Adam Szabo - AIRWAVE Out Now! (JP-8080 VST)

[Dark Fiber]

Once again we see the wannabe edge lords who have never owned, played, or even been in the same room as the hardware coming to examine the plugin with a scanning electron microscope looking for any perceived imperfection in the plugin so they can chant the KVR mantra "It doesn't sound like the hardware".



Sound Like.png

Exactly, you really need the exact hardware in front of you to be entitled to an opinion. Even when the developer is posting a comparison video with the hardware unit in it, you cannot have any opinion about it. LOL

[Lbdunequest]

Even though the Virus emulator came out I still prefer Viper as an instrument. I expect it'll be the same for this too.

Same, mostly due to way lower CPU usage and better UI

strange, i have Viper and also Emulator. Emulator runs way more efficient then Viper on Ryzen 9 7950x processor. The Usual Suspects made alot of improvements in the emulation that now has way better performance then at the beginning. From my findings Emulator is CPU heavy but not as even Diva or VPS avenger. I was able to play 4 chords midi with Unison with 64 instances without a sweat.

Did you turn on the emulator to report the actual CPU usage to the host? I know they improved it a lot but last time I checked Viper was definitely lighter on CPU

nah, i used default and just did a real time testing to see when CPU will start to choke.

Im not sure tbh, Viper was quite easy on Intel CPU, but when i switched to Ryzen it seemed like performance wasnt as i expected. Maybe plugin needs some code optimisation like for example U-he did for Diva and Repro for 7 series Ryzens. When i got Ryzen CPU Diva and Repro were CPU hogs but after patch they werent.

[0degree]

Even though the Virus emulator came out I still prefer Viper as an instrument. I expect it'll be the same for this too.

Same, mostly due to way lower CPU usage and better UI

strange, i have Viper and also Emulator. Emulator runs way more efficient then Viper on Ryzen 9 7950x processor. The Usual Suspects made alot of improvements in the emulation that now has way better performance then at the beginning. From my findings Emulator is CPU heavy but not as even Diva or VPS avenger. I was able to play 4 chords midi with Unison with 64 instances without a sweat.

Did you turn on the emulator to report the actual CPU usage to the host? I know they improved it a lot but last time I checked Viper was definitely lighter on CPU

nah, i used default and just did a real time testing to see when CPU will start to choke.

Im not sure tbh, Viper was quite easy on Intel CPU, but when i switched to Ryzen it seemed like performance wasnt as i expected. Maybe plugin needs some code optimisation like for example U-he did for Diva and Repro for 7 series Ryzens. When i got Ryzen CPU Diva and Repro were CPU hogs but after patch they werent.

Interesting - I recently updated to Ryzen 9950x - will check the usage in Viper later

[Albert.VST]

My next project was going to be the Yamaha AN1X, but now that this french (i think) guy joined their team who can reverse engineer anything with a microscope, I bet you right now that they will do it. They will do anything that has a chip in it which needs firmware. So I will stay the hell away from any synth like that from now on. I will only consider something Analog that has no firmware.

Maybe consider Synton Syrinx
Though still I would love the AN1x. I do have the PLG version but having it as VSTi would be great.

[Benjamin923]

Out of curiosity are there no emulations for this previously? Diva or something?

Divas does analogue, the JP8080 was digital.

Not to derail but I believe some Diva components model digital oscillators or filters. I believe it might model this oscillator even, but I’m not sure about envelopes, filters, other characteristic modules etc.

[djanthonyw]

JE-8086 will be superior as it's the actual JP8K minus any AD/DA from the hardware.

How do you figure that? Given the additions Adam has made, I'd suggest a slavish copy will be measurably inferior.

It’s the actual synth, not an imitation that is trying to be the same synth. It’s also cross platform.

[Super Piano Hater 64]

It’s the actual synth, not an imitation that is trying to be the same synth. It’s also cross platform.

There are advantages, but they're not totally one-sided. There are tradeoffs to consider. For example, CPU usage has already been mentioned. The nature of the emulator means it will always overlook certain optimizations that are low-hanging fruit for alternatives like Airwave that rebuild everything from scratch. There's no way around that without a much larger effort at reversing the entire firmware (and/or waiting several decades for copyright to expire).

[starflakeprj]

Windows only again!!! Nooo!!

I have Viper and lost it in my switch to Mac. I thought the platform he used for his plugins are mac too now, so when I saw the announcement I hoped that this would be mac too.

Same here, but I will probably buy it at one point, when I have rebuilt my PC. Looks and sounds really nice!

[starflakeprj]

My next project was going to be the Yamaha AN1X, but now that this french (i think) guy joined their team who can reverse engineer anything with a microscope, I bet you right now that they will do it. They will do anything that has a chip in it which needs firmware. So I will stay the hell away from any synth like that from now on. I will only consider something Analog that has no firmware.

Alesis A6 Andromeda, thank you

Edit: I see now that I didn't read your post well enough, but still, Alesis A6 Andromeda, please

[omac]

Thank you, Adam. I'm really enjoying it! My .02 concerning the emulator project. I don't actually see your project as really being in competition. You always add something extra while also keeping enough authenticity that most can't complain (there will always be some complaints). Also, since I don't own the hardware, there is no way I can legally use the emulator. It would have hurt me to buy a jp-8080 second-hand, and I'm space-challenged. I really wanted a software plugin, and when I heard you were working on one, that was it really. Unless you change, I'm probably going to buy whatever you make. I've never been disappointed.

