Just a technical question to @brad on the forum software: why does this post show up as “bookmarked” in my topic list, if I haven’t bookmarked it?
The actual “bookmark” at the bottom of the post is inactive; in fact, I have tried bookmarking the thread and deleting the bookmark again - no effect…
Is there a global “bookmark” attached to the post?
Just my OCD acting up here…
@Torsten YMMV…
I’ve experienced the awful B-3X GUI performance and its high CPU appetite. Thanks, but no thanks. I find that UAD’s Waterfall B3 performs better and sounds as good (if not better, although it’s a matter of taste).
As for Xpand2, it is one of my absolute go-to plugins. Simple, logical, extremely efficient, a broad pallette of useful sounds, and incredibly stable. But, whatever works for you…
Hi @Torsten
I have no idea. It’s not showing bookmarked for me, so not a global thing. I assume you’ve tried the usual flush browser cache etc… What happens if you use a different browser?
Brad
Extremely funky - tried clearing cache, different browsers, incognito sessions, etc. As soon as I log in, the bookmark appears on the thread…
@bpeterson1123 Thanks for the tip on the Leslie sim. It looks good, and the price is low. If it only didn’t use ILOK! I’ve had problems with it in the past, and don’t want to go down that road again. Oh well …
@Torsten I own Blue3, the new Cherry Audio version. IMO, it’s a very good organ coupled to a ‘just OK’ Leslie sim. I’m really picky about my Leslie sound. I gigged with them for many years. I used to sell hi-power (> 500W) Leslie upgrade kits back in the day, and gigged with a MOSFET-driven 750W monster for 10 years or so. I was also one of the first two US Neo Instruments dealers for the Ventilator line. A Leslie sim has got to do a couple of very specific things to make my rig, and Blue3’s Spin doesn’t provide what I’m looking for. (To be fair, the Ventilator didn’t do one of them.) It’s also not a separate module in CA’s update.
I love the IK Leslie sim, and it’s very flexible in Amplitube. The problem is, the AmpliTube UI keeps breaking on my machine, and since the SampleTank UI breaks in exactly the same manner I suspect that it’s a general IK UI or file corruption issue. And one they’re probably not going to address at this point, since they won’t even reply to my inquiries.
When this problem happens, the only “cures” that I’ve found – in quotes because the fix is temporary – would be to either update the software to a new version; or uninstall the software, remove all traces of IKMM from the PC, then reinstall the IKMM. The first one is not often available on a mature product; the second one is a major investment in time every month or two.
My two cents for the IK evaluation. I had some previous posts on crashes with Sampletank:
Crashes of sampletank, In the replies of cantabile spontaneously disappears.
I had a few conclusions there:
But in the end I couldn’t really get rid of the crashes so, started to phase-out Sampletank. Somewhere I understood that one of the worst offenders was the Yamaha C7, an instrument that I really did like.
As an alternative I started with the Production voices, Yamaha C7 and the Kawai GS60, both in Sforzando format. They are very affordable and useful in an orchestral mix. The Kawai is very bright and clear, C7 is a bit more general purpose. For really pianistic pieces I still use the Vienna Imperial Grand (VST2). Next setlist I’m gonna change to the update version in the Vienna Synchron player.
For the general sounds and synths I started with MSoundfactory, which is not very much highlighted in this forum, but I think it is a great platform. By now there is a large collection of instruments for almost any situation. As a modular synth it is extremely powerfull and gives the flexibility to create whatever you like. As an extra it offers the Melda Grand which is a really good sounding Steinway.
In the last IK group sales I bought about everything of IK that I did not own already (40 Euro I believe,..) especially for Pianoverse. I am getting it bit worried now hearing that it is seen as one of the IK offenders. In my view it does bring something new over what I already have. I particularly like the full sound in the lower registers, giving a real grand piano experience. By now I’m using the YamahaC7 (again) and the Fazioli F278, up to now without any crashes. I would agree that the interface is clearly based on the SampleTank engine, so that is not encouraging.
The B-3X is my first choice for Hammond by now, also without issues. I have some use of Mixbox as I am used to the interface because of using SampleTank.
Long message, hopefully not too annoying, and I would be interested in the opinion of the community on MSoundfactory,
cheers,
Joop
@bpeterson1123 I did bite the bullet and purchase Waterfall Rotary. They have recently upgraded the iLok process to make it easier, which was a pleasant surprise. Right now, UAD has Rotary on sale for $29USD – and they have sales on limited ‘pick 2’ and ‘pick 3’ bundles at $49USD and $69USD, respectively. (Waterfall organ and Leslie make the cut.)
Comparing the IKMM and UAD offerings, I think the sound is close. The IKMM product wins out on flexibility:
but it loses on:
@drawbars I agree completely with your assessments of the Amplitube and Waterfall Leslie sims. There are indeed trade-offs. I use several plugins that require iLok and have never once encountered an issue in either live or offline situations. UAD used to require the hardware dongle, but lifted that restriction a year ago, at which time I purchased the Waterfall B3 and Leslie. I could not be happier.
Perhaps i am in a minority, but I have many plugins that use iLOK authentication, tied to the computer, and I have never had an issue with it.
I just started a new thread about an IKM issue when not connected to the internet. Then I discovered this thread. Maybe my new one belonged here.
My personal experience with IKM: BX-3 demo was my gateway drug to going vst and selling all my roland, nord, kurzweil, asm, behringer stuff. I ended up buying total max when it was on sale. But I have gradually been using it less and less. Orchestra vst3 never worked quite right. Syntronik is pretty underwhelming compared to modeled stuff from Arturia and Cherry. But I still love BX-3 and Amplitube/Tonex. I still have Modo bass and drums installed, but I rarely need those in live situations. Only for mocking up new tunes. Still have tRacks installed. Not sure if its in any current song. Everything else is uninstalled. Unless they have improved it, the installs were all or nothing. Right now I couldn’t reinstall even if I wanted to. Not enough space for these ginormous libraries. I was pretty disappointed when they came out with yet another sampled piano library instead of something exciting.
Ilok is a non-starter for me. Bad experience with EastWest. Ilok wasn’t my only issue with EastWest, but it was part of it.
Anything that needs to phone home does not work for me. That’s why I am currently pissed off at IKM. Something is phoning home and causing Cantabile to hang when it fails. But completely dumping them would be a huge PITA for me.
