KVR Audio

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 8:53 pm

firepile wrote:
morelia wrote:Everyone knows the demo is out right?

Funny, I was told to keep it a secret and then realized it was already live on their site. I guess the secret's out.

My feelings are pretty much what I expected. I think the UI looks a little cramped and bad. The aliasing on the small text makes it not the easiest to read. The light source is all over the place and the character images both add to a messy and cramped look.

Features... pretty damn good although I hate the fact that I can't change presets using Live's menu and I hate the fact that there are no main output volume controls.

The sound... I'd drop the "just like a vintage analog synth" marketing. I think it's good, but on par with other instruments already out there like Poly-ana, Sawer, XILS3, Sylenth1, and the Gforce emulations. Good, but it's not blowing anything out of the water like they claim. The bar hasn't been raised. If you already own one of the above mentioned synths you're not going to want to sell them.

What it is is a set of instruments with a lot of personality. That part I do like. Also, the presets included with the demo sound great especially with one hand on the mod wheel and the other digging in with aftertouch. You can get really expressive. Not sure what the point of only including a small subset of presets with the demo is though. Don't you want to show as full a picture of the instrument as you can?

Bugs: I can't use some presets even though I can click on them. It just doesn't change. Sometimes I can go one ahead and go back and get it to work, sometimes not.

So overall, I think it's an excellent instrument, right up there with the best. I wish their marketing wasn't so steeped in hyperbole. That only makes me more critical and I will admit I spent some time thinking, "not going to make me sell my MoPho or derail my impending Tetr4 purchase, that's for sure." but when I got over that and started to dig into it I found a lot to love. I think back to those posts that said it was "more analog than analog" and I have to laugh.

djsubject · Post by **djsubject** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:09 pm

Cheese on bread,

it truly is here

http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=62&tab=181

30 days

Subz

Funkybot's Evil Twin · Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:52 pm

zerocrossing wrote:...I hate the fact that there are no main output volume controls.

What about the Amp -> Level controls on each synth? That acts as the master volume.

zerocrossing wrote:The sound... I'd drop the "just like a vintage analog synth" marketing. I think it's good, but on par with other instruments already out there like Poly-ana, Sawer, XILS3, Sylenth1, and the Gforce emulations. Good, but it's not blowing anything out of the water like they claim. The bar hasn't been raised. If you already own one of the above mentioned synths you're not going to want to sell them.

I'd disagree with you on this. I've got Poly-Ana, had sold Minimonsta, and own a bunch of other VA's, DCAM sounds by far the best to me. I hate to use terms like this but DCAM wins on things like presence, clarity, punchiness, etc. I really do find it a lot different to what I'd been using. (Note: I've never used Sawer, XILS2, or Sylenth1.)

I say hang onto that demo for the next 30 days and keep using DCAM, then at the end, go back to your other VA soft synths; it may take some time, but I think you'll change your mind about how much better DCAM is.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 11:46 pm

Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote:
zerocrossing wrote:...I hate the fact that there are no main output volume controls.
What about the Amp -> Level controls on each synth? That acts as the master volume.

zerocrossing wrote:The sound... I'd drop the "just like a vintage analog synth" marketing. I think it's good, but on par with other instruments already out there like Poly-ana, Sawer, XILS3, Sylenth1, and the Gforce emulations. Good, but it's not blowing anything out of the water like they claim. The bar hasn't been raised. If you already own one of the above mentioned synths you're not going to want to sell them.
I'd disagree with you on this. I've got Poly-Ana, had sold Minimonsta, and own a bunch of other VA's, DCAM sounds by far the best to me. I hate to use terms like this but DCAM wins on things like presence, clarity, punchiness, etc. I really do find it a lot different to what I'd been using. (Note: I've never used Sawer, XILS2, or Sylenth1.)

I say hang onto that demo for the next 30 days and keep using DCAM, then at the end, go back to your other VA soft synths; it may take some time, but I think you'll change your mind about how much better DCAM is.

I don't think I will because I don't look at synths in that way. IMO, it's too limiting. I either like something or I don't and I don't necessarily find that kind of value judgement as useful unless you're comparing two very similar synths. For instance, Gforce's v Arturia's Mini Moog emulation. You might like one better. I do, Gforce's.

But one of the reasons I collect a bunch of different VAs is that I love the different takes on the theme. Sawer didn't replace Poly-ana. It added to my list of tools just like adding another kind of oil paint would add to my choices is I were a painter.

