Air Music Tech Vacuum Pro Synthesizer - free with Computer Music Magazine January 2018 Issue

[pheeleep]

AIR won't have much to sell at this rate. I was playing with it today and meh, I have a hard time looking at that interface.

Right, but, don't sell it short. It is really interesting for certain kinds of sounds if you can get past its quirkiness.

Yeah, it's just hard on my old eyes. Maybe I can hack the skin. It isn't terribly complex, it is all the saturation bits that make it interesting. What was that other synth years ago, I forget, with Russian lettering?

olga maybe

i think it looks good personally

I wonder what the Daweed knob does. Turns up the high?

[braj]

AIR won't have much to sell at this rate. I was playing with it today and meh, I have a hard time looking at that interface.

Right, but, don't sell it short. It is really interesting for certain kinds of sounds if you can get past its quirkiness.

Yeah, it's just hard on my old eyes. Maybe I can hack the skin. It isn't terribly complex, it is all the saturation bits that make it interesting. What was that other synth years ago, I forget, with Russian lettering?

olga maybe

i think it looks good personally

I wonder what the Daweed knob does. Turns up the high?

It sends you to the Gulag for re-education.

[ghettosynth]

Is this thing inspired by any actual Russian synth?

With my glasses on it looks better. The most interesting thing beyond all the saturation everywhere is the dual HPF/LPF filters and adjustable slope for both. I honestly am turned off by most of the presets I've tried though. Starting from init is much more enjoyable.

Yes, also make sure that you grok the randomization on each section, it's really quite fun. But I also really like the variable slope filters. For me, it's an awesome dark pad machine. The variable slope allows you to get some nice M12 style pads and the saturation just makes them dark. I wish that they would up the voices to 12 or 16 already. Honestly, I don't get AIR. I think that they must have somebody's nephew working in marketing and/or product management.

[braj]

His name is Joey and he likes Pinball.

[Spencer Maddox]

I don't get AIR. I think that they must have somebody's nephew working in marketing and/or product management.

Same. The pricing always been weird.
Theoretically there was a time, not sure if the offers the same now, that you could get X2 for a dollar then upgrade to the entire collection for 75$
I have the entire air collection and I spent 76$ to get it (not including hybrid that I got in a midi controller)

That’s...just weird business practices.
Never thought I’d be put off by good prices but it’s so strange that they give away that much stuff for such a low price.

Their products are lovely however. I use them everyday. Just...weird business decisions.

[braj]

Well, my theory is they want to get established and build a customer base outside of the Protools world, they made their money off these plugins before they became VSTs. So it likely is a low overhead game right now for them, where others have to invest in development. They just released Loom 2, I wonder when they will be giving Loom 1 away in hopes of selling upgrade licenses. I expect they want a lot of people to think about upgrading to Hybrid 4 when it is released, or whatever. So they are selling goodwill I think as much as they are synths.

[ghettosynth]

I don't get AIR. I think that they must have somebody's nephew working in marketing and/or product management.

Same. The pricing always been weird.
Theoretically there was a time, not sure if the offers the same now, that you could get X2 for a dollar then upgrade to the entire collection for 75$
I have the entire air collection and I spent 76$ to get it (not including hybrid that I got in a midi controller)

That’s...just weird business practices.
Never thought I’d be put off by good prices but it’s so strange that they give away that much stuff for such a low price.

Their products are lovely however. I use them everyday. Just...weird business decisions.

Yes, that's how I got the bundle. But then they're working on products and releasing betas and their strategy is to release the monophonic version of Vacuum Pro? Huh? Loom II is an embarrassing update at $49. I wouldn't pay that much for so little if I had paid full price for the original.

There is plenty of ways that Vacuum Pro could be usefully updated, they could start with the abysmal and strangely divided modulation sources. Any update that doesn't increase that polyphony though is a waste of time.

I don't get their strategy, who are they attracting with silly update prices on mediocre updates? Certainly not the price conscious consumers who grabbed a $75 bundle upgrade from a $1 or free plugin. Certainly not those who are looking for the cutting edge with their mediocre updates.

I think that they're confused about the value of the plugins in the general market based on their business with/for/as (I don't know which TBH) Avid.

