Whats your verdict on Usine Hollyhock and what do you use it for?

[liv]

Whats your verdict on Usine Hollyhock and what do you use it for (or how do you use it)?

[mothballs]

As there have been no responses to this post I'll bite.

Even though my roots lie firmly in traditional tape style recording, I rate Usine very highly indeed. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it's in a class of its own.

While Usine is frequently compared to modular apps like Bidule and AudioMulch, it offers vastly more depth and flexibility than either. If you can imagine a hybrid cross between Bidule, Reaktor and Ableton Live you'd be on the right track.

With so much functionality on offer, the uses of Usine are almost unlimited. It can be used almost as a linear recording environment, it can come close to mimicking Live's session view, it can be used to create all kinds of deranged instruments and effects, it makes a fantastic live host or general tool for organizing live sets and it can be used to do all of the above and more at the same time. Above all, it makes a fantastic mad scientist's playground for audio experimentation and general mayhem.

Usine is not my main day to day DAW (I mainly uses Reaper these days) but it plays an indispensable role as my infallible antidote to 'DAWitis' and general boredom. When I get fed up to the teeth with whatever I'm supposed to be working on I fire up Usine and blow the cobwebs.

I have several main Workspaces that I use as starting points but the one that gets the most use is a vast and unruly quagmire of instruments, effects, loopers, delays, samplers and nameless gizmos of my own devising. Every time I use it I change things around and re-patch stuff on the fly so I can never remember exactly how things are supposed to work. Just figuring it out is a blast and I can never predict just what kind of noise is going to come out of it.

Of course I could do more or less the same thing in just about any other major DAW these days but Usine is the one that I have the most fun with by a long shot and it's also the one that consistently seems to deliver the most interesting and unusual results.

Obviously, I'm a big fan and could drone on for pages about how much I enjoy it but there is only one way to really find out. If you enjoy the kind of free-form audio experimentation that modular environments provide, download Usine and give it a good flogging. It might be just what the doctor ordered.

[liv]

I had the impression it had a big and active fanbase. Seems the opposite.


@mothballs
Good to hear. Thanks for sharing.

[Kalamata Kid]

Just bought it!

Hope to install it soon.

Got primarily for the multi-touch capability!

I wish that besides being a stand-alone that it was also a VST and VSTi.
Yes they have promised to make it a VST but that may not happen till the next century.

So for now I will more like use it as a stand-alone virtual instrument or midi Controller.
I will insert audio and midi outputs to drive my main DAW likely Studio One or Sonar
(they both have ARA)

[No_Use]

I had the impression it had a big and active fanbase. Seems the opposite.

I'd say not getting much response to this thread needn't mean anything. I mean Usine users needn't necessarily be also KVR members.

Anyway, I used to heavily used it when playing in a Reggae / Dub band, I played keys / synths and did live dubbing everything with Usine, great piece of software imo.

[woggle]

I bought it and upgraded it a few times but never ended up finding a use. No doubt it is a great piece of software for what it does but did not end up being useful to me. I found the interface confusing and never really got to grips with how it was meant to work ie what attitude toward composition it required. It is obviously quality software though, so would recommend people try it to see if it clicks with them

[Klinke]

I don't see a big fanbase when I look into the Usine forum, but yes, some users are really active.

Currently I use Usine a lot, and it's some kind of love/hate relationship. I don't see any alternative for my needs (I need the feature that the song-tempo can be set from a plugin) and I love many features, but there are also many places that would need some additional work from the developers, especially if you are try to work only with a tablet. E.g. I bought a Surface Pro with the hope that I could use the pen to draw the connection between modules, but Usine behaviour is really strange when I use the pen, it's still easier to use a finger for this.

