Wow, finally got it in this evening and.. wow... Loads quicker than Atmosphere because of its smaller sample size, it's twice as big being almost 9 gigs of data, twice as many patches with 2,000 patches and growing... and damn, it just sounds so good. Very good patch design overall so far, after I've cruised through several hundred patches so far...

Anyone else playing with it yet?

Devon

that's my next synth target.

Glad you like it, elaborate more on using it as you go if you would please

Devon, I think you may be the first!

How does it sound to your ears?

In terms of overall feel, for example, I'm thinking that Vapor sounded much warmer and organic to my ears than morphology.

atmosphere sounds sleek and clean

where does ultrafocus fit in?

I hope that isn't a 'stoopid' question to ask...

Liondream wrote:

Devon, I think you may be the first! How does it sound to your ears? In terms of overall feel, for example, I'm thinking that Vapor sounded much warmer and organic to my ears than morphology. atmosphere sounds sleek and clean where does ultrafocus fit in? I hope that isn't a 'stoopid' question to ask...

It feels like a lot of everything really. There's a lot of individual sounds from such synths as the Casio CZ, and others, but also plenty of patches that use 2 layers. The mod wheel is put to very good use for the 'atmospheric' patches.

Just overall very good sounds. Lots of good lead instruments so far too. I really like bell 'plinky' leads, and it has quite a few good ones.

Devon

sickle666 wrote:

that's my next synth target. Glad you like it, elaborate more on using it as you go if you would please

There will be a full review of it over on http://www.traxmusic.org in a few weeks, so that should be elaborate enough for you, I hope.

Devon

DevonB: I've always wondered how you get your hands on so many good plugins? Do you work in the industry or are you just loaded?
It seems like you have every VSTi worth owing

Another thing, but I presume that will be in your review; is UltraFocus for leads/basses what Atmosphere is for pads/textures, or is more allround like Sampletank 2 without the acustic stuff.

"every VSTi worth owing"

How true!!!!

Armadillo wrote:

DevonB: I've always wondered how you get your hands on so many good plugins? Do you work in the industry or are you just loaded? It seems like you have every VSTi worth owing Another thing, but I presume that will be in your review; is UltraFocus for leads/basses what Atmosphere is for pads/textures, or is more allround like Sampletank 2 without the acustic stuff.

My studio is mostly full from paying with my hard earned dollar. I also do a lot of work for print magazines, web publications, and other businesses doing reviews and some beta testing (though a LOT less beta testing these days.)

While I just got UltraFocus yesterday, I'm not 100% sure. So far, it's been a nice mixture of pads and textures with some really nice leads and basses. What I'm happy about are the amount of USABLE patches, and how often I stopped to play with a patch, instead of 'bink bink' 'eh... that's ok' and moved to the next one. The sound design has been very top notch, and am very pleased.

Devon

All of the links on the Ultra Focus page give me 404 errors!

Armadillo wrote:

DevonB: I've always wondered how you get your hands on so many good plugins? Do you work in the industry or are you just loaded? It seems like you have every VSTi worth owing

The benefits of being a well-respected reviewer, I would guess

Workin' here Miro.

http://www.usbsounds.com/usb/exec/ultrafocus

Devon

tony Smyth wrote:

"every VSTi worth owing" How true!!!!

Hey you! Where the hell you at these days?...

DevonB wrote:

Workin' here Miro. http://www.usbsounds.com/usb/exec/ultrafocus Devon

Got it. Thanks

That is a nice list of synths that they sampled, but $399 euros seems a bit expensive. That puts it on the very high end for price.

Robert

Hi

It amazes me with the ever increasing size of the libraries that we get with these S&S playback modules - where will it ever end?

I mean 9 gig's - wow, it makes you wonder what has happerned that has forced developers into getting into this huge swathe of mass storage?

Many of us still have old S&S synths - I have a Yamaha SY85 which has 8 meg's of internal samples - now I don't use it anymore (other than as a controller) because I am pretty rooted in software now, but many of the sounds on that and similar synths were very, very nice.