[ghettosynth]

Well, my theory is they want to get established and build a customer base outside of the Protools world, they made their money off these plugins before they became VSTs. So it likely is a low overhead game right now for them, where others have to invest in development. They just released Loom 2, I wonder when they will be giving Loom 1 away in hopes of selling upgrade licenses. I expect they want a lot of people to think about upgrading to Hybrid 4 when it is released, or whatever. So they are selling goodwill I think as much as they are synths.

No, I agree, but so far they've come out with the most uninteresting updates possible. Their products are a bit outdated, if they want to play in the current market, they need to address those issues.

[braj]

Yeah, they also just released Boom, which looks literally 10 years old, at least.

[pekbro]

You guys are actually doing way better than me, even though I got Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro and Xpand 2 for $1 ea. A few years ago I bought the Riser for about $50 and not too long ago, Loom 1 for about $34. So, about $90 for me in total. Although, I'm not really interested in the collection, I might buy more pieces if they come up for $1, in fact thats the only way I would buy them.

Theres just too much stuff in there I would never use, same with Komplete for me.

-Cheers

[ghettosynth]

You guys are actually doing way better than me, even though I got Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro and Xpand 2 for $1 ea. A few years ago I bought the Riser for about $50 and not too long ago, Loom 1 for about $34. So, about $90 for me in total. Although, I'm not really interested in the collection, I might buy more pieces if they come up for $1, in fact thats the only way I would buy them.

Theres just too much stuff in there I would never use, same with Komplete for me.

-Cheers

I use their effects quite a bit. I didn't think that I would when I got the bundle but they have some unique features there. I don't think that I'd buy the bundle just to get the effects though.

[planetearth]

I bought Hybrid 3 and a couple of expansion packs on Black Friday from PB for a buck each, but I didn't see anything about Vacuum Pro being available there for $1. I was all over the Air offerings, and saw the $75 bundle, the expansion packs, and Hybrid 3. Are you guys sure it was Vacuum Pro?

At any rate, is this the full version of Vacuum Pro in Computer Music? I've been looking for a reason to buy that mag, and this would be good enough, if it's the full version! As much as I like the Computer Music family of magazines, I don't really want a "lite" version of Vacuum Pro.

Steve

[Sg1122]

I bought Hybrid 3 and a couple of expansion packs on Black Friday from PB for a buck each, but I didn't see anything about Vacuum Pro being available there for $1. I was all over the Air offerings, and saw the $75 bundle, the expansion packs, and Hybrid 3. Are you guys sure it was Vacuum Pro?

At any rate, is this the full version of Vacuum Pro in Computer Music? I've been looking for a reason to buy that mag, and this would be good enough, if it's the full version! As much as I like the Computer Music family of magazines, I don't really want a "lite" version of Vacuum Pro.

Steve

vacuum pro deal was you trade in a token on plugin boutique and get it for $1

I bought the air bundle from plugin boutique for $75 from free xpand and It was worth It for me

[pekbro]

It doesn't say anything in the add about it being a lite version. They would have to make a lite version, why would they do that for something you will most likely be able to buy for $1 at some point.

*Its just saturation marketing, its old assets repackaged, but its good, and they know it. F*ing practically EVERYONE will buy the stuff for $1. Then they make new versions and you are already invested. Its smart, they make it time limited and whatnot so as not to devalue catastrophically.

Theres probably only 2 guys working there.

[yellowmix]

You guys are actually doing way better than me, even though I got Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro and Xpand 2 for $1 ea. A few years ago I bought the Riser for about $50 and not too long ago, Loom 1 for about $34. So, about $90 for me in total. Although, I'm not really interested in the collection, I might buy more pieces if they come up for $1, in fact thats the only way I would buy them.

Theres just too much stuff in there I would never use, same with Komplete for me.

I have found a good amount of usefulness out of the bundle. The effect pack is solid, and there's a couple unique things in there.

I found the Riser to be kinda silly, but I'm pretty well-armed with synths, so I can see its utility for certain genres. That's the only thing I uninstalled.

Transfuser is pretty cool if you have REX loops. It's honestly one of the more interesting loop slicer plugins out there. Your alternatives are Geist 2 and SliceX.

DB-33 is one of the better Hammond B3 emus around. Your alternative is Blue3.

Structure comes with an interesting library. Waterphones and Jaw Harps, Kazoos and Zippers. Along with your standard orchestra ensembles. But I guess if you're finding Komplete overwhelming... this would be overwhelming too.