At audio deluxe, xpand 2 $1, complete upgrade $74.99
I have no idea how this works for them as a business, hopefully they are planning a v2. Have to say this must be the best value bundle on the market, to an extent this competes with NI komplete.
I've only scratched the surface so far but, my gosh, some really great synths!
Vacuum pro, really great sounding analog emulation, a litter bit too saturated at times, but nice saturation, for me this was a great surprise, I think it's up there with pretty much any other synth. Wish it was proper 4 osc instead of two layers of two, but that lends it to its own sound too.great chunky bass!
Hybrid 3, found this offer from the hybrid 3 thread, this is a really nice VA. Looks simple, but seems lots of depth. Great edgy modern clean rich sound. The full bundle comes stocked with lots of patches and they show some great variety.
Loom, well this seems to be a really crazy little synth, some really nice sounds, different additive flavour than razor, may take a while to work this out.
The rest of the bundle has pianos, electric pianos, very very serviceable acoustic drums and orchestral sounds, a sampler, etc, etc, and a fairly complete setc of fx (sorry haven't tried them properly so couldn't say the quality).
Totally blown away by how much is available for $75. Really pretty incredible. I'd go so far as to recommend this over any other buncle to someone starting out, or even to someone with a lot of synthstuff. Really great value.
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Air instruments Complete Bundle $75
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- KVRist
- 469 posts since 21 May, 2016
For the price, the value is undeniable. I have to offer some criticisms/warnings for the benefit of the users here though.
First and foremost, I've found Air's support to be very... well it's hard for me to even describe it really. I've written to them at least two or three times and never got a response. Last I'd seen they were charging for support, but it was not clear what type of matters warranted support tickets. I asked them some very basic, product & pre-sale questions (not tech support) and never got responses, not even to tell me I needed to buy a support ticket or whatever.
In addition, it's my understanding that they partner with M-Audio, as I'd bought a Trigger Finger Pro maybe two years ago. When I sold it and tried to transfer the registration to someone else and got no response for over a month, I just gave the guy my M-Audio account, at which point my first, sole response from them was to say that I can't do that and they deleted my account and I lost my license to Hybrid, which was on ilok at that point. Not a big deal to me personally because I'd already had a separate license from the Air bundle but worth noting that I had a legitimate license stripped with no communication.
Hybrid is indeed a nice synth. Air has some really great factory libraries as well, but Loom I found a bit disappointing. Good idea and lots of potential but it's very limited in the parameters it allows you to modulate so it's really not the viable alternative to Harmor that it could have been. Shame, since there are so few true additive synths on the market.
Aside from that, they're pretty nice synths with a great price tag and good libraries. The Riser is fun and easy once you get the hang of it. Nice time saver.
First and foremost, I've found Air's support to be very... well it's hard for me to even describe it really. I've written to them at least two or three times and never got a response. Last I'd seen they were charging for support, but it was not clear what type of matters warranted support tickets. I asked them some very basic, product & pre-sale questions (not tech support) and never got responses, not even to tell me I needed to buy a support ticket or whatever.
In addition, it's my understanding that they partner with M-Audio, as I'd bought a Trigger Finger Pro maybe two years ago. When I sold it and tried to transfer the registration to someone else and got no response for over a month, I just gave the guy my M-Audio account, at which point my first, sole response from them was to say that I can't do that and they deleted my account and I lost my license to Hybrid, which was on ilok at that point. Not a big deal to me personally because I'd already had a separate license from the Air bundle but worth noting that I had a legitimate license stripped with no communication.
Hybrid is indeed a nice synth. Air has some really great factory libraries as well, but Loom I found a bit disappointing. Good idea and lots of potential but it's very limited in the parameters it allows you to modulate so it's really not the viable alternative to Harmor that it could have been. Shame, since there are so few true additive synths on the market.
Aside from that, they're pretty nice synths with a great price tag and good libraries. The Riser is fun and easy once you get the hang of it. Nice time saver.
Last edited by Razzia on Wed Mar 22, 2017 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2395 posts since 28 Mar, 2007
The Air bundle is a total no brainer.
I have Kontakt 5 and Sampletank 3,and I prefer the samples in the Structure library,although they load slower. All the rest is the icing on the cake,whats not to like ?
You could easily just put this on a new computer and start music making without anything else.
I have Kontakt 5 and Sampletank 3,and I prefer the samples in the Structure library,although they load slower. All the rest is the icing on the cake,whats not to like ?
You could easily just put this on a new computer and start music making without anything else.
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- KVRian
- 563 posts since 10 Feb, 2017
It's a great deal, especially if you want bang for your buck. But, I've chosen not to buy it for the following reasons:
Support/Upgrades- Heard bad news about their support and their slow response. I doubt they will improve their synths.
Pricing System- Looks like they throw everything on sale all the time. It's the marketing aspect I really don't like. Devalues what I think about their products. They've just thrown all their older stuff in the bargain bin to make a quick buck as if it's not a true investment.
Huge Bulk Download- Some have complained, probably on older computers. But I just don't like the idea of throwing all this on my computer at one time
Better To Wait- Like above, I don't believe more is better. I would rather wait for that one synth I have my eyes on instead to go on sale, or save up. It feels so much satisfactory this way. There are going to probably be a lot in the bundle you don't use. Plus, most of these items in the bundle go on sale individually (Albiet, only certain only certain ones and not as cheap).
