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VectorSector
Reviewed By Mandala Music [all]
March 5th, 2005
Version reviewed: 1.0 on Windows
I am glad the developer(s) decided to release Vector Sector. It is a much, much cheaper alternative to buying a hardware Prophet VS.
Vector Sector comes with 100 presets which sound great and which are very easily tweaked into your very own creations. Selecting from the 100+ waveforms while editing is hit or miss, because there is no description of the waveforms. (However, I can't deduct much for this because even in the original Prophet VS manual there is only a partial listing/description of the waveforms). General Vibe on their web page says that the waveforms were modeled after the original waveforms of the hardware VS to allow authentic sounding VS patches using the Vector Sector program. The resonant filter sounds good and the polyphonic glide is well implemented.
There is only one page of explanation on the General Vibe website. I assume they will add more explanation and description later.
A big plua for this software version is the ability to save your edits with names that you can see when opening your edits folder. The original Prophet VS presets only show up as numbers in the various editor-librarians that support it.
You can't layer presets within Vector Sector but I haven't tried running more than one instance of the program at a time within Sonar 4.
The program hasn't crashed at all while I have been running it. (I use a Midi Guitar as a controller and I appreciate the flexible choice of either enabling all midi channels in omni mode or selecting 1-16).
Vector Sector is a great improvement over trying to edit sounds within the original hardware VS. But I wish Vector Sector editing window were a little larger to allow easier reading of the parameters as you are editing them.
I haven't tried to contact General Vibe for tech support so it is hard to rate especially since I am not having any problems with the software.
I have been comparing Vector Sector to the original VS because undoubtedly many prospective buyers of a used hardware VS will wonder if they should go the software route instead. If you already own a hardware VS, you won't be able to transfer your sounds to the Vector Sector but the program is easy enough to use to make your own creations or to edit the 100 presets that come with the program. Also all the original Prophet VS keyboards and rack units date back to 1987 and parts are getting scarce so I am especially happy that Vector Sector will be around to offer software Vector Synthesis in the future.
Read ReviewVector Sector comes with 100 presets which sound great and which are very easily tweaked into your very own creations. Selecting from the 100+ waveforms while editing is hit or miss, because there is no description of the waveforms. (However, I can't deduct much for this because even in the original Prophet VS manual there is only a partial listing/description of the waveforms). General Vibe on their web page says that the waveforms were modeled after the original waveforms of the hardware VS to allow authentic sounding VS patches using the Vector Sector program. The resonant filter sounds good and the polyphonic glide is well implemented.
There is only one page of explanation on the General Vibe website. I assume they will add more explanation and description later.
A big plua for this software version is the ability to save your edits with names that you can see when opening your edits folder. The original Prophet VS presets only show up as numbers in the various editor-librarians that support it.
You can't layer presets within Vector Sector but I haven't tried running more than one instance of the program at a time within Sonar 4.
The program hasn't crashed at all while I have been running it. (I use a Midi Guitar as a controller and I appreciate the flexible choice of either enabling all midi channels in omni mode or selecting 1-16).
Vector Sector is a great improvement over trying to edit sounds within the original hardware VS. But I wish Vector Sector editing window were a little larger to allow easier reading of the parameters as you are editing them.
I haven't tried to contact General Vibe for tech support so it is hard to rate especially since I am not having any problems with the software.
I have been comparing Vector Sector to the original VS because undoubtedly many prospective buyers of a used hardware VS will wonder if they should go the software route instead. If you already own a hardware VS, you won't be able to transfer your sounds to the Vector Sector but the program is easy enough to use to make your own creations or to edit the 100 presets that come with the program. Also all the original Prophet VS keyboards and rack units date back to 1987 and parts are getting scarce so I am especially happy that Vector Sector will be around to offer software Vector Synthesis in the future.