By glokraw
On 27th April 2008
Version: 4.6
Read all reviews by
glokraw
0 of 1 people found
this review helpful.
Was this review
helpful to you?
Yes | No |
| | 
GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability |
A short review of Wusikstation...
A great strength in music creation is having both bread and butter sounds, and then a vast array of unique sounds to customize them with. Using the General Midi collection for Wusikstation, I can start with a nice 'normal' instrument, embellish as desired with synth controls and the FX section, then use the 3 extra sound slots to import other waveforms, so the imagination, and familiarity with the thousands of sounds included with Wusik, are the only limiting factors. Using Minihost, I can qickly audition the array of soundsets with just the down arrow key, and pressing the letter s, even with the eyes closed during a headache :wink: and then write down the favorite sounds, or copy them with a filemanager for a 'greatest hits' folder later. While time consuming, the end result can be a composing environment conducive to unique and high quality productions, with a very small learning curve, in one central, well organized interface.
There are some utube videos available that explain arpeggios, wavesequencing, and other features, but for composing ballads, and the basic commercial genres, it is easy to create new sounds to liven up the most common styles of music.
When It comes to support, The author, his customers, and many sound designers are quick to offer good advice, and quite often, bugs are squashed within a day of being reported. New features have been known to appear based on an aside in a forum post, and there is nearly always a special offer to $entice$ upgraders, or new users.
New 3rd party synths and sound collections using the Wusik engine and sound format are also of the highest quality, and more are always in the works. For the professional musician looking for a stable, low cpu vsti for live performance, for a studio songwriter looking for that special edge, for a production jingle author needing fast efficiency, and for the hobbyist who loves the creative craft of making great tunes in the style of choice, Wusikstation is a great tool, that just keeps on getting better month after month, year after year!
I would say dollar for dollar, this is the best of the many fine $options$ available. I look forward to the new version 5 evolving, and to using more of the great 3rd party sounds, and my own new creations that they inspire.
I score it all 8, for personal taste categories, 10 for support and value for money, as they are among the best available... |
|
  |
|
|
By loggan2
On 18th March 2008
Version: 4.2.4
Read all reviews by
loggan2
4 of 5 people found
this review helpful.
Was this review
helpful to you?
Yes | No |
| |
GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability |
recently got Wusikstation and I'm already impressed with everything,
specially support. At the company forum here, I asked for some info
about multi-layer crossfading using an external controller. To my
surprise, it was possible only to modulate two layers, not three or
more. But even more surprised I was when the author released a beta
version with the option to crossfade any number of layers. I never saw
this before, but again, I don't own many other VSTs.
Still, using Wusikstation is very easy, I get everything I need right in
front of me. Each layer's parameters are there to be used, there's a
Master area, FX areas and file-browser to handle all files.
It works like those old-school workstations, not like SF2 files I'm used
to. But this is not a bad thing to be honest. You get, for example, to
keep your sound file in one folder, and have multiple programs using
that same sound file for several programs. Yes, you can do the same with
a SF2 file, BUT, if you want to add more programs to it, you need to
edit the original SF2 file. Not to mention that with SF2 files you don't
get to make a program where you use sounds from different SF2 files.
With Wusikstation you can. Since Programs are one file-type, and sounds
another.
Its handy that is reads WAV files directly. But still, the Sample-Editor
that came with it is simple to use. Many users won't even bother about
that, but since I do a lot of sound-editing of my own, I had to use it.
Again, the author was nice to reply to some of my questions via the
support thingy.
I couldn't make it crash yet, so stability has been 100% for me.
Documentation was OK, not great, but OK. It had everything you would
need to start. The youtube video-tutorials are GREAT, those helps a lot.
Specially when getting started. They even got an intro video at their
site, under the product's page. That's one reason I got it, since I
could test it out and also see it in action even before downloading a
demo version.
The demo version was nice, as I could test it, but loading new sounds
was a bit strange at first, until I knew what I was doing exactly. You
have a folder where you keep your sounds and another for your presets,
as I said above. It wasn't too clear at first, but I noticed some info
at the bottom of the sounds-page, and after reading a bit the manual, I
was able to figure things out. But this shouldn't scare new users at
all. The worse case scenario, you would contact the author and he would
guide you, as he did with me on other areas.
Sound wise its very good. It will sound as good as the things you input
it with, since its basically a sample-playback engine. It also works as
a normal additive synthesizer, and has the ability to sequence waveforms
in real-time. (aka wavesequencing, the old Korg Wavestation was famous
for that)
But you really start to go nuts once you get to know the
modulation-matrix and the different filter-types. They sound very
analogish in my humble opinion. There's a SMOOTH knob that will take the
zipper effect out of transitions when using an external controller. It
doesn't work very well when using with modulations, but still, its a
very nice touch.
I had some sound problems with the original version, but after I updated
everything was normal again. (I forgot to install the latest update
after I installed the main SETUP, doh!)
I got 4 DAW computers in the same room, so I asked the author if I would
need 4 licenses. He said that if all computers are operated by me, it
wouldn't be a problem, one license is enough. Try asking this to other
companies...
One of my computers has only 512 of memory, which wasn't a problem as
this vst features direct-from-disk-streaming. (or whatever you want to
call this) Yes, CPU usage did increase by 20% when I activated it on the
other computers, but its still nice, since I could load more instances
at the same time. Specially pianos and strings on a project I was
working on.