GAS- If one were to go for "great deals" all the time, that would be such a waste of money for many. I could buy this, circle2, arp90010, v-station, etc. etc. and still need Zebra2 in the end. Would rather skip the fluff (unless you absolutely need a seriously wide range of instruments as a professional producer/sound engineer who gets paid but even then...) and go for the best attention received workhorses with lifetime upgrades, but I admit I got xpand2 for $1 when starting it's great.
The User- I believe unless you are a pro musician or sound designer, it's better to get amazing at one synth you can get use to and wrap yourself around fully.
Free Stuff Is Overlooked- You can get Synth 1 with thousands upon thousands and thousands of free presets online and it's very impressive for non-sound designing producers.
So yeah it's a good deal, but I want those who get excited without thinking too thoroughly to at least see this perspective, as well.
Support/Upgrades- Heard bad news about their support and their slow response. I doubt they will improve their synths.
Pricing System- Looks like they throw everything on sale all the time. It's the marketing aspect I really don't like. Devalues what I think about their products. They've just thrown all their older stuff in the bargain bin to make a quick buck as if it's not a true investment.
Huge Bulk Download- Some have complained, probably on older computers. But I just don't like the idea of throwing all this on my computer at one time
Better To Wait- Like above, I don't believe more is better. I would rather wait for that one synth I have my eyes on instead to go on sale, or save up. It feels so much satisfactory this way. There are going to probably be a lot in the bundle you don't use. Plus, most of these items in the bundle go on sale individually (Albiet, only certain only certain ones and not as cheap).
GAS- If one were to go for "great deals" all the time, that would be such a waste of money for many. I could buy this, circle2, arp90010, v-station, etc. etc. and still need Zebra2 in the end. Would rather skip the fluff (unless you absolutely need a seriously wide range of instruments as a professional producer/sound engineer who gets paid but even then...) and go for the best attention received workhorses with lifetime upgrades, but I admit I got xpand2 for $1 when starting it's great.
The User- I believe unless you are a pro musician or sound designer, it's better to get amazing at one synth you can get use to and wrap yourself around fully.
Free Stuff Is Overlooked- You can get Synth 1 with thousands upon thousands and thousands of free presets online and it's very impressive for non-sound designing producers.
So yeah it's a good deal, but I want those who get excited without thinking too thoroughly to at least see this perspective, as well.
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- KVRian
- 537 posts since 31 May, 2015 from the Iberian Peninsula
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- KVRist
- 149 posts since 10 Feb, 2009
I've thought about getting it but haven't pulled the trigger, the only things that really interest me are Hybrid 3 and maybe Structure (I dunno if it's significantly better as a rompler than xpand it's rarely mentioned in comparison to sampletank or kontakt) are the other synths really special? I'm pretty well covered as far as synths go and I don't really think these would provide anything I don't have.
With all the sales they do it's a pretty safe bet I can pick up hybrid and structure for less than $75 at some point & since they're bundled with hardware too going that route would be an even better value. It's kind of curious that since they debuted their instruments in vst form they haven't released anything new, all these fire sales with no news on any new products don't lead to much confidence in a company.
With all the sales they do it's a pretty safe bet I can pick up hybrid and structure for less than $75 at some point & since they're bundled with hardware too going that route would be an even better value. It's kind of curious that since they debuted their instruments in vst form they haven't released anything new, all these fire sales with no news on any new products don't lead to much confidence in a company.
http://drunk3nj3sus.blogspot.com/ < My blog
Free samples, presets, etc.
Free samples, presets, etc.
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- KVRian
- 563 posts since 10 Feb, 2017
Yes, like Incubus said above, you can get Hybrid for 14.99 here for a short time still.drunken jesus wrote:I've thought about getting it but haven't pulled the trigger, the only things that really interest me are Hybrid 3 and maybe Structure (I dunno if it's significantly better as a rompler than xpand it's rarely mentioned in comparison to sampletank or kontakt) are the other synths really special?
https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/vi ... r-hybrid-3
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- KVRian
- 537 posts since 31 May, 2015 from the Iberian Peninsula
Hybrid 3 is really great, the interface is a bit dated now in terms of user interaction but it has a good sound, it's one of the few synths I've successfully programmed sounds for.
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- Banned
- 5357 posts since 7 May, 2015
It is dated, but it's nice and clean and simple with a shitload of really usable presets.
Some people have complained about stability, I haven't experienced in in windows 10 (but the one included with TFP was very problematic at one time, pretty sure it's been since win 10 that I no longer have stability issues)
Some people have complained about stability, I haven't experienced in in windows 10 (but the one included with TFP was very problematic at one time, pretty sure it's been since win 10 that I no longer have stability issues)
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- KVRAF
- 10239 posts since 7 Sep, 2006 from Roseville, CA
Razzia wrote: First and foremost, I've found Air's support to be very... well it's hard for me to even describe it really...
Air is actually one of the few developers I've needed support from in a very long time and I found it to be excellent. Last year, I bought the Air Instruments Expansion Pack as an upgrade from my old Loom license at some crazy Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale price. I couldn't get it authorized at first because my Loom license (which I've had for years) apparently used their old authorization system and the AIEP used their new system. I put in a call to Air customer support and the guy was able to resolve the issue over the phone in no time, evening during the busy holiday season.twal wrote: Support/Upgrades- Heard bad news about their support and their slow response.
Logic Pro | PolyBrute | MatrixBrute | MiniFreak | Prophet 6 | Trigon 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Polar TI2 | Blofeld | RYTMmk2 | Digitone | Syntakt | Digitakt | Integra-7
