AIR Instrument Expansion Pack, thoughts?

[BERFAB]

@ghettosynth-
Very slow roll in the beginning, but you turned me around by the end. Very unique way of critiquing. But I do see where you're coming from.

It's getting to the point for me where I really can't see the difference between most top quality synths. They all seem to do a very good approximation of one another. I like using Omni2 because of the unique patch sets from unique samples, and, in addition, it pretty much covers all the other ground of most other synths. So if I stick with Omni2 it just streamlines my workflow. That said, I liked Xpand!, so I upgraded to the full AIEP. Paid total of $91 in August. No regrets. I did not need any of this package, so unlikely I would have paid more. But it is definitely worth more.

Surprisingly, I find myself using the piano a lot. I say 'surprisingly' because keys are my main instrument, and I own a ton of other premium piano products. But it loads fast and has a very simple/limited control panel that gets pretty close to what I like. Minor external processing tweaks get me the rest of the way. But most importantly, I'm not waiting around to power up when creativity strikes.

Speaking of Strike, this was a very pleasant surprise. Lots of rhythmic inspiration packed into this one. Short learning curve and nice payoff. Not my drum go-to just yet, but in the top 3.

Structure was a disappointment. The sound quality just isn't there, IMHO. Perhaps I'm spoiled (well...I know I'm spoiled), but I have Kontakt, Sampletank, Halion and MachV in my arsenal already, and Structure gives me absolutely no reason to change my workflow there. I can't even recommend it as a starter given the discounts on some of the better stuff out there these days.

Similar to my view on Structure, there's not much in the AIEP that would make me change my workflow for effects.

However, the other instrument that I am quite interested in is Transfuser. I have not, as yet, had the time to tinker with this one, but it is definitely on my to-do list. I love stuff like GURU/Geist, Breaktweaker, Tremor, etc., and if this is as good as others have said it is, then I'm in for a very good time.

Overall, AIEP has a ton of stuff for not a lot of green. I expect that I will occasionally wander back to it from time to time and find new things there that didn't really engage me the first time around. That's just part of the fun of exploration, I suppose. But bottom line, if you can still get it at the sale price (now something like $75?) I can't imagine anyone being disappointed.

Cheers
-B

[Ah_Dziz]

Air instruments have been by far the buggiest instruments I've ever put on my computer. Their installer blue screened windows the first time it ran. So I don't use the licenses I own. While a couple of their products do seem interesting to me, I feel they are poorly coded and not worth the hassle. For stuff that is priced like "pro" software I would hope they could do a bit better with the programming. They are one of the few companies I can't get behind at all.

[Dasheesh]

I think everything Ilok is being thrown at you at free or almost free to get you to invest in ILOK right now. Stuff you don't even really need. Once they have you, you will be dependent on them for everything you do. They will OWN you. For what? Same presets everyone else uses? blah...drop the ilok.

[c_voltage]

even in Loom, I would not call it as too cpu hungry, especially via compare with some other popular powerful synths

I tried to showcase Loom live on my laptop and failed, CPU hit caused multiple audio dropouts. AIR missed opportunity for free advertisement for audience of several dozen people, sorry

Even don't know what to say, i have not remember such serious cpu clipping cases (although have not a new machine). Although i suppose that it can be reproduced via some certain Loom setting, maybe I was not too dig to it (i mostly used his presets with modification a bit).

Air instruments have been by far the buggiest instruments I've ever put on my computer. Their installer blue screened windows the first time it ran. So I don't use the licenses I own. While a couple of their products do seem interesting to me, I feel they are poorly coded and not worth the hassle. For stuff that is priced like "pro" software I would hope they could do a bit better with the programming. They are one of the few companies I can't get behind at all.

About stability, for me this is also strong side of collection, for all time of use have not had any problems\errors yet, except only one bug in Strike, which was then fixed. Well, and the installation problems, yes, it was (although i not seen bluescreens, just known problem with install error at run installer). Well, this problem is solvable, and not has direct relation to stability plugins issue.
At such amount of sound units this is a good result today.
And else about his UI\graphic - very nice interfaces with perfect response speed (for me for example this is very important moment). I think the one who created these plugins was a good programmer.
In generall, here is a many pros imo.

Although, again, if i start to dig deeper then i do not exclude that some problems may be found, who know, i.e. I really did would not want to praise anything without a reason. But at the moment - as I have already said - very positive feeling (even if the price would be higher than it might be today).

[shonky]

If I didn't already have other synth bundles, it's fair to say that I wouldn't have objected to list price and would have valued the synths and sampler more highly. A lot of my value comes from tools that are used in an automation context and that might not have as much value to others. At the current price of about $100 if you don't already own anything by AIR, I think that it's a no brainer. It's certainly more of a no brainer than a few sub $20 synths have been. At the $76 I paid, I'm totally happy with this purchase.

Thanks for writing such a comprehensive review. I've downloaded and installed the demos for all but the organ, Strike and Structure. Had some ILok server issue with Velvet but the helpful folks at plugin boutique are looking into the issue, the rest have installed and played fine. Liking Loom a lot, agree with you on Vacuum Pro and quite like Hybrid and Transfuser although I think the latter could do with a resizeable GUI. The piano is a bit meh but the atmospheric preset sounds good to my ears and worked well with the saturated filter in the FX bundle and I did something that I haven't done in ages - just play keys for hours - which I really enjoyed. Structure wasn't exactly a deal breaker for me, at first glance it doesn't look like it does a great deal more than Ableton's Sampler which has done me proud so far. Looking forward to trying out Strike based on your review and the demos I've seen.

