Fxpansion have a NEW drum synth on the way!

[zvenx]

hopefully synthsquad is soon on its way. (with engine rewrites and bug fixes of course)
rsp

[kylie]

kylie - some mails apparently went out with incorrect text in the plaintext version. Full press release here:-
http://app.streamsend.com/private/Jmmm/ ... e/15393845

I did not expect this to be sent by intention. thanks for confirming, anyway

[Peevy2000]

We worked with a new designer on this project & we're very pleased with how it worked out.. in terms of immediate re-skin work on Synth Squad & Geist, that's not realistically going to happen right now, but given the positive comments around Tremor's UI it would certainly make sense to put him to work on it next time they get a major update.

No worries. Just been going through some of the screen themes, some of them do brighten things up nicely. Some people cant get into Geists UI but I think its very intuitively laid out & apart from the slight blandness, looks really good. A resizeable GUI would be nice.

Good luck

Thanks. Don't think she'll mind paying for the crossgrade though...I hope...

[Itron]

Enjoying trying out the demo, and finding the sequencer a joy to use! A couple of quick questions -

The patterns are triggered by C -1 up to B 0. Is there a way to reset the triggering for the patterns to say C1 up? I have tried changing the preferences to midi numbering = 0 rather than -2, but this doesn't seem to make any difference!

Is/will there be anyway to copy the midi from the sequencer to the host DAW?

Many thanks and best wishes,

Mark.

[djsubject]

sounds just like those crappy old drum machines nobody uses any more!....

Oh... that was the point?



it also sounds quite unique when you use the kewl modulation system on FX!

another GREAT Product!

well done guys!

Subz

[elipsis1]

Hey, check out "Frost Ambience" patch! wow! just sit back and let it take you to another world, it DEFINITELY is an evolver!

Yes CPU is a tad high, 35-50% on an i7 2.8GHz.

with that patch, im only getting 10-15% useage on one core of a 4.4Ghz 2700K here. so about 2-3% of overall CPU horsepower.

I kinda like it. Its the first drum synth where I dont feel the need to run through an amp sim and other heavy duty toys to get rich percussive textures; rather than just being a 'drum machine' its got a distinct character, and the synth engine is capable of some interesting surprises. Nice.

Sorry, I should have clarified: I only saw 50% usage on one patch I think. I am running ableton live 8.2.6 currently.

2.8GHz quad i7 and I usually get around 20% average I guess (ableton doesn't break out Core usage displays to my knowledge, just an overall percent)

I did try turning off all the effects and didn't see much of a change, so it must be at the root level (complex analog circuit modeling) where this is occuring.

No biggie though, the sounds that come out of tremor are worth it, I can always bounce if I need to.



I'm thinking "incoming purchase!" haha

Great work fxpansion!

[zerocrossing]

I downloaded the demo of Rob Papen's Punch for a quick comparison and the stock presets for its synth engine are a million times better. It's night and day. This is a damed shame because I prefer the look and feel of Tremor over Punch. It suits the way I like to program my beats.

So. I don't think Tremor is for me to be honest - which is a damned shame. Maybe I'll re-purchase Geist as I've been watching the tutorials tonight and it makes a lot more sense in hindsight. Once I get my head around the way Punch works I think I'll purchase it and make it my goto drum synth/sampler hybrid. There's no denying the quality of Rob Papen's sound design. Outstanding stuff. I still love MicroTonic but the GUI makes me nauseous and takes away from the enjoyment. Argh!

I'm going to give Tremor time to flourish with some new sound packs before I give up on it. There's so much I like about the experience but at the end of the day it's all about the sound and the current library does nothing for me.

I had a little time with it too, and I came to a similar conclusion, but for different reasons. The UI is good though my guess is I'll still probably use Live and Maschine for the bulk of my sequencing. The poly rhythmic thing is cool though and I can see me going to that every now and then like I do for my Tenori-On now.

I also actually like the presets, though I tend to go for weird and harsh sounds. I too listend to a lot of NIN in the 90s... hell, I still do.

