XILS Roland Vocoder VP-330 Plus - NEW SYNTH

[HunterKiller]

Aside from the sound, which seems to be improving, you guys have the worst naming convention and preset management system in the entire universe.

When people say this over and over, why don't you create something better, because it surely exists.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[HunterKiller]

Yeah, but we were doing the same thing back in 2003.

Omnisphere, now that's what I'm talking about.

[Kriminal]

One final example of how little KVR means in the grand scheme of real world sales figures. Nexus2 which is not talked about so often here, is one of the world's best selling plugins. 20,000 + legitimate users. It uses a dongle for many years now. Case closed. That says it all. A bit of whining at KVR does not change the fact that a dev can be wildly and massively successful with a dongled product - the product just has to be good.

Cheers.

So you know sales figures for all companies? How many copies have non dongled synths sold? Pick a few, any ones you like...

Have xils sold 20,000 copies? Would they sell more if they were not dongled?

Just the facts please....

[Ingonator]

So you know sales figures for all companies? How many copies have non dongled synths sold? Pick a few, any ones you like...

Have xils sold 20,000 copies? Would they sell more if they were not dongled?

Just the facts please....

Obviously their sales must be good enough to release new products and not to go out of business. Even if they would go out of business based on the fact that their products are 64-bit and they use both the dongle or serial numbers their plugins will still run for a long time (until the dongle breaks...).

I am also quite sure that out there are many more people that don't care about using dongles than people that complain about it here at KVR.

Xils Lab are one of the few companies that offer to choose between either an eLicenser or an iLok dongle. In most other cases there is only one of those supported.
I am also quite sure that many people who are purchasing Xils Lab products already had an dongle (eLicenser, iLok or both) due to other products they own.

Last but not least i don't prefer dongles if an easier protection is available (e.g. i would not like Oxium to get dongle protected too) but based on the fact that several plugins and other software i like are using dongles (e.g. Xils Lab, Waldorf, Wavelab Elements 7) i prefer to accept the use of dongles instead of not using those synths.
It's all up to the decision what is the bigger loss, using a dongle or not using very nice plugins like those from e.g. Xils Lab. The other way around my impression is that if you say you would never buy those products due to the dongle you are not really interested in the products (BTW there are dongle-free and dongled demo versions of all products where the dongled demo is usually with unlimited features but runs for a shorter time).
The price of the dongle is only a real issue as long as you only use a single license on it.


Ingo

[Kriminal]

I havent found a plugin that is of such outstanding quality, i would buy it with a dongle.

[Ingonator]

Funny how some ppl ignore certain questions and ask for threads to be locked if the discussion isnt going their way
....even stranger when they have nothing to do with the company

what question have i ignored? i will answer it if i've missed it just let me know... it wasn't on purpoise

Let me guess:

So you know sales figures for all companies? How many copies have non dongled synths sold? Pick a few, any ones you like...

Have xils sold 20,000 copies? Would they sell more if they were not dongled?

Just the facts please....

A question that only Xavier could answer but i'm sure he will not do. As i already mentioned in my last post there must be enough sales to produce new plugins and not go out of business...


Ingo

[Kriminal]

Funny how some ppl ignore certain questions and ask for threads to be locked if the discussion isnt going their way
....even stranger when they have nothing to do with the company

what question have i ignored? i will answer it if i've missed it just let me know... it wasn't on purpoise

Let me guess:

So you know sales figures for all companies? How many copies have non dongled synths sold? Pick a few, any ones you like...

Have xils sold 20,000 copies? Would they sell more if they were not dongled?

Just the facts please....

A question that only Xavier could answer but i'm sure he will not do. As i already mentioned in my last post there must be enough sales to produce new plugins and not go out of business...


Ingo

And all the other companies that use dongles....you wont get the figures....thats my point...dont speculate....


As for going out of business....uhe, synapse, etc etc etc etc seem to still be going...

[Ingonator]

And all the other companies that use dongles....you wont get the figures....thats my point...dont speculate....


As for going out of business....uhe, synapse, etc etc etc etc seem to still be going...

No speculation, just guessing...

BTW as Oxium does not use a dongle do you own it or have ever thought about it?

If your answer is no and/or that you don't like any of the Xils Lab products your discussion about dongles and sales for Xils products is just pointless.

