Muse Research

skater7510 · Post by **skater7510** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:12 pm

I've owned a Receptor for a little over a year now, and have had nothing but repeated problems with it. The tech support team has been very helpful (and are really nice guys), which is great, but overall, I would rate the Receptor as an expensive, slow, and unpredictable device which is a frustration in the studio and a gamble on stage. I have a hard time believing that many big names are actually using this device in live settings (as Muse would have you believe by their website).

The main issue is that Muse is about 2-3 years behind current technology. I have been very patient and supportive of this company, but now I am becoming increasingly frustrated about the NUMEROUS issues I've had with Receptor. Let me list a few.

1. My power supply failed.
2. My EWQLSO (and sometimes Garritan Jazz & Big Band) patches don't always load correctly.
3. Random volume messages are sent to all instances of EWSLSO on my receptor when I open a new EWQLSO patch. I have to go through each patch and turn the volume back up.
4. I own Battery 3, but cannot use it on the Receptor unless I go out and buy the Komplete 4 or 5 Receptor (which comes bundled with Battery 3).
5. Chris Hein Horns is compatible, and although Chris Hein Guitars came out years ago, it is still not compatble with Receptor. I own it but cannot use it with Receptor.
6. Sometimes, the screen of my Receptor loads completely blank. This is a known issue, but they don't know how to fix it.
7. The audio outputs of the Receptor are extremely hissy.
8. Occasionally, I will have clock issues and my Receptor will start squealing bloody digital murder.
9. Here's the biggest one right now. Uniwire doesn't work with multiple core machines! Uniwire eats up a lot of CPU (in Logic) so it doesn't work on machines that are a couple years old... so you have to buy a very specific computer to use Uniwire. I have a new Quad Core machine which is just sitting there. I can't use it with my Receptor because Uniwire won't work with it.
10. Sometimes, Uniwire will just stop working randomly.
11. Uniwire is the most unstable plug-in I have ever used.
11. USB devices must be plugged in before you boot Receptor. So if you're at a show and you forget to plug your USB keyboard in (or if your controller freaks out somehow and you need to restart it), you have to spend 10 minutes rebooting Receptor and your multi to use your keyboard.
12. The majority of the effect plug-ins that are compatible with Receptor are B class companies. No such thing as Waves, Sonnex, TC Electronics, or SSL compatibility... while most of these plug-ins are VST compatible on a regular computer, they don't work on Receptor.
13. You cannot dictate whether or not Uniwire sends program changes in Logic. You can turn off the program change settings in the remote control, but somehow those changes are still sent through Uniwire which means you may have to wait for Receptor to load a bunch of multis before it gets to the right one. Uniwire plugins store a link to a speciifc multi, so if you want to change your multi which links to certain Logic session, you have to re-initiate all Uniwire instances (and assign their channel assignments).

I'm curious if any other users are having as many issues as I'm having.

Muse, I think you guys have an excellent idea in creating the Receptor, but this thing shouldn't even be on the market yet, as there are still SO many bugs and incompatibility issues. You REALLY need to hire more people and speed up your updates if you want to keep up in an ever changing software/market market.

Anybody want my Receptor? It may be going up on eBay.

Robert Karasek · Post by **Robert Karasek** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:38 pm

on a quick note:

I'm extensively using my RECEPTOR both in studio and on-stage (mostly).
I've never had any major problems.
NEVER on-stage under different conditions & duration *knock on wood*

In my opinion, RECEPTOR is the most stable & reliable option when dealing with VST's and such...
all my supported plugins run perfectly...

#11: USB devices must be plugged in before you boot Receptor. So if you're at a show and you forget to plug your USB keyboard in (or if your controller freaks out somehow and you need to restart it), you have to spend 10 minutes rebooting Receptor and your multi to use your keyboard.

c'mon.. think about that argument

Feng · Post by **Feng** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:52 pm

