Swam Instruments on the Receptor Some Progress

[danmack]

The epic struggle continues as I work on getting the Swam instruments, notably the Clarinet / Bass Clarinet and Oboe / English Horn working on my Receptor 2+. The issues were first finding a really workable setting that would not kill the CPU and yet have good sound quality, and then getting automated voice (patch changing) That would not reboot the mixer back to the previous settings.
Progress has been made!
The ideal resolution for my 2+ (AMD processors) is 48K and 128 samples. The processor load never goes past half way and I can run two Swam voices at once or any Swam Kontakt combinations I have without killing the CPU. It is a sacrifice in sound quality but I can live with it.

As to the automation situation, I created a snapshot multi for my Kontakt based sounds and leave the first channel empty and selected so that I can load a Swam instrument as a single via program changes. It loads in under three seconds and if I decide to change to another voice I have to clear the Swam plugin before the patch change otherwise it wants to reload and sometimes crash the mixer. The rest of the channels are instantiations of Kontakt Player5 which for me loads up the fastest when I start up the receptor. Any voices in these channels will be able to toggle the output switch and disengage the CPU on those instantiations. It's not a perfect solution for what I am doing but for now I can at least incorporate one swam voice into my normal setup and they are good useful instruments and allow me to use some of my other hardware synths to do other things. Ideally it would be great to see if there would be enough interest between your company and Swam to work out what causes the Swam plugins to act the way they do in terms of the receptor interface so that it works more like other more commonly used plugins.
Thanks everyone,
Dan Mackey

[looneytunes]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have the SWAM instruments, but haven't actively pursued getting them onto receptor.

I have a 2+ pro max, but I've been concerned that SWAM would drag receptor to it's knees. The Quatro might be able to handle SWAM with less constraints on buffer size, and with less concern to running other plugs (such as Kontakt). Hard to believe, but the Receptor 2s are running into SW that is taxing the HW to it's limits. I find U-he Diva can do this to Receptor on certain patches (eg. long envelope release times).

Kevin L

[danmack]

The newer Swam instruments are a little better optimized so they can sound really good at 44.1 with a 128 sample rate. I ran them 2+ with the AMD processors and the CPU meter got barely over half and I even ran two at once. This was at 48k and 128 samples so it wouldn't make the Kontakt sax Bros. sound too bad. All I am doing is EWI with this and play mostly solo voices and a few layers so I'm not running massive Polyphonic instruments like Ivory or a synth like FM8 and I also run some other hardware pieces so my processor load in the greater realm is not so big. Running at 96K I need to go to 256 samples which gives a slight latency but only a little better sound quality the way sound now. They are working for my needs now which is the most important thing and no computer to have to drag along. I just wish they could toggle output on and off in snapshot mode so I could change sounds without a 3 second lag or have to use my workaround loading singles into a channel strip in a snapshot multi.

[okiikahuna]

Thanks for all the great info on the Samplemodelling stuff.

Are you using the Samplemodelling stuff with a breath controller? If so, how fast is the response?

Also, do you think running two instances, say a sax and a trumpet or trombone, would be viable on a VIP?

I'm asking because I'm currently using 2 Yamaha VL70s in a rack running off of a Kurz PC3. I really love the Sax brothers stuff on my computer (i7 4730k w32gb RAM) and have been thinking of doing a Receptor upgrade to the VIP just to replace the VL70s. But, it only makes sense if I can do what I do with the two VL70s and the breath response is as good as I can get with my current combination. What are your thoughts on this?

K.

[danmack]

I use the Akai EWI4000S and the breath response is very smooth and the latency very low. My receptor is a two Plus which is the slowest of the series two with slower processors than the VIP. My resolution is set at 44.1 with a 128 sample buffer. I also have the OS2 upgrade which gets it to operate like a VIP with rack mode and live play functions. Everything works equally well in each mode. I would suggest getting the new saxophones using the Swam engine, smoother sound and response and less CPU load. I am able to run a couple of instantiations of swam at a time and a swam and a Kontakt based instrument, (usually swam tenor and trumpet or Mr. SaxT and trumpet. My Vl70 does the trombone to fill that out and I am able to do that effectively but that is all I dare to do without overloading my CPU. My processor runs at about 2ghz and the VIP is at 3ghs so you should have few or no problems.
Dan
We are trying to figure out installing the Swam engine instruments on the receptor vip since I was able to get them on my two plus. Hopefully that can get worked out soon.

