KVR Audio

suhnton · Post by **suhnton** » Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:34 pm

Ordered and downloaded the patches that accompany the text. Thanks Mr Cann for your book.

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 6:55 am

Would anyone recommend 'Becomming a Synthesizer Wizard' over 'How to Make a Noise'? I'm looking at possibly reading one of these.

pc999 · Post by **pc999** » Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:13 pm

stikygum wrote:Would anyone recommend 'Becomming a Synthesizer Wizard' over 'How to Make a Noise'? I'm looking at possibly reading one of these.

I would like to know that too.

sonictheartist · Post by **sonictheartist** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:44 pm

I bought the book.

It's very comprehensive, but quite a dry read, despite the title. I have two gripes. One is being expected to pay extra for the sound patches after paying a tenner for the book. The other is that all the synths Simon discusses are commercial ones, so you're expected to go out and buy those too. OK, Rhino and Wusikstation have appeared on Computer Music cover discs, but the other four you will have to pay for if you want to use them for longer than the trial period, and if you want to get the most out of the book you will need to do that. There are so many good free synths available that the author could have used, which would have been useful for those of us who are strapped for cash.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:48 pm

DELETED

sonictheartist · Post by **sonictheartist** » Mon Sep 06, 2010 7:51 pm

michi_mak wrote:@sonictheartist : excuse me but which book are you refering to?

Sorry to be unclear. "How to make a noise".

JohnDX · Post by **JohnDX** » Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:32 pm

sonictheartist wrote:I have two gripes. One is being expected to pay extra for the sound patches after paying a tenner for the book. The other is that all the synths Simon discusses are commercial ones, so you're expected to go out and buy those too.

I agree with those two, but otherwise I like the book.

OK, Rhino and Wusikstation have appeared on Computer Music cover discs

About that, I think I heard once that you get all those CM VSTis by buying any issue of the magazine (or at least all VSTs up to that point). Is that correct, or are different VSTs associated with different issues? On their site I can see that some of the older DVDs included with the mag are of bigger size than the latest, but maybe it's only the samples that are unique to each issue, or maybe all CM VSTs are downloadable from the site should you get any issue, or something.

Edit: added two missing words.

Nighthawk77 · Post by **Nighthawk77** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 7:36 am

Excellent!
Thanks for this nice information.
Been very interested in learning more about Synth Programming.

sonictheartist · Post by **sonictheartist** » Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:30 pm

JohnDX wrote:I think I heard once that you get all those CM VSTis by buying any issue of the magazine (or at least all VSTs up to that point). Is that correct, or are different VSTs associated with different issues?

Some seem to be for a single issue, some for a limited time period, and some seem to be around forever. Rhino is still on the current cover disk. Wusikstation has gone. I check regularly to see if there's anything I like the look of.

kx.001 · Post by **kx.001** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:41 pm

Wusikstation was on the September issue of CM - it's hidden away somewhere though, not in the CM Studio. There do seem to be about 18 seperate locations for software on there..

JohnDX · Post by **JohnDX** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:31 am

sonictheartist wrote:
JohnDX wrote:I think I heard once that you get all those CM VSTis by buying any issue of the magazine (or at least all VSTs up to that point). Is that correct, or are different VSTs associated with different issues?
Some seem to be for a single issue, some for a limited time period, and some seem to be around forever. Rhino is still on the current cover disk. Wusikstation has gone. I check regularly to see if there's anything I like the look of.

Okay. Can't find a list of included VSTs in each issue. I assume older issues still have the same software content it had when released? So you can get VSTs no longer available in newer issues by getting the old ones.

JohnDX · Post by **JohnDX** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 12:36 am

kx.001 wrote:Wusikstation was on the September issue of CM - it's hidden away somewhere though, not in the CM Studio. There do seem to be about 18 seperate locations for software on there..

So maybe all VSTs are available in the latest issue after all? Such an important question should have an easily available answer on their site.

kx.001 · Post by **kx.001** » Fri Sep 10, 2010 1:02 am

I got my copy as a back copy cause they already seem to be on October (on sale: 25th Aug..) and it came with the discs. No mention of it anywhere on the packaging either, just had a look around.

Just checked and it is in the CM Studio directory, and still time to upgrade from it to the latest version in the group buy

Simon_Cann · Post by **Simon_Cann** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 5:41 pm

Hey sonictheartist

Thank you for your comments about How to Make a Noise. I'm sorry it has taken a while to get back to you--can I offer some explanation/context for the comments you have made.

sonictheartist wrote:One is being expected to pay extra for the sound patches after paying a tenner for the book.

OK. First off, the book is available for free, and the patches are purely optional, so if you're short of cash, you can go for the free option. Let me repeat: there is no necessity to purchase the patches--they are simply there for people to don't want to do the programming.

If you want to pay--and I'm very grateful if you do--the book costs £10/$15. It is by far the cheapest book on the subject. I also believe it is the most comprehensive/extensive book on the subject (in other words, you're getting maximum value for money). It is priced at this level so that the book plus the patches is still a good deal.

sonictheartist wrote:The other is that all the synths Simon discusses are commercial ones, so you're expected to go out and buy those too.

As you mention, there are demos for all the synths which will load the patches (apart from for Rhino) and some of the synths are available on magazines. Also, Z3TA+ is available for free when bundled with some (more expensive) Cakewalk software.

sonictheartist wrote:There are so many good free synths available that the author could have used, which would have been useful for those of us who are strapped for cash.

The book was written in 2004. With the exception of Synth1, I don't think any of the free synths available then have really stood the test of time. Much more to the point, the synths that I chose demonstrated the issues I wanted to illustrate.

If you want a book that uses free synthesizers, then get Becoming a Synthesizer Wizard (http://noisesculpture.com/becoming-a-synthesizer-wizard). This uses SynthEdit (among other synths) which is free. It also uses more modern synthesizers than are featured in How to Make a Noise, and the download package is available for free.

I hope this explains why some of the decisions I took five/six years ago may not be as strange as they seem now.

Cheers

Simon

sonictheartist · Post by **sonictheartist** » Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:54 pm

Simon_Cann wrote:Hey sonictheartist
Thank you for your comments about How to Make a Noise. I'm sorry it has taken a while to get back to you--can I offer some explanation/context for the comments you have made.

Hi Simon, thanks for the update. I did purchase the book several months ago, and it has been helpful to me, despite my reservations about the costs of the synths you use as examples. At the time I didn't expect to ever be discussing it with the author. Fair comment from you, I've only recently got into software synths, and have been surprised by the quality of some of the free ones now available. I wasn't aware that this was a recent development and that they weren't available when you wrote the book.
All the best.

How to make a noise: Free Book