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Peti
Reviewed By DrApostropheX [all]
August 27th, 2004
Version reviewed: 1.0 SSE on Windows
I've always loved the sound of the accordian, and it's a fun instrument to play, as well. Sampled accordians, however, always left me a little cold with their lifeless sound. An accordian BREATHES, and static accordian samples, no matter how many expression or volume envelopes you added, never really captured the living qualities of the real thing.
So I was very excited with Liqih synth released Peti, a wonderful and unique VSTi which can create far more than just accordian sounds (accordians, organ-grinders, melodicas, harmoniums, musettees, concertinas... even a Farsifa!). And the sounds it can create are amazing. I haven't gotten into using my MIDI controller to "run" the bellows: I haven't had to -- the intuitive bellows controls do a very good job of emulating what a real accordian player would do.
The presets are all very good (and usable in a wide range of musical styles!) and really show off the range of this instrument. The presets are also very "tweakable" so if you have a particular sound (or player) in mind you can easily reach it with just a few twiddles.
Documentation is first-rate and explains all of the features and controls on the charming GUI (as well as suggested harmonics settings, if you're into that sort of thing). Liqihsynth have even included a history of the accordian and links to various sites which illustrate its usage in the music of many different cultures to set the appropriate mood.
It hasn't crashed or bombed once yet (I'm running v1.0 with SSE enabled) so I haven't had a chance to test the support (but Liqih always responds to emails within a few hours or so).
Overall, if you like the sound of the accordian (in its many regional flavors) or want to use its unique character in your tunes, you simply need to try Peti out. I'm sure you'll fall in love with it, too, and find it as usable and enjoyable as I have. Nothing else even comes close.Read Review
So I was very excited with Liqih synth released Peti, a wonderful and unique VSTi which can create far more than just accordian sounds (accordians, organ-grinders, melodicas, harmoniums, musettees, concertinas... even a Farsifa!). And the sounds it can create are amazing. I haven't gotten into using my MIDI controller to "run" the bellows: I haven't had to -- the intuitive bellows controls do a very good job of emulating what a real accordian player would do.
The presets are all very good (and usable in a wide range of musical styles!) and really show off the range of this instrument. The presets are also very "tweakable" so if you have a particular sound (or player) in mind you can easily reach it with just a few twiddles.
Documentation is first-rate and explains all of the features and controls on the charming GUI (as well as suggested harmonics settings, if you're into that sort of thing). Liqihsynth have even included a history of the accordian and links to various sites which illustrate its usage in the music of many different cultures to set the appropriate mood.
It hasn't crashed or bombed once yet (I'm running v1.0 with SSE enabled) so I haven't had a chance to test the support (but Liqih always responds to emails within a few hours or so).
Overall, if you like the sound of the accordian (in its many regional flavors) or want to use its unique character in your tunes, you simply need to try Peti out. I'm sure you'll fall in love with it, too, and find it as usable and enjoyable as I have. Nothing else even comes close.Read Review
Mother Ship Astrobelt
Reviewed By DrApostropheX [all]
December 22nd, 2003
Version reviewed: 1.2 on Windows
Interface:
Beautiful (and neat and compact!), and one of the things that drew me to this VST in the first place. You can select from four different color schemes, which is a nice touch, too.
Sound:
For great sweeping pads, organs, or just about anything else you want to whoosh (which includes ethereal leads) this is #1 in its price range. There's some amazing delays and filter work (and filtered delays and delayed filters) going on here. And it's soooo light on the CPU. Amazing.
Features:
While primarily designed with pads and other ethereal sounds in mind, I was impressed with the range of Astrobelt's sound. A good way to try this is to download the demo and shift-click the randomize button to get a bank of 128 randomized presets (note: I *LOVE* that each preset is given its own unique name... that is a WONDERFUL nice touch). With minimal tweaking ANY of the randomized presets can be turned into to something unique. And it's light on the CPU.
Documentation:
The provided HTML documentation has good information on all of Astrobelt's features. You'll still benefit most, of course, from tinkering -- which is easy to do on this synth (start with a randomly-generated patch and develop it from there -- this is a perfect synth for beginners as well as for advanced users who want to develop new sounds very quickly).
Presets:
Not amazing presets, but when you factor in that the randomize bank feature gives you unlimited unique presets, this gets a 10.
Customer Support:
Haven't had anything go wrong, but when I ordered, I had the full version within a few hours. Can't beat that.
Value For Money:
There are no other VSTi like this one out there (aside from free) which offers the value for money of this instrument (I paid full price). Did I mention it's VERY light on the CPU?
Stability:
No crashes in FLStudio or SONAR 2.0 VST-Wrapper yet. Again, it's light on the CPU: I could hold a three or four-note chord (with all of Astrobelt's bells and whistles) in FLStudio on my 2.5Ghz P4 and only peak at around 4 or 5%.
