KVR Audio

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:08 am

The synth seems to be released now (same as the "Loom" synth):

http://www.airmusictech.com/product/vacuum-pro

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/vacuum- ... technology

http://www.airmusictech.com/product/loom

There does not seem to be a demo version so far. Anyway this looks and sounds very interesting.
The manual ("user guide") is available as download at their website.

After having a look at the manual the Quad mode for the oscillators sounds interesting:
"Quad Mode: Each oscillator has a Quad mode on/off switch. This is a special mode in which four oscillators play together to create a thick "super-saw" style sound.
However, unlike some classic synths, you are not limited to using saw waveshapes in this mode—any waveshape can be quadrupled. Use the Detune knob to vary the thickness of the sound by detuning each of the four oscillations."

The price with 199.99$ (= around 154 Euros) is quite high but in the range of many other softsynths.

also based on the manual i found that this seems to use an PACE Interlok (= iLok ?) copy protection.
Currently i got an eLicenser dongle but no iLok key but i plan to maybe get one in the near future.

Ingo

werp · Post by **werp** » Thu May 16, 2013 10:58 am

I have my landrover discovery 4 key....that might work....

Not interested in a $200 soft synth without a decent demo anymore..how hard can it be?

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:03 am

iLok is not mentioned in system requirements for Loom... it's C-R it seems.

Brittlestem · Post by **Brittlestem** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:36 am

The price/lack of demo/lack of clear info is indicative of their appalling customer support - just a heads up as a Pro Tools user dealing with never-resolved problems with their Structure and Transfuser VI.

And as an owner of AIR's Vacuum and Hybrid, the quality is certainly not worth the high price - you'd be much better served with U-He/Papen/Tone2.

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:39 am

I am very curious about these too, but would never consider buying them without demoing first. Something AIR should already be aware of...

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:55 am

re_mute wrote:The price/lack of demo/lack of clear info is indicative of their appalling customer support - just a heads up as a Pro Tools user dealing with never-resolved problems with their Structure and Transfuser VI.

And as an owner of AIR's Vacuum and Hybrid, the quality is certainly not worth the high price - you'd be much better served with U-He/Papen/Tone2.

Thanks for the info, i have never used any product of them so far.

The lack of a demo is certainly a problem.

I don't know if the quality of Vacuum (seems to be part of a bundle) and Hybrid could be directly compared to the new products.

BTW there seem to be a demo available for Hybrid:
http://www.airmusictech.com/product/hybrid
Anyway this only seems to work in ProTools while Vacuum Pro is available as VST.

I have just noticed that the VSt seems to be only available as 64-bit. No 32-bit version available?

Specs:
http://www.airmusictech.com/product/vac ... quirements

Ingo

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu May 16, 2013 11:57 am

EvilDragon wrote:iLok is not mentioned in system requirements for Loom... it's C-R it seems.

This is from the Vacuum Pro manual that is availabe at the website:

"Note: Vacuum Pro uses PACE copy protection, so it will install the PACE InterLok driver on your system if you do not already have it. As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system.
Mac OS"

I could be wrong but "PACE Interlock" should be identical to "PACE iLok".

This does not seem to be mentioned in the specs of the synth.

The same could be found in the manual of Loom (which is called "Vocalizer" there):

"Note: Vocalizer Pro uses PACE copy protection, so it will install the PACE InterLok driver on your system if you do not already have it. As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system."

If you search for "PACE Interlok" you'll find this one:
http://www.paceap.com/

It is possible that there is a software only solution for this (like soft eLicenser) but it's quite unclear in this case.

More info:
http://www.paceap.com/products/interLok/interlok.html

This means that Intelok could mean differnt forms of protection but this is not really explained in detail at the Vacuum Pro and Loom manuals.

Ingo

fluffy_little_something · Thu May 16, 2013 12:46 pm

re_mute wrote:The price/lack of demo/lack of clear info is indicative of their appalling customer support - just a heads up as a Pro Tools user dealing with never-resolved problems with their Structure and Transfuser VI.

And as an owner of AIR's Vacuum and Hybrid, the quality is certainly not worth the high price - you'd be much better served with U-He/Papen/Tone2.

Maybe their stuff is better now that they are independent... At that elevated price point one might expect the best sound quality software can currently achieve. I mean they must be aware of what else is out there...

I still find Vacuum's user interface a bit ugly, but judging from some of the examples it sounds pretty good. I assume all that tube emulation stuff, the 0df filters, etc. will require a very powerful computer...

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:14 pm

As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system.

Bloody hope not! Do they believe their own hype to that extent?

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu May 16, 2013 2:22 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system.
Bloody hope not! Do they believe their own hype to that extent?

I agree that that part of the manual is quite strange.

Besides the copy orotection method which still is quite unclear (see my last post) it is also quite odd that the yonly seem to provide a 64-bit VST but no 32-bit version. At least the specifications and the manual could be interpreted like that.
Personally i am still using Windows 7 32-bit...

The missing demo version, the limit to 64-bit, the copy protection (iLok needed or not?) and the price make it not really easy to do a decison on this.

UPDATE:
I sent an email to them asking for a few more details about 64-bit only, the copy protection and about if demo will come.

Ingo

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:27 pm

brok landers wrote:
Geese wrote:I have always been interested in that Hybrid synth. Does anybody else have some opinions they could share of it?

I see that Brok says he did the presets for it. What is your overall thoughts of that synth, Brok? How do you like it compared to say, Zebra, since you have done some great patch banks for that?
tbh, i wasn't too fond of it. it's a nice synth, but somehow... i don't know, it just didn't really click with me... don't get me wrong, it's quite capable and if you know what you want and how to do it it delivers, but something always distracted me though i can't point my finger onto what it is... might be a personal thing though...

so did you do the hybrid presets as well? that must have been a chore and a half if you didn't like the synth!

Neon Breath · Post by **Neon Breath** » Thu May 16, 2013 7:30 pm

For those interested. Loom explained and showed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8cBZzNEh_o

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Thu May 16, 2013 8:22 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system.
Bloody hope not! Do they believe their own hype to that extent?

well on macs you'd be surprised.. there was a time on OS9 especially it was just standard.. everyone had it.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Thu May 16, 2013 8:47 pm

aMUSEd wrote:
As most audio software uses PACE copy protection, though, this is probably already installed on your system.
Bloody hope not! Do they believe their own hype to that extent?

Strange thing to say. Even if it were true (and I don't think it is), it sounds very defensive as if they know that Pace is unpopular and they're trying to convince people that's not the case.

BDeep · Post by **BDeep** » Thu May 16, 2013 9:23 pm

Just a little FYI, everyone with Live 9 suite or Live with M4L, has got some pace stuff on their computer. Don't know who else uses it, but what I'm trying to say is, it does come from unexpected places. So they may be right to some extend.

That aside, Loom looks interesting, shame about the (lack of a) demo.

Two new synths from AIR MusicTech: Vacuum & Loom