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Frodo wrote:Of course, you realize that this means I'll be back to my old RAM-mongery now that the plugin can really make use of it. 16 is the new 4 (in GB).

I love it. RAMFro's back, and he has a new slogan no less.

Good news. I'll continue to follow at a distance in case I'm ever in a position to copy the ol' Frods and dive into VI nirvana.

Thanks for the massive review Frodo... I think I'm just going to get some guitar strings for now

zed wrote: The Gypsy, MOR and StormDrum libraries also have some fabulous instruments which are very useful, but collecting them all is rather costly. If you are interested, then taking advantage of the sale prices is probably a good idea.

Yeah- that's the thing-- price. When you consider the caliber and overall flexibility and sound quality of some of the drum VIs alone-- and the extent to which Addictive Drums or BFD or some other drum VI went to give the user top shelf instruments that are 100% flexible and expandable for almost any purpose, some of the EW all-in collections feel limited and expensive for what they offer.

I would think that for an all-in collection that PSP would be among (but not limited to) the better options. Nice sounds under the umbrella of a great idea is only part of the equation.

Back to FabFour here's one good idea gone awry. The Lennon "Revolution" guitar patch only has maybe 3-4 samples or so (I don't have it running right now). One of the samples is an interpolation of the triplets at the beginning of the song. Nicely done-- except the tempo they chose for the triplet loop is way faster than the original recording. Seems a waste since the user would have to play it in real time to track an original song that might use similar triplets. Where articulations fall short in a lot of libraries is in the avoidance of round-robin functionality where repeated notes are cycled rather than machine gunned. Being able to control the tempo of of these samples is another consideration.

But I suppose one could look for or create they own loops-- seems alike a lot of trouble to compensate for inherent shortcomings. And where articulations might be limited, one would think it paramount to maximize MIDI controllability sooner than later.

Ironically, I don't regret having purchased FabFour. The PLAY engine alone is finally showing a great deal of promise, and that brings a lot of hope to other EW libraries currently powered by NI.

Mister Zed: great to see you back, my friend! Hope you're feeling a lot better these days.

Frodo wrote:Mister Zed: great to see you back, my friend! Hope you're feeling a lot better these days.

Thank you dear hobbit. It was a stressful holiday season, and I managed to find myself under the weather through most of it. But I am back to good health and ready to take on another year, and to try to finish up some songs that need finishing.

What software will we end up with this year, that we don't even know about yet? Will we be satisfied with our VIs by the end of this year? Will we purchase any new guitars? Will we find all that we need to record the grooviest tracks ever? I am hoping so. I feel like I almost have everything I need already... although I just ordered the Ultimate Sound Bank PlugSoundPro as my first new VI purchase of the new year. The price was too good to pass up and I liked the sound of the honky tonk piano, among other things.

I was just practising my bass through the VOX amPlug. Have you tried that? It seems to work well... it might not provide the perfect Beatle bass tone, but it certainly allows you to practise easily with headphones.

I didn't know you were under the weather Zed.
Seems we both had a tricky Christmas.

Glad to hear things are looking up now man.

You know monkey and Zed I think half the world gets sick at Christmas, I did.

Zed I ordered USB also to cool even though I had to order an iLok for it.

zed wrote: But I am back to good health and ready to take on another year, and to try to finish up some songs that need finishing.

Good to hear it!!

zed wrote: What software will we end up with this year, that we don't even know about yet?

Whatever it might be, chances are good that we'll have it!! Much more will be revealed at NAMM in a couple of weeks, so we'll wait eagerly for the new announcements.

zed wrote: Will we be satisfied with our VIs by the end of this year?

Satisfied? Are you kidding? LOL Answer: no!! Never!!

zed wrote: Will we purchase any new guitars?

Is the sky blue on a clear day?

zed wrote: Will we find all that we need to record the grooviest tracks ever? I am hoping so.

All that we need? LOL. I doubt it. There'll always be something out there that sounds better and is easier to use than what preceded it.

zed wrote: I feel like I almost have everything I need already... although I just ordered the Ultimate Sound Bank PlugSoundPro as my first new VI purchase of the new year. The price was too good to pass up and I liked the sound of the honky tonk piano, among other things.

