I always think AAS could have the physical modelling market solidly in their pocket but somehow they manage to do funny stuff, as much as I still like them. Chromaphone shows that they are able to do the most brilliant instruments, even thought modulation flexibility is lacking even there.
But this update is perplexing. I don't totally hate the GUI, I just don't see it as an improvement either. I find it still a lot less clear than what would be possible without too much effort and see no point in having all that empty space while cramming the controls in those 10 tiny tabs. At least its a bit more readable than before.
But overall, another missed opportunity to go scalable, lay out things more comfortably and finally get a mod matrix or at least have aftertouch etc..
To me it sounds smoother somehow which would be welcome, the old version had a tendency to go into the harsh. Maybe higher oversampling? For the low update price with a soundbank thrown in, I am okay with it, but still would have prefered something more evolved for twice the price...
Would be interesting what the reasoning behind this approach is.
The Frontier Soundbank is interesting in that it has many sounds that are more "synth" than the typical StringStudio sound. I like Journey and especially Entangled Species more, they explore more uncharted territory and bring out the special character of StringStudio better, but its a solid bank nonetheless, a bit too mainstream for me though.
Not sure what to expect next from AAS...
Cheers,
Tom
