All Reviews by rob_lee

By rob_lee
On 24th June 2009
Version: 1.0

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Waldorf Largo

User Interface: 10/10

I have no doubts whatsoever in giving the UI of Largo full score simply because it has the best looking and easy to use UI i have ever come across in any Vsti.Everything is well laid out and placed for the user to feel comfortable straight from the off.
Also whoever graphically designed Largo's UI deserves no end of praise for their excellent acheivement.

Sound: 10/10

Personally i have always loved the Waldorf sound whether it be their hardware or software.

Features: 10/10

Where do i start?I can't give an 11/10 so again Largo scores full marks for the vast amount of features it has:

3 Oscillators per layer, 2 Sub Oscs per layer + 0/2/3/4/5/6 Voice Unisono per layer giving you 18 Oscs per layer in 6 Voice Unisono mode and if your using 4 layers then you have a massive 72 voice monster whilst in multi-mode.
Next up there are 3 Lfo's,FM on every Oscillator(assignable)Ring Mod/Noise/4 Band EQ with Q/Bass Boost/A modulation matrix to die for(anything is assignable here)Arpeggiator per layer(great for drum programming)also i must mention that all envelopes i.e Filter Env/Amp Env/Env 3/Env 4 have excellent looping features.The Filter sections with Largo are some of the best iv'e heard on any hard/software ever.The resonance filters are tremendous.
I could go on but then i have'nt enough space to list what Largo can do so you'll have to take my word that it can do so so much.
FX 1 Chorus Flanger Phaser Overdrive:
FX 2 Chorus Flanger Phaser Overdrive Delay Reverb
The Fx section in Largo espescially the Phaser and Delay are great and of high quality.

Documentation: 10/10

Well written English/German easy to understand..

Presets: 10/10

The presets that come with Largo are very well designed and to high standard and show just what this synth is capable of producing and the sound designers at Waldorf have made very good use of the wavetables within Largo.I would have liked there to have been a way for users to import their own wavetables but the ones that come supplied are of excellent quality.

Customer Support: 9/10

Iv'e only had to contact customer support once and my concern was dealt with very promptly within 2hrs.

Value For Money: 10/10

For me Largo is excellent value for money because it does what i want it to do with no false pretences.Your getting a top piece of software here for under £180 gbp with features that simply are outstanding.You will have to fork out for a dongle if you want to use Largo on other computers.I wish there had been a demo available along with the official release just so potential users could try before they buy however i hear there is a demo in the pipeline and when released will back up this review.

Stability: 9/10

Well in the 2 weeks iv'e owned Largo i have had only one crash and that was when i was trying to save a program created within Largo.Waldorf are aware of this problem and im informed that this has been fixed and will be available in the next update.(I feel a 9/10 is fair)
Other than that Largo has been rock solid in Sonar 8pe and Cubase 5.1 although i can't speak for any other apps.
For me this is the most stable V 1.0 of any soft synth iv'e owned.

Overall Waldorf Largo is one of my most valuable pieces of music making software.Sound design possibilitie's are endless and stability is excellent for this being a version 1.0
I hope this review has been of some use to potential/future users of this software because you really must give it a try and see what it has to offer..

all the best to waldorf and everybody involved for bringing us Largo!

Best

Rob Lee

By rob_lee
On 21st August 2008
Version: 2

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LennarDigital Sylenth1

User Interface:

From the off im going to say that Sylenth 1 looks great..The user interface is well thought out and very pleasing to the eye.Navigation is made easy for the user by a single mouse click to access the various features within Sylenth 1.
I espescially like the big screen in the middle containing the Fx section which in itself is very well laid out..
(10)

Sound:

Well what can i say...i'd never heard of Sylenth 1 until it was recommended to me by a friend and to be honest when i heard Sylenth 1 for the first time he was playing the presets through a Virus TI in midi mode and i actually thought it was just the Virus until he told me it was a software synth called Sylenth 1.
So to sum the sound of this amazing soft synth up to a tee i would go as far to say that it truly has a stunning sound and puts many hardware synths with the big price tags to shame...
(10)

Features:

Where do i start here? Great Fx section for a start..each one sounds like it's a stand alone professional hardware unit and Phaser just sounds amazing.For me the features of Sylenth 1 gives me great scope for sound design and believe me this Synth does the business in that department no problem.I could go on about the features on this Synth but i'd need a day or two to explain them so for me Sylenth 1 scores a 10 in this department.
(10)

Documentation:

Everything is well explained in the pdf manual that comes with Sylenth 1 and very well explained it is so great documentation.