Given that I've paid more for Harmor and Circle 2 individually than for this entire bundle, it actually looks pretty good value. Some of the sounds could definitely do with a bit more processing to get them to sound less thin but on the plus side, this does leave space in the composition/mix for other layers rather than a few instruments taking rather excessive amounts of the available frequencies. With PB's cashback, I can get this for less than £60 which is a steal really and with my modest VST collection, some M4L devices and this, I've got most of the bases covered for now.

[ghettosynth]

I have to post again about how happy I am with Strike as a drum product. So I'm really excited about how easy it is to manipulate the feel of the current pattern just with modulation inputs and if that's all that it could do, it would be enough.

However, what is really awesome is that you can load your own samples into each of the drum slots. When you do this they get treated like a straightforward sample player and not like a multisampled live drum hit, but that's ok, that's what they do in every other drum synth as well. Strike emulates the room/overhead/talkback mics to give a similar ambience feel to the samples. What's really cool about this is that I can mix and match the acoustic kit pieces with samples. If you do any kind of electronic music this is really quite a bit more powerful than just using an acoustic kit along with your electronic pieces. Being able to mix and match, e.g., a live hi-hat, with 909 style kicks/toms in one unified interface is really enhancing my workflow for creating drum parts.

It's not perfect, it looks a little outdated, but as far as speeding up my basic drum workflow it's pretty damn nice. I don't think that the drums sound as live as say the NI counterparts, but, for what I do that's not really a problem.

[shonky]

Just bit the bullet and bought - had a few issues trying to install Strike and Velvet but this was due to needing to install AIRs own PACE system rather than the one I had installed. Simon at AIR got back quickly with exactly the right answers and everything installed correctly. Really liked Strike from the brief play I had it with it yesterday and Velvet sounds perfect for my needs

[krabbencutter]

I also had some issues with ilok in the beginning but quickly found a solution. The only other downside I found so far was, that there are some compatibility issues with Reaper and some of the GUIs could need a resolution update imho. This is especially true for Transfuser, which I find really hard to read, even on my non-FullHD screen and which has some show-stopping bugs (for me at least). Occasionally there were some GUI glitches on some of the FX-Plugins, too. It's a pity, but on the other hand I knew from the start that Reaper was not officially supported and I don't have the comparison to working in Cubase or Ableton. So I'm not blaming anyone.

Do some of the plugins show their age? I think so. Are there better alternatives on the market? Absolutely.
But for the roundabout 75$ I paid, I think the AIEP is a really flexible starting point that gives you a broad set of options.
As for the future: I'm looking forward to the GUI updates that Simon mentioned somewhere If I remember correctly and I really whish they will also add Boom to the collection!

[vata44]

Air instruments have been by far the buggiest instruments I've ever put on my computer. Their installer blue screened windows the first time it ran. So I don't use the licenses I own. While a couple of their products do seem interesting to me, I feel they are poorly coded and not worth the hassle. For stuff that is priced like "pro" software I would hope they could do a bit better with the programming. They are one of the few companies I can't get behind at all.

I agree... Super buggy. Their GUI's sometimes work and sometimes do not. They are quirky in general.

I wish I never supported this company and suggest others really think about it before they buy in. The AIR team basically told me tough luck, it's your DAW that is making the GUI's glitch. I find that funny, because I use 3 DAWs (FL Studio, Studio One, and Reaper) with the same results. I also have two computers with different video cards (NVidia and Intel HD).

[ghettosynth]

Air instruments have been by far the buggiest instruments I've ever put on my computer. Their installer blue screened windows the first time it ran. So I don't use the licenses I own. While a couple of their products do seem interesting to me, I feel they are poorly coded and not worth the hassle. For stuff that is priced like "pro" software I would hope they could do a bit better with the programming. They are one of the few companies I can't get behind at all.

I agree... Super buggy. Their GUI's sometimes work and sometimes do not. They are quirky in general.

I wish I never supported this company and suggest others really think about it before they buy in. The AIR team basically told me tough luck, it's your DAW that is making the GUI's glitch. I find that funny, because I use 3 DAWs (FL Studio, Studio One, and Reaper) with the same results. I also have two computers with different video cards (NVidia and Intel HD).

Just another datapoint. I also use Reaper and I haven't noticed any gui bugs. TBH, I find it hard to complain much at that price point. There's enough good stuff to make it worthwhile. I've even warmed up to Structure a bit because for setting up my own multsampled instruments, it's really quite a bit faster than contact for basic things. It's nowhere near as powerful of course, but I find the GUI a bit less painful when I just want to setup something from a handful of multisamples.

[greenfly]

There you go, this cheapsake thinks this thing is worth $302, to me. If I didn't already have other synth bundles, it's fair to say that I wouldn't have objected to list price and would have valued the synths and sampler more highly. A lot of my value comes from tools that are used in an automation context and that might not have as much value to others. At the current price of about $100 if you don't already own anything by AIR, I think that it's a no brainer. It's certainly more of a no brainer than a few sub $20 synths have been. At the $76 I paid, I'm totally happy with this purchase.

This was a great read. Thanks for writing it. Personally the highlights for me were vacuum, I love being able to shape a sound, get the envelopes just right and then flick through some more presets looking for some suitable layers. Awesome feature.

Transfuser is pretty cool too, although kinda feels like cheating my way to a full track.

[Digic]

Great review, ghettosynth. I appreciate the time involved to write this all down

Anyway, i have one question for those who own this pack. Is there an option to NOT download the samples (as the DL size is pretty big) ?

[Winstontaneous]

Can anyone who has experience with both please compare Strike to Logic Pro X' Drummer instrument? Thanks!

[fmr]

Great review, ghettosynth. I appreciate the time involved to write this all down

Anyway, i have one question for those who own this pack. Is there an option to NOT download the samples (as the DL size is pretty big) ?

Yes, content is a separate download.

[Digic]

Yes, content is a separate download.

Thank you for the info.