Do you still use abandoned vsts?

[BlackWinny]

Recently I made a little webpage with all the links to still get today the Linplug stuff (legally !) :

http://black.winny.free.fr/MAO/Linplug/Linplug.html

Quick question: I was reading that Linplug Octopus allows for importing samples. Do they run parallel to the FM engine, or are they available as operators?

Yes, they are available as operators. Up to eight single cycle wav/aiff files can be used as operators.

And you can also create your own waveforms.

And even the filters themselves can be used as operators.

And Octopus is not only a FM synth but also an additive synth.

Read this help manual from the page 10 to the page 20, it is awesome (especially the page 16 for your question):
http://www.linplug.de/stock/octopus/OctopusManual.pdf

[dellboy]

I have a 200 year old violin and still play it every day.

If a synth still works in win 10 and it sounds good I will use it until it stops sounding good.

I will also stop playing the violin when it stops sounding good.

or sounding at all

The wife would be a happy lady if it stopped sounding

[mgiambro]

Macs have a tendency to reject a whole bunch of them though!

Yes, from reading some of the comments it seems that this is more of an issue for macs. I haven't yet heard of anyone have Alchemy 1.55 become unusable on the PC, so I think I'll carry on using it and bounce anything I do with it so I have the wavs if/when it does break. Thanks for the comment.

[fmr]

Macs have a tendency to reject a whole bunch of them though!

Yes, from reading some of the comments it seems that this is more of an issue for macs. I haven't yet heard of anyone have Alchemy 1.55 become unusable on the PC, so I think I'll carry on using it and bounce anything I do with it so I have the wavs if/when it does break. Thanks for the comment.

If it didn't break with the transition to Windows 10, it's unlikely it will with the major updates. So, we can expect to still enjoy Alchemy for many years in Windows.

It's one of the BIG advantages of Windows over Mac - retro-compatibility.

[sjm]

I'm on Win, and never had an issue with something no longer working (touch wood). I have better things to do than track the current development status of all my VSTs. If they work I use them. Simple as.

I can say for sure that some of the VSTs I use will never be updated, because the developer died, for example. That doesn't stop me finding the software useful. And all my 32-bit VSTs work without a hitch with the in-built bridge in FL Studio 64-bit.

If I were on Mac, it'd be a different story. It's one of the reasons I don't understand the appeal of a Mac. I still use 20 year old software and value that ability.

[mgiambro]

Thanks for the replies guys. I know some people think it was a silly question, but I don't really want to commit to using a vst heavily if there's a reasonable chance it could fail on me. I'd rather just use something else. However, there isn't really anything like Alchemy around, so given what I've learned from this thread, I'll keep using it. The replies have been really useful.

[ouroboros]

Still love me some SynthEdit. ha

[himalaya]

Still love me some SynthEdit. ha

I wish I could use some on the Mac OS. I particularly miss Krakli synths...such fond memories of patching them and using in music...

[felis]

I have several that I no longer use because they won't load - even in compatibility mode on a pc.
Most of the stuff that came on floppies are part of those.
I can no longer use Logic for pc either. Granted - all that kind of stuff is pretty old now.

If they'll load and function, I may use them occasionally.

[jackoo]

EnergyXT 1.4 - couldn't live without it... and other small VSTs adding more functionality.
I use a lot of MIDI plugins, couldn't live without the pizmidi plugs...

[mevla]

They all are still available on their market pages.

I did not know about LinPlug. I'm trying out Spectral now. Seems to run fine in Linux/Bitwig, 64-bit version. Saxlab also runs fine and sounds great, with a ceretain amount of compression to tame the peaks. I see this playing nicely with Bitwig's Instrument Selector container and adding automation to switc between saxophone expressions.

I'm looking for natural-sounding instruments that complements synths. To this effect I use Sakura for strings, pianoteq for piano. Now Saxlab seems to be the next to be added to the arsenal.

Do you know when Linplug stopped development ? Looks like around 2014 or so. And, why are they called LINplug when they offer no native Linux version ?

Looks like they had something to do with Rob Papen.

I watched the Japanese Octopus overview and it seems interesting. Octupus is available from the link in your web page, although there's no demo and no mention of it on the Linplug web site. I don't even know if any download link provided by the transaction processing would be valid.

Cheers.

[BlackWinny]

They all are still available on their market pages.

