KVR Audio

Integratron · Post by **Integratron** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:09 pm

NoviceNewbie wrote:Has anyone actually been able to download Dimension Pro after purchasing it for $20? I have been trying for over a week without luck. I understand that their servers are probably busy but this is ridiculous ----

I'm on Verizon Fios fiber optic and it took a long time. I suspect it is slow at their end due to increased traffic. Perhaps try at various time of day.

carrieres · Post by **carrieres** » Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:23 am

you can load 4 rex files

LAGinz · Post by **LAGinz** » Tue Jun 04, 2013 9:43 pm

Download went smoothly for me this morning. Authorizing seemed to be a bit glitchy, but finally worked.

dimtsak · Post by **dimtsak** » Wed Jun 05, 2013 1:46 pm

I just got Dimension Pro for 20$ and i wanted to share my opinion,
if anyone is thinking to buy it.
It depends what sounds you already have.
First ask yourself what kind of instruments are you searching for.

If you are a beginner and you have nothing (not much money, too) go buy it.
If you want an all-around super high quality sample library to use it for many years, don' t buy it.

I wasn't going to buy it, but i heard that it has some nice bass guitars,
and i wanted some for basic needs(because i have none). They are not the best, but i think they 'll do the job.

It also has some nice string sounds, that i really liked.

Anyway, just don't expect to make a song only using Dimension Pro, and make it sound fully reallistic.
And don't buy it just because it is cheap.
Ask yourself why you need it.

Pro:It has every kind of instrument
Con:The sounds are a bit dated

Put them on the scale, weight them and decide.
Personally i think i made a good buy.
I now have every kind of instrument for my songs with 20$.
And if i see that i use any of them more often,
i can then search for a high quality library.

I attach and an image with the categories of the library.

Send me a pm if you want anything specific to ask.

LAGinz · Post by **LAGinz** » Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:05 pm

Hey, dintsak, have you downloaded the three free available expansion packs? One has Digital Sound Factory Basses and another has a Hammmond B3 emulation.

scook · Post by **scook** » Wed Jun 05, 2013 7:22 pm

LAGinz wrote:Hey, dintsak, have you downloaded the three free available expansion packs? One has Digital Sound Factory Basses and another has a Hammmond B3 emulation.

Those are the last three entries in the image of the browser posted by dimtsak

bigcat1969 · Post by **bigcat1969** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:54 pm

Here is my list of what is included in Dimension Pro 1.5. Not bad for 20 bucks.

Dimension Pro 'Real' Instruments - 147 including a Synth with 1284 sounds, a Groove Machine, a Loop Machine, a virtual B3 organ

Pianos - 10 - 5 Grand, Mini, Saloon, Vertical, Rhodes MK2, Wurlitzer, DX Tines
4 Grands are fully sampled, 1 partially sampled
Couldn't find Mini, Saloon or Vertical samples, but sound sampled not synth
Rhodes, Wurlitzer and DX Tines(FM1) sampled
41 progs

Organs - 4 - Hammond B3, Jazz and Soul, Virtual B3
B3 and Soul fully sampled, Jazz lightly sampled
Virtual B3 with 54 prog
14 progs with some sample base

Synth Instrument with 1284 sounds
Dimensions Folder - 222, some totally synth, sone a mix of sample + synth
Pads Folder - 200, some totally synth, sone a mix of sample + synth
Synth Basses Folder - 94, almost all synth
Organs Folder - 14 that appear to be synth
Electric Pianos Folder -13 that appear to be synth
Bells Folder - 35 almost all synth
Leads Folder - 67 almost all synth
Layers Folder - 2 entirely synth
Splits folder - 51 appear to be all or predominately synth
Techno & Trance Folder - 63 many are sample based, but all heavily synthed
Electronic Collection - 129 mostly synth some with samples
Free Expansion Pack 1 - 219
Free Expansion Pack 2 - 175

Guitars - 7 - Fender Strat, Gibson E175, Gibson Les Paul, Godin Artisan, Martin-6 String Steel, Martin Nylon, Sitar
72 progs

