UVI Falcon 3

[Sampleconstruct]

Wow, that's quite a bargain!

[Jac459]

And... and.... ? What do you think about them? I am totally in love on my side.

They have definitely been improved. I'm actually quite impressed. The original factory presets were a mixed bag. There were some really brilliant sounds but a lot of filler/strange sounds that weren't for my taste (that doesn't make them bad though, somebody else might love the ones I didn't).

But in this revised factory selection I've already found quite a few that I've tagged as favorites.

Yes, fully agree.

[Jac459]

Unless you are relying upon the legacy patch names, there is no need to download both. The old presets are all there, only they are reoganized, renamed, and have nicer UIs.

There was a lot of cruft in the old org structure. As new Falcon versions came out, they added new folders, and often had patch type prefixes, and version number suffixes in the name. All that is cleaned up under a more compact folder structure.

Yes and no. Some patches are differents from one version to another.

Take "Drive Presence" for example, the spirit is the same but it is quite a different patch.

[scott_free]

edit: Download both Falcon Libraries if this is your first time using Falcon (I only needed rev. 2 since I was updating to version 3).

Unless you are relying upon the legacy patch names, there is no need to download both. The old presets are all there, only they are reoganized, renamed, and have nicer UIs.

There was a lot of cruft in the old org structure. As new Falcon versions came out, they added new folders, and often had patch type prefixes, and version number suffixes in the name. All that is cleaned up under a more compact folder structure.

Thanks for clearing that up!

[Tj Shredder]

I'm a new Falcon user. Is there any way to set up default keyboard controller mappings for Falcon Macros? For example, I can set up my controller to map to each of the 4 macros in Pigments, and when I change patches, my controller is still mapped.

For Falcon I set up a Remote Control mapping in Bitwig for the first 8 Host Automations. Then I can right click each Falcon Macros and assign each knob to one of the Host Automations. Works great. But if I load a new Program, the Macro assignments disappear. Do I really have to manually map every Program's macros I want to control? All 1500 of them? Thanks for any help

One of the most frequently asked question and disappointingly the answer is: yes, you will have to assign the Macros to host automation each time you use a patch in a DAW project. Only Midi CC assignments are saved with a given patch (right click on a Macro to assign).

Something like that should be easily fixed. Maybe we need to explain the necessity in french? We could open a ton of support requests until they realize its easier to fix that than ignoring the requests?
Or is there a way to write a script for it?

[c0nsilience]

I'm a new Falcon user. Is there any way to set up default keyboard controller mappings for Falcon Macros? For example, I can set up my controller to map to each of the 4 macros in Pigments, and when I change patches, my controller is still mapped.

For Falcon I set up a Remote Control mapping in Bitwig for the first 8 Host Automations. Then I can right click each Falcon Macros and assign each knob to one of the Host Automations. Works great. But if I load a new Program, the Macro assignments disappear. Do I really have to manually map every Program's macros I want to control? All 1500 of them? Thanks for any help

One of the most frequently asked question and disappointingly the answer is: yes, you will have to assign the Macros to host automation each time you use a patch in a DAW project. Only Midi CC assignments are saved with a given patch (right click on a Macro to assign).

This has perplexed me since v.1.0. I’m not sure why UVI hasn’t addressed this?

[Dartelec]

One of the most frequently asked question and disappointingly the answer is: yes, you will have to assign the Macros to host automation each time you use a patch in a DAW project. Only Midi CC assignments are saved with a given patch (right click on a Macro to assign).

Thanks, Simon. That is disappointing. It seems like something that assigned the first N host automations to the first N macros by default would cover a lot of situations. Oh well. The good news is that with 2 for 1 expansions and my $100 voucher for being a first time user, I picked up 6 expansions for $17, including all 3 of yours. That should keep me busy

Earlier it was like this for me too. However in Falcon 3.0 I'm seeing different behaviour. When I "assign to host" eight first knobs in some "pads" patch for example and then save this to default multi, the assignments seem to stay (at least in the same group of patches, say pads)!

When the UI of patch is quite different the knob assignment seems to be lost. In Bitwig the assigned knobs are marked as "Macro 1, Macro 2 etc." - It would be best if all the knobs would be assigned to host from left to right 1-8, imho.