Bottom Line:
Astrobelt is an absolute joy to use with an extremely high bang for the buck factor and a sound to match. I actually go out of my way to include Astrobelt in my music now because I love working with it and the way it sounds so much.Read Review
Beautiful (and neat and compact!), and one of the things that drew me to this VST in the first place. You can select from four different color schemes, which is a nice touch, too.
Sound:
For great sweeping pads, organs, or just about anything else you want to whoosh (which includes ethereal leads) this is #1 in its price range. There's some amazing delays and filter work (and filtered delays and delayed filters) going on here. And it's soooo light on the CPU. Amazing.
Features:
While primarily designed with pads and other ethereal sounds in mind, I was impressed with the range of Astrobelt's sound. A good way to try this is to download the demo and shift-click the randomize button to get a bank of 128 randomized presets (note: I *LOVE* that each preset is given its own unique name... that is a WONDERFUL nice touch). With minimal tweaking ANY of the randomized presets can be turned into to something unique. And it's light on the CPU.
Documentation:
The provided HTML documentation has good information on all of Astrobelt's features. You'll still benefit most, of course, from tinkering -- which is easy to do on this synth (start with a randomly-generated patch and develop it from there -- this is a perfect synth for beginners as well as for advanced users who want to develop new sounds very quickly).
Presets:
Not amazing presets, but when you factor in that the randomize bank feature gives you unlimited unique presets, this gets a 10.
Customer Support:
Haven't had anything go wrong, but when I ordered, I had the full version within a few hours. Can't beat that.
Value For Money:
There are no other VSTi like this one out there (aside from free) which offers the value for money of this instrument (I paid full price). Did I mention it's VERY light on the CPU?
Stability:
No crashes in FLStudio or SONAR 2.0 VST-Wrapper yet. Again, it's light on the CPU: I could hold a three or four-note chord (with all of Astrobelt's bells and whistles) in FLStudio on my 2.5Ghz P4 and only peak at around 4 or 5%.
Bottom Line:
Astrobelt is an absolute joy to use with an extremely high bang for the buck factor and a sound to match. I actually go out of my way to include Astrobelt in my music now because I love working with it and the way it sounds so much.Read Review
theAbstractGuitar
Reviewed By DrApostropheX [all]
October 28th, 2003
Version reviewed: 1.26 on Windows
First off, unlike most other reviewers here, I am not a beta-tester for the Abstract Guitar, I actually paid money for this instrument, and I'm very glad I did. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect -- the demo .mp3s at DashSignature.com really don't do this instrument justice. If you're looking for another Slayer clone (play a chord and have it strum or wah away for you), you will be not be taking advantage of all this instrument has to offer: while this instrument is capable of some pretty realistic guitar sounds, realism is not what tAG is best at.
Quite simply, this instrument sounds unlike any other VSTi I've ever played. In your mind, start with the sound of a guitar or some other plucked instrument. Then think of how you could expand that sound, add additional timbres and board ring, increase the cavity, add distortion, reverb, chorus... until finally you have something unique which can either completely fill up a mix on its own (seriously, you can use tAG as a solo instrument and really *play* it: it's that expressive and that rich) or which sits nicely on top, below, or anywhere else in the mix you'd like to put it. What you do with it is up to you. I was also surprised with the FM-like sounds tAG is capable of putting out -- electric pianos, tubular sounds, etc. This instrument is far more versatile, and far more rich than I had ever expected it to be. It's also a bit more CPU-intensive than I expected it to be (though my 2.5GHz P4 can handle about seven or eight instances in FLStudio before it starts to chug), but when you consider everything it's doing (all the physical modelling and then like three or four effects), it's well worth it. The documentation, while a good starting point, is not the best I've ever read and as with most instruments experimentation is the best way to learn.
Because of its versatility, richness of tone, and expressiveness (I *love* the adjustable pitch and pluck deviations!) I have a feeling theAbstract Guitar will be showing up on quite a few of my tunes for some time to come.Read Review
Quite simply, this instrument sounds unlike any other VSTi I've ever played. In your mind, start with the sound of a guitar or some other plucked instrument. Then think of how you could expand that sound, add additional timbres and board ring, increase the cavity, add distortion, reverb, chorus... until finally you have something unique which can either completely fill up a mix on its own (seriously, you can use tAG as a solo instrument and really *play* it: it's that expressive and that rich) or which sits nicely on top, below, or anywhere else in the mix you'd like to put it. What you do with it is up to you. I was also surprised with the FM-like sounds tAG is capable of putting out -- electric pianos, tubular sounds, etc. This instrument is far more versatile, and far more rich than I had ever expected it to be. It's also a bit more CPU-intensive than I expected it to be (though my 2.5GHz P4 can handle about seven or eight instances in FLStudio before it starts to chug), but when you consider everything it's doing (all the physical modelling and then like three or four effects), it's well worth it. The documentation, while a good starting point, is not the best I've ever read and as with most instruments experimentation is the best way to learn.
Because of its versatility, richness of tone, and expressiveness (I *love* the adjustable pitch and pluck deviations!) I have a feeling theAbstract Guitar will be showing up on quite a few of my tunes for some time to come.Read Review