Basses - 9 - 1 Acoustic, 7 Electric including 2 Fingered, 2 Slap, Fretless, Picked, Thumbmute, 1 Digital Sound Factory Bass
81 progs with some sample base

Saxes - 2 - Alto, Tenor
22 progs

Drums - 28, 18 kits with 71 variations, 2 cymbals, Multi Velocity Hats, Kicks, Snares, Toms, Chamber Kicks, A Groove Machine, 3 Orchestral

There are 75 sfz kit files in the drums directory, 31 are listed under dry kits and 31 under room kits in the program browser.
10 cymbals sampled both dry and room, 2 kicks sampled 4 ways, 6 snares sampled 4 ways, 4 toms sampled 4 ways
6 each of the dry and room kits are full kits since they would each have a different snare drum and the rest are variants. So 12 kits here.
There seem to be 2 Processed Kits and 3 Room Kits from another source, so 5 more kits.
Free EP 2 added 4 variations of an FG Kit
Multi Velocity Hats, Kicks, Snares, Toms
2 Cymbal sets.
Chamber Kicks
Orchestral - 3 Bass Drum, Cymbals & Snares
123 progs

A Groove Machine with
65 Drums Grooves with 13 Groove Processing Examples
26 Musical Grooves
135 Grooves in Free Expansion Pack 2

Percussion - 26
Batá, Berimbao, Bombo Leguero, Bongo, Cabasa, Cajón Peruano, Chaucha, Chequere, Chinese Gongs, Congas, Cowbells 5 variations, Crotales, Cuica, Djembe, Gong, Pezuñero, Sleigh Bells 2 variations, Small Chimes, Svampinjonium, Talking Drum, Tambourine 2 variations, Timbaleta, Toctoc, Triangle 3 variations, Vibraslap, Xilophone
43 progs

Strings - 6 - 1st Violins, 2nd Violins, Basses, Cellos, Violas, Full Strings
These are quite heavily sampled with almost 2000 samples and 1.2 gigs
Espressivo, Legato and Pizzicato as appropriate for the instrument and 4 velocities.
Much better sounding than the tiny samples of the included GPO.
51 progs

Brasses - 3 - Trumpet, Trumpet Mute, Trombone
10 progs

Garritan Pocket Orchestra - 32, 4 Brass, 6 Percussion, 5 Section Strings, 8 Solo Strings, 9 Woodwinds
Brass - 4 - French Horn, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba
Harp, Harpsichord
Percussion - 6 - Glockenspiel, Gongs + Tamtam, Marimba, Combo, Timpani, Xylophone
Section Strings - 5- Basses, Cellos, Full Strings, Violas, Violins
Solo Strings - 8- Cello, Cello Ensemble, Double Bass, Double Bass Ensemble, Viola, Viola Ensemble, Violin, Violin Ensemble
Woodwinds - 9 - Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Clarinet, Clarinet Ensemble, Contrabassoon, Flute, Flute Ensemble, Oboe, Oboe Ensemble
98 progs

World Instruments - 14- Accordion, Bamboo Flute, Bazouki, 2 Dulcimers, Euro Harmonium, Kantele, Koto, Pan Flute, Psaltry Harp, Saz, Sitar, Wood Flute, Zither
30 progs

Vocal - 4
Male Ahh Choir, Female Ahh, Jacyn Riffs, Lauren riffs
9 progs

Loop Machine
580 Loops (wav files), 1090 Midi, 547 Drum Maps

Progs are what you use as an Instrument in your DAW when using Dimension Pro.
'Real ' Instruments are hard to define. The basic idea is it is something you could go buy a physical copy of at the music store. I included solo, ensemble and sections as separate instruments. I did not include a few things like a tin can that did not seem like a true instrument to me and a few that had only a handful of samples. All the of the thousand plus synth type sounds are lumped into 1 instrument. The 3 free expansion packs are included in these counts.

bigcat1969 · Post by **bigcat1969** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 9:58 pm

By way of comparision here is my 'Real' Instrument list for Kontakt.

