KVR Audio

voon · Post by **voon** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 12:59 pm

Anyone got this, too? VIP doesn't recognize many sounds .. sees the plugins, but can't read out most presets. The hardware flashes its screens with VIP running, apparently trying something, but to no avail.

The whole thing seems to be very unusable atm for me with everything on latest version.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:15 pm

Just today there was a fix for some plugins crashing during preset change. So there's hope

Indeed there's some issue with all presets loading, but after a while (restart?) it gets better. The list of pre-mapped plugins is here http://akaipro.com/kb/article/1808. There are also some maps on AKAI forum.

The whole thing seems to be very unusable atm

Well, can't argue with that

voon · Post by **voon** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:50 pm

I have close to nothing working. The only synth it seems to see all presets of, is Sylenth1. Everything else .. Absynth, Massive .. not a single one .. just huge lists of "Untitled" or "default" etc. With Dune 2 it see s1 patch. With Kontakt and Reaktor nothing (although those have to load libs/ensembles, so naturally wont see much there ... but I want it to check the libs then

). Worst of all: UVI Falcon, which it sees the plugin, but can't laod it .... yellow warning triangle.

I bought this for the bigger flexibility over NI Kontrol ... but what a mess atm. Not even remotly ok.

Looks good tho, nice modern style.

K-Bee · Post by **K-Bee** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:10 am

Since I'm a VIP owner myself I occasionally browse their plugin list. What on earth is the "unknown (freeware) Juno 6"?
I want it

voon · Post by **voon** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:19 pm

Thanks to Corey, it now is much better ..... reinstalled, but this time didn't slect an alternate directory for the plugin profiles and now it works ... duh. Also: USB3 is the devil. Connected the CTRL 49 to an Intel USB2 port ... much smoother experience now.

Some stuff is still quirky ... the presets seem to take their time to load, more than if I'd simply used the plugin ... have to follow that up.

MRT · Post by **MRT** » Thu Feb 09, 2017 3:36 pm

Hello: I just purchased a CTRL49 to replace my failing Axiom49. For the most part I am happy with the hardware but a little dismayed by the VIP software. It seems like it would be great for playing live but feels klunky in Reaper. I'd rather not use VIP but I have some questions about using CTRL49 without it.

With the VIP software you can access 4 banks of rotary controllers and switches-Without it seems I only get 1 bank.
Is it possible to access the other 3 banks without using VIP?

The Mackie control section faders and buttons are nice but I did not realize when I made the purchase that they were not programmable.
Is there any workaround that allows you to use the faders as anything other than mixer control?

Maybe I'm missing something with VIP ... Does it add anything that besides stacking and patch browsing?

K-Bee · Post by **K-Bee** » Mon Feb 13, 2017 2:31 pm

MRT wrote:Maybe I'm missing something with VIP ... Does it add anything that besides stacking and patch browsing?

Editing sounds via the the badly and illogically mapped parameters maybe?

Some of those plugin maps (omnisphere in particular) could have been done by a two-year old

I soooo wanted to like the advance and the VIP wrapper is a great idea on paper. Sadly, it's extremely poorly executed and hardly supported by Akai at all. Look at their forum for a LOT of angry Advance owners.
Buying the Advance was my biggest gear related mistake ever!

I never turn it on anymore.

braj · Post by **braj** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:27 pm

I just ordered one, the big draw initially was the price @ $300 for an aftertouch keybed, I'm kinda stoked to have a 'hardware' arp too. I'll have to give the VIP software a go and see how well I can get it working once it gets here, my big questions are if it will play nice with my iPad, and how usable the bundled plugins are.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:39 pm

Frankly, i'm really fed up with the mapping solutions of the keyboard manufacturers. M-Audio had DirectLink in former keyboards, which was quickly discontinued for newer DAW's, and only was provided for few DAW's, Novation has Automap, which didn't work at all for me, because it either crashed, or didn't work the way it was described, because i had to run my DAW's as admin user, which at least for Studio One meant that i'd need a new activation, not to talk of the mess having all plugins duplicated with Automap DLL's... i used the DAW integrated mapping functionality now, at least the one in Studio One is perfect, and lets me easily map ANY VSTi i own.

IMO: These are all entry level, to mid expensive keyboards, and the manufacturers won't put a lof of effort in developing the mapping software. Not to say that many of the DAW-integrated functionality is better, for example, the one in Cubase is quite poor, but, if it's done right (Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper etc.), i don't feel much of a need to use the one which comes with the keyboard. I have made a bad experience two times now, won't go down that route anymore. Maybe VIP is better in that regard, i don't know.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:13 am

Yeah, I'm hoping VIP will work for me, but I'm not counting on it, and will happily use Studio One's mapping if I have to. I do think that the VIP thing won't be lasting the lifetime of the keyboard regardless. My last keyboard purchase was like 15 years back, I don't see them updating VIP over that same sort of timeframe. No way.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Feb 28, 2017 2:44 am

Can anyone say if you can use this with iOS? Of course not the VIP bits, but as a standard midi controller? I imagine you can, but they make no mention of this in any marketing docs, so I'm just wondering.

braj · Post by **braj** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 7:41 pm

M-Audio confirmed it doesn't support iOS.

braj · Post by **braj** » Tue Mar 07, 2017 8:45 pm

I'm finding VIP and the CTRL49 to be really great for my personal needs. It definitely doesn't work with all plugins, if the plugin uses a custom sort of preset system like OPx Pro II, it just can't see them. I can't really fault the VIP software for that, and you can add your own manually, but I'll be using OBXd instead since it plays very nice inside VIP. It works really well with all my Korg plugs, and Arturia ones that I have, Sampletank 3 gets love, and the included instruments and effects all do too. I'm still figuring my way around everything, I've had it less than a day, but besides a bit of fidgety setup aside, I paid $270 for this and I'm damn happy about it. It feels a lot more like hardware, I barely need to look at the computer screen unless I need to dig deep into something, and that feels really good. I just hope VIP sticks around for a while, the keyboard is more limited than a more basic Oxygen-style if you don't use VIP. The mixer is freaking huge, but I'm finding it useful and its faders have longer throws than my little Zoom R8. It definitely would have been nice to use it as an adsr bank, but oh well, it is stuck as a mixer. That's very 'hardware' of it, actually.

Nuggifresh · Post by **Nuggifresh** » Wed Apr 05, 2017 3:17 pm

As of now my only issue is loading presets It will basically cause a freeze and manual restart is needed. Other than that I love this board hands down best board I've owned and can't get wait for the stability updates because if this thing is perfected it's a must own

M-Audio CTRL49 & VIP