KVR Audio

braj · Post by **braj** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:00 pm

I think I am now officially FXpansion's bitch! I just barely bought BFD2. OK maybe I can sell off iDrum and a couple other things. $125 is a really good price. I like that the patterns can be 64 beats long and still fit in onscreen and be usable, and that automating panning etc all is super easy to do on a per-pattern basis independent of the DAW.

VitaminD · Post by **VitaminD** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:01 pm

The 909 kit (among others) is really punchy and usable in the lite version. I'm not a fan of the interface but the actual sample sets seem top notch!

V'ger · Post by **V'ger** » Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:50 pm

The limitations are too limiting to make it a useful tool, as only stereo out is not something anybody would want for all their drums when the effects are so limited. For example only available reverb is 'tin can'..

Was dead set to get Geist full too as the sampling and other features are great, but realized it just uses too much juice and is slow to bring up when all I will do is anyway to write (or use ready made stuff) in the DAW so a bit too much for the simple task I would use it for. Browser can also be a chore and there are other niggles as well. Thought about Poise, Battery or RMV, but still using Shortcircuit2. Maybe finally get Kontakt and that's it.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:22 am

V'ger wrote:The limitations are too limiting to make it a useful tool, as only stereo out is not something anybody would want for all their drums when the effects are so limited. For example only available reverb is 'tin can'..

Was dead set to get Geist full too as the sampling and other features are great, but realized it just uses too much juice and is slow to bring up when all I will do is anyway to write (or use ready made stuff) in the DAW so a bit too much for the simple task I would use it for. Browser can also be a chore and there are other niggles as well. Thought about Poise, Battery or RMV, but still using Shortcircuit2. Maybe finally get Kontakt and that's it.

Yeah I'm looking at that $125 price tag and thinking I need to be frugal. My drum needs are pretty well met, this is gear lust after all. My machine runs Geist just fine, but i already have BFD2, iDrum, MicroTonic, and GrooveDrums. I do plan to use the Lite version though when it fits, it is still a great freebie but I don't know if I'll upgrade, at least not for a while. If I were more prone to sample stuff that would make it more tempting. I have to use some self-control

VitaminD · Post by **VitaminD** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:26 am

V'ger wrote:The limitations are too limiting to make it a useful tool, as only stereo out is not something anybody would want for all their drums when the effects are so limited. For example only available reverb is 'tin can'..

There is a pad mixer in the plugin. It is stereo out but you can lower or raise the volumes of each pad independently in the lite version. If you really need more, you can always create multiple instances of the plugin and have one for hats.. one for kick.. one for snares.. etc.

Yeah that is tedious.. but the point is to get something for beginners to use, get hooked on using, and then upgrade to the full version.

I think you may way to try the full version demo instead, Otherwise it sounds as if it isn't for you. And that is ok too.

memyselfandus · Post by **memyselfandus** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:31 am

bluedad wrote:yeah, sampling is sweet in the full version. I had a blast playing with it in stand alone mode, recording bass and guitar licks. Then when I loaded it in Cubase and discovered the wonders of spitter and my other vst's..wow.

that sounds cool..

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:34 am

braj wrote:If I were more prone to sample stuff that would make it more tempting. I have to use some self-control

I wasn't prone to sample stuff either... until I got Geist. Now it is an essential part of my workflow. It is really quite fun.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:49 am

pdxindy wrote:
braj wrote:If I were more prone to sample stuff that would make it more tempting. I have to use some self-control

I wasn't prone to sample stuff either... until I got Geist. Now it is an essential part of my workflow. It is really quite fun.

Oh come on, I had almost convinced myself i didn't want/need it!

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:50 am

V'ger wrote:Maybe finally get Kontakt and that's it.

Kontakt is not a sampler. I have Kontakt but took it off my machine cause I wanted a sampler that actually samples. If you like buying libraries to play it works great. I don't. Geist samples and is fun and fast so it stays and Kontakt is out.

I'd rather have Short Circuit over Kontakt... but like I said, I haven't much interest in big sample libraries... really depends on what you do.

