KVR Audio

risome · Post by **risome** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:42 am

I dont know how i missed this looks good

ouroboros · Post by **ouroboros** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:40 am

I still have the demo, and I play with it every month. I think about buying it, but to be honest, aside from a nice gui, there isn't anything about the sound or the feature set that makes it worth the premium price to me yet. I like the sound though and I debate about buying it, but I get a little nervous having poked around their forums a few times. It seems there isn't much communication from the dev and no new products on the horizon. This is surprising because they launched with the glitz of a big player.
So every month I tell myself, nevermind, Zebra does more for the same price.

risome · Post by **risome** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:48 am

Thanks mate, idid read over there that an update for OSX Lion is coming.I like the idea that you can blend 2 LFO waveforms together to make new waveforms for pitch modulation etc.Does Zebra let you do that?

Crackbaby · Post by **Crackbaby** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:51 am

How annoying is it that there's no screenshot of it on their website ...... you shouldnt have to even look around for it.

Name
Screenshot
Features
Soundsamples
Demo download

There!

With all softsynths available, at least i dont have the energy for the effort.. less customers, less updates for the users

risome · Post by **risome** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:55 am

Screen shot of what ? they have screenshots of the ui demos etc

Crackbaby · Post by **Crackbaby** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 8:13 am

I see, the text on the right, very eyecatching.
Well if i missed it, im sure there's other potentional customers who also did.

ouroboros · Post by **ouroboros** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:49 pm

risome wrote:Thanks mate, idid read over there that an update for OSX Lion is coming.I like the idea that you can blend 2 LFO waveforms together to make new waveforms for pitch modulation etc.Does Zebra let you do that?

Yes. You can draw LFOs, too.

DubFox · Post by **DubFox** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 5:36 pm

ouroboros wrote:I still have the demo, and I play with it every month. I think about buying it, but to be honest, aside from a nice gui, there isn't anything about the sound or the feature set that makes it worth the premium price to me yet. I like the sound though and I debate about buying it, but I get a little nervous having poked around their forums a few times. It seems there isn't much communication from the dev and no new products on the horizon. This is surprising because they launched with the glitz of a big player.
So every month I tell myself, nevermind, Zebra does more for the same price.

What are you on about ?

Zebra is 182 euros including VAT
FAW Circle is 85 euro including VAT
http://www.bestservice.de/found.asp/circle/circle/en

Considering the price difference, Zebra should do more

The devs are very active on the mobile-app market right now. The app runs fine for me, and there is a new beta on the way after some updates to their flagship mobile app.

Anyway, as for Circle, it's a wonderful synth. I would say it has the best, most intuitive GUI in the softsynth market, with respect modulars especially. At a mere glance you can tell exactly what is going on in the patch. You can import your own wavecycles easily, and if you like to create your own patches it's a sheer joy to use. In my experience I have found only preset-surfers are underwhelmed by this synth.

I don't use it for bread & butter synthesis, I use it for experimental sounds & SFX

ymmv

abstractcats · Post by **abstractcats** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:34 pm

I got my copy from Bestservies for $68 about a year ago. I love the thing but have not done many sounds, I really should. I believe Daftpunk used it for the Tron soundtrack.

sureno · Post by **sureno** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:49 pm

Save your money, its a great synth but support is shockingly poor, the 1.0.7 version (latest) is CPU hungry and crashes often, us users have been left in the dark for nearly 2 years and now there IOS app has taken priority over Circle by the looks of it, if my rant isnt enough to convince you check out the beta forum for circle yourself and pay particular attention to the dates. If the beta version is released and proves to be more stable and efficient then only then would i rely on it for any real work

http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com/foru ... ting-forum

DubFox · Post by **DubFox** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 6:59 pm

sureno wrote:Save your money, its a great synth but support is shockingly poor, the 1.0.7 version (latest) is CPU hungry and crashes often, us users have been left in the dark for nearly 2 years and now there IOS app has taken priority over Circle by the looks of it, if my rant isnt enough to convince you check out the beta forum for circle yourself and pay particular attention to the dates. If the beta version is released and proves to be more stable and efficient then only then would i rely on it for any real work

http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com/foru ... ting-forum

I'd say that's harsh. I haven't needed support since I bought it a year and a half ago. Nor have I experienced any crashes attributable to it. So, in my experience, the quality of support is a moot point. It might as well not exist for all I need of it. At any rate, there's a beta on the way so that will be a good time for someone to jump on the wagon.