[whyterabbyt]

I bought it and upgraded it a few times but never ended up finding a use. No doubt it is a great piece of software for what it does but did not end up being useful to me. I found the interface confusing and never really got to grips with how it was meant to work ie what attitude toward composition it required. It is obviously quality software though, so would recommend people try it to see if it clicks with them

Yeah, Im exactly the same boat. Loved the idea, owned it back from the original Usine, but every time I tried to use it I wound up running into constant semantic gaps between what I wanted to be able to achieve and how I was supposed to achieve it, and it just got too frustrating for me, especially when I could actually achieve those ends faster in less flexible tools that it should have been better than. Eventually, when they changed sales models again, I let it lapse.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

It's a piece of software that I would like to put more time into learning, but I am waiting for them to get the osx 64-bit version out

[imprint]

It's a piece of software that I would like to put more time into learning, but I am waiting for them to get the osx 64-bit version out

I'll agree with el-bo. I've sat down with Usine Hollyhock a few times and have always been able to come up with interesting results - though to be honest not fully baked pieces of music. Hollyhock causes/challenges me to think differently. That does create a learning curve.

Once the 64 bit version for mac is out, I will spend more time with it.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

It's a piece of software that I would like to put more time into learning, but I am waiting for them to get the osx 64-bit version out

though to be honest not fully baked pieces of music. Hollyhock causes/challenges me to think differently. That does create a learning curve.

I don't really ever imagine using it as a daw, just as a sound design/loop creation tool to start me off. It's so different, as you say, that it really get's me to ideas in a way that using 'logic' does not

Once the 64 bit version for mac is out, I will spend more time with it.

For me this is just a kind of commitment thing. Until now, I have just tinkered with the demo, and am kinda stuck in limbo with it. They seem to have been talking about it for a very long time, but it's still to appear.

The minute it drops, I'll buy it and commit to learning it

[Protocol_b]

Mac 64-bit - I'm waiting. There are several contenders out there right now for live instrument hosting. Whoever gives me something that reliably hosts my step sequencers/arpeggiators (Numerology, Nora etc.), with flexible MIDI routing, gets my money. Right now some of them can't even find Nora, others can't find Numerology when scanning for VST's/AU's. If they find Numerology the editor window will be all jacked up when opened on the VST.

So Audiomulch, Liveprofessor, Freestyle, Usine - somebody please put it together, you're all on the verge of actually being workable. Save me from the moronic AU routing of Logic & Mainstage.

[imprint]

Mac 64-bit - I'm waiting. There are several contenders out there right now for live instrument hosting. Whoever gives me something that reliably hosts my step sequencers/arpeggiators (Numerology, Nora etc.), with flexible MIDI routing, gets my money. Right now some of them can't even find Nora, others can't find Numerology when scanning for VST's/AU's. If they find Numerology the editor window will be all jacked up when opened on the VST.

So Audiomulch, Liveprofessor, Freestyle, Usine - somebody please put it together, you're all on the verge of actually being workable. Save me from the moronic AU routing of Logic & Mainstage.

I'm a big fan of Numerology - very different sort of tool than Usine Hollyhock IMHO. It is a great tool so am surprised to hear that you're having trouble. Their forum is great and the developer (Jim) frequently responds to issues in the General Questions area within 24 hours of posting so you might try and get some assistance there...

[wasi]

I love usine but it drives me crazy sometimes. It seems the deeper you go the easier and more intuitive things are. The more basic functions are the least intuitive IMO. Like routing audio - I still don't know if I'm doing it right. But I do know how to make custom interface for some whacky granular device or make bouncing balls control parameters.

To me it's like the working man's m4l-meets-reaktor. As others have said, it helps you break some molds or just fool around in Audiomulch, and I'm pretty sure that if I used my laptop live I'd set it up in usine. I got a pro version because I value the mindset and treasure options it offers. It offers a lot of stuff out of the box that even m4L has you buying all sorts of devices for, if it's even possible (leap motion, joystick control etc.).

[VariKusBrainZ]

Am disappointed to read that the Dev has officially announced there will be no VST plugin version