But... I wasn't thrilled with the sound of it. To me, the more limited µTonic puts out a sound I like better and puts my CPU meter at about 4% in Ableton in contrast to Tremor's 66%. If I want a harder sound, and instance of Redoptor after it sounds fantastic and still only taxed my CPU to the tune of 6%. For 60%+ use of my CPU I want to be in love! I did hear some sounds in it that I did like, but I sure wasn't blown away. To me it sounded stiff and brittle even when the gains were turned down. I didn't spend a huge amount of time playing with it, so I'm going to reserve final judgement for a bit, but my first impression wasn't great. I know FXpansion defended it's presets but I have to know what someone was thinking when they made both of the "vintage" presets. What vintage drum machines were those supposed to be like? I know they've been done to death, but I think it's always a good idea to put in an x0x style kit just as a baseline.

TBH though, Papen's Punch didn't do it for me either, but my impression was the sound overall was more to my liking than Tremor. I still like µTonic a lot more than Punch too. Drumaxx too.... Hell, the long-in-the-tooth Attack is more to my liking.

[JD Gaffe]

I would buy Tremor on the spot, if you would consider include/bundle a 'Tremor light' version with just one engine + master, no seq.

Doubt this would happen, but I would absolutely love this.

[Rajah]

Downloaded the Demo of Geist as a result of this wonderful Tremor. This Quick tip video on Geist, 'Fun with Classify', with the Step Sequencing power of Tremor, this function can be extremely powerful.... Also the Drag and Drop Midi function is essential..





Great product/s... on my to get list..

[Itron]

Am I safe in assuming that there is a way to save your own sequence patterns in the full version. I am guessing that you save them as a preset (the manual indicates that this saves the sate of the entire instrument, so I "hope" this includes the sequence? (with a kit of your choice.) Seems a stupid question, but I can't actually see anywhere where it says how/where to save your own patterns!

[pdxindy]

Is/will there be anyway to copy the midi from the sequencer to the host DAW?

Many thanks and best wishes,

Mark.

You can record the output in your daw

[stikygum]

Played with Tremor last night. I won't give my verdict yet as I only dabbled for a taste, I really enjoyed the Transmod especially with the FX. UI is great, but I'm not sure it's better than Dcam. I like the look of Dcam. It sounds like I'm in the minority here. I will say on first listen that the drum synth engine doesn't seem to be revolutionary, nor does Fxpansion claim it is. It's the product as a whole that I'm enjoying. Tremor seems very easy to use. The only thing I consult the manual for is the Transmod system. The manual is nice and small too. The Transmod system really makes the sound organic.

I actually enjoy the presets. I'm kind of glad they aren't doing the same old same old. Makes this product stand out a little more to me. I think they should have only a couple bread and butter kits/presets. If Punch sounds better (I've never used it) then I would think it's because of he samples it can use. Can someone elaborate as what in Punch's sound makes it better? Might be wrong, but... To me, it sounds like there has been lots of judging of presets/kits, which is normal. But I think the standard kits are fairly easy to create. I'm sure there will a 'best of Techno' Preset/Kit pack sometime, which will display the standard fair of synthesized drums.

Let me give praise to Fxpansion for making some great manuals! I have Dcam and Geist. Very straight-forward manuals, Tremor's is the same! Explanation of each topic along-side pictures are very well thought out!

[budweiser]

off topic : is the "geist special price" for geist CM owners ended ? I believed it runs till the end of january, but a quick search in my fxpansion account made me think i was wrong...

[cryophonik]

I read reviews all day yesterday, watched the two videos posted earlier and decided to jump in and buy it last night without demoing. Like stikygum's post above, I'll refrain from a verdict, but overall I'm very pleased with it so far. Almost everything is intuitive and I was making new sounds and patterns without even cracking open the manual. I can definitely see some room for improvement, though, but that's to be expected in a v1.0 release. I'll spend some more time with it this evening and post some further thoughts.

[fceramic]

@zerocrossing
I totally agree. MicroTonic takes almost no CPU, super fast to program and just sounds meatier. I also like that Microtonic does not have any bloat at all. If you want to add effects you just route the sounds to different channels.
Tremor is the most CPU hungry software instrument I have ever tried, and it's a drum machine! Programming all 8 engines in the standalone version reached almost 80 %. And when it's this high the sound better be mindblowing.
Sorry for being so negative, but this was such a disappointment.

Of course the modulation system in the DCAM series is as fun and intuitive ever.