KVR Audio

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 7:34 am

I don't use dongles, so only the LE version is an option. Would you consider this? €30.00 is within my bugdet too so it makes this tempting. How many presets does it come with and how good are they? Are there bugs to be aware of, and are the missing features from the full version deal-breakers?

EDIT:

Well my question was answered basically that they are great deals, I added PolyKB II Player to the title. You can buy each one for $20 from Sweetwater via electronic purchase of the serials:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=xils

Master Ovnun · Post by **Master Ovnun** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:11 am

I avoid dongles too. (It provides a useful barrier to GAS.)

I absolutely love the Xils III LE. It has recently been updated and works happily in the hosts that I own. (I mostly use it in Bidule and Reaper.)

presets: well, there are a quite a few & there's some very cheap but excellent banks available (Soul Design comes to mind.) As usual with a semi-modular, it's best just to take a couple of hours out, with the manual, then and roll yer own.
Once you get the Signals sorted from the Controls on the pin matrix - you're away.

For me it's up there with Zebra2 for pure fun. What I mean by that is, you imagine a sound that you wish to create, then start patching and find other great sounds as a by-product along the way.

Tim Blake likes this synth* - so it should be right up your street. (Given your signature!) He certainly used the real thing for years (and probably still does, Brock owns one as well.)

*Allegedly.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:19 am

How is the sequencer? Do you use it?

And yeah I'm wondering about presets because I like altering sounds but not always starting out fresh, just my personal preference. My brain doesn't work so well these days, some help with 'patching' is appreciated, especially if there are some really cool ones about.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 8:47 am

How kind is this to a Core2Duo CPU? And has anyone used it in Studio One? Any RAM issues?

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:23 am

This synth is wicked.
If you like BOC youll love some fo the presets.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 9:25 am

VariKusBrainZ wrote:This synth is wicked.
If you like BOC youll love some fo the presets.

BOC = Blue Oyster Cult? Never really gave them much attention to be honest

The whole Gong/Hawkwind/Floyd/Who history with the original is more compelling to me personally.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:06 am

OK, so I bought myself a copy without ever demo'ing it

yes I am that foolish but I got a nice price.

All I can say is this is a weird synth and I'm going to have to work on programming it more than the usual synth. And it is a CPU hog at least as bad a Diva from how it is behaving on my system in Studio One. It actually feels like a weird old analg that you have to baby to get some sound out of, I am not quite sure if I'm encountering some bugs or not

it seems you have to wait a bit for patches to fully load, like the pins are getting manually inserted or something. Anyhow its an adventure! If anyone has any advice on how to get going with it I'd love to hear it.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:19 am

I was looking for a synth to make old 'Dark Shadows' type sounds, THIS IS IT!

some crazy tones come out of this thing. The Soul Design band (which came with my copy) 'Oragami' sound is right on the money with this mood.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:23 am

Nice to hear you got the plugin. I agree that programming is a bit weird but i guess it was the same for the real deal which was released before the Minimoog AFAIK.
You could check the differences of the full version and the LE version here:
http://www.xils-lab.com/pages/XILS3_Det ... tures.html

There seem to be a few advantages of the full version like e.g. an additional envelope.

Ingo

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:26 am

I've got Xils 3 BE which I assume is close to LE. It's a solid synth with its own distinctive sound. Great bass. I've used it on both the XP 32 bit computer and the 64 bit Win 7 and it's rock solid in both.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:34 am

Well just thank God for init patches

that gets me oriented well enough, then it isn't that bewildering. But it is a high-cpu puppy that is for sure, I will likely be making a lot of mono patches until I get a new computer. The average preset crackles way before Diva does for example. Anyhow I'm having fun, it feels like old hardware and that's what I like. I like the pin matrix and have a decent idea what the full version brings, but unless it is dongle-free I doubt I'll ever upgrade.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 11:37 am

The sequencer is a mystery to me, I better read the manual for that.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:05 pm

OK i don't do psychedelics anymore but this thing is giving me flashbacks

I wanted a 'space synth' and this is it, I'm a happy little boy and its Christmas morning. I made one patch so far and it is truly transportive.

marvotron · Post by **marvotron** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:21 pm

Im quite new to the synth myself but I love the sequencer, particularly the fact that it doesnt lock notes to the piano roll so you can adjust them slightly, then combining that with the note scale control mean I can spend my days pretending im D.A.F

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:51 pm

Well I gave to look into the sequencer definitely

I'm finding it best for me to reduce voices or even switch to mono, which to me is fine since the original was mono anyhow, I do the same for Diva for some patches and actually most lead sounds I use are mono so I am not really seeing that as a big deal at all. At 30 Euros this is definitely a sweet little deal.

XILS 3 LE and PolyKB II Player, good buys!