By BONES
On 21st October 2008
Version: 1.0.1
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Ndzeit Audio TubeBaby
If you want to turn a synth sound into a guitar, run it through TubeBaby. Its as simple as that.
Pretty much anything you put through this plugin will sound like a guitar in your mix. In the past I used to stuff around with all kinds of distortion, trying to get a synth lead or pad to sound a little like a guitar but these days I go straight for this effect and get just what I was looking for almost immediately.
It is not bogged down with controls, although some of the most important ones are kind of hidden away [which is why I marked it down slightly on "User Interface"]. If you click on the "TubeBaby" text in the top-left of the UI, it gives you access to a drop-down menu which lets you choose from several amp and cabinet models, as well as three different "Trebliness" settings. Using these with the front-panel knobs gives you a good variety of tones.
It only has a few presets but it is such a simple effect that a full bank would not necessarily give you any more value. I have not encountered any stability issues and the provided manual is easy to read and comprehensive enough to cover all the bases. I really have no idea about support as I've not had any issues but the manual does contain an email address if you have any problems.
Overall I think this is a great effect. it does what you expect with a minimum of fuss and has the almost unique ability to turn anything into a guitar. The fact that it is free means that everyone should have it in their VST folder. |
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By BONES
On 13th August 2008
Version: 1
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Novation V-Station
I bought this because it was going for $69 + postage, which made it hard to go past. It sounds exactly like the hardware K-Station I used to own but is much, much easier to use. The GUI is very well thought-out and looks slick, too.
What I really like about this synth is that, like Korg's software, it has excellent sound quality but is not over-burdened with a million features that get in the way of getting the most from it. it is very easy to get really good sounds from its three fat oscillators and silky smooth filter. The effects are handy and offer more than you might expect, given the lack of fine control.
There are a lot of presets but not much imagination has gone into naming them. I'm not a preset person so I haven't really listened to many of them But this synth is so easy to use your time is much better spent doing your own thing.
Overall it is a well-balanced package with high quality components [oscillators and filter] with enough features to let you do a lot with them. At full-price it was a little expensive but for $69, you'd be crazy not to take the plunge. |
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By BONES
On 12th February 2006
Version: 1.2
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JXPlugins JXSynth
I don't know what happenned to all the reviews but I'm up for a fresh one of my favourite and most used VSTi. This synth has great oscillators and very strong unison which make it capable of the most amazingly huge sounds you will ever hear. The GUI is gorgeous, if a little larger than it needs to be, and really well laid out. This is possibly the slickest freebie around and whilst it is hardly bristling with features it does what it does very, very well. The filter is not exceptional but holds its own against most. The presets show its versatility quite well and its so easy to use that if you can't make a great bank of really useful presets for this in just a few minutes, you're just not trying. I've been using it for 5 years or so and I've never had any problems with it at all. Although on my older PC's it was something of a CPU hog, with the speed of newer computers it hardly troubles the CPU meter these days. When it was $50, I didn't hesitate to buy it, now that its free there is no excuse at all not to have it in your VST folder. |
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Last edited : 12th February 2006
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By BONES
On 24th July 2005
Version: 1.3.5
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XT Software energyXT
This is not going to be an in-depth review so much as a response to the previous review which presents an entirely different experience to my own.
User Interface - Absolutely superb! After all, I made it myself. eXT has a fully customisable GUI that is easy and fun to work on. You can easily make simple tweaks to colours or go in deep and completely rebuild it from the ground up. I have no problem at all resizing the window inside ORION and all window positions are saved with my ORION songs.
Sound - The included sampler sounds good and everything I put into it sounds just like it would anywhere else.
Features - Its got tons and new stuff is constantly being added. It also offers plenty of flexibility and accommodates many different workflows. I could easily use this as my only host if I really wanted to but its real strength for me is in using it inside ORION Platinum to extend my boundaries.
Documentation - Great! There are tons of resources kindly provided by the community from in-depth Flash tutorials to WiKi's to a comprehensive manual project that is underway.
Presets - Not really applicable but I've made a few useful ones for my own needs. I particularly like the way it saves window positions with all presets/projects.
Customer Support - Jorgen does a great job.
Value For Money - Through the roof. It is easily worth 4 or 5 times more than the asking price if you compare it to a lot of other products.
Stability - I cannot recall ever having a crash either as stand-alone or VSTi which is very good considering I use the curreent public beta version most of the time.
Overall I think EnergyXT is about the best 40 euros I have ever spent. It provides me with a stable and complementary application to use for sketching out ideas or cleaning up a project with no fuss. It seems very efficient, CPU wise and allows me to attack problems from several different angles at once. It will revolutionise the way we perform live and finally give us the freedom to do everything we've wanted to do on stage without having to go through the tedious process of having to completely re-do all our songs for another host. In a word - brilliant! |
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| Latest 4 reviews from a total of 4 |
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