Would love a little feedback on Zero-G's Nostalgia

[Taoist]

Been really attracted lately to some of the throw back sample libraries, especially old sampler collections, being produced by companies such as UVI such as emulation I, emulation II, Darklight, The Beast, etc. I am not currently a customer of theirs nor any company that uses an i-lok, but I don't have any resistance to becoming one if it is necessary to get the quality of sound that Im desiring. Ive tried out the sounds in their free UVI workstation and Ive got to say that I loove them.

Nevertheless, I am also aware of Zero-G's Nostalgia, which was apparently produced by Steve Howell from Hollow Sun, whom I own a couple of libraries from and am highly impressed by. I really dig the big sound I get from his Vintage Samplers library.

My question is for any of you Nostalgia users out there. And it is:

In your opinion is the Nostalgia library's sound comparable to these newer libraries including the current ones available from Hollow Sun, or are you finding it to be a little dated at this point? And/or do you personally find it to be inspiring, able to convey some of that classic analogue warnth and punchiness, etc? Much Appreciation for taking any time you have to respond to me. Peace..

[C-note]

Been really attracted lately to some of the throw back sample libraries, especially old sampler collections, being produced by companies such as UVI such as emulation I, emulation II, Darklight, The Beast, etc. I am not currently a customer of theirs nor any company that uses an i-lok, but I don't have any resistance to becoming one if it is necessary to get the quality of sound that Im desiring. Ive tried out the sounds in their free UVI workstation and Ive got to say that I loove them.

Nevertheless, I am also aware of Zero-G's Nostalgia, which was apparently produced by Steve Howell from Hollow Sun, whom I own a couple of libraries from and am highly impressed by. I really dig the big sound I get from his Vintage Samplers library.

My question is for any of you Nostalgia users out there. And it is:

In your opinion is the Nostalgia library's sound comparable to these newer libraries including the current ones available from Hollow Sun, or are you finding it to be a little dated at this point? And/or do you personally find it to be inspiring, able to convey some of that classic analogue warnth and punchiness, etc? Much Appreciation for taking any time you have to respond to me. Peace..

I passed on Nostalgia and purchased Phaedra which I absolutely love. Also have some of Steve's instruments and...Darklight IIx and Emulator II from UVI - all superb products. Listen and go with what you like.

[Taoist]

10-4 C-note. I appreciate the good words on "Phaedra". That is another library that I have always been curious about. I wish Zero-G would supply prospective buyers with some demo patches of some of these libraries as I find it really difficult to tell from demo tracks if the instrument will play well and more importantly if the sounds are not just useable, but able to carry some weight in a track.

[Numanoid]

Nevertheless, I am also aware of Zero-G's Nostalgia, which was apparently produced by Steve Howell from Hollow Sun, whom I own a couple of libraries from and am highly impressed by. I really dig the big sound I get from his Vintage Samplers library.

My question is for any of you Nostalgia users out there. And it is:

In your opinion is the Nostalgia library's sound comparable to these newer libraries including the current ones available from Hollow Sun, or are you finding it to be a little dated at this point? And/or do you personally find it to be inspiring, able to convey some of that classic analogue warnth and punchiness, etc? Much Appreciation for taking any time you have to respond to me. Peace..

I just bought it during the Zero-G sale this weekend. Didn't realize that it was a Hollow Sun creation after googling info about it, that was an added bonus

I miss those cool Hollow Sun GUI, the lib only features the generic Kontakt display, but other than that I think this library hasn't dated one bit

[dsan@mail.com]

For me it seems to have been a waste; haven't found anything that "fits". Have all three, Nostalgia, Phaedra and Morphology and just can't find a useful sound for my projects.

Now, this is NOT to say they are bad products. Depending on what you are doing with them YMMV.

Have only used (attempted use) the presets. Have not got into editing or creating sounds with these, and probably won't since I find the presets uninspiring and the interface quite dated. They are K2 when I bought them. Not sure if this has changed now that we are at K5. I don't think so.

