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Essential VSTs for beginning producers (pg. 3)
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View this Thread in Original format
| sr126 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
I would've recommended that, until I found out that it was CDILLA-crippled and their support team couldn't even come up with a way to get it working after I replaced a hard drive other than "reformat your entire system and reinstall everything from scratch". Um... no thanks.
Anyway, it's definitely not something I'd recommend for beginners. Samplers are difficult to use effectively. |
i'm confused about the cdilla-crippled thing...
i never had any problems with e-mu. i purchased the 1820m studio bundle, so it came w/emulator. it installed perfectly for me.
did you have this problem w/the old emulator, or emulator x2? i remember reading that they used a different copy protection scheme w/x2. the only time it asked me for the original cd was after installed the program, and ran it for the first time. haven't heard a peep from it since.
i also have the retail version of proteus x2, never had problems w/that either.
i feel bad that you had a bad experience w/it.
i know emulator is not really for beginners... but it's still easy to get it going as a basic tone module, especially if you pick up some of the stuff that's available @ ESC. when he grows, emulator will be there w/him every step of the way. it's not like he will ever outgrow emulator, or reach a point where emulator x is to elementary to use in a real production envoirnment. it's 300 dollar he will spend once, and once only. no going up some upgrade ladder and spending all kinds of cash along the way.
-that's just how i see things, and this is how i plan my purchases. buy it once, buy it right. |
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| kitphillips |
I'm seeing battery, FM8 and absynth crop up a fair bit, also pro 53. So I recommend you just get the native instruments bundle with all their stuff in it. Then you have a sampler as well. So this is a good starting point. From there, I would say albino and z3ta should round it off nicely.
FX wise, I think waves are considered the best, but are way overpriced IMO, so maybe look at wavearts/voxengo or something like that?
Re copy protection, Native instruments are really, really bad for this stuff. If you have a problem, the quickest thing to do is just export all your keys and then email them, but it took about three months of stuffing around with this lot for me! Once they work though, they really work:D |
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| Fledz |
| quote: | Originally posted by thoughtlessjex
If you aren't happy with Synth1 and KarmaFX, you're never going to be happy with anything else.
Either that, or you don't really know how to use them, and other synths won't help with that. |
That's a little bit misleading. You could be the best sound designer around and know the intricacies of everything but that doesn't mean you have to like something.
One person might say they love it, while another one will say it's .
It's all personal preference. No doubt they are well designed and powerful little synths but that doesn't mean that they will suit everyone. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by sr126
i'm confused about the cdilla-crippled thing... [snip] |
I'm talking about the original Emulator X here, I'm not sure whether or not it applies to X2 (and I'm not about to pay to find out).
Whether or not C-DILLA causes any specific problems for you, it's still considered crapware. It's a rootkit - it installs itself without your consent, doesn't tell you what it's doing or even that it's running at all, intercepts low-level system calls and makes itself very difficult to uninstall (in the sense of "eliminating any trace of the damn thing").
In my case, after I replaced a defective hard drive, C-DILLA decided that my system configuration had changed and it needed to re-authorize, but for whatever reason it was refusing to do so, even after uninstalling and reinstalling Emulator X and its accompanying C-DILLA garbage. I think it hides a bunch of information by using raw disk reads/writes to sectors that aren't part of the file system and that programs aren't supposed to touch, so either it was looking for that information and couldn't find it, or it was using some old information on a different drive that uninstalling would not get rid of.
To make a long story short - yeah, like a lot of braindead copy protection schemes, it's usually OK for the majority of users, but the ones who aren't so lucky are usually completely ed, and usually quite pissed off about it after paying hundreds of dollars for the product.
Anyway, the "Creative Professional" drivers that operate the Emu devices are complete garbage anyway, regardless of the Emulator X issues. You may not be having problems yet - mine only started about a year and a half after I bought it. Again, obviously doesn't affect you when they're working properly, but when they're not, it gets awfully tiring having to uninstall/reboot/reinstall/reboot 6 times in a row just to fix the stupid drivers, only to have them up again the next time you reboot. |
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| sot |
korg legacy
arp2600
pro-53
dblue glitch
ni massive
surge
reaktor 5
ohm boyz delay
are a few of my favs :D |
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| Eldritch |
| quote: | Originally posted by D.Edge
BuzMaxi 3 transparent brickwall limiter
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Yeah, that's a good one.