Definitely not, here. I am not 100% satisfied with my Receptor, but:
1. Power supply is OK (from two years)
2. EWQLSO works fine (I don't have Big Band)
3. This can be avoided saving your multi in the patch editor of receptor
4. I hope that soon the new NI plugins will be installable (Absynth4, FM8) even outside of Komplete 5.
5. I don't have CH Guitars
6. Never happened to me
7. I don't have such an issue, but I use to send audio through Uniwire.
8. Never happened.
9. Uniwire bug with multicore CPU has affected my Athlon 4800 only in the sense that I cannot use more than 16 midi channels from my PC to receptor. So if I can choose between 16 monotimbral instruments or 1 multitimbral instrument. This stops if, inside cubase, I uncheck the multicore support. This is really annoying, I hope they will fix it very soon.
10. This happened to me very few times.
11. I use it in the studio, so I don't know, but, in any case, my Receptor spends some 30 s to boot, definitely not 10 min.
12. Yes, the plugins you mentioned will not work, but Nomad Factory, PSP audioware, WaveArts, Sonalksis are definitely not B class companies.
13. Never tried that

So Receptor is not so bad, it has issues (as most electronic devices), but, in my case, it works well. Uniwire has issue (as most softwares) but I could work with it many times without too many problems. What deluded me is:

1. the receptor CPU usage, despite its dedicated OS and all the claims from Muse research, is never lower to that of my PC (which has no dedicated OS, runs the plugins within a sequencer, has an antivirus, a internet connection, etc, etc. Receptor rev C CPU should be at least equal to that of my PC. This makes me think that the custom built OS is not able to use effectively the receptor CPU, and that's a very strange thing.

2. Muse research is extremely low in releasing updates for the receptor OS, even if their support is really good (they answered my questions in a few hours).

In any case, I'm waiting for these issues to be solved.
To conclude I have seen that in the computer realm nothing works completely as it should. Let's hope that Muse will address very soon these issues.

TWB121234 · Post by **TWB121234** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 7:37 pm

I've owned my Receptor rev C for over a year. Though not completely without frustrations, I'm a very satisfied owner. It has perfromed wonderfully both in live performance and in my (home) studio. Obviously Receptor is not the perfect piece of gear for everybody, any more than any other instrument would be. Sorry for your problems, perhaps a laptop is a better fit for your needs?
Tom B

thesoundsmith · Post by **thesoundsmith** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:31 am

As far as Uniwire goes, I simply ignore it and run my Receptor like any external synth...

Fixed Error · Post by **Fixed Error** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:20 pm

Im still undecided about the receptor. Ive used it for two tours and its very convenient and importantly - loads and reboots quickly (yeah, 10 mins is a slight exaggeration. Problems however:

* My power supply died also (after about 8 months) - thankfully not when on tour.
* unstable running Kontakt 2, which is the main plug we use live. Random resets, will never reboot with the plug loaded. I copped one of these resets in the middle of a song during a gig - not good. i still cannot get this to work properly.
* I agree about the plugs - while there are certainly some great instruments and fx plugs, many of the the really top quality plugs (mainly fx plugs) just aren't supported). And to be honest, the free bundle you get when you buy the receptor is rather crappy.
* Mine also often loads a blank patch rather than what was loaded when last used.

As for uniwire, i tried it once and found it well, a piece of shit, but this is no biggy because i dont really see the point of uniwire. I just use the receptor as an external synth/sampler.

And yeah, the receptors do have a fairly short half life. Now i have a quadcore pc it is far more powerful than the receptor. Do Muse do processor upgrades or do you have to buy a new one?

Receptor is a great idea but im not totally convinced. I actually feel a little more comfortable having a powerful laptop on stage running something like V-stack, which is probably what i'll do next tour.

Cheers,
James

c3boy · Post by **c3boy** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:21 am

You definitley need to weigh up what you want to do with Receptor. I bought it as a live tool, and use it in no where near extensively as some other guys on here. I'll have a snapshot of Scarbee,Ivory,Moog,and another instance of Kontakt 2 with various bits and pieces on. Im totally satisfied with it, even though it has had one or two issues, but since I got upgraded to a Rev C these have not appeared.

I could not go back to the quality of standard hardware boards, compared to playing these plugs, and the only other option is to have a laptop on gigs, which I would hate as it looks (in my musical genre) wrong.

As everyone says, the tech support is really helpful and friendly.

