XIls Lab PolyKB Released

[SWAN808]

I want a Voyager; I just can't justify it, especially because I'm seeing relatively inexpensive polyphonic hardware like the Virus TI Snow and Waldorf Blofeld evolving so much....

It's friggin' awesome when a company builds (1) platform, and then sticks with it...updating it as the company figures stuff out/responds to customer feedback. That's what I really like about both Access and Waldorf.

But IMO, Voyager is the coolest-looking synth on the planet, by far...end of subject. What other keyboard offers us a choice of LED colors?

WAY classy.

So, back to a question that's at least a derivitive of the present subject: When all is said and done, is it REALLY worth 3 grand to get a Voyager as opposed to a Studiologic keyboard hooked up to a dedicated quad-core audio computer running polyKB, ACE, TimeWARP, and say: Largo?

It's funny: I've been into this %^&* for a long time; and still don't have anything approaching a definite answer.

sounds like you have multiple priorities in what you want as obviously Access, Korg and Moog products you mention are all quite different...and good in their own right.

Buying real analogue hardware really depends on how much you like that sound and how bigger part of your music that type of timbre plays. For me its almost all my music - its not just the odd pad or bass - so for me its totally worth getting the real deal. Plus I really notice the difference and its a joy to own these instruments. They are not a bad investment either - the vintage ones - as their price slowly increases on the 2nd hand market...

I cant say whether a Voyager would be worth it for you-but I can say that a piece of real analogue monosynth can be a real asset in the studio....but personally I would not buy a Voyager new. I would prob buy a new Oberheim SEM-or a Voyager RME second hand. 3k for a new Voyager is too much IMO. The new SEM sound wonderful and are $900.
You could also look at something like a Roland SH2 or SH09 if you want some phat analogue bass and lead...although for this - I absolutely love the Moog Source - which has such unbelievable tone - its really got life inside it...you can get one of those for around $900 also...
There is a presence, movement, sparkle and low end solidity in these analogue synths that has not been replicated by any soft synth I have tried. And I tried them all before I shelled out for them-as I started out a fully computer musician. Spectrasonics Trillian is the closest in terms of weight-because it uses samples instead of generating waveforms. But thus by design it is limited.

In any studio its a matter of priority based on the type of music you make. You could get a hell of a lot from a good comp with say PolyKb, OP-X, TimewARP, Largo and Trillian. Even better if you had some outboard pre amp and compressor to run them through.
For some owning analogue will be a luxury, and others - a necessity.

[Wildfunk]

Demos available for Syncrosoft and Ilok

Wow! Another way to keep out interested users. No dongle, no demo, no purchase.

[ganymede]

I love it! Sounds fabulous. Cool, different presets too. Very inspirational!

[Mekanik Zain]

Wow! Another way to keep out interested users. No dongle, no demo, no purchase.

So no chance to listen fabulous sound of PolyKB ...
When passion stops because of few dollars, can we still talk about passion?
I think that you aren't interested really ....

[Wildfunk]

So no chance to listen fabulous sound of PolyKB ...
When passion stops because of few dollars, can we still talk about passion?
I think that you aren't interested really ....

Why should i buy a dongle just to test a demo?

It's really strange to publish demos in such a way nowadays.

[Koblo]

I asked the developer and he said there will be a dongle free demo

[Wildfunk]

I asked the developer and he said there will be a dongle free demo

[losan]

OK, have to bump this thread a little bit...
Seems, this synth hasn't made such a buzz here on KVR.

But honestly, some of the sequences especially are unbelievable great - could play with them for hours (with a little tweaking of the filter parameters and waveforms here and there...).

Just wanted to show some love for this one, hope you don't mind...

Cheers

[Sequent]

Was there supposed to be some sort of pricing incentive for owners of Xils full? I haven't seen anything yet.

[goldenanalog]

OK, have to bump this thread a little bit...
Seems, this synth hasn't made such a buzz here on KVR.

But honestly, some of the sequences especially are unbelievable great - could play with them for hours (with a little tweaking of the filter parameters and waveforms here and there...).