I use it all the time. |
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| Rhythm |
| quote: | Originally posted by thoughtlessjex
If you aren't happy with Synth1 and KarmaFX, you're never going to be happy with anything else.
Either that, or you don't really know how to use them, and other synths won't help with that. |
Yeah, I've heard from several people that Synth1 is essential, which is why it was the first free VST I ever got. I'm learning more about how to use it as I experiment with it. |
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| Rhythm |
Thank you all for the great suggestions and commentary. I'll investigate each of the suggestions, and will try the demos of the ones that aren't free. Just picked up Battery 3, an M-Audio Trigger Finger and a used M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 as my MIDI controller. With your guys' suggestions, I should be well on my way (I'll most likely stick with the free synths for now ... since I'm broke, haha).
Thanks again!
Rhythm
:disbelief |
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| h.vox |
you could also try these:
vember audio surge
tone2 firebird
antti asynth (freeware)
kjaerhus audio spectra
imageline toxic 3
polyiblit (freeware)
rgcaudio triangle 2 (freeware)
ugo rez 2 (freeware)
-----
myspace.com/voxproject |
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| mdk |
You need only 1!!
Synth 1 :D
Easy to create your own sound and tweak sounds.
From massive synths to wicked basslines, from background arps to sweeping pads, you can do everything with Synth 1.
And best of all: It's free!! I use it in almost every single track.
To order: Call now! If you call within 15 minutes from now you will even get a 15% discount. Wow Mike.. it's amazing! |
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| sr126 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
[FONT=Tahoma][COLOR=#99CCEE]I'm talking about the original Emulator X here, I'm not sure whether or not it applies to X2 (and I'm not about to pay to find out).
Whether or not C-DILLA causes any specific problems for you, it's still considered crapware. It's a rootkit - it installs itself without your consent, doesn't tell you what it's doing or even that it's running at all, intercepts low-level system calls and makes itself very difficult to uninstall (in the sense of "eliminating any trace of the damn thing").
In my case, after I replaced a defective hard drive, C-DILLA decided that my system configuration had changed and it needed to re-authorize, but for whatever reason it was refusing to do so, even after uninstalling and reinstalling Emulator X and its accompanying C-DILLA garbage. I think it hides a bunch of information by using raw disk reads/writes to sectors that aren't part of the file system and that programs aren't supposed to touch, so either it was looking for that information and couldn't find it, or it was using some old information on a different drive that uninstalling would not get rid of.
To make a long story short - yeah, like a lot of braindead copy protection schemes, it's usually OK for the majority of users, but the ones who aren't so lucky are usually completely ed, and usually quite pissed off about it after paying hundreds of dollars for the product. |
ok, so i looked up c-dilla, and now i know what you're talking about.
well, no need to pay to find out if X2 is different. it's the same. my set up came w/the original emulator x install disc, and a separate x2 upgrade disc. -the upgrade disc uninstalls the old emulator, but it doesn't uninstall c-dilla. i know this because when i do the cont+alt+del, i can see c-dilla running.
i think the change in the copy-protection scheme is based on emulator asking for the original cd when you try to run emulator for the first time, and it leaves you alone after that. i think the original version it would ask for the original cd every so often. |
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| DigiNut |
Nah - the original version never asked for the original CD except on the first run, and after replacing the drive.
Anyway, it's a moot point - the question is, why the hell does a plugin requiring dedicated hardware need this kind of protection, and why can't one of their developers compile a non-crippled version for somebody who has paid for the damn thing and can't use it?
It doesn't make sense. I've posted several rants before about software companies treating their customers like criminals, usually in the context of Steinberg and/or Native Instruments, but I'm not going to make any exception for Creative. I'm done with them and will no longer recommend their products to anybody until they can prove that they've cleaned up their act (which will probably never happen, given the trend of this "protection" getting worse and worse on a global scale). |
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