There's one sure-fire way of figuring out how it works with your system, and that's to demo it. Why let some unfortunate soul put you off, when it could work just fine on your system. Like it works on my 5 yr old machine.

Regarding the CPU hunger, the presets aren't optimized - that's for sure. It will chug CPU depending on your polyphony/voice settings, whether you're using all the designated voices or not. Keep your polyphony/voice settings set to what's needed and it's CPU usage is fine. certainly comparable to other modulars on the market. Aalto for example uses CPU in the exact same fashion.

If you're not a preset-junkie, you will be smitten by the patching process & sound. And for the price (which includes delivery - it's boxed) it's hard to beat.

naysayers be damned

sureno · Post by **sureno** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:10 pm

DubFox wrote:
sureno wrote:Save your money, its a great synth but support is shockingly poor, the 1.0.7 version (latest) is CPU hungry and crashes often, us users have been left in the dark for nearly 2 years and now there IOS app has taken priority over Circle by the looks of it, if my rant isnt enough to convince you check out the beta forum for circle yourself and pay particular attention to the dates. If the beta version is released and proves to be more stable and efficient then only then would i rely on it for any real work

http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com/foru ... ting-forum

I'd say that's harsh. I haven't needed support since I bought it a year and a half ago. Nor have I experienced any crashes attributable to it. So, in my experience, the quality of support is a moot point. It might as well not exist for all I need of it. At any rate, there's a beta on the way so that will be a good time for someone to jump on the wagon.

There's one sure-fire way of figuring out how it works with your system, and that's to demo it. Why let some unfortunate soul put you off, when it could work just fine on your system. Like it works on my 5 yr old machine.

Regarding the CPU hunger, the presets aren't optimized - that's for sure. It will chug CPU depending on your polyphony/voice settings, whether you're using all the designated voices or not. Keep your polyphony/voice settings set to what's needed and it's CPU usage is fine. certainly comparable to other modulars on the market. Aalto for example uses CPU in the exact same fashion.

If you're not a preset-junkie, you will be smitten by the patching process & sound. And for the price (which includes delivery - it's boxed) it's hard to beat.

naysayers be damned

Very fair point, yes it does trouble my 2008 mac pro some what, yes i suggest you demo it too but in my and not just my experience it has been problematic, i wouldnt say my statement is harsh but my experience has been harsh, any way you will always get the pro's and con's from people so im really past getting into who's right here but just offering my advise and experience but as mentioned before, demo it and you WILL soon find out for yourself

good luck

DubFox · Post by **DubFox** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:20 pm

Absolutely - demoing is key.

I certainly wouldn't want someone to take anything more from my experience than encouragement to try the demo.

tweiss2000 · Post by **tweiss2000** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:24 pm

I bought circle but had a lot of trouble with the authorization C/R.
Sometimes I'm working online, connected to the web, sometimes offline (Win 7).
For that I got two keys, but I had a lot of problems.
This could not been fixed, so I sold circle.

DubFox · Post by **DubFox** » Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:36 pm

It's a damn shame if FAW are dropping the ball re: support.
I'm feeling fortunate I've had no problems

Although I have noticed problems with various synths/fx due to Win 7 user permissions. Might it be related to that ?

http://www.futureaudioworkshop.com/foru ... -windows-7

I guess I'm now the official kvr FAW-circle fanboy

Who uses FAW Circle