But I WILL keep trying to find something from them. Can't believe that NOTHING fits; something has to some time.

If you can catch them on sale (which is like every other week) then not too much lost if you find you don't like them. I don't think you can re-sell them though.

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Numanoid]

For me it seems to have been a waste; haven't found anything that "fits". Have all three, Nostalgia, Phaedra and Morphology and just can't find a useful sound for my projects.

Not even the extensive drum samples in Nostalgia?

I would love to pick up Phaedra, but as it is a Kontakt Player instrument, even when a Zero-G sale is on, it doesn't go below 100 bucks.

For that price I rather pick up Hollow Sun's Nebulae, and have enough money left to keep me in beer for a month or so

[Taoist]

For me it seems to have been a waste; haven't found anything that "fits". Have all three, Nostalgia, Phaedra and Morphology and just can't find a useful sound for my projects.

Now, this is NOT to say they are bad products. Depending on what you are doing with them YMMV.

Have only used (attempted use) the presets. Have not got into editing or creating sounds with these, and probably won't since I find the presets uninspiring and the interface quite dated. They are K2 when I bought them. Not sure if this has changed now that we are at K5. I don't think so.

But I WILL keep trying to find something from them. Can't believe that NOTHING fits; something has to some time.

If you can catch them on sale (which is like every other week) then not too much lost if you find you don't like them. I don't think you can re-sell them though.

Happy Musiking!
dsan

Lol! I'm actually just happy to hear somebody else express that kind of frustration with a product. This seems to be pretty common with me. I can buy all of the synths, samples and or samplers that everybody is raving about and at the end of the day feel like "I just dont feel it at all". At first I thought this was a problem I had, but as Ive gone along Ive found that there are sounds that work for me, its just that I'm picky as hell. And.... kinda wanto to remain so...

I do have Phaedra now and have to say that I pretty much agree with you. Although, I think conceptually I really like it. It has a very coherent industrial sound throughout and almost all of the patches have this feeling for me of "almost being there". But, maybe just not enough to end up in a mix. There have been a few that I have used though. The fact that it contained some classic SH-101 samples was the selling point for me.

I'm still waiting on someone to do a good sample set with that synth.

[dsan@mail.com]

For me it seems to have been a waste; haven't found anything that "fits". Have all three, Nostalgia, Phaedra and Morphology and just can't find a useful sound for my projects.

Not even the extensive drum samples in Nostalgia?

I would love to pick up Phaedra, but as it is a Kontakt Player instrument, even when a Zero-G sale is on, it doesn't go below 100 bucks.

For that price I rather pick up Hollow Sun's Nebulae, and have enough money left to keep me in beer for a month or so

I have to sincerely apologize to the group; I don't even have Nostalgia.

When you mentioned drums, I'm like "wait a minute. Drums?" So I took a look and to my surprise....well now you know.

I have Outer Limits instead, along with the other two.

Damn, I have way too much stuff.

I was going to buy Nostalgia a while back but decided against it cause I find the 3 I DO have uninspiring and the demo tracks really didn't do it for me.

Perhaps I will reconsider, but DAMN I have too much stuff!

Sorry fellas for the absent mindedness. Senior moment you know.

As for going below 100 - you may want to consider subscribing to their newsletters, if you haven't already. They have an insiders club, maybe closed invitation now,that has really low price sales. Just about every day I get news but I already have too much stuff.

Recently they had offered these libraries as a package. Don't remember the price but it was really good and if I didn't already have too much stuff....

Here's the link in case you haven't subscribed:
http://www.zero-g.co.uk/store/help-and-info-w2.php

The beer sounds like a better idea

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[dsan@mail.com]

Lol! I'm actually just happy to hear somebody else express that kind of frustration with a product. This seems to be pretty common with me. I can buy all of the synths, samples and or samplers that everybody is raving about and at the end of the day feel like "I just dont feel it at all". At first I thought this was a problem I had, but as Ive gone along Ive found that there are sounds that work for me, its just that I'm picky as hell. And.... kinda wanto to remain so...