V'ger · Post by **V'ger** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:00 am

No doubt Geist sampling is fast and efficient, but to be honest it wouldn't take me long to record physical or synth sounds in the DAW and drag the bits to a folder or a 'sampler'

so the feature is not a deal changer, especially as it would be so rarely used.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:20 am

braj wrote:
pdxindy wrote:
braj wrote:If I were more prone to sample stuff that would make it more tempting. I have to use some self-control

I wasn't prone to sample stuff either... until I got Geist. Now it is an essential part of my workflow. It is really quite fun.
Oh come on, I had almost convinced myself i didn't want/need it!

Geist is very diverse and powerful. If you are just going to trigger a few samples, then the full version is overkill... but it was the sampling that hooked me. I just bought an electric Kalimba. THe thought of sampling the instrument to make a quality Kontakt or Alchemy library just sounds like a lot of tedious work. But here is Geist and it is so fast and easy to record samples, that I don't even think about it.

Add in the slicing, scene and song modes and the comprehensive sequencer and I have ended up doing entirely new things that I would not have before.

I like the way Fxpansion makes stuff...

chokehold · Post by **chokehold** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:28 am

pdxindy wrote:Kontakt is not a sampler.

Uhm... yes and no.

No... It can LOAD samples, cut/slice/edit etc. samples, combine them, arrange them, and make playable sampled Kontakt instruments out of them, even with its own scripting language.
In that aspect, Kontakt is SO much more powerful than Geist.

But yes... it's an INSTRUMENT CREATION sampler, not a drum (pad) sampler with a recording function.

About assigning the samples in Geist:
In Reaper, I can browse for a sample .WAV file, I don't even have to drag the file icon but can drag only a time selection of that sample from Reaper's browser onto a sample tab of any pad in Geist Lite - works a treat.

Select next tab of that pad, select next sample or time selection of sample in browser, drag onto tab ... done.

You're not only limited to the pad mixer in Geist Lite, there's also the possibility to edit and mangle any of the multiple samples on a single pad, i.e. adjust their timings, pitching, volumes, filters, ADSR curves ... EVERYTHING.

It's just so ridiculously easy to browse through a bunch of samples, drag a few onto a pad's tabs, adjust them to "work" together with each other - and there's your instant fat kick, done in 1 or 2 minutes.

A "workaround" for multiple outputs might be using multiple Geist Lite instances loaded with mono samples panned hard left/right... not "nice", but free and possible. You can always make 'em stereo with Flangers and Delays etc. in the host you're using.

braj · Post by **braj** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:36 am

OK, so I CAN create my own kits in Geist Lite! Woohoo! OK, that's great. I was trying to to do this through the 'load' interface. I'm ok with no multiple outs, I can live with that for free, use the internal effects for the most part and put a decent reverb on the whole kit, no problem.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:39 am

V'ger wrote:No doubt Geist sampling is fast and efficient, but to be honest it wouldn't take me long to record physical or synth sounds in the DAW and drag the bits to a folder or a 'sampler' so the feature is not a deal changer, especially as it would be so rarely used.

If you would rarely sample stuff, then it does not matter much...

But you underestimate the difference...

In Geist I set it to transient record and hit a note in a synth, let it decay, then hit another note and another etc... each of those is automatically a separate file and then with one command I can send them each to a Geist pad. A moment on each pad to adjust the start point if needed and done... got a 16 pad kit... It is so fast it seems like cheating!!

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:48 am

chokehold wrote:
pdxindy wrote:Kontakt is not a sampler.
Uhm... yes and no.

No... It can LOAD samples, cut/slice/edit etc. samples, combine them, arrange them, and make playable sampled Kontakt instruments out of them, even with its own scripting language.
In that aspect, Kontakt is SO much more powerful than Geist.

But yes... it's an INSTRUMENT CREATION sampler, not a drum (pad) sampler with a recording function.

Age old argument... but to me, a sampler, samples... open Kontakt in standalone mode and you can only work with existing audio... no recording. Every hardware sampler records. That is/was the very source of the word sampler. Kontakt is the worlds most powerful sample player... and it is impressive what it does. But I refuse to call it a sampler... cause it doesn't

/pedantic argument

back to Geist lite...

Geist Lite limitations?