Looking around here, I see a lot of good and equally bad things said about this thing.
I have a few questions.
Is this thing just buggy as hell and prone to crashing live or not?
I see the website says it is better live than a laptop, but is it really or not?
How come this can't do something as simple as play back SMF files?
Is a Neko unit a better option?
Can more than one controller be used or not?
I don't mean to sound rude, but I need a solution for live use and this may or may not be it. I just get a sense of a lot of ifs, maybe's, and other uncertainties about this unit.
For close to $2,000 (considering the RAM upgrade costs to get any real usablity from it), it should be more clear about what it can or can't do.
I guess what I am asking is this:
Is Receptor just a glorified sound module for softsynths or not?
Good or bad, worth the $$$ or not
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- KVRian
- 508 posts since 20 Oct, 2004
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- KVRian
- 524 posts since 25 Aug, 2005
I had many of the same questions. I have not had my unit long, still having some serious difficulty in getting it to do what I want. BUT - I know the problem is ME, not IT. I just can't grasp the file retrieval structure, it's not lke straight DOS os standard OS structure.
BUT - as a live unit: so far, it has worked beautifully, and sounds great. Definitely better than my laptop rig, which was GUARANTEED to crash after fifteen minutes or so, every time. I have not had it crash while playing music, just when setting up certain complexmultis or doing something wierd with a plug. But I haven't had it up with a bunch of guitar,bass and PA amps and lighting towers, either, so this is not a final report.
Why can't it play back SMFs? It's not built as a general-purpose computer, it's built as a soft-synth-in-a-rack. It wasn't designed to do transmit midi back to itself (although they could add that later,I'll bet,) and if that is on your must-have list, then you'll need to look elsewhere. But it will play back MP3s, and our duo went three years ago from the Alesis DataDisk and SC88 to iPod with full Gigastudio samples recorded mixed and mastered, plus live organ, plus live background vocals - try than on your SMF player...
Neko? Different animal, that's a personal-needs choice, your call - it will run sequencers, and is more GP than Receptor, but it's not as sturdy, either, from what I saw at NAMM. I tend to shy away from all-in-one solutions that could benefit from partial upgrades (faster PC, better-feeling keyboard, etc.)
I am using two controllers with no problem, and if you had a midi merger, you could probably use 16 of them, one per channel. The caveat is there are only 16 midi channels, and you can't have both transmit on the same channel at the same time (actually, you probably can, but it would cause some really interesting data anomolies, i think...
But I have used an M-Audio Prokeys88sx via USB on the bottom, and a Roland XP-30 on top via MIDI wuite well. My new Axiom 61 arrives next week, then I will see what this puppy can REALLy do...
But if you want it for a live-performance box, I think you will find that it will do whatever you need, provided you don't mind spending the time to figure out how to do it.
And yes, Receptor is primarily a glorified sound module. That's what it's for. It will also do other things, but its focus and orientation is toward the person who wants his computer sofsynths and FX on the gig or in someone else's studio. It's also just fine as a studio vst player, but in my opinion you are better off with a fully dedicated desktop computer (it will be cheaper and more expandable/flexible.)
But I have been trying to do this for quite a while, now, and there IS no better solution for a live performer at the present time.
BUT - as a live unit: so far, it has worked beautifully, and sounds great. Definitely better than my laptop rig, which was GUARANTEED to crash after fifteen minutes or so, every time. I have not had it crash while playing music, just when setting up certain complexmultis or doing something wierd with a plug. But I haven't had it up with a bunch of guitar,bass and PA amps and lighting towers, either, so this is not a final report.
Why can't it play back SMFs? It's not built as a general-purpose computer, it's built as a soft-synth-in-a-rack. It wasn't designed to do transmit midi back to itself (although they could add that later,I'll bet,) and if that is on your must-have list, then you'll need to look elsewhere. But it will play back MP3s, and our duo went three years ago from the Alesis DataDisk and SC88 to iPod with full Gigastudio samples recorded mixed and mastered, plus live organ, plus live background vocals - try than on your SMF player...
Neko? Different animal, that's a personal-needs choice, your call - it will run sequencers, and is more GP than Receptor, but it's not as sturdy, either, from what I saw at NAMM. I tend to shy away from all-in-one solutions that could benefit from partial upgrades (faster PC, better-feeling keyboard, etc.)
I am using two controllers with no problem, and if you had a midi merger, you could probably use 16 of them, one per channel. The caveat is there are only 16 midi channels, and you can't have both transmit on the same channel at the same time (actually, you probably can, but it would cause some really interesting data anomolies, i think...
But I have used an M-Audio Prokeys88sx via USB on the bottom, and a Roland XP-30 on top via MIDI wuite well. My new Axiom 61 arrives next week, then I will see what this puppy can REALLy do...
But if you want it for a live-performance box, I think you will find that it will do whatever you need, provided you don't mind spending the time to figure out how to do it.
And yes, Receptor is primarily a glorified sound module. That's what it's for. It will also do other things, but its focus and orientation is toward the person who wants his computer sofsynths and FX on the gig or in someone else's studio. It's also just fine as a studio vst player, but in my opinion you are better off with a fully dedicated desktop computer (it will be cheaper and more expandable/flexible.)
But I have been trying to do this for quite a while, now, and there IS no better solution for a live performer at the present time.
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- KVRist
- 413 posts since 5 Dec, 2005
Good points made there Dasher. Hardware synths will be finished, Roland, Yamaha and the like will HAVE to make the leap to soft synth technology. I had the Motif ES7 for a few weeks, sold it and got Receptor. There's no going back from a multi GB piano on Receptor to a 128mb (if your lucky) on your Motif ES and the like. I got fed up with the sounds not improving from when I bought my XV5080 to my ES7, just rehash time and time again. I will never buy another hardware synth again after using Receptor.
c3boy
c3boy