[Trancer]

Adam, would a Supernova 2 be possible?

That would be quite a machine, too.

[mambo888]

Arturia has a minimoog, UAD has a minimoog, Softube has a minimoog, etc. I believe multiple versions of JP8000 emulations can also coexist. I’m on Mac so sadly won’t buy it tho. However I believe that different alternatives can have better preset management, ARP, FX, user interface, higher sample rate, user support and many other benefits.

[Lbdunequest]

Arturia has a minimoog, UAD has a minimoog, Softube has a minimoog, etc. I believe multiple versions of JP8000 emulations can also coexist. I’m on Mac so sadly won’t buy it tho. However I believe that different alternatives can have better preset management, ARP, FX, user interface, higher sample rate, user support and many other benefits.

Minimoog has Minimoog, UHe Has Minimoog, Synapse has Minimoog, GeForce has Minimoog, Cherry Audio has Minimoog.

[Caine123]

YEAAAAAAAAAAAH! But sadly no intro price or bundle price (got all his vsts) = 69 Euros
but it is Adam, so I guess will buy it anyways!

Thank you for the post, I was going to do it myself but fell asleep right after the release, I hardly had any rest for the last few days and was utterly exhausted.

The 69 is the intro price...and will remain so indefinitely I think its a pretty good deal for what it can do, and now that version 1.0 is out, it can continue to grow with more features all for free of course

Yeess. I've been waiting for this. It sounds great. Uses almost no CPU on my Ryzen 7. Who is 'DC'? Their FnlContact patch is glorious.

One thing. I would love it if he allowed to click the parameters instead of having to click through them with a single button. If OSC1 waveform is Triangle Mod, and I want to select Super Saw, I have to click the waveform button 6 times. That really gets old fast.

Also a bug: When you load a new bank it won't play anything until you select a new preset.

DC is Daniel Craighead, its also written in the "About..." section from the main menu. Yes thanks for the suggestion, I thought about that too, in the next update (after my rest) I will make it so that you can click on the oscillator names directly instead of having to cycle though it with the button. And thanks for the bug report, ill look into it.

That comparison video is really awful, feels rushed as hell.
- He tries to play the same sounds, but when you look at the devices the envelope settings are totally different. Would that mean that you have to dial in Airwave in a completely different way than a JP8080 while this is an emulation?
- Check the sound of the envelopes at 0:34, it's much snappier on the JP8080
- Check the timing of the notes at 3:20, it's not quantized on the JP8080

This really saves me spending 70 EUR. Hope to see a better comparison video in the future, then i'll reconsider.

Ok I presume you never ever touched a JP-8080 before, so let me explain to you. When you select a preset in the JP, the physical knobs and parameters dont automatically move to their position, just like 99.999% of every other synth in the world. To move every parameter to match its internal values just for cosmetics would be ridiculous. I hope you can give me some slack for not doing it.

About the video, sure I can make you a 1 hour long video with comparisons but no one will watch that and you know it too. The point of that comparison is to show it relatively quickly, straight to the point, no bullsh*tting around. I simply opened the JP8080 factory bank in Airwave and played the sounds side by side. No one has does this before that you can open a JP8080 bank made for the hardware, and directly open it in software and produces the VERY similar sound, so see it as a glass half full rather than half empty. This is still version 1.0.0 so there is always room for improvement, and if anything sounds off it can be better.

From the other I can see Adam picking a classic non-DSP56300 VA synth to emulate when Viper was finished, only to down the road see the JP8080 emulator announcement and see history repeating. Probably, depending on in which stage this was at the time, also being pressured to release before it just to limit the risk of losing revenue potential.

Yes now that Airwave is done its time to talk about the elephant in the room. As you all know, I was highly obsessed with the Super Saw, I wrote that paper on it, and made it in JP6K. At the time I didnt have the hardware, I only recorded lots of waves from friends and did the analysis from that. Then while working on Viper, I managed to get a JP-8080 and I decided that eventually I want to make a proper JP plugin and I will do it right this time, to emulate the whole thing. So I started working on it in 2022. The only way I know how is to look at the waveform the JP produces and come up with code that does the same thing. Its like completing a puzzle in complete darkness. You can imagine how difficult that is. Anyway, I was almost done, and the announcement about that free plugin comes out. Well f*ck me. So the only option was to continue, but I had to condense half a years of work into a few months to get it out ASAP, so I hope people can forgive me that the sound comparison at 0 point whatever second its not microscopically accurate down to the last atom

My next project was going to be the Yamaha AN1X, but now that this french (i think) guy joined their team who can reverse engineer anything with a microscope, I bet you right now that they will do it. They will do anything that has a chip in it which needs firmware. So I will stay the hell away from any synth like that from now on. I will only consider something Analog that has no firmware.

you are welcome I was waiting a long time, will get this next week when i get my payment. I waited for your version before getting Arturia's plugin, I'm sure this should be superior!
(well minus the Arturia added stuff with they fancy modulations etc. which is pretty neat on its own).

[HcDoom]

No one did Alesis Andromeda A6 yet - so, that would be quite a big release who ever does it properly.