I actually will probably end up buying Dcam for that, not because it's going to replace my other VSTs but because it will complement them.

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 12:05 am

zerocrossing wrote:The sound... I'd drop the "just like a vintage analog synth" marketing. I think it's good, but on par with other instruments already out there

+ 1

I agree with this statement. IMHO, "just like a vintage," = marketing. The synths however, I'm going to say, "they sound great." I disagree with, "I think it's good." I think the synths sound great. I think they sound digital, but its a great sound that has been achieved.

contrast · Post by **contrast** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:26 am

grymmjack wrote:anyone own DCAM and also a solid state drive? curious about the time to load up. right now in ableton live the demo takes about 5 seconds to load one instance of the plugin. i'm an impatient bastard was curious if anyone with a solidstate disk could report on a load time.

I tried it on both my SSD (OCZ Agility) and on my normal HD and it didn't seem to make any difference. It loads from either one in maybe 2 seconds at the most.

(The SSD is great in general though and I highly recommend getting one if you can find a decent one at a decent price).

grymmjack · Post by **grymmjack** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:09 am

contrast wrote:
grymmjack wrote:anyone own DCAM and also a solid state drive? curious about the time to load up. right now in ableton live the demo takes about 5 seconds to load one instance of the plugin. i'm an impatient bastard was curious if anyone with a solidstate disk could report on a load time.
I tried it on both my SSD (OCZ Agility) and on my normal HD and it didn't seem to make any difference. It loads from either one in maybe 2 seconds at the most.

(The SSD is great in general though and I highly recommend getting one if you can find a decent one at a decent price).

thanks man. i wonder why it takes longer for me. between 3 and 4 seconds. i know it doesn't seem a big deal but if you were to use several instances and each took 4 seconds, that's a solid minute wasted getting setup to go and when the creative juices are flowing i dont need to tell you guys how important that 1 minute can be.

what are your system specs contrast?

thanks

contrast · Post by **contrast** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 8:54 pm

It's a pretty decent machine but nothing super beefy, a 3GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs ram, and the normal HD is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:02 pm

Just made some experimental morphing patches using Kore 2's morph grid and Cypher (just to see if it's possible - it is):

http://cid-c7b2fc04bce4c85f.skydrive.li ... morphs.zip

also updated my Cypher Kore template:

http://cid-c7b2fc04bce4c85f.skydrive.li ... mplate.ksd

ckatrun411 · Post by **ckatrun411** » Sun Nov 01, 2009 10:59 pm

Wow, their sound is unreal. Arrg. The cpu and ram use, was no exaggeration. WOW. What cpu these puppies use. Hmmm, but their sound is unreal.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:08 pm

UltraJv wrote:The Windows event log......

Hey chap!

What version of Windows 7 are you running? The final release version, or any of the evaluation builds prior to release?

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 4:10 pm

ckatrun411 wrote:Wow, their sound is unreal. Arrg. The cpu and ram use, was no exaggeration. WOW. What cpu these puppies use. Hmmm, but their sound is unreal.

I've heard a lot of people complain about the CPU use, but other than a few crazy patches it seems in line with other VSTis of similar quality.

Nokenoku · Post by **Nokenoku** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:12 pm

I just installed the demo.

But no matter if I try to load one of the plugs in FLStudio or if I try to open the standalone version, it doesn't work. In FLStudio the whole program freezes, and as standalone I only see the loading banner and nothing happens (if I click on it, windows says, that it's not answering).

I'm on Windows 7 64bit.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:17 pm

Nokenoku wrote:I just installed the demo.

But no matter if I try to load one of the plugs in FLStudio or if I try to open the standalone version, it doesn't work. In FLStudio the whole program freezes, and as standalone I only see the loading banner and nothing happens (if I click on it, windows says, that it's not answering).

I'm on Windows 7 64bit.

Is this an evaluation build of Windows 7 from prior to the official release; or is it the latest release version?

Nokenoku · Post by **Nokenoku** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:37 pm

It's a fully updated 64bit-version of "Windows 7 Home Premium E" ... at least that's what it says on the system-information.
I actually downloaded the ISO as "Windows 7 Professional" from our MSDNAA server.

So it's the student-version .. I'm not sure, if this is different to the official release. It was available a bit earlier. But it's not an evaluation build I think.

Edit:
Is there a way to chose the installation folder of those synths (not only the plugin dlls)? I totally hate it to not have control about it. Or is this only the case with the demo?

FXpansion D-CAM: Synth Squad for sale now!