So I ask the question how can 8 megs that give you 256 voice patches and 128 performance patches of a pretty high quality be overtook by technology that gives you 1,000 patches at a cost of 5 gigs of storage space.

It just seems odd to me - were people 15 years ago that much better at looping, are the sounds today that much better or is there some other reason behind it.

Not knocking anyone or thing but just curious about why these S&S libraries are getting so big as to be almost laughable - I mean whats next; buy the sample library and we will throw in the 200 gig Hard-drive, which will be 99% full with the library!

My only real gripe is you stand to loose or rely on such huge amounts of data that I for one would prefer to go the other way - give me a sample library of classy 16bit well looped sounds on a single bloody CD-at least you might get to know what your got!

Flipper.

Rabid wrote:

That is a nice list of synths that they sampled, but $399 euros seems a bit expensive. That puts it on the very high end for price. Robert

Ya, it's also $399 US as well, and I've found it street price for $369. Same league as Atmosphere, but double the sample space, and double the presets.

Devon

original flipper wrote:

My only real gripe is you stand to loose or rely on such huge amounts of data that I for one would prefer to go the other way - give me a sample library of classy 16bit well looped sounds on a single bloody CD-at least you might get to know what your got! Flipper.

flipper i completely agree. is it really necessary? can someone explain this phenomenon???

Aff wrote:

original flipper wrote: My only real gripe is you stand to loose or rely on such huge amounts of data that I for one would prefer to go the other way - give me a sample library of classy 16bit well looped sounds on a single bloody CD-at least you might get to know what your got! Flipper. flipper i completely agree. is it really necessary? can someone explain this phenomenon???

I can. Take unique, complex sounds that would take a lot of CPU power to create, and play them through a sample player that takes next to no CPU power. Really, it's a trade off. Until processors get even more powerful, we'll probably see this for awhile still for synthesis engines. Also, this is also helpful when we still don't have emulations of other synthesis types nailed perfectly yet, or want a signature sound from a specific synth that would take many man hours to re-create.

Also, these sample playback engines are STILL a ways away from touching the more advanced PCM hardware ROMplers in control over the original sounds. Flip through a Roland JV series, XV series, or Fantom series, and it becomes apparent that we're still a ways off. Getting closer though... ravity is closer than some, that's for sure.

Devon

Hi

I agree with the point about Ravity - now what would those guys dish up with 128 megs of pcm-let alone 9 gigs!

So perhaps we are moving in the right direction - but I would still say that those same synths I mentioned were only driven by cpu's that were so slow that 12 of my sy85,s proccessors would not be noticed if chucked on the back of a 3ghz cpu! - yet I still think in comparative terms something is BADLY amiss.

I honestly believe that the market is self perpetuating and its only when someone takes a step back and thinks 'no' I can do this another way - then we see things like Ravity.

I wonder why things like the triton? card which was way more powerfull than these libraries and less demanding on cpu(if at all) was so unsucsessfull-perhaps we will see EMU come with some synthesis (as oppossed to sampling)on a card-that might be more preferable and no more expensive than buying a new hard-drive and a 20 gig program for £300.

I await the changes with enthusiasm!

Flipper.

original flipper wrote:

I wonder why things like the triton? card which was way more powerfull than these libraries and less demanding on cpu(if at all) was so unsucsessfull-perhaps we will see EMU come with some synthesis (as oppossed to sampling)on a card-that might be more preferable and no more expensive than buying a new hard-drive and a 20 gig program for £300. I await the changes with enthusiasm! Flipper.

You mean the Korg Oasys? (I have one, love it so far...) They were $2800 when they launched. That's a bit too pricy for most people. I got mine for $350 off of EBay.

Devon

So at this time we can say that UltraFocus is better that Atmosphere and Morphology...

diego wrote:

So at this time we can say that UltraFocus is better that Atmosphere and Morphology...