Just wanted to show some love for this one, hope you don't mind...

Cheers

You're right...it's friggin' awesome!

Too easy to get 'distracted' around here!

-goldenanalog

[rexlapin]

If you contact them with proof of your
purchase they will send you a code to
receive the discount.
Cheers,
Scott

[poonna]

Was there supposed to be some sort of pricing incentive for owners of Xils full? I haven't seen anything yet.

For people who bought Xils 3 from AudioMIDI, they said they were going to send out coupon code but hadn't done so yet. But you can contact them directly to get a discount coupon (as I did).

[Sequent]

Thanks guys, I'll send the email!

[Drumtarded]

So no chance to listen fabulous sound of PolyKB ...
When passion stops because of few dollars, can we still talk about passion?
I think that you aren't interested really ....

Why should i buy a dongle just to test a demo?

It's really strange to publish demos in such a way nowadays.

It's not strange at all, cracks can be made from the demos.
It makes sense to me that if a developer decides he's going to use dongle protection that he goes all the way and only puts out a dongle protected demo too.

I'm not for dongles either, I mean I have them but I'd rather not. But, it's totally logical that a dongle protected software would have a dongle protected demo. What worries me most about dongles is the crazy idea that if I lose it I lost my software too, i.e. my dongle is worth like $1,000 in software licenses.
I mean f**k, ok it's bad enough they insist on me using a key but the value placed on the dongle results in immense pressure for something so small, and well, easy to lose. and since to most people it just looks like a flash drive it's probably a pretty easy thing to find and think to one's self ''finders keepers!''

did anyone try the dongle-free demo of XILS ? it sucks balls big time.


I got XILS lately, what's the value of the discount ? 20% ? 25% ?

[Sweep1]

Some comments about 1) Dongles, and 2) XILS demos.

1) The basic fact, of course, is that in an ideal world a dongle wouldn't be necessary. But as we all know very well, people steal software.

Although I've made recordings demonstrating the XILS 3 and the PolyKB I'm not part of the XILS development team, so I can't comment on the pros and cons of using a dongle when compared with other methods of protection. But the fact remains, the real problem for all of us is the people who steal software. If they succeed in significant numbers it won't be possible for new software to be produced, and we won't even have the choice of whether we want software with a dongle or not, because there simply won't be any. I can understand the annoyance some people feel about having to buy a dongle, but to my mind the fault lies with the thieves, not with the developers. Software thieves are the enemy of all of us.

Regarding having to buy a dongle just to try the demo - only one Syncrosoft dongle is needed. You can use it for the demo as well as for anything else you already have. If you buy one to try the demo you can use it for other demos in future or for purchased software. I agree, it isn't ideal, and I've been put off trying demos in the past because of this. But in a world where software has to be protected from theft a dongle becomes a useful piece of kit to have.

Regarding the possibility of losing a valuable dongle, I wonder if the way forward might be to arrange a dongle registration service with Syncrosoft so that your personal data can be restored to a new dongle if you lose the existing one. I don't know how practical that would be - it would be necessary for them to have some way of de-registering the old dongle to stop anyone finding it using it (or the user simply selling the software and the dongle and claiming to have lost it). Maybe it's time to approach Syncrosoft over that idea?


2) XILS demos: The ideal is to demo the software yourself, of course (see above regarding dongles), but some of us have created short demo clips and full pieces of music to illustrate the kinds of sounds and the kinds of creativity possible with this software. I think both approaches have their uses. A short clip can demo specific elements of the sound - how a filter sweep sounds in isolation, for example - while a complete piece of music illustrates a whole collection of aspects of the synth and also says something about its creative potential.

As someone who's been involved in creating demos I'd be interested in knowing what people feel they need from a software demo. My own preference is for creating pieces rather than clips, but comments on both approaches would be helpful. I tend to focus on the less obvious aspects of any synth I demo, to dig a little deeper and see what its individual character is like. But what do people really need to hear in a series of demos? Comments on what people want would be helpful. Next time I demo a synth I'll try to focus on what people have said they'd value in a demo.