I did not know about LinPlug. I'm trying out Spectral now. Seems to run fine in Linux/Bitwig, 64-bit version. Saxlab also runs fine and sounds great, with a ceretain amount of compression to tame the peaks. I see this playing nicely with Bitwig's Instrument Selector container and adding automation to switc between saxophone expressions.

I'm looking for natural-sounding instruments that complements synths. To this effect I use Sakura for strings, pianoteq for piano. Now Saxlab seems to be the next to be added to the arsenal.

Do you know when Linplug stopped development ? Looks like around 2014 or so. And, why are they called LINplug when they offer no native Linux version ?

Looks like they had something to do with Rob Papen.

I watched the Japanese Octopus overview and it seems interesting. Octupus is available from the link in your web page, although there's no demo and no mention of it on the Linplug web site. I don't even know if any download link provided by the transaction processing would be valid.

Cheers.

The name Linplug comes from the first syllable of its founder's name : Peter Linsener.

The development activity of Linplug ended exactly on the 31 May 2017, so just a bit more than a year ago. And the email sent by Peter to all his customers on the 2nd June 2017 was very clear : it is the development activity which has been stopped, not the other activities. I still have this email and it is very clear: the developments are definitively stopped, the other services go on, but without any future update.

If you're looking for natural sounding instruments to complement synths, have a look at Modelonia from NuSofting. NuSofting is an one-man Italian company created by Luigi Felici... who as worked with Linplug and who notably was the developer of Saxlab and he also took part to the development of some other Linplug plugins. Modelonia is a wonderful instrument giving many organic sounds typical from winds (brass, woodwinds, etc.) smoothly mixed to sorts of plucked-strings sounds, in a manner leaving all the controls to the user for the creation of the sounds and their evolution, morphs, etc. during the envelope duration.

About Octopus:
Here is the archived page of Octopus on Linplug's website:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150923063 ... topus.html
And the PDF help file is here:
http://www.linplug.de/stock/octopus/OctopusManual.pdf


There isn't any problem with the links that I have provided in my webpage for all the Linplug products, even for Octopus. All the products that I have referenced on my page are always available today, even Octopus. You receive your link and the serial within the few hours (generally even within the next half-hour) which follows your purchase, and it comes from Linplug themselves. Even again today. As I wrote, in Linplug it is the developments which are definitively ended. The sales activity keeps going on.

[mevla]

The name Linplug comes from the first syllable of its founder's name : Peter Linsener.

Merci beaucoup pour les infos, M. Lagaffe !

I tried Octopus but unfortunately many of the demo sounds have clicks in them. All pads and such are fine and nice, although any sharp and short sound have a click. Since I do not know the synth and there's no apparent ADSR but many amplitude parameters, which I tried to tweak here and there but with no success, I will have to spend more time on this one or figure out if $30 is all right for original smooth pad sounds.

Modelonia is even stranger. The bundled sounds do not give a clear impression. I'm afraid that it's not only modern times, but I find that a demo synth must show its best upfront.

Still, Saxlab is incredible ! Thank you for mentioning LinPlug. Other of their synths like CrX and Spectral and Morphox are quite interesting also. To see that sound banks were made for Spectral by famous sound designers also adds support.

I got CrX4 as this synth seems to add colours to the synth palette I have and seems to offer potential sound creation avenues using samples. At $49 I find it's a pretty good deal for what looks like a well thought and well executed product.

Cheers.

[EnGee]

Still, Saxlab is incredible ! Thank you for mentioning LinPlug. Other of their synths like CrX and Spectral and Morphox are quite interesting also.

I also like those mentioned from LinPlug in addition to Albino of course, but I don't have any of them!

I'm demoing SaxLab now and mostly I will buy it soon as I love the Saxophone sound, which seems discontinued in Pop music these days Thanks for the reminder.

I like a lot how they used Saxophone (and other brass instruments) in the 80's pop music like Madness, UB40, Spandau Ballet and many others (sorry off topic, but I always wonder why it disappeared?!).

[Gone soft]

Till few months ago I was using VAZ Modular from time to time, but I began to have problems with it inside Reaper 5 (32bit as I don't use bridges), so recently I didn't bother to install it or any 32bit host/VST. Pity though, as I really like its sound and CPU usage. It is a very capable synth

What sort of problems? I've found it still runds fine in Reaper for me on Windows 10.

VAZ Modular is the only I can think of immidiately and I find it's still unique in so many manners, though somewhat showing it's age in a few of the modules. There's a bunch of plugins I haven't bothered reinstalling but will do whenever I start missing any of them.