So far, yes, I am saying it's better. The UVI engine is better (although I haven't played with the update for Atmosphere yet), and I'm really enjoying the lead sounds better. Still, that's initial impression. Give me a few weeks, and time to go back to Atmosphere too. Either way, Atmosphere and UltraFocus are both good choices for synthetic goodness. Morphology I still don't have yet, but hope to get in the future still, as I'd like to compare that as well.

Devon

Sam Ash has Ultra Focus for $299.

Arrrgh! Uber link alert!

[url=link]Sam Ash[/url]

http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?itemid=30640

I notice the SamAsh site says list price is $299 and the item is not yet in stock. (This item usually ships within 3 to 5 days.) It may go up in price once they get it in stock. That happened with the Nord Modular Rack G2. It was goind to be $899 until they got it in stock.

Robert

Rabid wrote:

That happened with the Nord Modular Rack G2.

G2! What a synth!

Devon

Rabid wrote:

I notice the SamAsh site says list price is $299 and the item is not yet in stock. (This item usually ships within 3 to 5 days.) It may go up in price once they get it in stock. That happened with the Nord Modular Rack G2. It was goind to be $899 until they got it in stock.

I agree. Audiomidi had it for $279 before USB announced that the msrp was going to be 399 a short while ago, but they now have it for $369. I think USB had predicted it to be in the $300 price range when it was first announced.

how about a demo-clip, devonb?

Am i the only one that thought atmosphere was rather poor

overly rich harmonic sounds that dont fit in a mix - with suprisingly little variety (anything drippy and wet - anything metal on blackboard skin crawling wierd etc)

with a fairly uninteresting engine which (at the time) lacked host sync

just think for the same cost you could get an oasys card - ok the 9 x computer would be a bit extra but

And yet Sam Ash still has the G2 listed as a special order. Grr. I'd buy the "Engine" from Audiomidi.com if it had more controls on the box. Otherwise I'd probably get carpal tunnel from all the mouse clicks. Hee.

I think Atmosphere is great, I've had it a few months now. Overly rich harmonic sounds that don't fit in a mix? I couldn't disagree more. Atmosphere is extremely easy to fit in a mix, IF you know how to mix. And as with any other instrument, many times presets will require some tweaking so that they integrate well with a particular song. That said, Atmosphere can be extremely full sounding, but in my opinion this is a good thing, as there are far too many synths out there that completely lack in this department. The trick is to not overdo it...with many synths it requires sometimes 2 or 3 instances to get the full sound you're looking for, with atmosphere it (most of the time) takes only 1.

Anyway, about Ultrafocus, this is by the same company that makes the Plugsound stuff right? If so, I hope they did a better job of sampling. I tried all of the plugsound demos and not one sounded even remotely above average. However, I am very interested in Ultrafocus, and would appreciate any demos you could post Devon.

I bought my copy yesterday (in Australia). I had actually gone to the USB distributor to buy Plugsound Box and the delivery guy walked in at the same time carry 50 boxes of Ultra Focus!!! Whoohoo! So I am the first person in Australia to play with it - and I knocked up a quick tune to celebrate:

http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49662

I paid US$385 for it.

I agree with DevonB, the patches on this synth are all class, and cleaner and more instantly usable than Atmosphere. The new version of the UVI engine seems to be more CPU efficient too. I easily got 4-5 instances of UF + 6-7 instances of Plugsound running on my 2.2Ghz P4M.

A must buy!

Just to let you know that I found other
ultra focus demos at : http://www.univers-sons.com/us2K/exec/product?prod=ULTRAFOCUS

The demos are at the bottom left of the page,
the first one is the demo you can listen at usbsounds.

I had ultra focus in my hand when it was in beta, and what I can tell is that I was completely amazed by the quality of the sounds and the really really HUGE sound palette.

I also posted a demo over on another thread, but I'll post it here too that I did last nite.

Epic Journey

4 instances of UltraFocus, 1 instance of Culture for drums.

Devon

So ... you were saying about load times ... are they better than Atmosphere?