A lot of people are wanting to put new vst on Receptor as soon as they are released, and obviously they can't Receptorize everything that is released to please everyone. Hopefully with Direct Install it will solve everyones problems. But I'm happy with what I have on it and how it performs. I can't afford new plugins as soon as they come out, so the waiting issue is not really painful for me.

I guess if I was just purely using it in the studio, I'd have gone for a multi core setup PC/MAC, but I bought this on the factor of it being used live, of which I am totally happy with.

thesoundsmith · Post by **thesoundsmith** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:12 pm

c3boy kind of tells it all. If you want a PC, buy a PC. If you want a live performance VST player that plays what it plays RIGHT NOW, and don't expect it to EVER do more than that (it undoubtedly will, but do NOT rely on it - from any company) then look at the Receptor. Do not make the common mistake of thinking of it as a computer, just because it is. It is a dedicated musical instrument, not a general purpose box. And when it has the sounds you need and the setup is fully configured for those needs, there isn;t a better device available.

When was the last software/firmware upgrade to your XP-80 or Fantom?

skater7510 · Post by **skater7510** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:53 pm

Alright, I'm having second thoughts about my post a couple weeks ago. I have had issues with the Receptor over the last year, but many of them have been resolved. I wrote my responses to my own list in CAPS.

skater7510 wrote:I've owned a Receptor for a little over a year now, and have had nothing but repeated problems with it. The tech support team has been very helpful (and are really nice guys), which is great, but overall, I would rate the Receptor as an expensive, slow, and unpredictable device which is a frustration in the studio and a gamble on stage. I have a hard time believing that many big names are actually using this device in live settings (as Muse would have you believe by their website).

The main issue is that Muse is about 2-3 years behind current technology. I have been very patient and supportive of this company, but now I am becoming increasingly frustrated about the NUMEROUS issues I've had with Receptor. Let me list a few.

1. My power supply failed.

MUSE WAS VERY QUICK TO REPLACE THE POWER SUPPLY. I RECEIVED THE NEW POWER SUPPLY IN ABOUT TWO DAYS.

2. My EWQLSO (and sometimes Garritan Jazz & Big Band) patches don't always load correctly.

STILL HAVE THIS PROBLEM, BUT I HAVEN'T TRIED TO RE-INSTALL MY EWQLSO LIBRARY WHICH IS WHAT I NEED TO DO.

3. Random volume messages are sent to all instances of EWSLSO on my receptor when I open a new EWQLSO patch. I have to go through each patch and turn the volume back up.

THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE. I'M SURPRISED NO ONE ELSE IS HAVING THIS PROBLEM.

4. I own Battery 3, but cannot use it on the Receptor unless I go out and buy the Komplete 4 or 5 Receptor (which comes bundled with Battery 3).

STILL A BUMMER.

5. Chris Hein Horns is compatible, and although Chris Hein Guitars came out years ago, it is still not compatble with Receptor. I own it but cannot use it with Receptor.

PLEASE MUSE... GET THIS LIBRARY WORKING SOON!

6. Sometimes, the screen of my Receptor loads completely blank. This is a known issue, but they don't know how to fix it.

WEIRD. STILL HAPPENS.

7. The audio outputs of the Receptor are extremely hissy.

HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS OR IS THIS JUST MY SOFT SYNTH GAIN STAGING? I'M PRETTY SURE THE OUTPUTS THEMSELVES ARE BIT NOISY. ARE THE RECEPTOR'S SIGNAL TO NOISE SPECS EVEN POSTED ANYWHERE?

8. Occasionally, I will have clock issues and my Receptor will start squealing bloody digital murder.

DIGI CORE MANAGER CAN CAUSE SYNC ISSUES AT TIMES AND THIS FREAKS OUT RECEPTOR.

9. Here's the biggest one right now. Uniwire doesn't work with multiple core machines! Uniwire eats up a lot of CPU (in Logic) so it doesn't work on machines that are a couple years old... so you have to buy a very specific computer to use Uniwire. I have a new Quad Core machine which is just sitting there. I can't use it with my Receptor because Uniwire won't work with it.
10. Sometimes, Uniwire will just stop working randomly.

UPDATED TO LOGIC 7.2.3 AND DOWNLOADED AN APPLE PRO APPLICATIONS UPDATE AND EVERYTHING SEEMS TO WORK GREAT NOW.

