KVR Audio

fluffy_little_something · Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:27 pm

The filter combos remind me of Dune.

The effects sound great, especially the reverb.

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 9:34 pm

Ingonator wrote:I just bough the Upgrade from Cubase Pro 8 to 8.5 for 49.99 € (incl. VAT). Cubase 8.5 also includes Retrologue 2

So the upgrade from Cubase Pro 8 to 8.5 is the same price as the upgrade from Retrologue 1 to 2 and it also includes Retrologue 2 ?

Hmmm....ok Steinberg.

EDIT: I've posted at the Steinberg forum asking about whether the upgrade from 1 to 2 requires a USB dongle or can we keep using the soft e-licenser. For those who might have missed it:

On the Buy page it does say "Additional USB E-Licenser Required" when on the "Retrologue 2 Full Version" option but when you switch to the "Update from Retrologue" page the USB part disappears.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:08 pm

What i don't quite understand is that fixed phase for the sine waveform doesn't give you the notorious click on the attack phase when set to a certain phase. It's something i've really grown to like, and i thought it was kind of natural for a VA to have that click sound. Or am i missing something? Well, it gives you a click, but it's pretty lame, would have expected more really.

The resonator is pretty nice btw, some serious sound mangling possibilities there.

tristan- · Post by **tristan-** » Wed Dec 02, 2015 11:42 pm

it's so surprising, retrologue 2 is such an amazing synth. well done steinberg!

ckam03 · Post by **ckam03** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:47 am

It's not bad at all. I actually quite like it. It's a lot more useable now with all the extra goodies and that third oscillator!

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 8:46 am

fluffy_little_something wrote:The filter combos remind me of Dune.

As i already mentined the filter modes seem to be close to those in a Matrix 12 and also to those in the XPnader filter of UVI Falcon.

One filter modes where this is obvious is e.g. "AP + LP6" which in the Xpander/Matrix is 12 is called "3Phase + 1Low" and in Falcon's Xpander filter "A3L1". In Falcon and Retrologue the "Phase" filter seems to be called an "Allpass" filter which is a more common term.
I will try to check soon if that filter in retrologue and Falcon sounds close to that in Arturia Matrix-12V where i really like those "3Phase" modes which are perfect for pad sounds.

fluffy_little_something · Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:06 am

I meant the drop-down list of filter combos as such, I think I remember that from Dune. Not sure about individual combos, I don't know much about the M12/Xpander, other than that they were way too expensive for me back then

Have to work now, but I am looking forward to the afternoon when I have time to test v2 more thoroughly. So far the only dubious thing I noticed yesterday are the envelopes...

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:35 am

fluffy_little_something wrote:I meant the drop-down list of filter combos as such, I think I remember that from Dune. Not sure about individual combos, I don't know much about the M12/Xpander, other than that they were way too expensive for me back then
Have to work now, but I am looking forward to the afternoon when I have time to test v2 more thoroughly. So far the only dubious thing I noticed yesterday are the envelopes...

The filter modes in Dune 2 seem to be mostly different. I do not have DUNE 1 installed at the moment for checking but the modes there were maybe closer. Anyway it seems to be obvious that the modes in retrologue 2 are inspired by the Matrix 12.

Here are screenshots of the filter modes in Arturia Matrix-12V and Retrologue 2:

1.) Matrix-12V:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... es%201.png

2.) Retrologue 2:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... es%201.png

Besides different naming (e.g Phase = AP, Notch = BR, Low = LP, 1P = 6dB, 2P = 12dB etc.) Retrologue seems to include all 15 modes from Matrix-12V, at least judged by the names. So far i have not checked if they do also sound comparable.

For another comparison here are the filter modes of the Xpander filter in UVI Falcon:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/532 ... es%201.png

Again slightly different naming like e.g. Phase = A, Notch = N, Lowpass = L etc.

The names "AP" or "A" for the Matrix Phase filter should be related to "Allpass" which is a more common name.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 9:39 am

Teksonik wrote:
Ingonator wrote:I just bough the Upgrade from Cubase Pro 8 to 8.5 for 49.99 € (incl. VAT). Cubase 8.5 also includes Retrologue 2
So the upgrade from Cubase Pro 8 to 8.5 is the same price as the upgrade from Retrologue 1 to 2 and it also includes Retrologue 2 ?

Hmmm....ok Steinberg.