BTW i already know that you like the products of Synapse Audio as many others here should have noticed too. Personally i like Dune too but it's not my favorite synth.


Ingo

[Lotuzia]

I do have a question for my friend Laurent - i see the vocoder is only 10 bands.. because of this i decided i may wait and do the demo first but i am not sure.. i will trust what you say.. i have never really thought a 10 band vocoder could do intelligible speech.. i always thought the more the bands the easier to understand the words would be. In fact in my own testing in Logic, Reason and Live with their own vocoders, upping the bands ALWAYS improves things where clarity is the focus and desire. Is this still a problem with this gorgeous looking new Xils product? The vocoder is an important part of the purchase for me, cause i still don't really have a vocoder that sounds good with it's own TOP in built synth and i am tried of sidechaining Predator's vocoder for example is not very intelligible and i thought that would have been the answer as it's a great synth, but alas no. Do you feel Xils V+ overcomes this barrier?

I'll let Laurent answer, but my $.02 is that the original VP-330, which this is obviously modeled after, from the records I've heard it on it is certainly not a "clear" vocoder. Maybe it can sound more clear, but to me it's all about character. And to many the original has the best character of any vocoder ever made.

Yes the original machine has ten bands, and so the aim was to get it back to life with all its character.

If by clear people refer to "understanding the words", it's clear enough by far. I've heard vocoders with more bands not beeing so clear in that matter. But overall I'd say that with Vocoders, the character is an essential part. After all you can do a lot of interesting manipulations in a simple, or best, advanced, sampler, and get some "electronic" voices. Same with some granular engines. But this is nothing as a musical experience compared to playing the chords in real time while singing/talking in the mike. In this field the V+ is both electronic and very smooth.

Then, the V+ has also special Strings, with the TOD engine, 49 voices polyphony, and the Human Voices, wich alone are another world in themselves, and you can combine all these three engines.

The V+ also give you access to "internal" parameters related to the three engines, something the original machine did not allow, and you have some additional parameters for the Vocoder engine, for example.

Also as Ingo pointed it out, the V+ is not light on the CPU ( ie in the same league than the Synthix for those who have it, or have demoed it ). So we will mention that on the site too when the preorder is launched. This is due to a number of factors, but the 49 notes polyphony, TOD engine, multiple BBD engines, filters, and the possibly VERY LONG, particular, and closely modelled Release Stage did require that cpu charge. This release stage is a gift of god in itself imho, it's really gorgeous, but well people will judge by themselves all this.

LtZ

[Lotuzia]

I gotta admit, having been "dongle-less" (not for religious regions, but because I do use a laptop and travel), it's the Xils gear that has me close to giving in (I suspect a sale on PolyKB or Synthix would tip the scales - - maybe a "Don't Fear the Dongle" sale, as inspired by @contrary...)

.........

Outside of that, I'm impressed (as usual) by this synth. And you know, if anyone could pull off a decent CS80, it might be the Xavier crew...

Lol. Why not one of those days ( No guarantee though )

[Lotuzia]

Aside from the sound, which seems to be improving, you guys have the worst naming convention and preset management system in the entire universe.

When people say this over and over, why don't you create something better, because it surely exists.

I would not call a preset management system that can do that ( see video under ) the worst in the universe. To me it's the most powerfull and the best after NI one. ( And even related to NIs one, it has some strenghts ) YMMV./



Note : This video is about Oxium, but the preset management system is approx the same in all Xils musical instruments.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[Kriminal]

And all the other companies that use dongles....you wont get the figures....thats my point...dont speculate....


As for going out of business....uhe, synapse, etc etc etc etc seem to still be going...

No speculation, just guessing...

BTW as Oxium does not use a dongle do you own it or have ever thought about it?

If your answer is no and/or that you don't like any of the Xils Lab products your discussion about dongles and sales for Xils products is just pointless.

BTW i already know that you like the products of Synapse Audio as many others here should have noticed too. Personally i like Dune too but it's not my favorite synth.


Ingo

Ive tried most synths that have a demo. Oxium didnt offer anything i needed. Its a nice synth, but doesnt replace what i have.

