By brok landers
On 28th September 2003
Version: 1.5
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EDIROL SuperQuartet
nuff said by all the reviews, only one important thing to say :
in logic the sounds and the setup of this plugin will NEVER be stored within the song. you have to store the whole performance data before shutting down the song and load it manually again once recalled the song.
this is the behave with ALL edirol plugins.
SHAME ON YOU, ROLAND.
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Last edited : 28th September 2003
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By brok landers
On 28th September 2003
Version: 1.1
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mda JX10
like every plugin of mda its very simple but focussed on what it does to do it perfect.
it exactly has the features like a jx8p (exept the chorus and the layering lower-upper structure), and it even reminds me about that one in terms of sound.
it simply sounds great, and i hate it for being so featureless ... imagine this synth with enhanced filtermodes x 2,fm, filter fm and ringmodulation, more lfo´s and env`s, and a modulation matrix ... i dont even want to think about it.
come on, maxim digital audio, update this synth to what it deserves ... i would even pay for it.
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gui :
none.
sound :
a bit it reminds me to a jx8p.
features :
too rudimentary for the exellent sound. you allways hate it to be so limited.
docs :
never needed. tweak a slider and listen.
presets :
the synth is capable of what the presets show.basic but good.
support :
simply brilliant, because mostly not needed (as with all the plugs of mda), but if, the developer himself is replying.
value for money :
feel bad, its a steal(as with all the plugs of mda).
stability :
never ever crashed once on all my systems in all circumstances (as with all the plugs of mda;=).
summary :
go get everything of mda, and dont let yourself be fooled by the fact that theres no gui or its free.
its high end plugs. every each of mda.
to mda :
ENHANCE, UPDATE, PACK-FULL-WITH-FEATURES ALL YOUR PLUGS.
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Last edited : 28th September 2003
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By brok landers
On 27th September 2003
Version: 1.0
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4Front Technologies 4Front Rhode
plug and play ...
user interface :
its simple. 4 tweaks. thats it.
sound :
one can hear that its not just multisampled. its heavyly processed. and im afraid to say that it doesnt sound like a wurly at all. one can hear that it should sound like a wurly.
features :
volumeslider, velocity sensitivity cutoff and drive (last 2 seem to do nothing at all ? maybe in the pro-version thats available).the cuttoff is not needed because it even sounds muddy when its all open so you probably never tur it down.
docs :
unimportant because not needed.
presets :
none.what you hear is what you get.
support :
never needed.
value for money :
exellent, if one might find it useful.its free.
i personally would not recommend it. to many alternatives by sampling cds and so on.nothing you cannot find anywhere else.
also there are some good emus out there like the evp by emagic or the lounge lizzard. both sound very good, but the lounge lizzard eats up your cpu.
stability :
never crashed at all.
summary :
if you dont use it for pro recordings its ok.
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Last edited : 27th September 2003
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By brok landers
On 27th September 2003
Version: 1.0
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4Front Technologies 4Front Piano Module
and another easy one.plug and play.
user interface :
unimportant. there`s nothing to tweak.
sound :
well ... if you play it alone, it sounds not too bad, although wery wide and heavyly processed before multisamples. in the mix (if its no ballad) its very washy and greasy, not concrete, not at all a piano wich is higher stated.
features :
none.
docs :
unimportant because not needed. there is nothing to tweak at all.
presets :
none.what you hear is what you get.
support :
never needed.
value for money :
exellent, if one might find it useful.its free.
i personally would not recommend it. to many alternatives by sampling cds and so on.nothing you cannot find anywhere else.and it has a competitor wich is also free, the mda piano, wich imo sounds way more like a piano, even its also not what i would call exellent. but it has a few features to tweak, so you can limited make it fit to what you deserve.and also allmost no cpu usage.
stability :
never crashed at all.
summary :
if 4 front would give it some amp env and some tweaks to edit it to your needs, or at least give more pianos to choose, it could become a workhorse for me.