EDIT: I've posted at the Steinberg forum asking about whether the upgrade from 1 to 2 requires a USB dongle or can we keep using the soft e-licenser. For those who might have missed it:

On the Buy page it does say "Additional USB E-Licenser Required" when on the "Retrologue 2 Full Version" option but when you switch to the "Update from Retrologue" page the USB part disappears.

When I click "Buy now" and choose "Update from Retrologue", it doesn't show the USB dongle. Only for the other two options.

Anyway, I've just checked My Steinberg, and it seems the same, I can't activate it on more than one machine. Now, I know the only solution is to buy the usb dongle, but that is $59 NZD here!! and the update is $82 NZD, so the total is $141 NZD !!! No thanks!
I might change my mind if they do it like before and support the activation on soft e-licenser in more than one machine, but I doubt it! So, I will save my money for another synth not with such protection.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:02 am

Just checked using Retrologue 2 included with Cubase 8.5 (upgrade from Cubase

in other hosts. For that i copied the included VST2 plugin (both VSt2 and VST2 seem to be installed) to my usual VSTplugins folder and the plugin also works properly in Ableon Live 9.5 64-bit now.

It seems to use the license from Cubase 8.5 that is found at my USB e-Licenser (the Cubase 8.0 license was upgraded to 8.5 and the new license also works for older versions of Cubase) which for Cubase is a must as it does not work with soft eLicenser. Besides that i also have some other eLicenser protected plugins fro me.g. Waldorf and Xila Lab on that dongle, not to forget Steinberg Wavelab Elements 7.

Retrologue v1 was included with earlier versions of Cubase so it is not totally new there.

fluffy_little_something · Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:17 am

Maybe they switched to eLicenser because Retrologue is twice as expensive now.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:22 am

fluffy_little_something wrote:Maybe they switched to eLicenser because Retrologue is twice as expensive now.

Do you mean the Plugin that could be bought seperately or that included with Cubase 8.5? With Cubase using a soft eLicener was never possible AFAIK and plugins included with Cubase do use the Cubase license as a protection.

Besides that i am quite sure that also earlier versions of Retrologue needed eLicenser, at least a soft eLicenser.
I do not know if Steinberg has any products that do not use it as a copy protection, also eLicenser is owned by Steinberg.

A soft eLicenseer means that the license is stored on your HD opposing to being stored on an USB dongle. Using soft eLÖicenser has some disadvantages like e.g. loosing teh license at a HD crash or reformatting the HD and AFAIK you could also not use it at multiple computers with a soft eLicenser while the dongle will work on any computer.

A cool thing about Cubase is that you could install it on e.g. 10 computer s (or more) but it will only work at that computer where you have plugged in the USB dongle (and eLicenser software has to be installed on all those computers).

fluffy_little_something · Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:33 am

Sorry, I meant the USB hardware-based version. Maybe when R still cost only 50 euros, they didn't want to force users to pay for the device as well, which is not cheap in some world regions.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Dec 03, 2015 11:47 am

fluffy_little_something wrote:Sorry, I meant the USB hardware-based version. Maybe when R still cost only 50 euros, they didn't want to force users to pay for the device as well, which is not cheap in some world regions.

AFAIK the only version that could only be used with the hardware dongle is that included with Cubase as Cubase could not be used without it and the boxed version also includes a dongle (opposing to the download version). Anyway without the dongle you will have problems using the plugin at multiple computers. Once the license is on your HD teh only way to move it to another computer would be to first copy it onto a dongle and then use it at the other computer (you coudl also copy it back to the HD of that other computer, using the eLicenser software).
Selling an eLicenser protected software usually involves shipping the license on a physical dongle, even if you had used it with a soft eLicenser. Besides the cost for the dongle usually no additional transfer fee is involved.

Once you got the eLicenser dongle you could also add other licenses to it like other software from Steinberg and plugins from e.g. Waldorf or Xils Lab. AFAIK ReFX Nexus 2 is shipped with an eLicenser dongle, like with the boxed version of Cubase.

Several years ago when i bought Arturia Prophet V and Korg Legacy Collection Digital Edition as boxed versions both included an USB dongle too. At the moment i am using the Korg one for my licenses.

fluffy_little_something · Thu Dec 03, 2015 12:02 pm

Why can't one use one's own USB pen drive and turn it into such a dongle? Most people have such pen drives, often old, idle ones because they are too small. Steinberg could make a downloadable software that formats any USB pen drive and installs the license software on it.

Steinberg Retrologue