I do have Phaedra now and have to say that I pretty much agree with you. Although, I think conceptually I really like it. It has a very coherent industrial sound throughout and almost all of the patches have this feeling for me of "almost being there". But, maybe just not enough to end up in a mix. There have been a few that I have used though. The fact that it contained some classic SH-101 samples was the selling point for me.

I'm still waiting on someone to do a good sample set with that synth.

Pretty much the same for me too Taoist...."I just don't feel it..." and "picky" about the sounds going in.

But I think the real problem I have with these is they just don't fit my music style. Nothing wrong with the products I just didn't realize what I was buying. Holds true for a lot of synths that you can't demo first. But too, I have that GAS problem

I think for the right person, or their music, these will be great.

Of the 3, Phaedra has come the closest to fitting in. Every once in a while I find something I like the sound of, drop it in a track and have a listen a day or so later and then pull it back out.

Maybe you could be the author of that sound set huh?

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Vectorman]

I bought Nostalgia years ago. I've gotten the most use out of the retro drum machine samples. I particularly like the drum samples from units which, unlike the TR-808 & 909, haven't been used absolutely to death in club music for the last two decades. The Akai XR10, Korg DDD-1, Ensoniq Mirage, etc...some cool sounds from the past that aren't the same ones everybody uses all the time.

I don't think I've used sampled synth sounds from Nostalgia as often as the drum stuff - I tend to go to Omnisphere for a lot of sampled analog pads/strings, etc., or a few other Kontakt libraries like Goldbaby's Fat Juno 6 (when I'm not just using a synth like DIVA, ACE or DCAM). The synths in Nostalgia aren't as deeply sampled as things typically are today (the presets have relatively small RAM footprints), but some of them still sound good and I could see myself using a few if the right context came along.

[Numanoid]

As for going below 100 - you may want to consider subscribing to their newsletters, if you haven't already. They have an insiders club, maybe closed invitation now,that has really low price

I'm already running their "fan club" sale thread in the sales forum here
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=zerog

Many sales (that could maybe be the understatement of the week ) but Phaedra doesn't go below 100 bucks because of the Kontakt Player license.

I would need a price of 40-50 bucks to invest in that, seeing it's age.

[dsan@mail.com]

As for going below 100 - you may want to consider subscribing to their newsletters, if you haven't already. They have an insiders club, maybe closed invitation now,that has really low price

I'm already running their "fan club" sale thread in the sales forum here
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... ight=zerog

Many sales (that could maybe be the understatement of the week ) but Phaedra doesn't go below 100 bucks because of the Kontakt Player license.

I would need a price of 40-50 bucks to invest in that, seeing it's age.

Checked out your link and yes, you are receiving the same offers. But if I run across something I'll pm you.

You're probably right though since that KP license is around $50 on its own last I heard.

"understatement of the week" Yes! Good one.
But strange, haven't received any notices from them this week.

Well now, I see Shevannai is out. Guess I'm gonna have more stuff now

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Numanoid]

Talk about the sun, and it comes out shining

I just got an offer from Zero-G with 50% off store-wide until Monday midnight.

But I feel 75 bucks still is too much to pay for Phaedra though...

[MrDuke]

I know this appears to be a an old thread, but I have Nostalgia and have been surprised how much good stuff there is. I don't think the "analog" stuff sounds particularly good, and the electromechanical stuff is a bit light. But I've been digging the Digital ROMpler section, the Japanese Classics section, the Vintage Samplers section.

Overall, it does sound a bit "flat" and uninspiring and is showing its age, I guess (ironically). Plus I hate HATE the generic gray Kontakt instrument GUI (it was from back then, before they became customizable...).

Nowadays, I think you're better off buying single, focused products (Hollow Sun themselves have done a few). Definitely not a "must have".

[Numanoid]

So I got this refill for €2,90 - Retrospective: 40 years of synthesizer history
http://www.jiggery-pokery.com/retro.html

Also made by Hollow Sun (RIP), is it the same as Nostalgia, or different, anybody know?