Tal Bassline 101 v Air Iona: Sequencer?

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TAL-BassLine-101$100.00Buy

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ghostwhistler wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:40 pm I regret my choices...
:(

FWIW, it does have a cool sound.

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Uncle E wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:49 pm
ghostwhistler wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 9:40 pm I regret my choices...
:(

FWIW, it does have a cool sound.
It's not that it's a worse choice. I'm more than happy with the vst. Less so the installation process that isn't working and filled with BS

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SH-101 was the first synth I ever played with when I was about 13. I have always been a bit obsessed with it and when I heard the bass synth in ROYGBIV by Boards of Canada I thought it was such a great sound. Turns out that its an SH-101. Consequently I try to match that sound with every VST that has come out. I have the Roland Cloud, TAL, had Lush, Model 82 and now Iona. Iona completely nails that sound to my ears. The Roland one is a close second. The others kinda sorta do it but they dont sound right to me. Lush is great but its the least like a 101 to me. The one thing I hate about Iona is that it has no midi learn. I have ended up having to jump through silly hoops with Blue Cat Patchwork in order to have it controllable from my Soundforce SFC-101 controller. And even then I can't get the non-sync'd LFO to respond properly.

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Mogular wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 7:07 am SH-101 was the first synth I ever played with when I was about 13. I have always been a bit obsessed with it and when I heard the bass synth in ROYGBIV by Boards of Canada I thought it was such a great sound. Turns out that its an SH-101. Consequently I try to match that sound with every VST that has come out. I have the Roland Cloud, TAL, had Lush, Model 82 and now Iona. Iona completely nails that sound to my ears. The Roland one is a close second. The others kinda sorta do it but they dont sound right to me. Lush is great but its the least like a 101 to me. The one thing I hate about Iona is that it has no midi learn. I have ended up having to jump through silly hoops with Blue Cat Patchwork in order to have it controllable from my Soundforce SFC-101 controller. And even then I can't get the non-sync'd LFO to respond properly.
This is exactly how i feel about it as well. 👍🏻

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Yeah the midi learn omission is...weird.

I can use Reaper to do it obviously but TAL has a very simple way to do it.

Swings and roundabouts.

Hopefully AIR will actually sort out their messy activation process before the trial period ends. The plug in sounds amazing, but their activation process is simply the worst I have ever experienced. Why companies cannot learn best practice escapes me.

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When a friend ordered the Behringer clone I ordered one myself too. Of course I was interested in comparing it against the TAL. Idk about a real SH-101 but the Behringer could be perfectly matched by the TAL. I decided to sent the Behringer back because there was no reason to keep it.
Yesterday I demoed Iona and its filter is quite different to TAL. But I think Iona has a useful sound too and depending on context it will be nice to have it as well, so I purchased it too. Of course I have the Softube as well as Lush too. But as others have noted, the authentic note priority in Softube can be a bummer when you want to glide and Lush is a monster synth one usually does not reach for when looking for a basic architecture synth like the SH-101. So I think TAL is the best choice.

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ghostwhistler wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 8:56 am Hopefully AIR will actually sort out their messy activation process before the trial period ends. The plug in sounds amazing, but their activation process is simply the worst I have ever experienced. Why companies cannot learn best practice escapes me.
Every few weeks I have to reactivate all my AIR plugins (Seqund Sequencer and Reason Studio too) on my offline computer. Not very useful when "zapping" through my beats. That´s always a stinky moment.
The average bored guy

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I sincerely hope that doesn't happen. If it does, I'll request a refund and buy the TAL.

Iona is otherwise really good.

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Did an update fix all the Behringer mkII issues?
Intel Core2 Quad CPU + 4 GIG RAM

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electro wrote: Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:09 pm Did an update fix all the Behringer mkII issues?
I had it only for a few days and don't know about any issues or updates.

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I like the Softube's best sonically. But it's the most underwhelming in terms of features. Tal is sweetspot staying true to the original but adding a few quality of life feature. D16 is a monster of it's own. It's inspired by the 101 but it's also so much more. I ended up going with softube because I don't mind the limitations.
I make electronic music - DAW of choice : Live 12 :hug:

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HOTF wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 4:36 pm I like the Softube's best sonically. But it's the most underwhelming in terms of features. Tal is sweetspot staying true to the original but adding a few quality of life feature. D16 is a monster of it's own. It's inspired by the 101 but it's also so much more. I ended up going with softube because I don't mind the limitations.
You can also make your own custom 101 with the models in modular. Extra envelope, fix the note priority (lowest note is BS), heck add a second oscillator, fulfill, filter, whatever, plan audio rate modular as well.

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I think this synth sounds amazing.

But having just acquired a new midi controller, the lack of MIDI learn is a huge problem. In fact it's extraordinary not to have it at all.

I have to go into reaper, create an automation lane for the parameter, figure out the CC, then assign that to the knob in question, and do that for each parameter. With automation lanes open, that sets the base level for the parameter permanently, which means I cannot change it in the VST. That's not how it works in reaper.

It's not impossible, but by god it's awkward and tedious.

Moving forward I won't support AIR. To leave out this basic functionality, no matter how good sounding (and it is), is inexcusable. No hyperbole

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