Kontakt Factory Library 'Real' Instruments - 189 plus 40 VSL Legacy Orchestra Instruments plus included Synth with 227 sounds, Groovebox, Akoustic Guitar and Elektric Guitar Programs

Pianos - 10 - 3 Grand, 2 Upright, 3 Electric, Clavinet, Harpsichord
Grand Pianos - 3, August Foerster Grand, Concert Grand, Grand Piano
Upright Pianos - 2, Ragtime, Upright
Electric Pianos - 3 Rhodes Mark 1 - 4V, Rhodes Mark 2 - 4V, Wurly - 4V
Clavinet - 4V
Harpsichord

Organs - 6 - 2 Pipe, Reed, Accordion, Melodeon, Hammond
Hammond-like Electric Organ - 20 variations
Pipe Organs - 2, KH Floeten - 2V, KH GrPrplenum - 2V
Reed Organ - Harmonium
Accordions - 2, Accordion, Melodeon
Mellotron (counted as 1 instrument under vintage synths)

Synth Instrument with 227 sounds

Synth Lead - 110, Synth Pad - 97, Synth Misc - 181 (these sounds scattered between Synth, Vintage Machines and Retro Machines)

Guitars - 9 - Akkord, Elektrik, Jazz, Nylon, 5 Electric Guitars
Akkord - 3V (a strumming acoustic guitar program, see library V2 manual for details on use)
Elektrik (an electric guitar program, see library V2 manual for details)
Acoustic - 2, Jazz, Nylon
Electric Guitars - 5, Funk, Harmonic, Rhythm Rock, Rock Solo
Mellotron

Plucked Strings - 6, Harp, Sitar, Tanpura, Kora, Nyatiti, Oud

Bass - 5, 3 Fingered, 2 Upright
Fingered - 3, Classic, Funk, Pop
Upright - 2, Jazz Upright, Upright
Analog Synth - 66 variations
Digital Synth - 19 variations
Sub Bass - 7 variations

Drums - 20 - 8 Kits, 9 Orchestral, 5 Digital, Groovebox
Acoustic Kits - 8, Central Stage, Funk, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Studio Break, Urban
Orchestral - 9, Bass - 2, Snare - 3, Cymbal - 4
Digital - 5, Bling Bling, Chocolate City, Crystal Set, Rolling Ice, Street Knowledge
3 Toy Sets
Analog Synth Kits - 20 variations
Urban Beats Grovebox, Sliced Drum Loop - 49 slices, Kicks - 6, Snares - 3,
Claps - 4, Open/Closed Hihat/Shakers - 6, Cymbals - 2, Percussion - 6, SFX - 3

Percussion - 22
Acoustic Kit - 4, All, Full, Asian, Various
Congas, Bongos, CowBells, African Shakers, Chimes, Claps (from Ubran)- 4V,
Triangle - 2V, Timpani - 4V
Other - 10, Daf - Dayereh, Darabuka - Dunbek, Djembes, Kroboto - Boba - Kidi,
Riq, Tabla, Taikos, Tambourine - 3V, Timbales, Tonbak - Tar - Davul

Mallet Instruments - 14, Marimba, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Celesta - 2,
Tubular Bells (Metal), Tubular Bells (Wood), Gongs - 2V, Tuned Gongs
Other - 5, Kalimba, Music Box, Rapman Vibraphone Synth, Sansa, Steel Drums

Flute - 10, 2 Concert, 2 Whistles, 6 Airy
Concert Flutes - 2, Flute, Piccolo
Whistles - 2, Whistle - 2V, Recorder - 3V
Airy - 6, Bansuri, Irish Flute, Kaval, Persian Ney, Shakuhachi, Turkish Ney
Mellotron - 2

Reed Instruments - 9, 3 Oboes, 3 Clarinets, 3 Bassoons
Oboes - 3, English Horn, French Oboe, Oboe
Clarinets - 3, Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, Clarinet Combi
Bassoons - 3, Bassoon, Bassoon Combi, Contrabassoon

