LinPlug Octopus 1.3 beta available for PC

[TonyBy]

I've been updating my Linplug synths this weekend to the new beta versions - Albino 3, CronoX 3 and Octopus - both 32bit and 64bit on Windows Vista 64bit.
(And prior before that also Alpha3).
Looks good so far with Cubase 5 (both 32 and 64bit, on Cubase 5 64bit only the 64bit versions of the plugins installed).

Two things I noticed, one should be aware of:

-On my older Win system (32bit) the Octopus.dll was placed in the folder
'C:\programs\Vstplugins\LinPlug'

On the new system (64bit) I installed it into
'C:\programs (x86)\Vstplugins\Linplug' (the 32bit version, where also
the data resides).
With the beta updater I also installed the 64bit version into
'C:\programs\Vstplugins\LinPlug'

That's ok, but if you have also migrated some older projects of your DAW to the new system (which include Octopus or CronoX as plugins), you might run into a 'samples missing' error (since these are looked up at the old path).
This happened to me with prior saved presets inside Kore (which acts also as a host), so my solution was, to move the Octopus and CronoX data into the
64bit program directory instead (which equals the path on my old system).

After that I had to define the Startup file in CronoX, so that the banks
appear again in the plugins browser.
With Octopus the path is defined via the installer, so in my case I had to
install the 64bit version after the 32bit version.
(the second thing I noticed).

What's great is, if the banks show once up in your plugins browser in one version (32bit for example), they will also show up with the 64bit version.
(So it isn't necessary, to have the banks or data twice on your system)

Hope, it's some useful information, I don't see this as a bug, it just seems,
that different plugins have different ways to deal with sample paths,
for example Alchemy seems to handle samples in a 'relative' way, while others like Kontakt or those mentioned LinPlug synths handle them in a 'absolute' way.

Ok, else I can only confirm, what Gosh already said.

All the best and Cheers

Thanks for that, Losan !

[Peter from LinPlug]

Thanks Losan,
well described, and thats the way it is expected to work.
Peter

[losan]

Ok, played a little bit with Octopus, and encountered a problem with some
presets not playing (no sound hearable) - for example with the Lead 'OZ half and half'

[Peter from LinPlug]

Thanks Losan, the sound has been optimized away Will fix it

[losan]

[djsubject]

the sound has been optimized away

been trying to do that update on the wife!

any tips? (other than to hope she dose not read KvR )

hope to help with testing (32 & 64 bit (win7 & XP) after the weekend, only just read the email

Subz

[Peter from LinPlug]

Subz, for some reason women and silence dont seem to get together well

beta 3 uploaded, should fix that accidental silence.

[losan]

Ok, the optimization seems to be removed - mean: so far all presets output sound as they should. (You're some fast guy, Peter - didn't expected a fix so quick).

In regards to women: isn't that, what we actually love about them ? ...

[Resetti]

Peter,
Thanks for the continued development of Octopus. I have not tryed the beta yet, but plan to. Is it possible to keep 1.2.1 in my system and run the new version as well?

[Peter from LinPlug]

Dear Resetti,
no, you cannot run them side by side (its at least not at all recommended!), but
you can install version 1.2.1 again after you finished testing.
It can be you need to enter your serial number twice then , once you installed
1.3 and once you go back to 1.2.1.

[Resetti]

Ok, thanks . I'll give it a try.

[Resetti]

Peter,

Here are the results of a brief 30 minute test of v1.3 using Sonar 8.3.1, XP SP3, 3Ghz, 2Gig ram.

First I'll list the problems or at least the apparent aspects of the problem.

1. Octopus loads and the gui appears normally, however there is a delay before the default preset can be activated to sound. In my test the delay is about 12 seconds.

2. When changing from one preset to another there is a delay. Again approximately 12 seconds.

3. When changing from matrix to sampler there is a delay of the same length.

4. Microtuned presets will not engage to the proper microtuning and are loaded as standard tuning. In other words, microtuning has to be changed manually, otherwise the gui indicated tuning will dominate.

Aside from these problems, everything else seems to perform normally.
Version 1.3 has an inherently more musical feel as an instrument.
The filters are much improved providing a more creative potential.
The distort effect seems more like a tube effect now and blends with the overall spirit of the instrument better. The matrix feels more flexible to me.

Just the results of my brief test.