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So if you're on OSX 10.5 Leopard, this won't work very well. Correct?

Well, James has spoken.

My understanding from the past was that listing details such as a specific e-retailer was considered too close to endorsing one vendor over another, but James has now clarified that point.

The True Pianos example is different because it was a promotional specifically for MOTUnation forum members.

It's a moot point now though. I won't feel the need to be so abstract in "hinting" at special sale price sources anymore.

gseibert wrote:So if you're on OSX 10.5 Leopard, this won't work very well. Correct?

I don't know about that. First let's be clear... I recently went back to Leopard. The issues that I was having involved only SOME NI plugs and the problems ONLY happened with the specific combination of DP6, Leopard, and PPC Macs. All three of those conditions had to exist for you to experience a problem. As for me, I have FM8 working on my system and I have rock solid info that Kontakt 3.5 works fine on that combo as well... also others have had Kontakt 3 working fine on it too. The demo version on Kontakt 3 did have problems but it was not updated like the release version.

So in other words if you're on Intel, it's safe. If you're on PPC, it's also pretty safe. There might be a few plugs with issues, but in my case all the ones that I heretofore owned were okay, except for FM7 which was superseded by FM8 anyway.

Does anyone know if Guitar Rig 3 can be used with virtual instrument guitar sounds, or does it only work with real guitars?

It's a standard effects plug-in, so works with any audio track of your choice.

This can be a live guitar part or a VI guitar part recorded to audio (i.e. rendered/frozen).

Of course it is also possible to apply a Guitar Rig effect during initial recording vs. just during mixing.

There is a special case for the Talk Box emulator, which works in conjunction with both audio and MIDI (the latter as a modulator).

James Steele wrote:So...

...except for FM7 which was superseded by FM8 anyway.

James, does FM8 import the old .fm7 program files - and do they sound and work the same? Thanks for any insight.

JMVideo wrote:Does anyone know if Guitar Rig 3 can be used with virtual instrument guitar sounds, or does it only work with real guitars?

You bet you can, JM.

bOing, this has come up before, but not for awhile, so I'll try to summarise:

FM8 can load FM7 and convert (actually, I think it does this automatically and stores the results, saving you time).

They most emphatically do NOT sound the same, and this was a problem for me for a long time.

I ultimately decided I no longer need FM technology for chromatic percussion and other heavy-transient "natural" instruments, so ceased caring. Enough other options have come along recently that I now use FM synthesis exclusively for "novel" sounds.

The problem is multifold. The FM8 engine is entirely new. It adds additional waveforms, is stereo, and high resolution. You cannot "undo" all of the new architecture to get an exact replica of an FM7 sound. I found FM7 indistinguishable from a latter-day FM module (e.g. PLG150-DX).

I get phase problems in FM8. Particularly with synth basses. But it's even noticeable with stuff like FM marimbas. It only partially helps to dumb down the bit resolution and dig deep into the GUI to simplify the signal path to approximate FM7 as closely as possible, since it's still stereo.

NI made a decision that the way forward was forward, not back, and that they had lost interest in specifically focusing on emulating the DX7. This made me angry at first, as they took the option away from us, the user base. But having used FM8 for awhile now, I can confidently say that it is a far better product than FM7 for creating new sonic possibilities, and is getting very close to the Yamaha FS1r functionality.

In fact, it is my hope that FM9 will finally offer a full emulation of the FS1r. I sold mine last year as it's useless live (you can't store performances and have to tweak them in real-time, or something like that -- I forget the details, but they were confirmed by all the gurus of FM synths, and everyone likewise had a love/hate relationship with that module due to it not being performance-oriented).

FWIW, FM7 still works -- but I finally deleted mine earlier this year as I made the decision to "move on" and embrace the new direction that NI has chosen for FM synthesis.

If your main purpose of wanting that plug-in is exact replications of DX7 sounds (and patches from closely related Yamaha synths), you are FAR better off with FM7. I'm not sure if it's still possible to download the final update to FM7 though.

mhschmieder wrote:FWIW, FM7 still works -- but I finally deleted mine earlier this year as I made the decision to "move on" and embrace the new direction that NI has chosen for FM synthesis.

FWIW, FM7 does NOT WORK CORRECLTY in DP6 if you're running it on a G5 using Leopard. It will actually play back sounds and be functional as I recall, but if you open the plug in, all you will see is a blank white window instead of the GUI.

Keep in mind that is ONLY in the SPECIFIC combo of DP6/Leopard/PPC Macs.

Why did you go back to Leo James?

James, I'm guessing that's probably true of Vokator and Spektral Delay as well. I've lost track of when the transition points occurred for each product, in terms of Universal Binary and then Leopard, since I obviously don't have direct visibility over that on my own system.

Sorry if I gave false hope on FM7.

Wow, that's almost what I paid to upgrade from 4 to 5.

HCMarkus wrote:Why did you go back to Leo James?

Well because really the only plugs that were causing me problems were FM7, FM8, and KontaktPlayer 2.2.4.

As far as FM7... I bought FM8, and that has since been upgraded to fix the DP6/Leopard/PPC issue.

As far as KontakPlayer 2.2.4, I can use my VI ONE library in the upcoming version of the Kontakt Player 3.5 player (I had a tester check for me)... so I should be good. Don't know about the other plugs though. I just vastly prefer Leopard over Tiger for everything else, but those plugs forced me to downgrade before there were solutions.

James Steele wrote:

HCMarkus wrote:Why did you go back to Leo James?

Well because really the only plugs that were causing me problems were FM7, FM8, and KontaktPlayer 2.2.4.

As far as FM7... I bought FM8, and that has since been upgraded to fix the DP6/Leopard/PPC issue.

As far as KontakPlayer 2.2.4, I can use my VI ONE library in the upcoming version of the Kontakt Player 3.5 player (I had a tester check for me)... so I should be good. Don't know about the other plugs though. I just vastly prefer Leopard over Tiger for everything else, but those plugs forced me to downgrade before there were solutions.

I like Leo, too, but find that when I'm in DP, I don't interface with the OS very much, so Tiger causes me no pain. And my system is (recent hard drive death excepted) very stable these days. I'm gonna' stick with Tiger until I move to Intel, which will not happen until Snow Leopard is purring smoothly while DP roars.

I like Leo, too, but find that when I'm in DP, I don't interface with the OS very much, so Tiger causes me no pain. And my system is (recent hard drive death excepted) very stable these days. I'm gonna' stick with Tiger until I move to Intel, which will not happen until Snow Leopard is purring smoothly while DP roars.

Sing it brother!