Thinking about buying a Receptor? Think carefully.

[dwightgordy]

To anyone that is considering putting 2 or 3 grand into a Receptor, you can't be guaranteed that your old plugins will work as easily as advertised. The userinstallable downloads for Native Instruments are nearly impossible to authorize...thusly...no go. Native Instruments has little interest in assisting with authorization problems on the Receptor. Since NI went to their new authorization program on the NI site, the process has so many hurdles that it isn't worth the effort. The question is..."how much time, and how many phone calls do I have to make?" Between NI, Sweetwater, and Muse...the linkage is very, very difficult. Individually, they care about their own business. But collectively...they're not together. You can tell it during the conversations. For sure...NI doesn't like working with Receptor issues. "Indifference" would be the operational term.

Also, the harmonic difference between the plugins on the Receptor vs. using them in a midi form on my PC-DAW system are substantially different. Cubase SX3, my PC, and my plugins work together much better.

I would call the Receptor 'murky.' The harmonic spectrum simply isn't there.

I own Sampletank 2 and Sonik Synth. IK Multimedia & Muse seem to have worked out the authorization bugs better. But these two outstanding programs suffer greatly on the Receptor. The color isn't there. To the untrained ear, there's no substantial difference...but in the studio, the difference is striking.

I would suggest that the Receptor is more of a road instrument rather than for recording.

Finally...the free plugins that are installed on the Receptor are mostly a joke. The demos that run out within 30 days are decent, but certainly nothing to write home about. For this much money, I would have expected a 'mountain' of great plugins for free. No, not mountains...the Rocky Mountains plus the Grand Canyon. What is remaining on my Receptor now? synth toys

What a joke...and an expensive one at that.

[dwightgordy]

Addition: I also own the first generation of Kore & Komplete 3. If you're wondering which one to invest in for recording purposes...get the Kore 2 with Komplete 4 for about 1/4 the price. You actually get some phenomenal plugins with Kore, and they work. The layering process is stronger, and the harmonic timbres are much strong. Go with Kore 2.

[dwightgordy]

correction: much stronger

[dwightgordy]

Sorry to step on your toes Muse/Plugorama & Company. You can argue your point...but to this 30-year recording artist, the argument won't hold up. Wanna make me happy? Take my receptor back, contact Sweetwater, and make things right. $2000.00 down the proverbial drain. What fun.

[projektio]

Well, I can certainly understand your irritation about the whole NI and Muse not working together well at first, and then quickly heading down the road of not working together at all.

That being said, I think the main reason I purchased the original Receptor Rev.B Unit, was that I wanted the opportunity to offload my main synth programs (Atmosphere, Trilogy, Stylus RMX, and a smattering of East West programs) off of the CPU on my DAW, thus freeing up some much needed processing power. This is not to say that I have a "crap" system, I certainly don't, but I thought it would be nice to allow my DAW to do more audio and midi recording. and a lot less VST running.

I do agree with you about the "freeware" synths and effects, as I could have done without all of them, along with a demo of DR-008 I can't seem to uninstall no matter how hard I try. But the one thing I can't agree with, is that somehow MUSE has magically deceived us as to which plugins work, and which ones don't. Granted the list of supported plugins pales in comparison to the unsupported ones, but I hardly call the information on KVR, Muse's website and Plugorama highway robbery, when I first thought long and hard about purchasing one.

As for the sound quality, I don't see how there can be a noticeable difference, since running Atmosphere on my DAW versus Receptor is the same software, except for one being run on Windows (in my case) and the other on a stripped down Linux kernel. How this effects the sound quality or timbre is beyond me...

I feel your frustration, as there are SEVERAL plugins I would like to get to work on it seemlessly, and Muse seems to be slow to produce results in that department as quickly as I would like, but nonetheless I hope that most people won't purchase the Receptor as a "cure all" to whatever problems they are trying to solve in the studio, or on the road.

projektio

[dwightgordy]

I appreciate your response. On the topic of Muse trying to deceive us, I didn't intend to make that the main point...but after reading my article...I understand your response. I don't feel that there was an intentional deception. I'm just very disappointed in the product as compared to the hype.

