Basic functionality

[nbozic]

I plan to buy the Receptor soon... I'm still confused regaring specific functionalities. I would appreciate any pointers.

How does receptor display plugins? Does it display them in the way Windows would (full view and all controls visible and tweakable)? I'm asking because I need to use a VST spectrum analyzer and look at sound frequencies in real-time. Because of that the original look/design of the plugin is critical.

Can the Receptor act as a simple mixer? I need to plug two external/hardware instruments into the receptor. The output of my hardware workstation would need to be routed to the S/PDIF input on the receptor. The output of my modular synthesizer would need to be routed to the analog 1/4" inputs on the Receptor. Then those two sounds would need to come out through the 1/4" analog outputs (or the S/PDIF digital output). Is this type of mixing possible?

Can I control the Receptor using my studio laptop, without having to buy a separate LCD display? Is it accomplished through the ethernet port?

Are plugin installation performed using the ethernet connection?

How much RAM Memory should be enough most of the time?

Thanks.

[Kermit Jagger]

Yes, same display.

Not sure about the mixing bit as mine is just a sound source that goes to the console.

Yes, you control your receptor via Ethernet using the Receptor remote software.

Yes, you install via Ethernet insofar as you send the packages or DLL to be installed to the Receptor HD, then you use the remote software to initiate the install.

As for RAM, it depends what you intend to use it for. If you need to run sample banks and Kontakt, then the maximum 2Gb will enable you to open some banks without using the disk streaming feature. But if you only run VSTi, then it would be an overkill and 512Mb might be enough to run everything.

Somebody with more experience will tell you more about the mixing aspect.

[nbozic]

Thanks for your response.

"you control your receptor via Ethernet using the Receptor remote software"
Nice. Does the remote software run smoothly and in real-time, or does it get jerky? I'm asking because - among other things - I need to use a spectrum analyzer and look at frequencies in real time. If it's not real-time (with a low latency) I can imagine it would be very confusing to look at on my laptop.

"As for RAM, it depends what you intend to use it for"
I only plan to use the Receptor as an external effects processor, so I guess the standard 256MB of ram should be fine? Would running up to 8 effects simultaneously be too much for the processor and the standard RAM?


Where mixing is concerned it would be cool if I didn't have to buy a separate mixer and simply use both receptor inputs simultaneously (1/4" and S/PDIF).

Thanks.

[Kermit Jagger]

I find the remote software perfectly satisfactory for what I do, but I don't need to check the frequencies in real-time. My Receptor is mostly a sound source, not an effect processor (that's the duty of my Creamware system). Perhaps somebody else will confirm the real-time aspect of the remote software.

As for RAM, if you don't use sampling at all, 256Mb could be sufficient. But given the cost of a 256Mb module, I'd buy one to be on the safe side and make sure memory is not an issue whatever I decide to run.

[Briggity]

The VNC-based Receptor Remote software should be quite smooth if you have gigabit ethernet on your laptop. 10/100BT will work but may be a bit jerkier. I run my Receptor from a PowerBook G4 with Gigbit and it works great, even with my DAW running and the Receptor hard drive mounted via Samba file-sharing.

[nbozic]

Cool.
Did anybody have any success using both audio inputs simultaneously? (digital S/PDIF and analog 1/4")

By the way, did anybody try to install Inspector (free Spectral analyzer VST)?
http://www.elementalaudio.com/products/inspector/
Did it work?

Thanks.