[misterpatrick]

As a new user do I need to download the earlier factory default preset collection or just rev2? Sounds like just rev2 but wanted to be sure.
I also had the spinning 0 when trying to download the presets so that’s for posting the direct link!
And if like me you don’t know where they go look in Preferences/Soundbanks and the path to the preset files are shown.

[Jac459]

As a new user do I need to download the earlier factory default preset collection or just rev2? Sounds like just rev2 but wanted to be sure.
I also had the spinning 0 when trying to download the presets so that’s for posting the direct link!
And if like me you don’t know where they go look in Preferences/Soundbanks and the path to the preset files are shown.

Rev1 and rev2 seems to have a lot of equally sounding presets but some equally named sound distinctively different and with very different macros.
As they have been "remastered".

Personally, I would keep both.

[Jac459]

Thanks, Simon. That is disappointing. It seems like something that assigned the first N host automations to the first N macros by default would cover a lot of situations. Oh well. The good news is that with 2 for 1 expansions and my $100 voucher for being a first time user, I picked up 6 expansions for $17, including all 3 of yours. That should keep me busy

Earlier it was like this for me too. However in Falcon 3.0 I'm seeing different behaviour. When I "assign to host" eight first knobs in some "pads" patch for example and then save this to default multi, the assignments seem to stay (at least in the same group of patches, say pads)!

When the UI of patch is quite different the knob assignment seems to be lost. In Bitwig the assigned knobs are marked as "Macro 1, Macro 2 etc." - It would be best if all the knobs would be assigned to host from left to right 1-8, imho.

That's a good news! I will try later today!

[Bye Bye Love]

It's super cool of UVI to offer Falcon v3.0 as a free upgrade to existing Falcon owners. However, I can't believe that Falcon still lacks a proper patch browser (let alone the ability to search for oscillator and FX types by name). It's not the end of the world. But still, it would have been nice to have.

Also, IMO, UVI needs to completely rethink its modulation system. Yes, it's incredibly powerful. But it's also so arcane that it's nearly impossible to use effectively in a musical context. I suppose it's no worse than Kontakt. Actually, it's probably better. But at least Kontakt is the devil I know. I really can't be arsed to learn another convoluted modulation system.

And all of the "synth" engines in Falcon sound overly clean, borderline sterile to me. I suppose they might work okay for EDM. But I don't feel any sense of warmth or depth from them. I think I'll just stick with sampled instruments for now.

[Fleer]

Did you try the new Harmonic Resonators or Bowed String synth oscillators? Pretty amazing. And you can use mods and fx to dirty up as much as you like. I particularly love the addition of Opal as an LA2A on steroids.

[machinesworking]

IMO this is one of those things that really confuses me why it hasn't been solved in general in the industry? Some VI's set up macros of 8, 16, 32 parameters you can assign per preset that are easily mapped to control surfaces in DAWs that do permanent control surface assignments.

Why wouldn't this be a thing? There really should not be the need for Komplete Kontrol, or VIP and Automap before it to get standard mappings outside of DAW specific solutions like Bitwig have, which are not workable with Falcon etc.

[rACatkvr]

IMO this is one of those things that really confuses me why it hasn't been solved in general in the industry? Some VI's set up macros of 8, 16, 32 parameters you can assign per preset that are easily mapped to control surfaces in DAWs that do permanent control surface assignments.

Why wouldn't this be a thing? There really should not be the need for Komplete Kontrol, or VIP and Automap before it to get standard mappings outside of DAW specific solutions like Bitwig have, which are not workable with Falcon etc.

Sounds like you are thinking of MCU mode

[GeneralQ]

I bought it yesterday. I didn't have time to check everything it has to offer but here are some things I noticed:
- The multi envelope has a loop enabled by default, which you need to disable so that the envelope behaves like one.
- All the pitch knobs have to tiny ranges (only 24 semitones in each direction) (the FM oscillator has more)
- The Drum oscillator has to few control over the envelope shape
- The pitch shifter and harmonizers only have one octave up and down
- Envelopes only work on the keygroup level (is this a bug or a user error ?)
- There are a lot of filters that all are basically the same. The filter mode switching is a lot more comfortable in any other synth that I used. Here you have to select a new one from that long drop down menu
- Velocity mapping on a lot of controls is on by default and need to be turned of

Overall the workflow is very slow. This is certainly a synth that requires separate sounddesign sessions.