The main problem lies within the lack of real cooperation between NI & Muse.

For my ear, which may have its limitations, the tonal spectrum isn't there. There are analog synth sounds that work just fine. But when I get into things like acoustic pianos and strings...the difference is very striking.

I agree with your last comment about the cure-all expectation. I 'was' under the assumption; however, that the Receptor would deliver the same sound as my plugins & DAW. Like I wrote in the article, if I were on the road again, I would probably bring one or two Receptors along.

Perhaps my expectations were too high.

Good comments.

[projektio]

Heya Dwight,

Perhaps I even read a little too far into your comments in the original post too! I totally back up what you are saying about Muse & NI as I am a HUGE fan of most of the NI instruments. Although I was disappointed at first with what the product turned out to be, especially because of the hype, I have found good uses for it. One of which is using BFD (the best drum instrument IMHO) along with my Yamaha DTXpress electronic drum kit.

Also, I think I am understanding what you mean about the "tonal spectrum" as you are correct, the analog/digital synthesizer recreations, such as Atmosphere, PRO53 or FM7 do sound in great part like the real thing, but some instruments that are VERY acoustic, like pianos and strings, never really quite sound like the real deal.

That being said, I would highly recommend Akoustik Piano by NI, as I like it the best for that "real" piano sound, short of recording a real piano. And a few other instruments like VIR2 Instrument's Acoustic Legends HD is great for guitars, short of recording the real thing. The main reason I like synthesizers, be them virtual or real, is that I grew up playing the piano as my first instrument, and these new technologies allowed me to branch out into other genres of music, as well as encourage me to compose on my own, without necessarily having to hire in extra help.

My expectations were also too high, but I do hope you are able to find excellent uses for your Receptor too!

projektio

[PhilAiken]

Mine works great. I get alot of use out of it. It has been a great investment for me.
My NI instruments (B4 II, Kontakt II) installed without a hitch.
I think the audio hardware is excellent as well. Sorry that it didn't work out for you.
-Phil

[Dominus]

Has Muse ever given a reason why they went with a Linux OS instead of a stripped down Windows XP? XP with a specialized shell would have made a ton more sense in the long run.

[richwhite9]

The timing on this thread was strange given that Muse was announcing the NI Service Center Application the same day. In the last month Muse delivered the Ivory Italian Grand and The NI Service Center application.

[BERFAB]

Has Muse ever given a reason why they went with a Linux OS instead of a stripped down Windows XP? XP with a specialized shell would have made a ton more sense in the long run.

Hmmmm. Licensing fees, perhaps?

It usually boils down to money.

[Dominus]

Has Muse ever given a reason why they went with a Linux OS instead of a stripped down Windows XP? XP with a specialized shell would have made a ton more sense in the long run.

Hmmmm. Licensing fees, perhaps?

It usually boils down to money.

What, $90 a pop? They could have raised the price on those things by $100 and no one would bat an eye, and everything would just *work*. When I first saw them, I thought that it was a great idea, but when I heard about all the proprietary stuff, I just saw it as what will eventually become the $400 E-Bay bargain, like outdated samplers.

[richwhite9]

10 year old synths sell for 25 to 30% of their original street value. A Roland 2080 with 8 expansion cards might be worth 30% of the original purchase price and sell for $850. Ever try selling a Mac Notebook that's 10 years old? Synths are a lousy investment as are computers.

[tjodoin]

richwhite9,

What announcement for Service Center are you referring to?

[deastman]

Also, the harmonic difference between the plugins on the Receptor vs. using them in a midi form on my PC-DAW system are substantially different. Cubase SX3, my PC, and my plugins work together much better.

I would call the Receptor 'murky.' The harmonic spectrum simply isn't there.

I don't own a Receptor, and therefore have no vested interest in this discussion. However, when I see this sort of vague nonsense about the "harmonic spectrum" with nothing to back it up, I feel compelled to jump in. This can easily be verified or disproved: record a "murky" sound from the Receptor into your DAW, and record exactly the same sound natively in the DAW. Make sure both versions are recorded at the same level, triggered by the same MIDI pattern. Open both recordings in a sound editor and examine the spectral analysis of each. I suspect they will be virtually identical.