(stu.macQ)

stu.macQ wrote:

So ... you were saying about load times ... are they better than Atmosphere? (stu.macQ)

Yes, quite a bit better actually. Most load within 1-2 seconds on my system, as a lot of the patches are under 10 megs, if not under 5 megs.

Devon

What type of copy protection does it use? I always try to ask before I buy.

Robert

Rabid wrote:

What type of copy protection does it use? I always try to ask before I buy. Robert

C/R on the web. Went smoothly.

Devon

Thanks for the quick reply. Two instances I assume? That works very well for me with NI and Spectrasonics products. I have the primary copy on my DAW, and a second copy on my "CPU overflow" machine.

Robert

I love Vapor, a cool priceless product and I can load it into KONTAKT if needed, still runs with the included KOMPAKT and that makes it very convenient. And I paid only $95 for it.

I have heard that Altered States and Morphology from Zero-G are nice products as well. Anyone has any experience so far? Altered States just came out and I haven't had a chance to play with it.

I Wonder How this will Compare with Sonik Synth 2 from IK, I don't know if I would want both.

original flipper wrote:

Hi It amazes me with the ever increasing size of the libraries that we get with these S&S playback modules - where will it ever end? I mean 9 gig's - wow, it makes you wonder what has happerned that has forced developers into getting into this huge swathe of mass storage? Many of us still have old S&S synths - I have a Yamaha SY85 which has 8 meg's of internal samples - now I don't use it anymore (other than as a controller) because I am pretty rooted in software now, but many of the sounds on that and similar synths were very, very nice. So I ask the question how can 8 megs that give you 256 voice patches and 128 performance patches of a pretty high quality be overtook by technology that gives you 1,000 patches at a cost of 5 gigs of storage space. It just seems odd to me - were people 15 years ago that much better at looping, are the sounds today that much better or is there some other reason behind it. Not knocking anyone or thing but just curious about why these S&S libraries are getting so big as to be almost laughable - I mean whats next; buy the sample library and we will throw in the 200 gig Hard-drive, which will be 99% full with the library! My only real gripe is you stand to loose or rely on such huge amounts of data that I for one would prefer to go the other way - give me a sample library of classy 16bit well looped sounds on a single bloody CD-at least you might get to know what your got! Flipper.

I have an idea why: First of, it's easier to make many sounds in shorter time when you don't have to squeeze it into a smaller memory footprint. Second, it's an insurance of sort against piracy. The larger the thing is, the more un-attractive it becomes for down- as well as up-loaders.

yeah, optimizing sounds, creating large-sounding combi's from a few much smaller samples is hard work. Sample design is infinitely easier if you have unlimited space to use.

anon wrote:

I Wonder How this will Compare with Sonik Synth 2 from IK, I don't know if I would want both.

Hmmm... I think Squids would appreciate if I didn't comment. Will just have to wait and see how SS2 is.

Devon

We need something with the synthesis engine of an XV5080/Fantom or something with lots of quality fx like an XV5080/Fantom (hehe) or even Korg Legacy FX + a bit more.. Then we can get in the business of making some nice sounds with less memory.

If Ravity and better/more fx + more modulating/enveloping + better/more filters and more short looped wavforms (like early digital synth ones) so you can stack them up then it will be equivalent to hardware..

The closest thing now is the Korg Wavestation VSTi!

Fantom? Oh god yes. For those of you who'd like to see 'control', I screen shotted the Fantom X Editor with all its edit screens up. 560k for a jpg, so it's a bit big.

http://www.panicnow.net/~devonb/fantom.jpg

Devon

Thanks Devon.

anon wrote:

I Wonder How this will Compare with Sonik Synth 2 from IK, I don't know if I would want both.

Anon, UF and SS2 are very different in their features. The only similarity is that they both have a large degree of "classic synth anthology" in them. But one focuses on that in a different way than the other. Each does have some unique features that the other doesn't though. If both interest you but you can't get both then my advice is to pick the one that seems like it will suit your needs best.