[danmack]

Oh and the breath response on these instruments has been better and more immediate.
Dan

[okiikahuna]

Thanks for the info. That sounds very encouraging.

But you say "we are trying to work out installing the Swam engine instruments on the receptor vip . . . " I only have the Swam saxes, never got the Kontakt versions. What has to be worked out to install them?

I'm glad somebody has finally upped the ante on the virtual wind stuff. The VL series has only been around since, what, 95? Nearly 20 years. Looks like its getting time to trade in my old Receptor 1 and maybe say goodbye to the VLs.

Lucky for me, I have a small stash of BC3s set aside. They are like gold now.

K.

[okiikahuna]

Aah, just found your Feb. 11 post on installing SWAM on Receptor 2. Are the issues getting it on the VIP going to be the same or will there be differences?
(I'm afraid I've neglected my Receptor for a few years and I am still stuck in Receptor 1 land. Did they ever get that Direct Install stuff working? )

[danmack]

The issue I had initially had to do with the install being recognized during the refresh plugins operation. The clarinets installed fine with no issues. The alto sax I. The saxophone set had an issue with the.DLL being recognized. The soprano, tenor and baritone completed that process and functioned fine. The same was true with the Oboe in both the Oboe/ English Horn and DoubleReed sets. The English Horn and Bassoons worked end the Oboe was not recognized though all of the components installed. I contacted Emanuele at Swam and suggested I send install logs. In those he fou an issue that he was able to adjust in thent replacement .DLLs . For the alto sax and oboe that I replaced in the appropriate folders and ran the refresh operation again and all the instruments worked.

[danmack]

I was not finished with the last reply but working from my phone I accidentally submitted it. Emanuele emailed me that he was going to make that correction to all of the Swam products for the next update. I installed all of those updates and experienced no difficulties. Do you have a way to communicate with Skype or (trying to think of that other one Meeting something). We could probably link up and I could give you a better idea of how this works. I am working on some vides of the install process and some samples of the sound and response of these voices with the EWI and I hope to have these up and posted soon.
Dan

[okiikahuna]

Thank you! That is very generous of you. If its okay, I would like to contact you after I have gotten a VIP. I plan on taking advantage of Muse's trade-up offer and trade in my aging rev 1 for a VIP for $1,299. The only question is whether I would be better off with the 1tb hard drive or the 256gb SSD for $200 more. Or, perhaps add an SSD later. SSD prices are falling pretty rapdily at the moment and a 1tb SSD may be very feasible in the ear future. Maybe won't matter too much for the Sample-modelling stuff, but might make a difference if I want to run Ivory or some other sample-streaming monster.

K.

[danmack]

All I can offer is, money aside nobody ever said I should have gotten the smaller monitor or hard drive.

[okiikahuna]

Yeah, with 1tb Samsung Evos going for under $500, or Crucial M500s for even less, that may be a better option than the stock 256gb.

The Samplemodelling stuff is finally convincing me to give up my VL70s. But, its amazing it has taken this long to better it. And honestly, the VL70 still holds up surprising well when I compare them, especially with the Patchman chip.

But I am concerned after reading some other posts of yours where you talk about your unit restarting to its last save state. Does the Samplemodelling stuff cause this? Can it be reliable at the gig? Reliability kind of trumps every other consideration.

K.

[danmack]

It only does it in mixer mode when you do a snapshot multi and use the bypass buttons. I have found the rack mode with live play does not give me these issues, One weird thing I noticed is if you try to continue while switching presets it does a little portamento thing but if you re-select it it plays fine Because the EWI and wind controllers send such a stream of CC2 i think it creates some unique issues that keyboard, Guitarists and drummers who have a single and or sustain as opposed to a note that requires continuous support.