The important question for me is whether I'm really making the most of what I already have. I was just at a music software warehouse yesterday and nearly fainted seeing rows and rows of shelves 20 feet high loaded with 2-3 dozen copies each of every coveted VI, plugin, and music-related app ever created.

I'm sure I'll be getting various EW libraries updated to PLAY, and it seems that a couple of major drum VIs are on the slate as well. Not sure what else-- expansion packs for various libraries already in house? A new MacPro to add to the arsenal? Not sure.

It's not cheap being a VI glutton.

zed wrote: I was just practising my bass through the VOX amPlug. Have you tried that? It seems to work well... it might not provide the perfect Beatle bass tone, but it certainly allows you to practise easily with headphones.

Hadn't even thought about using the bass through it. Hmm. Must give that a try as well!

Whatever we do in 2008, Mister Z, let's have some fun!!

A drum Vi will be my next one.

twistedtom wrote:Zed I ordered USB also to cool even though I had to order an iLok for it.

I like the iLok system. I have never had any problems with it. Makes software registration very easy, and means that you don't have to reregister the products when you install them on a new computer. Hopefully you will like it.

All the EW products and so many VIs require iLok, so you will not be sorry to have one.

You can hear a sample of Ringo's drumkit from BFD2 on the bottom of this page: http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=53&tab=148

Click on the song "02. Hey_Liverpool" in the audio demos section. Unfortunately the drums are mixed way too low, but you can make out some of the toms quite nicely.

zed wrote: Click on the song "02. Hey_Liverpool" in the audio demos section. Unfortunately the drums are mixed way too low, but you can make out some of the toms quite nicely.

I so agree-- there's so much other "stuff" going on that the impact of the drums is not nearly as profound as it might be-- but there is a certain character that slips through.

Not to promote or compete, but if anyone wants to hear another Ludwig kit, EX Drummer Vintage Rock Expansion has a demo.

Pros: you can hear the kit with or without other instruments-- sounds better, more vibrant in the full mix demos; duller when heard alone and unprocessed.

Cons: Though Ludwig and Beatles are used heavily in the blurb, it's not particularly Beatley in nature, but that may not be a bad thing.

I wonder about some of the choices of loops, but as long as there is a MIDI track it's not the end of the world.

This is a whole new realm for me, these drum VIs. I'm liking the potential already. EZD was only meant to be my entry into the realm. I'm just pleased to find that all of these VIs are so wonderfully "un-awful". I'm eager for more!!

Frodo wrote:Not to promote or compete, but if anyone wants to hear another Ludwig kit, EX Drummer Vintage Rock Expansion has a demo.

I presume you are referring to the Mp3 demos on this page? http://www.toontrack.com/ezx.asp#vintagerock

Not bad sounding... but I am not thoroughly convinced that they sound a whole lot better than the many drum kits from my SampleTank or Sonic Reality collections. Could certainly come in handy, though. Probably easy on the CPU too.

I hesitated to include the link because I couldn't suggest in good conscience that the EZD Ludwig kit was in any way superior. In fact, I tried to word my pros and cons carefully while confessing that I actually bought EZD with a handful of expansion packs.

It does have its good points, but I'm not prepared to compare it to other VIs. Neither do I want to put it down, but for lack of better description, it is a good starter kit when nothing else is in the house.

I'm just starting the process of creating custom MIDI loop segments because good ones that are compatible and appropriately mapped are a tough call. I know there are options-- but I'm not there quite yet.

Here is why you want BFD2. I don't actually think this is the Ringo drumkit, but it is definitely the kind of authentic snare sound you are looking for to do the Beatlesque, '60s and early '70s style music:

http://cachepe.samedaymusic.com/media/F ... 719399.mp3

But having said that... I still dig that snare sound in the Vintage Rock expansion pack of EZdrummer. Having both is probably not a bad thing at all.

Here's why I want BDF:

BDF2: $400
Perc Expansion: $250
XFL Expansion: $250
Jazz and Funk Expansion: $250
BFD Deluxe Expansion: $250



Extra HDs put me close to $2k.

In time... in time...