Tracktion’s Collective 2

[mabian]

"High sound quality" is not always desirable, that's a certain aesthetic. Otherwise lofi everything wouldn't exist.

Exactly, if we were always for best sound quality why we are so strongly chasing reproduction of vintage gear which sounds so "poorer" and worst than what we can achieve today?

Food for thought...

- Mario

[IvyBirds]

"High sound quality" is not always desirable, that's a certain aesthetic. Otherwise lofi everything wouldn't exist.

Collective 2 isn't really lowfi however. Sonically it exists in a space where it's of lesser quality than a lot of plugins, but not enough so to have any kind of lowfi character either

[pough]

I've always seen Collective as being primarily a workhorse instrument, sort of a ROMpler plus. As such, I doubt it would draw too many of the more vocal KvR people who seem to be chasing various niches. There might be more casual residents here who are just looking for a good tool for making songs and Collective could be a good fit.

For the $10 upgrade, I couldn't say no.

The VST3 version won't load in Waveform for me, which makes me laugh. It loads in Reaper. It validates in the Waveform plugin list. But it can't be used in an Edit at all. The VST2 version works just fine.

[BBFG#]

In my Tracktion cart, but still can't complete purchase. The payment popup boxes just won't come up. Thought it was my browser(s) and eventually tried other sites to see if that was the problem. All payment options come up immediately with those usual suspects. Contacted support but still haven't received any response.
I see others are not having this issue and would like to know if anyone else is having the same problem?

And this plugin reminds me more of the original Sample Tank 2 in sound without all their current company BS.

[mabian]

I am trying the demo, it crashes often REAPER when clicking the "+" and especially the "-" sound buttons to add/remove layers.
Beside that it seems robust. Will check better in the next two days and decide if it's worth getting it - also doing a "leap of faith" hoping they continue maintaining and fixing it over time
- Mario

[mabian]

Well, after a bit of testing I would say it's indeed a bit low quality (and I don't mean Low Fi), raw samples are uninspiring especially the real acoustic ones. And, the modulation capabilities are limited. Honestly, I'm not sure it's even worth 29$ having already Analog Lab Pro, Pigments, SampleTank, and MSoundFactoryLE... Pity because that would have been the first native Linux decent rompler.

[Gribs]

Feedback for Traktion from a person owning many licenses for your products but not Collective is that your marketing material, especially the YT videos, should have a short summary explaining what Collective *is*. Just something like “Collective 2 is an update to our ROMpler-style synthesizer with a library containing M different sample sets and N different patches” would be helpful. If I somehow missed that then apologies.

[mabian]

Feedback for Traktion from a person owning many licenses for your products but not Collective is that your marketing material, especially the YT videos, should have a short summary explaining what Collective *is*. Just something like “Collective 2 is an update to our ROMpler-style synthesizer with a library containing M different sample sets and N different patches” would be helpful. If I somehow missed that then apologies.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/collective

[pough]

Honestly, I'm not sure it's even worth 29$ having already Analog Lab Pro, Pigments, SampleTank, and MSoundFactoryLE...

I wouldn't expect a synth like this to be a worthwhile addition for someone who already has a lot of good instruments. It would be like a veteran session guitarist buying a cheap starter guitar.

[bnz]

Has anyone compared this with Biotek 3 in the meantime? I'm considering to get this for Linux just for the more bearable UI.

Edit: nevermind. Installed the trial.

[Gribs]

Feedback for Traktion from a person owning many licenses for your products but not Collective is that your marketing material, especially the YT videos, should have a short summary explaining what Collective *is*. Just something like “Collective 2 is an update to our ROMpler-style synthesizer with a library containing M different sample sets and N different patches” would be helpful. If I somehow missed that then apologies.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/collective

Yes I am aware. I must be daft or half asleep or senile. Probably all three.

[pough]

An update to my comment about the VST3 not working: After a little while there were two versions of the VST3 in my plugin list. One of them worked and the other didn't. I removed the non-working one from the list and now everything is working fine.

[Opus Te]

I downloaded a free license of Collective months ago and have played it sporadically since. I'm not a synth person per se, but will add one when appropriate in the music. I always use presets and am not interested in programming at all. I do use Uhe Triple Cheese for occasional leads because of its simplicity and available presets. I checked this new version out and like it very much. Was surprised to find after adding to their cart it had a $8 discount that made it even cheaper.
I'm enjoying this instrument. Don't understand why some are calling it lofi. Maybe compared to other instruments they own. It fits nicely with other instruments I have and is direct, easy and solid to play with a good range of presets to fit several styles.

One thing I need to ask, and this is the reason I chose to post here, is the sound packs that say they come with don't seem to be showing anywhere in the instruments content folder. How can I tell if they are there?

[martinjuenke]

I've got all of them.

[bermudagold]

Haven't bothered much to look into the details: ss this still a subset of Biotek or is it becoming its own thing?

subtractive and collective are subsets of biotek and related to f'em...they're all built from the modular pieces of the Aktion framework if i remember correctly...you can see this in the component reuse...pay no attention to typical kvr hivemind and trust ur own ears...collective is biotek without the granular module, the extra modulators like the "flow lfos" and math modulators, and the macro performance page...same RM, 4OP FM including samples, unlimited oscillators til ur computer chokes, 16 voice unison, 32 stage polyphonic msegs, and robust trigger engine...quite formidable...the expansion packs can sound quite decent...don't think can demo expansions so watch the videos