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Last edited : 27th September 2003
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By brok landers
On 27th September 2003
Version: 1.0
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4Front Technologies 4Front E-Piano Module
another easy one. real plug and play.
user interface :
unimportant. there`s nothing to tweak.
sound :
its not a wurli or a rhodes ore vintage at all. also not a dx 7 like one. but the sound is wide and very hifi like.reminds me to 80`s ballads.the release is a little too long for me, so its not usable for staccato or funk or faster groovy music.
features :
none.
docs :
unimportant because not needed. there is nothing to tweak at all.
presets :
none.what you hear is what you get.
support :
never needed.
value for money :
exellent, if one might find it useful. i personally would not recommend it. to many alternatives by sampling cds and so on.nothing you cannot find anywhere else.
stability :
never crashed at all.
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By brok landers
On 27th September 2003
Version: 1.0
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4Front Technologies 4Front Bass Module
this is an easy one ... its handy and it doesnt suck out yout cpu in any way.
gui :
unimportant, cause it doesnt do anything. real and pure plug and play.
sound :
it aimes to be a real electric bass, but to be honest, not the one that one might need to have an outstanding or at least neutral bass in the mix. i would call it a normal but carefully multisampled gm bass. not less but not more either.
its a little difficult to fit it in a very concrete punchy mix.the problem is that its only one bass, no way to choose between different basses.i own it a 2 months now, and i tried it allways, before i used another one. and i did allways choose another one.
the most negative thing is, that, at least in logic 5.1 it doesnt react on pitchbend or modwheel at all. this makes it allmost unusable, at least for me.
features :
none. its a one trick, but useless pony for me at least.
docs :
dont need them at all. there is nothing that you can tweak.
presets :
not possible, because of the concept. note that i dont mean to judge, just state.
support :
not needed.
value for money :
exellent, if one find it useful. its free.
stability :
didnt crash once.
summary :
if the developer would give it at least an amp env and maybe more basses to chose it could become at least an easy workhorse for me.
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Last edited : 27th September 2003
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By brok landers
On 26th September 2003
Version: 1.3.2
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Big Tick Cheeze Machine
first of all i have to say that i own a solina and a crumar multiman, wich are both stringmachines of the 70es, so i had an comparsion.
its a nice little synth wich uses almost no cpu power.
it can do some nice, oldstyle pads.
but thats about it.
its absolutely NEVER even half wa close to a real stringmachine like the solina or the vp 330.
its just not done by putting a fast, cheap chorus after a cheap oscillator, not to mention the phaser or the reverb, if you want to call it so.
listen to jean michelle jarres equionox or oxygene.
he often fed the machines into a vintage phaser ...
this is how a real stringmachine (well, one of the best, the eminent 310u) sounds ... or listen to the strings of the old vangelis recordings, you´ll understand the important difference.
all in all a nice vsti, considering the price ;=), but since they compare it to the old stringmachines they lost it in these terms. it simply has nothing to do with a real stringmachine, which is sad, as there`s none in the vsti world that matches the sound and behave of a real stringmachine ...
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Last edited : 6th October 2008
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By brok landers
On 26th September 2003
Version: 2.4
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Green Oak Crystal
wow ...
it`s a great syth packed with all features one might need. but you have to bring preknowledge about modular synthesis.
now the whining :
1. you cannot use it raltime excessively in more instances, cause it eats too much cpu power ... hopefully this will change in the near future.
2. many people work in logic, and in logic directly it
looses some parameters, even if you store the sounds in the internal patchbrowser of the plugin. you have to use the cainer plugin, then it worx.
the gui is not bad, but a little hassle to work with.
features are endless.
documentation is a little rudimentary, but its free, so we dont complain ;=)
support is good, they do anything they can for such a complex product (read this, glen ;=) and the updatepolicy is correct.on the website are many tutorials about how to use the synth (wich i found out now), there is also a userlist with over 1200 users and there are many sounds of the users you can freely download.
the presets (that come with the synth itself) are not even closely showing what you can do with it, but at all i have to say that i personally would get a synth like this for creating own patches, thats what its therefore because of its semi modularity.
value for mony is unbelievable, its great and free.
last version didn`t crash one time on my host.
green oak, please check the cpu usage !
