Seeking opinions on CW pack devices

devo · Post by **devo** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:43 am

Hi, it's time to decide whether to buy the Synths 'n' Sampler Pack from CW before the offer runs out. I've had CW stuff for some time now, but still consider myself as a happy amateur and knows there is much expertise in you guys. So, I'm ventilating my thoughts here and maybe get some comments. It's probably gonna be long with a couple of unanswerable questions, but...

Oh yeah, if it makes a difference, I can tell you that I'm mostly into electronica such as synthpop, EBM etc.

Currently, I have Modular II, STS-4K and SB404, so I'm looking at:

(1) upgrading Mod-II to III.
(2) upgrading STS-4K to 5K.
(3) getting Minimax and Vectron.
(4) getting EDS-16i.

I'm listing the EDS by itself, because I've already seen it and it didn't impress me at all, so I'm not interested in it.

If I would do this without the offer I would end up paying:

(1) 98 Euro
(2) 219 Euro
(3) 249+298=547 Euro

Totals to 864 Euro which leads me to a save of 169 Euro. Not a whole lot, but still it's money that could be used for other things (e.g. food

). But this assumes that I really need all of the above - if I leave out one item the deal could be considered "useless".

So, my considerations are:

(1) Mod-III compared to mod-II? Is it possible to comment on how it may compare to the FleXor stuff from Adern? I have spent very little time in building my own patches so far - I usually use ready patches.

(2) STS-4K to 5K. In my projects I'm using samples from time to time (mostly for the beat and fx) and sometimes I feel I would do more, but the 4K is making kind of hard sometimes - the UI isn't the simplest on earth. I guess 5K is the same in that area, but will the extra features make up for the 200+ Euro upgrade cost? I mean, is the pitch-shifting, time-stretching, filters etc. usable enough?

(3) Minimax seems popular enough and I've been looking at it more than once before this deal came along - it's definitely within my "sound scope" (I love the Miniscope). Is there anything on the negative side on this one? Any other alternatives in the 3rd party market I might have missed?

What about Vectron then? Ok, I've listened to the player and there are some ok sounds in there. But how does it compare to Zargs Prophet series - I mean I could get the whole set of Prophets from Zarg for the same price as the Vectron?

I haven't listened to the Solaris yet (but I think I will after writing this), but it may be a contender...

ok, after writing this I have almost convinced myself of not going for the deal in favour of making "step-by-step" investments on the units I know I really want/need, but I'm still very interested in any comments.

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:13 am

Even if you only use pre made patches for the modular there are several patches now that only runs on Mod III.

And you can't really compare the Vectron to the Prophet range. OK they're both modeled after Sequential Circuits synths but different models. To compare a Prophet 5 with a Prophet VS is like comparing apples and oranges. Äpplen och apelsiner.
There really different kinds of beasts.

I don't know if any of this helps but you asked for an opinion and this is mine.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 9:05 am

Mod III is a must (if you like modularing) because of important small control modules like inverter, diode, xfade modulators etc. It's not the new 'big things' like filters or oscillators, though those are nice to have, of course

The Vectron is really worth it's price if you like something a la Wavestation, but with endless flexibility of basic sounds, which you can do yourself, too.
The Player isn't really a good example because it lacks almost all modulation controls (there's more than that XY-Pad)which make the sound extremely versatile and vivid.
I didn't regret the investment.

cheers, Tom

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 11:15 am

If you are considering between Modular3 and fleXor, then I can tell you that the two really go together... there will be an extensive user site for fleXor owners with lots of patches to download, and these will most likely be in Mod3 format, because of the new preset lists and also the new useful function modules.

The upgrade from Mod2 to Mod3 isn't too huge if you are a modular fan, but really it's the best thing going for the Pulsar platform as far as synthesis goes... if you got fleXor and modular3 you probably wouldn't need anything else

peace

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: dArKr3zIn on 2003-03-28 11:15 ]</font>

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 11:15 am

If you want to create new sounds get the modular but if you want to make music get the vectron. This is an over simplification but I feel the modulars really do take a lot of time and effort.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 2:17 pm

Even though the modular requires one to dig into it a bit to fugure its basic principles, it is definitely worth it, because this program is awesome and makes you understand things that you can hardly figure with ordinary synths. If you use synths at all, you can't possibly go wrong with the mod!

devo · Post by **devo** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:59 pm

Thanx for the attention, guys!

ok, if I try to sum these replies up, you suggest that
(a) increase use of modular and go for modular 3 (AND consider adern stuff on top of it...I need a second job)
(b) vectron is worth the money and should not be confused with the zarg stuff.

Anyone care to comment on the STS-5K? Otherwise I'm tempted to stay with the 4K and hope for some better alternatives in the future and concentrate on Mod III and one/two synths for now - it will be cheaper than the offer and I can take my time (and not feel bad about unnecessary SB-404 licenses).

I'm gonna run the demos of Minimax, Vectron, Solaris and Prophet Plus. I'll probably be back with more polls later ;o)

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 5:15 pm

I got STS5000, i got it second hand

, so i paid cheap... For the price i paid, it's totaly awesome, but you need lotsa dsp for using it at it's full potential (read polyphony@64).

The filters, modulation possibilies, the 3 eveloppes make it really cool as a 'creative tool', and pretty powerfull especialy if you compare it with something like Gigastudio or EXS24. Kontakt for example has even more modulation possibility, but their filters sucks big time.

For orchestration or complex music with lotsa samples, maybe you're better off with STS4000, more polyphony for less DSP. Less filters also, but the usefull ones are there.

Well, that's my opinions on STS5000.

helldriver · Post by **helldriver** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:30 pm

"Kontakt for example has even more modulation possibility"
don´t thinks so. kontakt´s filters a pretty nice. they´re analog modeled and sounding nice. in my opinion kontakt is the superior sampler on a fast computersystem. nevertheless sts5000 is also a good sampler but you need lot´s of dsp(expensive)

braincell · Post by **braincell** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 12:48 pm

Stick with the STS4000. You can always modify your samples in other programs. I'm waiting for a total revamp of the STS GUI before I sink any more money into it.

marcuspocus · Post by **marcuspocus** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 4:00 pm

Yeah, agreed braincell...

devo · Post by **devo** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 4:27 am

Just to let you know of my decision: I will stay away from the CW S&S pack - mostly because I don't see a reason in upgrading to STS-5K and that makes it not worth the money.

After some first tryouts of the Solaris, I think that will be my next investment path, before Vectron and Minimax. I am also thinking about moving up to Mod-III.

Again, thanks all for your responses!

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 10:53 am

Well, I have to say that the STS-5000 is amazing. I never realized previously how advanced a sampler could be. I found it extremely easy to use, and it does the job very well. *And* it can do pitch-shifting and timestretching at the same time, unlike Kontakt.

Shayne

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 11:09 am

Sorry, I was wrong...I downloaded the Kontakt demo again and found that it *can* do pitch shifting and timestretching at the same time. But it sounded perfectly awful -- TERRIBLE compared to the STS-5000. That's what I thought ages ago. I had the STS working in no time.

Shayne