11. Uniwire is the most unstable plug-in I have ever used.

ALRIGHT. IT'S BEEN VERY UNSTABLE IN THE PAST, BUT HAS BEEN PRETTY CONSISTENT ON MY NEW INTEL MACHINES.

11. USB devices must be plugged in before you boot Receptor. So if you're at a show and you forget to plug your USB keyboard in (or if your controller freaks out somehow and you need to restart it), you have to spend 10 minutes rebooting Receptor and your multi to use your keyboard.

A LITTLE INCONVENIENT. NOT THE BIGGEST DEAL, BUT IT'D BE NICE IF USB DEVICES WERE RECOGNIZED WHEN THEY WERE PLUGGED IN.

12. The majority of the effect plug-ins that are compatible with Receptor are B class companies. No such thing as Waves, Sonnex, TC Electronics, or SSL compatibility... while most of these plug-ins are VST compatible on a regular computer, they don't work on Receptor.

SERIOUSLY. I'VE AUDITIONED SOME OF THE PLUG-INS THAT ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE RECEPTOR, AND THEY DO NOT COMPARE TO WAVES OR THE LIKE.

13. You cannot dictate whether or not Uniwire sends program changes in Logic. You can turn off the program change settings in the remote control, but somehow those changes are still sent through Uniwire which means you may have to wait for Receptor to load a bunch of multis before it gets to the right one. Uniwire plugins store a link to a speciifc multi, so if you want to change your multi which links to certain Logic session, you have to re-initiate all Uniwire instances (and assign their channel assignments).

STILL AN ISSUE, BUT I'VE LEARNED TO WORK AROUND IT BY RELOADING UNIWIRE FOR EVERY SONG I CREATE INSTEAD OF USING A LOGIC TEMPLATE WITH UNIWIRE INSTANCES ALREADY INITIATED.

I'm curious if any other users are having as many issues as I'm having.

Muse, I think you guys have an excellent idea in creating the Receptor, but this thing shouldn't even be on the market yet, as there are still SO many bugs and incompatibility issues. You REALLY need to hire more people and speed up your updates if you want to keep up in an ever changing software/market market.

Anybody want my Receptor? It may be going up on eBay.

I AM KEEPING MY RECEPTOR FOR NOW, AND AM HOPING THAT MUSE HAS NEW UPDATES AROUND THE BEND... THE MAIN BEING THE ABILITY TO LOAD ANY VST PLUG-IN ONTO THE RECEPTOR. THAT WOULD BE SWEET!

Andrw · Post by **Andrw** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:19 pm

You can add one more reason to the list..

I am unable to login on the Plugorama website for quite some time now, and i've emailed the support team for like 5 times, and i didnt got any answer.

umd · Post by **umd** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:43 pm

I think that Muse put out a very interesting product.

If vst's have problems in the OS they were designed to run in, running them in a unix-based OS they way they do in Receptor is a fantastic acomplishment ( I think ), and I don't even want to imagine what they had to do to make it work the way it does. I just think that Receptor's hardware is a bit outdated by now, but I do understand the need of having a platform with reliability guarantees.

I am curious to see how things will be in the future, specially regarding 64-bit. Will we ever see a mobile-quad-core-powered Receptor with at least 8Gb RAM?

Blue Wind Project · Post by **Blue Wind Project** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:16 pm

hummm...seems I need to really research more on comments and issues people have had with receptor before I spend $2000.00.

thesoundsmith · Post by **thesoundsmith** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:22 pm

7. The audio outputs of the Receptor are extremely hissy.

HAS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS OR IS THIS JUST MY SOFT SYNTH GAIN STAGING? I'M PRETTY SURE THE OUTPUTS THEMSELVES ARE BIT NOISY. ARE THE RECEPTOR'S SIGNAL TO NOISE SPECS EVEN POSTED ANYWHERE?

My Receptor output is VERY strong, and quite quiet. Sound guys often insist that I turn the output to about 11 o'clock, I usually run between 2-3 o'clock on other instruments.

Muse Research

KVR Audio

Thirteen Reasons NOT To Buy A Receptor