KVR Audio

fluffy_little_something · Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:21 am

Xpand2's synth features are rather limited, it is more of a rompler in my view.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:22 am

Apratim wrote:by the way has anyone here used xpand2 seems interesting and is free on dontcrack's site
i am afraid to try it because the 1.8 gig on 128kbps network will take hours to download is it worth that much time ??

The sounds are usable but so-so. You're not missing anything if you don't download it.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:29 am

Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.

Really, the biggest downside limiting it is it doesn't have separate outs.

Apratim · Post by **Apratim** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:35 am

braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.

ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:43 am

Apratim wrote:
braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.
ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters

The product page says this:

Multiple sound generation engines:
Subtractive Synthesis
FM Synthesis
Tonewheels
Sample Playback

Free is free, that's what I consider about it, for a freebie it is a great little thing. I got it with my controller and it has proven its use to me.

fluffy_little_something · Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:54 am

Apratim wrote:
braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.
ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters

There is a basic waveform menu:
https://app.box.com/s/1ph38spwfr1eeau012eldubidu4jsm16

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 12:55 am

Apratim wrote:
braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.
ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters

It's a rompler with very basic controls, FX, and bare bones filter. The sound is fine. But don't expect anything amazing from this thing.

Because yeah, free is free. I've used it a couple of times when I just wanted something quick. Yes, the sound quality is good enough to use in an actual track of music without people going "OMG, what is THAT crap?" But beyond that, like I said, don't expect Omnisphere quality as far as the samples.

Apratim · Post by **Apratim** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:12 am

wagtunes wrote:
Apratim wrote:
braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.
ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters
It's a rompler with very basic controls, FX, and bare bones filter. The sound is fine. But don't expect anything amazing from this thing.

Because yeah, free is free. I've used it a couple of times when I just wanted something quick. Yes, the sound quality is good enough to use in an actual track of music without people going "OMG, what is THAT crap?" But beyond that, like I said, don't expect Omnisphere quality as far as the samples.

ok thanks man i will be using it for drawing quick ideas and thanks for the tip+ the 75$ upgrade seems quite awesome by the way

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:23 am

Apratim wrote:
braj wrote:Xpand!2 is definitely worth having, it has four slots for stacking voices, with an individual arp for each, and is dead simple and won't waste your time. It definitely isn't a fully editable synth, but it apparently uses bits of tech from different Air products to create its presets, witch are varied. I own Sampletank for a rompler, but often find myself going to Xpand!2 because the low overhead and breadth of content, and the built in arps. For free it is definitely worth the time to download.
ok dead simple question
does it have samples or wavetables(i saw it has wavetables dont know how??) of simple waves like saw,sine,square.....with basic filters

I agree with everything Braj stated about Xpand!2. It is a rompler with 2500+ sounds, and it is a useful four part multitimbral instrument. I would call it a synth only in the sense that is has several synth engines under the hood, including a sampler. It is useful for quickly setting up 4 parts for a quick song arrangement or sketch. You can layer or split the keyboard with up to 4 parts. It has some great pads, as well as polysynths, and some synth basses. But it's real strength in addition to the pads is lots of real instrument samples, like strings, brass, woodwinds, and choirs, as well as percussion. It has some lead synths, but this wouldn't be my go to for synth sounds.

You cannot edit or even see the oscillator sound source included in each patch, other than the patch name. But you have some smart knobs at the top of the UI that you can MIDI learn to your controller to control things like attack, decay, release, filter env, cutoff, etc.

So yes it's worth having, doesn't sound bad, it's useful and I use it often. But it really is the farthest thing from Sylenth that has been mentioned so far in this thread, LOL! It's free right now, so grab it!

But as far as synths go, I would recommend just downloading as many demos as you can find and try them all until you find one you can live with, and then buy that one.

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:33 am

Apratim wrote: ok thanks man i will be using it for drawing quick ideas and thanks for the tip+ the 75$ upgrade seems quite awesome by the way

If you do grab the deal on the complete AIR bundle upgrade, you will get three decent synths: Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro, and Loom. They don't get a lot of air time around this forum, but they are respectable, especially in the bang for the buck department!

You can do a lot with those three synths. I think Hybrid will come closest to your original goal. And if bandwidth is an issue, you don't have to download all of the instruments at once. The synth downloads are not that big, but the sample based instruments installers can get quite large.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 1:41 am

Apratim · Post by **Apratim** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:15 am

egbert101 wrote:Reason I don't touch Xpand2 or any similar products:
iLok hardware dongle optional, iLok authorisation required.

not a issue for me until it uses the usb and i think xpand uses the software only

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat Nov 18, 2017 2:31 am

I once avoided iLok, but since it got a software option I have no complaints, and frankly it is super easy to deal with.

searching for a cheap alternative to sylenth1 (yes it's another "alternate to" thread) but need help