Product Reviews by KVR Members

For what it is, is one of the most complete and complex library.

Of course, this is a cowbell library and the demo track here underline just the fact that is launched for April 1st, but there are more demo tracks on their page that convince more.

Pros:

• Free.
• Works with a free sampler (UVI Workstation).
• Multiple microphone positions.
• Ensemble mode with humanizing.
• Very good looking and user friendly GUI.

Cons:

• Cowbell?

A simple and easy to use amp and cabinet simulator, quite lite on CPU and RAM.

Imterface - pretty self explanatory. If you used a guitar amp in your life, you'll find your way easy through controls.

Usability - from jazz to blues, pop, rock or metal, you'll find easy to get your tone. Of course, it's less tweakable that an amp suite with tons of heads, speakers, mic placements...etc, but as a real amp, you can tweak it enough to fit to your needs.

Sound - pretty good out of the box, maybe a bit thin on the clean channel.

For a freebie is amazingly good. It used to be my main guitar tool for several years.

This is one of my favorite plugins from KVR Developer Challenge 2012.

GUI - quite good looking but most important, clear and self explanatory.

Sound - now here is where it really got me. As a concept it pretty simple, a filter, a stereo field control, some noise and a (what seems to be) compressor/ clipper, but when you put all those together the result is impressive.

I love how this sounds on drums, it gives instant punch and character. The usual computer drum, a bit sterile and with too much separation between elements, suddenly glue together and give the impression of a single instrument.

On guitars, the filter cut around the "1970" setting most of the unwanted frequencies.

CPU usage - on my system seems to be quite easy on CPU and memory, and I use a mid priced laptop.

Grab it and use it, it's one of the few "vintage warmifier" plugins that adds a useful quality to the sound. Very musical, very intuitive.

Cons - well, not that it affects me, but no Mac version.

Small but very very useful.

The quality of sound is very good and the patch has a small ensemble playing in unison, so the result is very organic and at the same time it keeps a small footprint.

Sometimes the legato script makes the patch to sound a bit "lazy" but if you put two patches, one legato and one not, you'll achieve a very live like ensemble.

Works with full version of Kontakt, so I guess you can liven up a little the default strings using this library and get the best out of both.

Also, it's free, what can you want more?

A pretty decent sampler with several interesting options and a nice but quite small demo soundbank.

CPU friendly if compared with other samplers, interface is user friendly and look inspiring. Effects section is pretty good and contains the usual selection, distortion, eq, modulaton (chorus/ flanger), delay and reverb.

The fact that can load SFZ format is a big plus.

I had small issues when opening files, somehow the loading menu disappear, then I figured out that is just somehow automatically not focused, so it stays behind all opened windows (including the DAW).

There are more interesting samplers or with a smaller CPU consumption, but for this price :) this is warmly recommended.

One of the best free pianos around, probably better than many commercial piano plugins or sample libraries.

Sound - it has an excellent open and clear sound. Many modeled pianos miss a certain "brilliance" of the sound as well as some sampled pianos (probably recorded with darker microphones). This one sound like a real good piano, how you would hear it from near (while playing on a real piano).

Interface - a simple interface with very self explanatory controls. You can tweak the sound, add some impulse based reverb, open/ close the lid, control dynamic response (velocity curve), etc...

CPU and RAM usage - as mentioned by developer, low usage of both. Can run on slower or older computers without chocking your projects.

On the downside:

- the release is a little unrealistic and can be a turn off for people who are used to play real pianos. You can fix it a little with the release slider, but not make it good. In a project you can hide the problem by using the sustain pedal. Still, if you care more about the sound than response, this is the free piano you'll ever need.

- interface could use a more inspiring design/ colors/ better knobs and sliders graphics.

For some time now, "Variety Of Sound" plugins became some of the most used plugins in my projects.

Good results, easy on CPU, easy to understand (and inspiring) GUI and some useful presets to get you started and all of this for free.

Sound - squeaky clean or colored, digital or tape, all possible.

Interface - all controls "in your face" with very clear labels, easy accessible and understandable. Metering display (which miss on many expensive plugins). Amazing inspiring design giving you a bit of extra "old skool" feel, pushing you to experiment and try out all the knobs and sliders.

Usability - can work on whatever you want. Voice, guitar, a bit of chorus on bass, synths, orchestral tracks, all possible. Quite small CPU consumption.

Highly recommended as all "Variety Of Sound" plugins.

A great plugin, very effective. Probably the most useful effect for getting the voice evened out without any kind of coloring or "squashing" like normal compressors.

To some might be a little CPU hungry but not really bad. On my current system (Intel P6100 @2 GHz, 3Gb RAM) I can run it in a normal rock mix (4~5 guitar tracks, 1 bass, 6~8 drum tracks, 2 keyboards, 2 backing vocals, 1 main vocal) without any problem.

I personally tested it in FL Studio and Mu.Lab, no issues there.

The GUI is very clear and user friendly, might seem a bit outdated and too "cartoonish" to my taste, but nothing wrong really.

The resemblance with Waves Vocal Rider is way too big to be ignored, just this plugin is about 2~3 years older than the Waves version, doesn't require iLock and is 64$ instead of 400$.

Definitely a keeper!