Sax - 4, Alto, Baritone, Tenor, Sax Section

Bagpipes - 6, Highland, Tulum, Uilleann, Duduk, Shehnai, Zurna, Melotron

Brass - 15, 2 French horns, 5 Trumpets, 4 Trombones, Tuba, Ensemble
French Horns - 2, Solo, Ensemble
Trumpets - 5, Band - 3, Solo, Mute,Section, Orchestra - 2, Solo, Ensemble
Trombone - 4, Band - 2, Solo, Section, Orchestra - 2, Solo, Ensemble
Tuba
Brass Ensemble
Mellotron - 2

Bowed Strings - 12, 3 Violins, 2 Violas, 2 Cellos, 2 Double Bass, Ensemble, Solo
Violin - 3, Fiddle, Solo, Ensemble
Viola - 2, Solo, Ensemble
Cello - 2, Solo, Ensemble
Double Bass - 2, Solo, Ensemble
String Ensemble
Solo Strings
Synth Strings - 9 variations
Mellotron - 2 (1 repeat from flutes)

Vocal - 6 (6 vowels each a,e,i,o,u,m)
Alto, Soprano, Bass, Tenor, Choir, Choir Morph
Synth/Vocoder - 12, Mellotron

Vintage Synths and Pianos - 27
Mellotron - 1 (scattered through other categories, counted only once)
Analog Machines
Digital Machines
Drum Machines
Digital Pianos - 9, Additive, CP11, DX7, Electric Grand, EP10, EP20, RMI, Roady,
Wurlitz-FM
Vintage Synths - 8, Electone Organ, F100, Memory, Mini, Mini 700, Orchestrator,
String Melody 2, YC 30
Toys - 6, CS-01, Rapman, SK-1, VL-1, VSS-30, Other Toys

Retro Machines MK 2 - 7
This Instrument Duplicates the following Vintage Synths or folders already included in Kontakt 5
Analog Machines, Digital Machines, All 9 Digital Pianos, Memory, Mini, Mini 700,
Orchestrator, String Melody 2.
The only instruments not duplicated that occur on vintage are Drum Machines, Electone Organ, Toys, F100, Mellotron and YC 30

Chroma, FourVoice, Matrix, Polly 6, Pro 1, Quadra, Super JP

40 Legacy VSL Orchestra Instruments

It is hard to classify a 'real' instrument. In general if you could walk into a music store and physically buy the instrument I considered it 'real'. I did include Ensembles as an instrument separate from the solo instrument.

planetearth · Post by **planetearth** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:34 pm

Not for nothing, but a big thanks from me to bigcat1969 for listing all the instruments in DimPro and Kontakt! I'd forgotten about many of them, and he's given me an incentive to go back, listen to them again, and see if I can develop something with them. Maybe some of the others on KVR will see this and be inspired, too.

Thanks again, bigcat1969!

Steve

SODDI · Post by **SODDI** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:35 pm

Well, I got Dimension Pro and Rapture together for about $40.

Right now my experience is limited because I'm trying to check these instruments out while troubleshooting a DAW - the troubleshooting eats up the playing time.

Dimension Pro seems to be a very sweet-sounding instrument with a lot of good standard presets. It may be too sweet-sounding and too standard for my peculiar needs. I was looking for pads and it's got a huge selection of really nice ones.

The preset browser is major league f***ed - you can only pull down 8 presets at a time from the standard VST preset menu. After that you need to go to their semi-translucent browser pane with nested folders. Not industry standard, not optimum.

Problematic to program, mainly because of how the envelopes are displayed, but maybe I need to spend more time with in-depth programming.

I needed this kind of synth, I got it, it was very cheap - I do not regret it. Let's see how it goes.

It's another bullet in my gun.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:49 pm

I like both of them, Rapture and Dimension Pro...

I still have problems with designing the appropriate envelopes but it's great to have so many envelopes on my finger tips!

The preset packs of Digital Sound Factory are top notch whilst the factory instrument emulations in Dimension Pro are, let's say, average...nevertheless, I like the strings.

