists who want to learn a bit about synthesis here you go if you like electronic sounds that don't appeal to beats. Does it do Trance? Yes, but for leads and pads, and you'll probably want to prorgam your own sound anyway. Vapor is a nice role player although it could easily be your primary synth, those filters and envelopes work, use them! This is a smartly packaged libarary. It's biggest weakness, and let's face it, it is weak that only Kompakt or Kontakt 1.5 or higher can use it. At $99 it is the cost of buying 50 online loops using a genrous amount of maybe 200mb. The sound quality shows and you get much more than 50 online samples, well over 500 and no individual drums taking up 260 or so of the sample data, in fact, the pads are the bulk of this set. The good news is all these samples leave room for programming so the permutations are enormous. MULTIS are about 100 - 150 but who cares, you'll want to get busy with the programs. The drop down for MULTIS can be touchy, pay attention to letting up the mouse button. Ditto with the patches. It is a bit clumsy. So is downloading 2.2 gigabytes of well coodinated samples to make a themed libary. It's $99, at this price if you get 20 - 30 favorites you've gotten a good deal, but if you put the slightest effort into programming you can loose yourself. Read the manual, you do need to do this to get the most from Vapor.

I'll probably post this to the review area I guess. If you have Vapor let me know if you agree. If not I'll try to answer what questions I can.

bruce.. when you type..

do you still have control over your fingers or do you go into some sort of a trance until the fingers have done their job?

I bought a copy on Friday. Unfortunately the VSTi wont load in Nuendo Strange as all the other Kompakt based products I have load fine. I can load the samples in Kontakt of course but would prefer the ease of use of the shipped VSTi

that's a drag flametop. I'm not laughing at you but have fun with Steinberg. Maybe a user will be able to help you out.

imo, the package is quite amazing all things considered. If I were starting up I'd want to know about this synth.

spaceman, would you like to write this stuff for me? People asked, I think I gave a pretty good overview.

btw, the wording up above is a typical review minus pictures and interview over at musicFAQ.net. Just so peple have an idea of what our reviews will be like. It went halfway through the K-v-R revew thing so I had to truncate it majorly.

Hi x_bruce. Thanks for writing this review - I found it very helpful.

Thanks,
-Brian

Glad to hear it was helpful. I thought it was OK when I first heard it, but it's really great for what it is. I'm kind of surpised at it's versitility and price.

bruce

I'm using VAPOR more and more, I really like the sounds - they suit my style of music very well. I would be estatic over VAPOR if the KOMPAKT engine let you automate the basic controls. For $99 I agree, it's a bargain.

In Kontakt you can automate controls and that's part of why they probable make these libraries fairly inexpensive to purchase. Look at what you get and then look at what buying the big program does for you.

It's a marketing strategy for sure, but beyond automation it is still a nice synth for almost anything, and so easy to make the patches your own.

I've not used it very much, yet, but I have settled into a way I like to work with these packages. I do most of my edits in the Kompakt engine because it is simple to edit that way. Then I load those patches into Kontakt for use in my DAW.

So far, out of the few purchases I have made I think AfroLatin Slam is the only one I am disappointed in. With it I was hoping to use slices to vary some of the beats. This has not worked out at all.

Robert

With reference to my Nuendo VST problem; I just fixed it. I tried installing both the VST and DXi versions (the first install I only installed VST). Now Nuendo loads Vapor VST fine! Just a strange quirk.

Having played with this produce for a few nights I must admit it strikes me as one of the best of the current 'powered by NI' style products. Its the first I have found that makes use of the Kompakt modulation features rather then just simple sample playback. Very good value for the price IMO.

I happened to be in a real good mood today so I bought Vapor. Normally I wouldn't do that since their marketing effort is currently pretty sad (1 MP3 file and that's it??)

Anyway, my initial impression is good. The sounds were pleasing and the value is excellent. Setup was painless. Minor annoyance: Kontakt cannot use Vapor content until Vapor is registered. Overall, I can see having a lot of fun with this.

Two points that would make any and every Kompakt player product an easier sell:

1. Native Instruments should have a demo version of Kompakt and Intakt! Not many people desire to drop $100 on something that is non-returnable, and not guaranteed to work on their machine. Kompakt is slightly quirky, so I'd assume a customer would be happier if they knew that Kompakt/Intakt would work properly on their machine before they bought any of the 3rd party Kompakt/Intakt libraries.

2. If there isn't going to be a demo version of the 3rd party Kompakt/Intakt library (as opposed to a demo of Kompakt/Intakt itself, which I'd go so far as to say is a requirement), then there had better be a load of support material on the site selling the product. Many MP3's, patch lists, details, etc. I had to work very hard to find out anything about this product, and the data from my search mainly came from other KvRists. Non-KvRists will be out of luck.

As such, I can't recommend this product to people unless they already have used Kompakt.

My local Guitar Center had all the ProSamples products on the shelf, and apparently they're not selling well. For this low price, I believe that is unfortunate, but the sales tools aren't there.

Oh well, I'm still in a good mood. I might buy GPO tomorrow

-Brian

Guitar Center is divesting of many sample CDs except Acid type loops which are nearly impossible to fuck up.

They are going to see the Platinum library which has the Kompakt library associated to it, some stuff is more expensive than $100 but within a reasonable price range.

The stuff going is the old library samples which is kind of a drag. It's not N.I.'s mistake that there is not Kompakt player - that's what is used in the products. East West isn't marketing Vapor well. G-Media put a little more effort into Morphology, but not much.
How hard is it to collect ten mp3 files. With Morphology I can understand, it's a texture maker, not a full blown synth, but Vapor has enough to make easy demos.

I understand why you wouldn't recommend it but as stated in the review above I can.

bruce