Krotos Audio Concept

[Dasheesh]

Roni Size? Awesome. New Forms was one of my favorites back in my pre-computer days.

indeed, but unfortunately even arovane has been reduced to selling his presets to ten yr. olds. welcome to the new world order.

[Russell Grand]

Roni Size? Awesome. New Forms was one of my favorites back in my pre-computer days.

indeed, but unfortunately even arovane has been reduced to selling his presets to ten yr. olds. welcome to the new world order.

Sad but true, Dasheesh...

[Dasheesh]

oldies for an old man,

[Russell Grand]

oldies for an old man,

*flips laptop upside down* Nice, some classics in there!

[tonedef71]

Concept is currently on sale at Plugin Boutique for $64 USD:

Is it a deal worth getting?

[nonstatic]

Was about to pull the trigger until I read that audio input isn't supported in Studio One or FL Studio, my two main DAW's. That was the main feature I was interested in. Doh!

[tonedef71]

audio input isn't supported in Studio One or FL Studio, my two main DAW's.

Good point. I use those two DAWs as well. https://www.krotosaudio.com/support/faq ... fl-studio/

We will be working with Focusrite and Imageline to try to support this feature in the future.

I think they meant "Presonus" instead of "Focusrite". I wonder if the audio input capability will ever be working in these two DAWs.

[Sinisterbr]

Have you guys compared it to FAW Circle 2? They both look very, very similar feature wise. Would like to hear your opinions

[tonedef71]

Concept is currently on sale at Best Service for $49.50 USD:

[gExpectations]

I dont know about you guys but this vst has the best interface i have ever seen. It might not be a super exciting synth feature wise but it looks great to work with on a computer.

[Sinisterbr]

June 22nd, 2021, Edinburgh, Scotland, Krotos the company behind the innovative and award winning Dehumaniser, Reformer, Weaponiser and Igniter product range, are pleased to announce Concept 2, the latest version of their powerful but simple to use synth plugin.

Concept 2 takes the award-winning Concept synth and supercharges it in exciting and creative ways, making it faster for users to find sounds, make them their own, and Concept 2 is a whole lot more satisfying. Krotos summarise this powerful plugin as, “simply powerful, yet powerfully simple."

Concept 2 - New Features At A Glance

New granular oscillator
New Advanced shape modulator
New Over 700 presets. Including artist presets from Roni Size, Richard Devine and Kayla Painter.
New Added and improved impulse responses
New Workflow improvements
XY capture
Audio Input
Drag and drop modulation routing
Three effects slots with 10 effects, including; convolution reverb, delay, flanger/chorus, filter, EQ, ring mod, limiter, transient shaper, and compressors.
Krotos founder and CEO, Orfeas Boteas comments:
“Time is valuable for those working in sound creation, often the technology gets in the way which stifles their creativity. We wanted to give creators access to a rich sound design palette and let their imagination run wild without having to spend time learning how to use it. With Concept 2, you can get lost in the music, not the manual.”


Pricing

Regular price of $149 with a special release price of $99, FREE upgrade for owners of Concept. Promo ends July 18th 2021.
Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of Concept 2 is:

$149 for North America and the rest of the world
£99 (exc.VAT) for UK
€119 (ex VAT) for Europe
(NOTE: Product pricing, features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.) A fully working demo is available (no iLok required) from the Krotos website.

System Requirements
Formats (64-bit only): VST, VST3, AU, AAX Native
Mac: Intel computer with a minimum of 2.4 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor, 4 GB of RAM, OS X 10.11 or later. Windows: 2.4 GHz Intel Dual Core Processor, 4 GB of RAM, Windows 10 1909 and newer.

Other Information:

This product does not use iLok
This product comes with 2 activations
This software is a digital download
An internet connection is required at the time of activation
Supported host applications: Ableton Live 10 and above,FL Studio 20.7.1 and above,
Reason 10 and above, Pro Tools 11 and above, Logic Pro X, Nuendo 8.2.10 or above,
Cubase 10 and above, Reaper, Studio One
Audio Input is not supported on FL Studio or Studio One

Website with full information, product videos and more https://www.krotosaudio.com/concept/

[gExpectations]

Well good news for me, who actually bought the thing (not that I have used it too much )!

[CinningBao]

Still haven't even tested v1. It does look interesting though. Really must find time to demo.

For the users, does it have any outstanding features the like of which you've never seen before?
Hmm, apart from pitch tracking side-chain (which I'm sure I read about somewhere) which I'm totally cool with.

[BONES]

I just watched the demo video and the GUI/workflow on Concept 2 looks really, really good. I'm downloading the demo atm, which is 750MB, and from what I've seen and heard I think this might be a pretty decent synth. The modulation system, in particular, looks really slick and the new granular engine looks a lot more approachable than most others. Once I've had a play with the demo, I'll let you know what I think (of course I will). You can watch the video on this page -
https://www.krotosaudio.com/concept/

[BONES]

EDIT: I've taken out a lot of negative impressions I got from the demo version, which had a few problems that disappeared once I bought it and authorised it. The demo felt sluggish, the authorised version does not, so don't be put off if you like the sound and/or workflow.

Straight out of the box, the first patch sounds amazing - really thick and lush with nice, subtle movement to the sound. I went through the "Favourites" category, which offered a good variety of timbres, all quite nice even if some sounded a bit thin and weedy. It seems to have retained the V/A style oscillators from the old version, although I couldn't see a way to swap between them and the granular osc. I should probably RTFM, it's available to download.

What struck me at first is how much it didn't sound like a granular synth, which I found really impressive. Then I hit the "Cinematic" category and some of those patches are very definitely granular based. And really, really good. The versatility of this granular engine seems incredible. I also tried a few of the basses and got the impression that maybe basslines are not this synth's forte, although the filter sounds OK - LP, HP, BP with 12/24 dB/oct slopes, plus a formant filter. I had a quick look at the modulation section, too, and it is really well designed - lots of power and great ease-of-use. You get 4 mod sources, each of which can be whatever you want - envelope, LFO, recordable X-Y pad, their Advanced shape (MSEG) or just the Mod Wheel. You click on the display and it opens up, revealing controls and assignment options. All very neat and easy. I didn't look at the effects but they sound great in the presets.

It sounds great and is definitely worth checking out. And before anyone asks, it doesn't give you the option of telling it where to install the 700MB of sample content during installation, so make sure you have enough room on your main drive.