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Last edited : 5th October 2003
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By brok landers
On 26th September 2003
Version: 1.2
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Voxengo Radio
and again there is a plugin from voxengo that not does what it says ... it simply does not sound like radio effect ... allthough i was waiting for a plugin that can do so very hard ... come on guys at voxengo, ask some pro users before you work so hard on something that nobody might need ... whats a FREE plugin worth that everybody would be disapointed of ? sorry again, voxengo, i really don`mean any harm ...
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By brok landers
On 26th September 2003
Version: 1.7
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Voxengo Tube Amp
i`m sorry ...i try to be as fair as i can ... but a tube is something else ...
this is more a simple nonelinear distotion to me.
when do the developers at voxengo learn, that the distortion of a tube doesn`t necessecerally have to be audible ? it`s the subtle way of compressing with nomlinear distortion that makes a tube a tube ...
then the sound gets punchier and louder in average, without the peaklevel being affected.
otherwise vocals f.e. would be allways audible distorted
when sent through a tube micro or tube amp.
its the wrong name for that plugin.
it should be labeled with "gutar amp-like overdrive"
or something like that. anyhow, this plugin doesn`t make your sound any louder or punchier without audible unwanted sideeffects.its free though, so go give it a try and hear by yourself. maybe you find it useful. me not at all.imo you simply cannot put it on the summarized mix, like they say at voxengo. well ... you can do it, but it only souds good when the plugin is set to 0 amounts.
sorry again, but this has to be said.
i don`t mean no harm.
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Last edited : 13th October 2009
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By brok landers
On 26th September 2003
Version: 1.06
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Ichiro Toda Synth1
this review applies to the version 1.06
well ... i`ve been using the synth since the very first release, wich was 1.01 i believe.
and after all the time i can only say one thing:
this synth is a reference for coding. it uses allmost no cpu.
after a few updates it got allmost uncrashabe stable.
up to now (since 1.04) it never crashed on my system.
that and the cpu-issue means a lot, especially when you are doing your work allmost entirely on the computer.
the gui :
i like it.
could look better, but it`s very intuitive, very easy to use, and it even supports the scrollwheel on your mouse.i wish i could say that from way enhanced plugins, even most very expensive plugins don`t do that. WHY ???
and it has a really unique feature that no plugin has.
it can be resized to the size that you need, regardless to the resolution of your grafic card. why noone else ?
the funktionality :
ok ... it says it´s modeled after a nordlead 2.
not at all. there are many cool features still missing in this synth that the nordlead 2 has. most of all i miss the incredible morphing function. imo this is the real advantage of the nordlead. anyway, what the synth 1 does is like expected, so its cool ... remember, it`s free. but my personal wish is a 24 slot-modulation matrix, where you could route the desired internal and external controllers to the desired destinations, and then set the amount of each (linplug-like). this would lift it to my ONLY favourite.
and the delay coud be pingpong, alternating left and right only.
the sound :
far away from real analog. has to deal with some serious aliasing, so all thats analog is the substractive synthesis.but thats the price to pay for surprisingly loving your cpu meter when playing the synth ;=).anyhow, see this relative, because thats the fact with most of all digital synths, wether ther´re hard or software.the saturation of the filter starts too hard even on lowest setting, could be way smoother. but all in all it sound good somehow, and unique.however, i use it a lot, and somehow it allways surprises me again and again, after all the time i use it.
the presets are, lets say, by far not representable for what you can do with this plugin, but thats a matter of taste. i f.e. personally don`t need the 1000st brass.
value for money :
simply untouchable. big plug for no money. developers of pay-plugs should start to think. if freeware gets slowly but surely better than theirs then what? i love you, ichiro ;=)
support and manual :
japanese support, so if you`re not capable of japanese, you`re out of this, as ichiro doesn`t seem to spreak english. anyway, if you know about substractive synthesis just a bit, you don´t need the manual wich actually is in english. the development seems to go straight forward, and there`s hope for an english website, i read. cool.
all in all this is a big step forward in the history of free vst synths and it shows, that a good algorithm (though not the best) does not necesserally eats up all your cpu. if this synth grows on, i would even pay for it, if it reaches the state i wish ...
thanx ichiro, and go on !
brok landers |
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Last edited : 27th October 2006
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