KVR Audio

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:17 am

Hi guys

I know you get this sort of stuff ALL the time but thought I'd ask anyway after doing a heap of research and still not getting further!

I have a max budget of £500 to get me something new. My current set up is per my signature. I hate how my x-station doesnt automap to anything which initially drove the desire to get something new (say APC40/Push) but sitting down and thinking about it I figured that it might be a good way to learn the software by taking the time to map things across and learn the Maschine/Ableton templates.

But controllers can be so, well, boring to purchase! We all love to get some new sounds (hardware or software)....

Anyway, wont bore you with the chat, the options Ive narrowed down to are:

1. APC40 and perhaps another decent vst (Diva? Going to check the demo later)
2. Omnisphere or Komplete 8 (similarily priced right now) + a second hand Launchpad. (Komplete would integrate well with Maschine but Omnisphere sounded simply amazing)
3. Im a sucker for hardware so something like Blofeld and a Miniak to play with
4. Push - though I think thats me just caught up in current marketing at the moment.

It's mostly between options 1 & 2 to be honest. Hardware synths are great fun but at my price point I know I can do better in software (and probably have done already with Synthmaster).

I guess it would be nice to know how to approach it most logically and what I should be thinking about with any other thoughts chucked in. Hope you can help!

psychoxkps · Post by **psychoxkps** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:55 pm

komplete 8 is now on special offer.. dont think!

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 12:57 pm

I cannot see your signature.

Do you have monitors? If not, that's the only thing to consider.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:55 pm

psychoxkps wrote:komplete 8 is now on special offer.. dont think!

+5

Go for Komplete, it will give you a TON to work with. All of your basses will be covered

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:06 pm

Thanks guys.

My bad, didnt realise you needed a minimum post count for signatures.

Current set up:

4 year old quad core laptop (still going strong!)
Abletong Live 9 (beta)
Novation x-station 49 (for keys and interface)
Maschine
Synthmaster
FX Synth Squad
Massive (with Maschine obviously)

I moved to Abes 9 beta as soon as I was able to so I havent really had a chance to try MAschine as a midi controller but I reinstalled 8 this morning (templates not yet working with 9) and I was very, very impressed. It was basically doing what I was hoping it would do.

I do like the looks of Push/APC40 as Im still a little more mouse/keyboard orientated than Id like to be and I'd love to eventually learn more about shaping my own sounds (I know the vst's and x-station synth could fit this bill though).

Ive seeen Komplete on sale here in teh UK now at £330 which is great. Omnisphere is £285ish. Like I said before, I was blown away by some of the stuff Omnisphere was capable of. Komplete does cover many bases though and I dont mind at all that Komplete 9 will be just around the corner. Didnt bother me when I got MAschine on the cheap ahead of MKII coming out.

I'm looking for something to complement my current rig, that would open some doors, allow me to learn a few things and to really liven things up a little.

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:16 pm

And before I forget - I think I can get by without new monitors. While not ideal, I have a hi end hifi system, good mid range desktop speakers, and my Senny HD-25ii headphones. Im very much into a neutral listening experience and my listening gear is in line with that. I'll probably invest in one of those fancy boxes that emulate speakers at some point.

tehlord · Post by **tehlord** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:37 pm

While not ideal, the HD25's might just do, and if you do have a high end set of speakers in a good room then it's probably an 'ok' pairing.

Don't waste your money on speaker emulators, they're all a waste of money imo.

Your OP asks what the best use of your budget is, and perhaps a nice new desktop with power to spare might be an option. You could easily build something chunky with that money. It sounds like you might have to soon anyway if you're thinking of buying Diva

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:53 pm

Haha yeah Im def going to have to demo Diva before considering it.

A new PC has crossed my mind - I would prefer a laptop but I'm one of those guys who loathes getting a new PC until the old has basically completely ground to a halt. Don't worry, I back up all the time!!! I reckon I can squeeze another year out of it but I have noticed my laptop chugging a bit with, say, Maschine, some audio and another vst playing through Live but it hasnt been a problem 9/10 times yet.

psychoxkps · Post by **psychoxkps** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:13 pm

if u got maschine komplete is REALLY without think.. that amount of preset u got nice integration.. i cant imagine life without that:)

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:22 pm

I guess my concern with Komplete is that when I have played around with its contents in the past, Absynth and REaktor didnt click with me. I know they have a lot of power behind them but it seems it would take a lot of digging. I could sense Reaktors potential very easily though.

I liked FM8 (I used to own a Yamaha FS1r which I loved) and Guitar Rig though as well as the libraries with Kontakt (good accoustic drums and pianos are always handy. They were much more "immediate" experiences.

I already have Massive with Maschine and I like that a lot. And Live and my other vst's kinda cover FM8 and Guitar Rig. Even Kontakt to an extent (though much less powerful). This was why Omnisphere or something like Diva or Imposcar 2 interested me to expand what I already have along with another good controller (maybe even a Novation SL Zero).

Too many options it really fries the brain!

OzWozEre · Post by **OzWozEre** » Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:59 pm

psychoxkps wrote:komplete 8 is now on special offer.. dont think!

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Edit: Or blow your whole wad on just one Spectrasonics plugin

J0n35y · Post by **J0n35y** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:44 am

Thought I'd give you an update after your help...

After trialing Diva I realised that an upgrade to the laptop was the sensible choice at this stage. I could only manage one track of Diva at most before the CPU overloaded. That was without any other vst or audio playing. Freezing would have helped but in all honesty I had noticed some performance issues with my other projects particularly when using Maschine through Live.

For a shade over budget I managed to get a 15inch laptop with an i7 quad core, 8gb ram, 750gb 7200rpm HDD and a few other bells and whistles (decent graphics card for the odd non music recreational activity).

Watching some of the iPad controller videos helped make the choice. I'm particularly excited about what the new template for Lemur will bring so figured that between Maschine, my x-station and iPad my controller capabilities should be fine. I bought TouchAble but not tried it yet.

Anyway, cheers for the tips. Any idea on how best to transfer everything over?

I'm fairly certain that later in the year I'll be looking at vst's again and will keep Komplete/Omnisphere/Diva all in mind.

Best Use of Budget