I was going to point out some differences but then I realised how I would have biased them mostly in my favor so I edited it out. I just wanted to address the question and not try to steer the interest away from a cool new plug-in. I'll just try to be more informative about the features of SS2 in our company forum here and you can compare it yourself.

One thing I am curious about though is the vocoder A-B, B-A thing. How is that feature? I'd be curious to hear what it sounds like.

cyanogen wrote:

Sam Ash has Ultra Focus for $299.

Now you just HAD to go ahead and post something like that, didn't ya?

Or rather...

Actually, I'm not too upset... I can't be buying anything right now anyway. But knowing that it's below the $300, and also that it's cheaper than Atmosphere is not a good thing. Meaning, that now it's something that I will probably be thinking about in the back of my mind.

[absurd] wrote:

Rabid wrote: I notice the SamAsh site says list price is $299 and the item is not yet in stock. (This item usually ships within 3 to 5 days.) It may go up in price once they get it in stock. That happened with the Nord Modular Rack G2. It was goind to be $899 until they got it in stock. I agree. Audiomidi had it for $279 before USB announced that the msrp was going to be 399 a short while ago, but they now have it for $369. I think USB had predicted it to be in the $300 price range when it was first announced.

Sam Ash seems to sometimes overlook things like that. So, it might be a good chance to grab a great price. Also, Sam Ash is having a Midnight Madness sale this Friday fwiw. Got a postcard in the mail today.

stevie97 wrote:

I love Vapor, a cool priceless product and I can load it into KONTAKT if needed, still runs with the included KOMPAKT and that makes it very convenient. And I paid only $95 for it. I have heard that Altered States and Morphology from Zero-G are nice products as well. Anyone has any experience so far? Altered States just came out and I haven't had a chance to play with it.

Just 'gut' feeling here... and my own opinion, but if I had to choose only one, I would go with Vapor over Morphology.

General impressions... Vapor seems warmer and more 'alive'. Morphology seems a bit colder and more clinical.

Again, just gut impressions. I would say that Vapor is a good value. it's like a secret little jewel that not too many people seem to know or care about.

I haven't heard about Altered States. Will check it out.

Squids wrote:

I was going to point out some differences but then I realised how I would have biased them mostly in my favor so I edited it out. I just wanted to address the question and not try to steer the interest away from a cool new plug-in. I'll just try to be more informative about the features of SS2 in our company forum here and you can compare it yourself.

Squids, I salute you for this and respect you. I think that is very cool of you.

I agree too, with what you say about it being a matter of deciding which synth/plug works best for each individual and their particular style of music.

In some cases I think a lot of us have multiple plugins that are similar, so it becomes not so much a question of which one, but in what order to get them.

I will say that in the case of the Kompakt-based instruments, it's nice to be able to open up the various libraries in Kontakt for further manipulation. Being able to take elements from various libraries and mix and match is when things really start to open up and become interesting, and in which case it begins to make sense to have some overlap.

What I mean is being able to create a multi in Kontakt, for example, that might have one layer taken from Vapor, one layer taken from Morphology, one layer taken from EWQLSO, etc., etc.

Although 8-9 gigs does seem alot, I'm not overly concerned about how great sound is delivered as long as it doesn't interfere with the creative flow.

I really base most of my purchases on "need" obviously but if it sounds great, that's the driving force behind my purchases. ROMplers, samplers, whatever.... as long as it doesn't screw up my vibe...

It does sound good DevonB...nice tune too.. ..

dano

Liondream wrote:

Squids wrote: I was going to point out some differences but then I realised how I would have biased them mostly in my favor so I edited it out. I just wanted to address the question and not try to steer the interest away from a cool new plug-in. I'll just try to be more informative about the features of SS2 in our company forum here and you can compare it yourself. Squids, I salute you for this and respect you. I think that is very cool of you. I agree too, with what you say about it being a matter of deciding which synth/plug works best for each individual and their particular style of music. In some cases I think a lot of us have multiple plugins that are similar, so it becomes not so much a question of which one, but in what order to get them. I will say that in the case of the Kompakt-based instruments, it's nice to be able to open up the various libraries in Kontakt for further manipulation. Being able to take elements from various libraries and mix and match is when things really start to open up and become interesting, and in which case it begins to make sense to have some overlap. What I mean is being able to create a multi in Kontakt, for example, that might have one layer taken from Vapor, one layer taken from Morphology, one layer taken from EWQLSO, etc., etc.