Presets:

Wow..the included presets are of the highest quality here with scope to design your own being one of my favourite things about this piece of kit.The possibilite's are endless.
The sound banks provided are great and there are also some additional sound banks available from third party sound designers which are great too.
Old School,House,Electro,Trance and Fx they're all in there.
(10)

Customer Support:

This is great because any querie's are answered swiftly by Lennard himself so everything in this department is plain sailing.
(10)

Value for Money:

Now do i spend £1599.00 on a new Virus TI or do i spend £111.00 on Sylenth 1???
It's simple i went for Lennard Digital Sylenth 1 on it's own merit.The features alone make it worth it's price and well where would i buy any better than this? Nowhere that's where!
Sylenth 1 for me is definatley great value for money in every aspect and without a doubt a very reliable instrument.
(10)

Stability:

The great thing about Sylenth is that it has stability written all over it.No crashes no problems here.I can run up to ten instances of Sylenth with only a 50% cpu hit and for that reason this instrument is a winner without a shadow of a doubt..i love Sylenth 1 because it's totally reliable and for music creation this is the first Synth i turn to.
(10)

Finally:

I wrote a little review which is displayed at the Lennard Digital website which read:

"Sylenth1 in one word is truely amazing! Everything about Sylenth1 oozes creativity right from the word go, I can use 10 instances of Sylenth1 and still only have my CPU at 50% therefore making this softsynth my number 1 for music production. I would go as far to say that I couldn't really tell much difference between Sylenth1 and my Virus TI, for sure Sylenth1 renders my other soft synths obsolete as I have finally found a synth that can do pretty much everything. I'm now working on my first soundbank for Sylenth1 with such inspiration I have not found whilst using any other VST. I could go on but most of you who own Sylenth1 probably know the potential it has by now and those of you who don't own it - GET IT!"
Rob Lee

Thanks i hope this review was helpful to you....
Rob

By rob_lee
On 17th August 2008
Version: 2.0.1

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reFX Nexus

Review Nexus 2 version 2.0.1

User Interface:

Im going to say right from the off that Refx Nexus has revolutionised the way i work with music.The user interface is very pleasing to the eye due to the various skins that can be purchased,although when you purchase Nexus 2 you get 4 free skins and the Dance Volume 2 expansion which is great.Navigation within Nexus 2 is made easy with a single mouse click to access the various features within.There is nothing to confuse the user as within a couple of hours of using Nexus 2 you'll soon be very familiar with the instrument.

Sound:

The sound of Nexus 2 is non other than brilliant,the quality rivals many top hardware synths without a shadow of a doubt and possibly sounds better than most.
Added in version 2 are the excellent e.q facility which are:

new EQ types: lowpass, highpass, bandpass, bandpass2, notch, peak, lowShelf, highShelf,Q factor for each band
free frequency (20-18000hz) for each band
separate gain (-/+24db) for each band
on/off switch for each band

these features alone make Nexus 2 a winner.

Features:

Nexus 2 comes with a ton of new features and i in particular love the way i can mute different layers within any given multi-sample preset,you can transpose and detune any given oscillator which then brings endless possibilitie's to new sounds being created.You can also create an empty bank and save and rename those edited presets to your own banks.The arpeggiator is totally user programmable and there is a great arpeggio library included.my favourite feature is the shuffle feature within the arp page as i regurarly use the 66% shuffle option which adds great value to the way i work.
Nexus 2 now has 2 MultiFx and the new Phaser has 16 stages and sounds truly amazing..i could go on but you have to try Nexus 2 to really find out what it can do.

Documentation:

Documentation is well explained.(Enough said)

Presets:

I myself own about 10 of the available 20 expansions and plan to purchase the Dance Volume 3 expansion in the week however again all expansions are of the best quality and developed by the best sound designers around and all credit is due to Refx for the sheer quality of sounds provided.
Everything is there from Electro to trance and from the down right gritty industrial to the chilled out spacey stratosphere expansion.There is something for everyone here and scope to then edit and re arrange those sounds into something totally different.

Customer Support:

The Refx customer support is one of the great things about owning Nexus as they are on hand every day on the forums answering user problems and you can also submit tickets for any other support.
I like the fact that the people who designed not only Nexus but even the sound designers are there to offer advice so for that reason support is 10/10

Value For Money:

For what you get with Nexus version 2 i think the price is second to none and when you buy various expansions whether it be 1 or more you instantly get a 15% discount when you go to checkout so for me this is really good value for money

Stability:

There are only 2 occassions where Nexus 2 has crashed for me using 2 presets,however this is expected in a new product and as always will be rectified with later updates and does not cause much for concern.I cannot deduct a point for this reason as it is very new and the problem only lie's with the muting and unmuting of a certain preset.Other than that i can run easily 10 instances of Nexus on my machine not that i need that many.All in all the stability for me makes Nexus 2 a winner.

Overall:

If you don't own Nexus 2 then Get it! It's already improved my workflow to no end and is probably my favourite piece of gear now that it's at version 2 and the fact that Nexus now uses a copy protection dongle which holds your licence makes it more attractive and it's also a very welcome addition to an already great piece of kit.I for one would recommend Refx Nexus 2 to anyone making electronic music as from the start it oozes creativity with fantastic results and i hope this review has been helpful
cheer Rob Lee

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