It came with mostly synth sounds, but the pianos really stroke me, they
are very good and not too big. Compared to other libraries. I like
mostly sampled pianos, as they tend to sound more alive to me.
This is not the best synth out there, but its sure amongst the top ones
I use on a daily basis. Be prepared to expend a lot of money on extra
sets by other companies, you will be addicted in no time! (but that's
another good thing about it)
Not sure what else to say, if I remember something else, I will edit
this on another time. Hope this is not too long, I'm used to writing for
the local newspaper, so I tend to write too much at times...
lg |
|
| |
|
|
By hermit01
On 27th December 2007
Version: 4
Read all reviews by
hermit01
6 of 8 people found
this review helpful.
Was this review
helpful to you?
Yes | No |
| |
GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability |
The Wusikstation version 4 series is a surprisingly versatile synth. Its interface is very typical of traditional synthesizer interfaces and quite easy to use. It is 4 voice multi-timbral and the 4 voices are each presented on separate pages which eliminates any confusion that could be caused by such a complex system. It's modulation matrix makes for easy hook up of LFO's, envelopes, and on-board effects. It could list them but it's better that you try them and hear for yourself.
The sound generation of WS is created from manipulation of samples (called WusikSounds) and/or standard .wav files, user's choice. The 16-bit 44KHz processing is immaculate and provides an amazing depth of resonance and pitch. As a result of this attractiveness, there are over 3500 presets already directly available for it Wusik.com. The range of sounds, the types, is so wide it clearly demonstrates the versatility mentioned. While, due to the brilliant preset design of sound packages by Vera Kinter (Art Vera) and like programmers, it has gotten quite a reputation as an "atmospheric pad synth," this is a very misleading commendation of a synth that will, in fact, produce virtually any type of sound desired from analogue emulation to razor-edge digital sounds. It can even be used as simply a 4-voice .wav file or sample player, if desired.
My experience has been, in over a year of dealing with William K and Wusik.com, support for the product is superb. It is in constant development, as well has sporting excellent peripheral devices provided by Wusik.com (many skins, file handling software, a steady flow of new presets, a product specific magazine with added features, etc.), but the stability does not seem effected. Beta products don't seem to mean the same thing to Wusik.com as I am accustomed to. They rarely crash or even malfunction and seem to be just a precautionary step rather than a true bug elimination process. In so many words, this is a very stable piece of software and seems to remain so through version after version.
Wusikstation is my first experience with serious shareware softsynths. I've tried a few trial versions over the years but never found one by which I was so impressed as to spend the sort of money involved in their purchase. Wusikstation broke the mold for me. It is priced competitively low for the marketplace but comes "out of the box" with over 3500 presets, built-in effects of the same quality as its sound generation, and excellent support. It was a bargain I couldn't resist and have never regretted. I highly recommend it to beginners and accomplished users alike. And subscribe to the magazine, too. It's filled with articles on use of Wusikstation as well as general music and composition discussions. |
|
| |
|
|
By stratcat33511
On 25th May 2007
Version: 3.1.8
Read all reviews by
stratcat33511
5 of 8 people found
this review helpful.
Was this review
helpful to you?
Yes | No |
| |
GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability |
3.1.8 is by far the best value for the money.
Every sound you need is there to do Pop Rock and Dance.
There are synths and real instruments in here.
There are so many great sounds in this instrument.
The sounds of the presets are nothing short of incredible!
And when you get around to tweaking the sounds, the interface is easy to use ( even for me ) and you can build some fantastic sounds with this instrument. The synths; arps, moogs, Rolands, Prophets, Casios, the HQ pianos, the HQ drums, many monster basses, and the effects are all I need from a synth. There are way too many useable sounds, functions and features to list here.
I use this in my default template setup, because it has a great sound for every thing I use it for. And I'm now using it in everything I do! I'm just a guitar player looking for an all inclusive - use it for everything synth, and I am never short of finding the right sound with this.
Take my advice and get this awesome instrument.
It never disappoints me and Support for me has been
stellar. |
|
| |
|
|
By JKolper
On 6th May 2007
Version: 3.1.5
Read all reviews by
JKolper
3 of 7 people found
this review helpful.
Was this review
helpful to you?
Yes | No |
| |
GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
Support
VFM
Stability |
Wusikstation is really impressing, can't believe how I lived my life bfore it!
Graphics: the UI is very easy to understand, I read the whole manual, but only after playing with it a bit. You don't really need to, as the UI is really easy to use. It has tips all over the place, if you hld the mouse over a parameter.
Documentation: the manual has it all, could find all the stuff I needed there alone.
Sounds: it has every kind of sound I could imagine. Since I use a lot of acoustic stuff, it had tons of stuff to use: pianos, strings, guitars, choirs, drums, basses, ... it also does a great job with sequenced pads and evolving atmosphers. It has a few simple sounds, but those can also be useful at times. thanks to something called "categorized" presets, its very easy to find a piano sound, for instance. that was very important, as I see that the instrument itself got added with new snds offten, making the number of sounds very large. so you will get a few strange or even bad stuff around, but its not a problem for me, specially considerng the large amount of stuff.
Stability: so far its been rock-solid on my machine, no crashes or any problems.
Support: I had a few problms downloading it, but Mr.William was very fast and resolved it in minutes, not hours and not days. Its a large download, over two giga, so I can't complan about.
You can't go wrong with this synth, and if you purchase it, do subscribe to the Wusik magazine, its totally worth it. |
|
| |
|
|
|
Latest 5 reviews from a total of 39 - Click here to read them all |