Thanks for saying that. You know, sometimes I wish I could just talk as a user myself and give my opinions (ah, I manage to do it a lot anyway) because there are things I like and don't like too. For instance, I LOVE Kontakt. But I am not crazy about the Kompakt limited engines at all. I am okay with limiting access to the engine but not crazy about the playback engine itself being limited. From a sound design perspective that means that all Kompakt modules aren't as good as they could have been if they were Kontakt libraries... potentially. But, you're right. If you know what you're doing you can open them in Kontakt and tweak away yourself.

As to UltraFocus, to me it looks good. I'm a synth junky and I am fortunate not to be one to think "either this or that one". I got Moog Modular V for instance. Do I NEED it? No, not really. Do I even use it that much? No, not really. But, I freakin' like it! I understand that's a luxury for many though so when it comes to deciding on ONE tool that will cover your needs this has to just come from each person and we're all different.

If I can talk as a user here for a second, if "desert island pics" is not the case (ie. if you are like DevonB and just get whatever you like! just kidding Devon ) then I see no reason not to get Atmosphere, UltraFocus and Sonik Synth 2 if you love synth sounds. But, then you could also say CA5000, AbSynth and the list goes on I guess... there has to be limits I suppose. Ironically getting all of the above is cheaper than a lot of big hardware synths! Hmmm... it's even cheaper than one (might cool) monophonic Moog Voyager!

Anyway, like I said, I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll leave it at that.

From the information posted UltraFocus looks like it will be very different than SonicSynth. Sort of like comparing your hardware VA to your hardware ROMpler. UltraFocus does not seem to have any samples outside of synthasizers. No strings. No pianos. No guitars or voices.

I also find it difficult to compare Morphology and Vapor. Two synths with different goals and purpose.

Robert

DevonB wrote:

Fantom? Oh god yes. For those of you who'd like to see 'control', I screen shotted the Fantom X Editor with all its edit screens up. 560k for a jpg, so it's a bit big. http://www.panicnow.net/~devonb/fantom.jpg Devon

I think your Time KF slider is a little low on Tone 3, you may want to adjust it a bit, it'll help you sound better

I just tried Ultra Focus at my local dealer this lunchtime. Hard to preview much in a lunch break but it did seem a quality product. As you say, its just synth based, there did not appear to be any other instruments sampled. However, what a list of synths Separate preset banks cover VA, FM, Wavetable, VS, Additive and a bunch more. Of the presets I tried they all seemed very usable.

Very interesting product. Pity it was an NFR shop copy and they had no stock

Squids wrote:

One thing I am curious about though is the vocoder A-B, B-A thing. How is that feature? I'd be curious to hear what it sounds like.

FM-type feature. It makes either slot A or B the modulator, and the other one the carrier.

Devon

danielmm wrote:

Although 8-9 gigs does seem alot, I'm not overly concerned about how great sound is delivered as long as it doesn't interfere with the creative flow. I really base most of my purchases on "need" obviously but if it sounds great, that's the driving force behind my purchases. ROMplers, samplers, whatever.... as long as it doesn't screw up my vibe... It does sound good DevonB...nice tune too.. .. dano

I spent a good chunk of last nite going through over 500 presets. Amazing. So many 'usable' presets, it's wonderful! *AND* it was 'click' the next arrow, and boom, it loaded immediatelly for most patches. The Classic Analog bank is nothing short of amazing. It's punchy as hell for the bass.