It's the orchestra for the man with empty pockets...

planetearth · Post by **planetearth** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:53 pm

SODDI wrote:Well, I got Dimension Pro and Rapture together for about $40.

The preset browser is major league f***ed - you can only pull down 8 presets at a time from the standard VST preset menu. After that you need to go to their semi-translucent browser pane with nested folders. Not industry standard, not optimum.

Problematic to program, mainly because of how the envelopes are displayed, but maybe I need to spend more time with in-depth programming.

I needed this kind of synth, I got it, it was very cheap - I do not regret it. Let's see how it goes.

It's another bullet in my gun.

I think you'll be happy with both, especially for what you paid. DimPro and Rapture have a similar browser, and while their preset selection isn't "industry standard", it works once you get used to it. (To be fair, most of the plug-ins I use don't seem to use any standard I've been able to determine.)

DimPro's in-depth programming is covered quite thoroughly in the book that came with it. If you downloaded it, the .PDF might be useful, but KVR'er "tapper mike" developed this screencast, which you might find helpful: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... highlight= .

Steve

HaganeSteel · Post by **HaganeSteel** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:02 pm

Everyone knows how I feel about Dimension Pro.

But the actual synth is solid. I just don't like any of the factory sounds due to some really shoddy sample editing.

So I'm stuffing it full of Digital Sound Factory stuff and it's becoming muy useful.

It's really light on the CPU too.

I think its reverb and chorus are weak, but maybe I just don't know how to program them properly yet.

I like its filter and all the additional stuff like its distortion, delay, etc.

At this point, though, it's just my way of getting cheap Digital Sound Factory sounds (the Emu packs for DimPro are cheaper than the soundfonts sold by DSF directly).

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:19 pm

Integratron wrote: I'm on Verizon Fios fiber optic and it took a long time. I suspect it is slow at their end due to increased traffic. Perhaps try at various time of day.

I use two different places (both Verizon) I download from with the preferred one being a Fios connection that is suppose to give me increased speed.

One company I download from did a trace and found the problem is at Verizon. It specifically slows down the speed by 300% as soon as Verizon is handling it and often times out because of it. I'm not sure if they're following some FCC bandwidth policy or if it is their own. But it causes problems with any company I download large files from.

I would now rather buy software where a disc is sent to me for the extra ten dollars or so. It's well worth it.

Otherwise, it's unlimited bandwidth at dial-up speeds advertised at lightening speeds. Verizon lies.

bigcat1969 · Post by **bigcat1969** » Sat Aug 03, 2013 11:22 pm

Finally quality wise Kontakt is certainly better though most of its sounds fall well below the top instruments out there. Dimension Pro is a really a mix of synth and sampler while Kontakt is more sampler. It shows in the sounds, with the Expansion Packs Dim Pro has a touch under 4 gigs of sounds most of them compressed. Kontakt has 25 gigs with their new compression scheme. This means in general Dimpro is working with much smaller or more lightly sample instruments. To counteract this they use synth very aggressively on most instruments. The guitars (650 samples, 215 megs), strings (1.2 gigs 2k samples), brass (85, 250 samples) and sax (67 megs, 300 samples) all sound quite reasonable, but most other instruments especially the GPO sound very synthy.

Categorically

Pianos edge to Kontakt but neither is going to satify anyone.
Organs solid edge to Kontakt.
Synth huge edge to Dim Pro. However...
Vintage Synth is all Kontakt.
Guitars edge to Dim Pro.
Bass is a draw.
Drums are just confusing but an edge to Kontakt.
Slight Edge to Kontakt.
Orchestra to Kontakt in a rout.
Choir Kontakt in another rout.
World non-percussion is a huge edge to Kontakt.
Loops are all Dim Pro. But sadly I doubt any of us care about loops.
The file system is orders of magnitude better on Kontakt.
Third party support is almost entirely Kontakt.

So overall Dimpro wins for synthers and loopers, comes quite close as a band instrument. Kontakt wins utterly in Orchestra, Choir, World and Vintage as well as interface, file system and third party support.

Your opinions on Cakewalk Dimension Pro