Product Reviews by KVR Members

I ran a quick test on this new synth. There seems to be a spurt of new plugins these days. While it's exciting to see all the new toys, it seems like a lot of them are vibe coded by inexperienced developers. Too many feel like they were Frankenstein-ed together from a bunch of code libraries, and let loose to the village.

The sad truth seems to be that they and this plugin feels half hatched. There is no file/patch saving system. Adjusting some parameters causes crazy exploding noises. The basic sounds are fine. This is version 0.0.9. So, hopefully by the time it gets past a few of those zeros, it will have matured to a usable piece of kit.

But given the sheer number of plugins coming out now... and the number of good plugins doing basically the same thing, the user is well advised to be discerning in their choices of what tools to actually commit to using.

This is one of the nicest sounding free pianos I have heard. The controls offer lots of latitude to adjust the parameters of the piano sound elements. From subtle to overly exaggerated, which could make for some interesting sound design or other piano-like type instruments.

Many other piano libraries might sound OK for basic flat playing but often lack the expressiveness offered with velocity layers. SuperPiano on the other hand can be very dynamic and has a very rich sound. I'm very impressed. Version 1.1.b fixed a problem where the output level was too loud and caused distortion. I found a good default setting for my needs and saved it as a preset which should suit all of my piano needs.

A highly recommended piano instrument.

This seems like a genius idea. I was unable to test it because it seems to need to find the Reaper config files. My Reaper is a portable installation, which might explain why they were not found. It might be good to have a menu item that could link to the folder.

Also, this was listed on KVR as a "free" plugin. In fact it's a seven day trail.

I've tried and use many of these types of audio analysis tools. gFractor seems to be taking advantage of many of the new developments in analysis approaches and code libraries. This plugin is an excellent example of well executed design and useful features. It handles all the important visualizations very well. Though, when the FFT window is set too high, the response performance drops noticeably.

The transient analysis is particularly interesting. Being able to see and hear the transients vs the decay separately is truly enlightening.

I can see the developer developing a variation of this tool even further, by enabling separate outputs for each signal for individual processing. Either transient/decay, mid/side or L/R.

The stereo analysis tools (Goniometer, correlation, width octave) are also very useful. To have all, in one uncluttered, well thought out plugin is a blessing in a new world where too many plugins can be overwhelming. This will replace many of my audio analysis tools.

Highly recommended.

Tested v 1.0.5 and 1.0.6. of SnapClip by NovoNotes. Both would not load in Reaper 7.69 win 10. :(.

I was eager to try this update of the GReverb.

I have been using the previous GReverb Alpha for a while. While it isn't particularly original in features or concept (in a sea of so many reverbs that are now available), it does have a pleasant sound that I want to use occasionally.

When loading the new version of GReverb 1.1 I noted a new knob for "early shape" and the relocation of the in and out gain controls as well as some other parameters. When testing the sounds I found that this was no mere update - this was a completely different sounding reverb unit. While I appreciate the new parameters, I found the GUI update was not well implemented. Many new features are squeezed in little corners, undermining their importance. I think the sound of this new version is harsher and more cluttered.

Version 1.1 seems to require much more tweaking to get a usable sound, and overall I prefer the Alpha version, which I will not replace with this newer version.

The user interface of this and all of the other Zazz plugins does not inspire me to try them out. However, I did try out the Zazz "Room Reverb" partially because the GUI was so silly looking (because of the layout). I was pleasantly surprised by how good and useful the sounds it produced were. So I decided to also try out the Zazz FDN Reverb, which is the subject of this review.

The first thing I have to note is that there is another developer named Uhhyou, who also has a 64-bit VST3 plugin called FDN64Reverb. They are completely different. The Uhhyou plugin is very experimental, complex and uses a lot of CPU. It's worth looking into if you like experimenting and getting weird sounds. I know I do.

The Zazz FDNreverb is very simple to use and produces very good, basic reverb sounds. Even the extreme settings can provide interesting results, from boingy to tubby to more normal and transparently "realistic"- all are pleasant and usable. While it lacks many of the basic parameters one would expect in an algorithmic reverb, such as pre-delay and modulation, It offers something relatively sonically unique and easy to use in a very crowded reverb market.

I will check out some of the other Zazz plugins, now that I have gotten over my initial prejudice of the very basic GUI designs.

Very nice. I'd use it for the tremolo only. I'd use it for the reverb only. I'd use the two together. Both are perfect for that certain guitar sound. It's simple and does the job well. I have nothing bad to say about this great plugin.

I really like this plugin. I've long thought that the more obvious artifacts from MP3 compression would make for cool effects. Similar to bit crushing but with a more interesting character. Now, rather than running samples through numerous generations of MP3 compression, it can be done and quickly tweaked in my DAW.

The variables/parameters available in "Maim" are very interesting and fun to tinker with. Great on individual tracks or parts of whole mixes.

The plugin description states "knobs can be smoothly dragged and automated". It looks like this can only be done using the native automation of the DAW. I would really appreciate the ability to have each knob learn a MIDI cc. This is much more practical when migrating between DAWs and for the general posterity of the session file, since MIDI cc are standardized.

There is one notable annoyance that I must note. When I save my DAW session, Maim makes a short but loud glitchy burst of noise. Be careful to turn the volume down... [UPDATE] Maim does not seem to be making that loud glitchy noise when I save my session today.

My DAW is the last version of Cakewalk by Bandlab on the latest update of WIN10 64.

I know this will be part of my tool box despite some of its shortcomings. I applaud the developer, Wildergarden Audio, for this fun plugin.

I was not able to get this plugin to work. The GUI would gradually disappear and then my DAW would freeze and crash. I'm using Windows 10 64-bit with the latest (and apparently last) version of Cakewalk by BandLab.

I was going to try the other plugins by Brummer but I'll wait to see if they can fix this. Maybe by the time it gets to v1.0.

UPDATE:

I'd like to thank Brummer for the quick response and update to v 0.2. Unfortunately the update still causes the GUI on my DAW to malfunction and eventually the whole DAW to crash. I'll stick with Gtune, which has worked well for me for years.