Devon

Just ordered it I'll be getting it tommorow morning so I'll let you know how I find it.

Liondream wrote:

Sam Ash seems to sometimes overlook things like that. So, it might be a good chance to grab a great price. Also, Sam Ash is having a Midnight Madness sale this Friday fwiw. Got a postcard in the mail today.

What's the discount? When's the sale exactly, for how long and do you need a code or something to take part in the sale?

Can someone descriptively compare atmosphere, morphology and vapor.....I can't afford all of them!

moosethree wrote:

Can someone descriptively compare atmosphere, morphology and vapor.....I can't afford all of them!

3 synths, 3 different price points, pretty hard to 'describe' a sound. Listen to the demos for all of them. I should have Vapor here soon myself, as well as Morphology a little later, but Atmosphere and UltraFocus are still two different entities. UF seems to be more styled towards leads and basses, and has some atmospheres. Atmosphere seems to have more 'atmospheres', but it does have leads and basses too.

Devon

vtd wrote:

Liondream wrote: Sam Ash seems to sometimes overlook things like that. So, it might be a good chance to grab a great price. Also, Sam Ash is having a Midnight Madness sale this Friday fwiw. Got a postcard in the mail today. What's the discount? When's the sale exactly, for how long and do you need a code or something to take part in the sale?

Friday July 16th, 5:00 pm until Midnight. It says VIP customer, but on the other hand it does not say anything about needing the card to get in.

Doesn't give specific detailed example prices.

Best thing might be to give them a ring.

I know a few of us KVR-ers have gotten some really good deals at Sam Ash from time to time... remember that $69 FM7 deal. So, you never know what to expect.

as Dave put it, I am a synth Junkie too

Back to topic.

I would like to have a clear list of all presets included in the Ultra Focus, giving information about what kind of sound the preset is (lead, pad, bass, etc) and also what instrument that were used for the samples (Minimoog, CS-80, etc). Can´t find this on USBs website, though, and I think that´s a shame.

I bought Atmosphere because I had a good idea of what to expect, and that was mainly because of the demo MP3s and the preset list that Spectrasonics offered on their website.

USB take note!

Devon, if USB isn´t listening, maybe you could include such a list in your upcoming review?

In the Box there is a sheet with all the presets listed, I could scan the list and post it, BUT i don't know if USB would like it, and I don't want to piss them of, If you want to send them a email asking if it is OK, and post so here then Ill do it, maybe they would do it themselves, but then again they may prefer not to.

There are a lot of sounds 2000 and it's taking me a while to get through them, the sounds load very fast (almost instant) and the quality is top, it's different sounding to Atmosphere, not as huge, but certainly not small either, I am very pleased with it, I use Logic on a Mac and the Audio Unit version has been rock solid, no problems at all,

I would like to describe what it sounds like but as Devon said how do you describe a sound, I have to say tho, That saying it's better than Atmosphere is not at all how I feel, Atmosphere is in my opinion a fantastic sounding unit, and I love it for what it does, (and it does a lot) But UF is less huge and that is good to have because it sits in the mix nicely, I personally need both and I will probably get Sonic Synth 2 also because they all do there own thing, and add there own special color to the the canvas,

The only thing that I find hard is that Sometimes there seems to be to many options available, because it can slow you down, I always Intend to go through all my sounds and make banks of my favorites but it takes to long, and when you have 2000 to sort through, well forget it, I want to make music and sometimes all the options can get in the way, But there is always an Upside and A downside, overall I think I would prefer to have to many options than not enough.

anon wrote:

I would like to describe what it sounds like but as Devon said how do you describe a sound, I have to say tho, That saying it's better than Atmosphere is not at all how I feel, Atmosphere is in my opinion a fantastic sounding unit, and I love it for what it does, (and it does a lot)

I love Atmosphere for what it does, but UF is less 'niched' than Atmosphere, which makes it better, IMHO. If I was forced to choose one right now, I'd take UF, and that, to me, makes it better. BUT, if you can afford both, get both.

Devon