[ChiTown24]

Every single topic where a dev releases a product with a dongle, every single one, you and the dongle hate club jump in and just don't let it go and ruin the product release thread for the dev. You steer it off course and tell them how much you hate dongles and how you won't be buying their product instead of letting others talk about the product itself. Every single time. And my own talk about it in here would not have even happened had it not started by the anti dongle crowd in this very topic right near the start. It's called every action has a reaction. This time ChiTown did not know how to derail it completely so he used the simple one week pre order to almost completely demolish the topic because of his personal hate for Lotuzia and even managed to get a usual "Xavier get rid of Lotuzia" sentiment in there.

Oh PUHLEASE.
This time ? I don't have any history of 'anti dongle' sentiment, debating, or trolling. my contributions on that topic have always been, resolutely, that the discussion should be had elsewhere. I've linked to a thread Lotuzia started for just that reason, discussing dongles pro or con in a thread dedicated to that purpose so as not to derail a product release thread. My only reference to dongles in this thread, has been in the context of re-selling used licenses {Lotuzia's implication being that it's easy peasy and should only cost about 10/15 euro. he even said it's FREE for elicensers despite my repeatedly probing him about that being a physical transfer requiring POSTING a DONGLE. Postage and dongles aren't free.}. And this was only discussed since it was an off-shoot of my misgivings of this make believe pre-order scheme.

Secondly, the dongle discussion is played out, it's been had a thousand times, everyone knows how everyone else feels about it.
The same can not be said about this bogus pre-order routine that Lotuzia concocted all on his own taking full responsibility {or as he lately claimed, didn't concoct all on his own. which to believe ? he never confirmed.}
Everything I've said on the topic of this make believe pre-order scheme has been reasoned and well thought out. I have replied to anyone who addressed me directly, or challenged the arguments I put forth. at least 3 people I've never exchanged so much as a 'hello' with have joined at various points to agree with my POV or to say that I'm not being unreasonable.

Thirdly, I have no history of derailing. derailing xils-lab threads especially. Why don't you let Lotuzia decide if I've 'always' been on his & xils-lab back or not. ON THE CONTRARY.
It is only recently with two marketing gimmicks { the 'free' colour scheme for the Oxium gui } - at which point I had no idea who's idea it was, but after offering my opinion on it I suggested that the person who came up with it should probably be scrutinized some more by the others in the team. The second gimmick, this make believe pre-order thing, I have the same poor opinion of. Again, I suggested that whoever is coming up with these ideas should be scrutinized more. I asked who came up with the scheme, and Lotuzia said it was all his idea and his responsibility. It is then, and only then, that I asked Xavier somewhat rhetorically to think twice about putting Lotuzia's marketing gimmicks into effect. How you can turn those sequence of events, despite my otherwise constant support of xils-lab and Lotuzia as a representative of xils-lab, into this: "because of his personal hate for Lotuzia and even managed to get a usual "Xavier get rid of Lotuzia" sentiment in there." is beyond me. Well. Actually. no it's not. This kind of ill-conceived idiocy is your trademark. Not to mention the richness of the irony that you, of all people, are lecturing others about derailing. You have to have the thread-lock record of not only this forum, but all forums. Either through your never ending drama, or by straight up dictating to the mods 'lock this thread, i'm bored with it now or don't like how wrong i'm looking'. I mean really, I've often wondered why the mods do your bidding so easily & frequently. I won't publish my speculations.

Finally, ever subsequent post that people have made about pre-orders - that I didn't reply to - I could and can reply to and address completely. But I haven't. Because someone made some reports to mods, apparently, that it was getting 'overheated' ... part of me wants to believe Meffy was referring to the side-line trolls who just joined to call me and others a troll, but I know he's probably referring to me. Nevertheless I dropped the topic. So, don't feel that my lack of commentary on the make believe pre-order scheme means my argument has somehow been bested. It hasn't. Some folk, yourself included, don't have the best comprehension skills...and offer counter-arguments that have already been refuted.

Actually I would have even preferred that such a thread would have begun in 2/3 weeks, as our present concern is the imminent release of Oxium v1.5.

Missed this quote.
Anyway, this is more 'flexibility' from Lotuzia. Is he really trying to act so coy about what happens when you send a newsletter ? ... As if he doesn't know that within 2 or 3 hrs of sending it there are threads about it in the forum{s}