KVR Audio

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:06 pm

Those of you using VST instruments in live performances please respond!

Which VSTi do you absolutely trust for live performance?

Which ***freeware/shareware*** instruments are you using live?

Someone recently posted that Crystal (one of my favs) is not stable enough for live performance. I haven't had one problem with it, but I havent used it in a gig yet.

Real world experiences ONLY please.

Thanks in advance!

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:57 pm

Seems like VSTis made with Synthedit are remarkably stable in a live environment. At least in my experience, they've been rock solid.

I've also had no problems with Reaktor 4 in a live environment; haven't used R5 yet this way, however.

Other VSTis I've used successfully:

- ConcreteFX ethereal
- Wusikstation
- Bojo Impulse
- rgc:audio sfz (be careful with memory usage!)
- Iblit/Polyiblit
- Linplug FreeAlpha
- Synth1
- ReFX QuadraSID
- Waldorf PPG
- Stephan Kuhn Ganymede & Vivaldi
- SynC Modular

Synths that definitely had problems for me live:

- Crystal (highly unstable for live use in my experience, crashes, dropouts, etc.)
- DS404 (don't remember exactly why but it was too flaky for me)
- ConcreteFX plugins are wonderful but you can't change patches on them in real time without serious sound issues, so be careful with them if you intend to send program change msgs
- And, of course, you have to watch yourself with Reaktor, to make sure you don't eat up all available CPU

One last hint - avoid reverb plugins as they tend to be very costly CPU-wise. Instead use two stacked stereo delay plugins with different/offsetting delay times. The result sounds reasonably close to reverb in a live setting and costs much less CPU-wise.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:58 am

All my little killerz perform flawlessly live, as do PlastiCZ!, JX Synth, Junglist and JunoX2. The best thign to do is rehearse your set, then you'll know that it will be alright on the night.

dburgan · Post by **dburgan** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:06 am

BONES wrote:All my little killerz perform flawlessly live ...

Indeed they do - I didn't call them out specifically, or any of the other outstanding Synthedit creations I use, because I made a blanket statement about SE synths being very stable. But, in the interest of coverage, I'll list the major SE synths I've used live:

- The Killerz

- H.G. Fortune's STS17 and Swamp
- EVERYTHING by Krakli
- EVERYTHING by Land of Cockaigne
- EVERYTHING by Ugo

Plus lots of others. Basically, SE synths are ++good for live use.

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:51 pm

BONES wrote:All my little killerz perform flawlessly live, as do PlastiCZ!, JX Synth, Junglist and JunoX2. The best thign to do is rehearse your set, then you'll know that it will be alright on the night.

Bones,

I've been lusting for your synths for quite some time now, but always have problems downloading. (something about bandwidth quota maybe?)

Can we make some alternate arranagement? I can accept fairly largish attachments at my work email account for example...

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:53 pm

dburgan wrote:
- EVERYTHING by Krakli
.

cept my lovely vurtbox

but i often record with minivurt live but no actual performance(yet)

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:02 pm

DELETED

[ xerocreep ] · Post by **[ xerocreep ]** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 3:19 pm

I have/had been using:

H.G. Fortune's STS 17
Antti's Augur and A synth (retired)
Novakill's NEOkILLER (retired) and GODkILLER III
ReFx Vanguard (retired)

generally I haven't had much problem playing most VSTi's listed around these parts at one time or another live...

I have HOWEVER, found that Discovery was pretty awkward to use live. Especially in getting the midi controls all sorted out. (especially a pain since I use FLStudio primarily and the version I tried wouldn't let you automate the parameters via anything but CC's). Not that it was buggy, just hard to get working (and i hear that's been addressed now)

I hav ehad problems with EARLY SE synths, like Panzertank and the other stuff from land of cocaigne becausee htey seem to edraw the whole gui everytime a knob gets moved and it makes everythign else stutter for that ms.

I use a lot of effects, and the stand out pieces have really been things like JSMagneto, Blockfish, Fuzz+, Classic Delay / Reverb / etc... FloFi

I have had problems with Tweakbench sideslip and mashup (freezing my system when a passage came without any audio streaming through it) Buzzroom grancomp (gets a wierd buzz with low latency and live input - like guitars and such)

that said, I have played out live quite a bit with various combinations of hard and software, so if yoluhave more specific questions feel free to ask, most likely I've ahd the experience (good bad or f#ckin ugly)..

later
xero

Exit Zero · Post by **Exit Zero** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:40 pm

BONES wrote:All my little killerz perform flawlessly live, as do PlastiCZ!, JX Synth, Junglist and JunoX2. T

Bones,

Looks like I've downloaded them successfully from work. Nevermind!

~Exit Zero

Instruments stable enough for live performance