So I am returning to the CW platform and have a couple quest

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 1:20 pm

Greetings,

I never really left Planet Z, but did leave the CW platform VERY shortly after I got into it, let me explain..

About 6 months ago, I purchased a PowerPulsar, at the time I was on a tight budget since I wanted to do alot of other things, but got the card anways, I spent a whole lot of time with Paul@cw who was gracious enough to walk me through the SFP enviorment and help me set it all up. Well everything was perfect aside from one major flaw and one small concern.

The Major Flaw: I use Nuendo 2 as my host, I was having a serious midi timing issue with my pulsar card, I posted here and also spoke to paul again who gave me like a 5 page document of tweaks to get the card in working order, unfotunately all my efforts did not work and I was freaking out that I basically had a $1900.00 sound card that I couldnt get to function properly, at this time the clock was ticking on my return priveledges, so I made the move and went with a Lynx card based on its amazing I/Os and solid performance and have been jonesing ever since that day.

The Midi Resolution: It turns out that just a week or two ago I read about how Nuendo likes to default one midi channel to recieve MTC where as the rest can recieve MMC, if this is the case in a recent build of N2, it will cause you midi to sway and be very lose, so of course I find out that was my case, uncheck it and my synths snapped as tight as a frogs *umm* so now I must do the right thing

The Concern: CW had just gone into insolvency and that had me worried, but, now thats taken care of I feel rather confident in the future of SFP and if the floor drops out I decided I dont care cause I want my SFP back lol..

Now recently I have been getting a serious itch to get back into the CW cards and after listening to Flexor, Prodessy and such I am doing it this week guaranteed!

So, after that long winded story of my past experience with CW I am curious about plugs, There are difintely a few things I am gonna want to buy and some free ones to download aswell.

Should I get Pro One 1st or Get Prodessy? Ill have Mod3 do I wanna make flexor a top priority based on its smaller price point? And also, what about solaris, I have read some great stuff recently talking about this synth, I need advice here, I do mainly electronic music, I am a synth lover, I have loads of old analog gear but the idea of pro one and Prodessy are ceertainly worh tgetting into imo..

Also lets get a list of the top 10 free plugs/synths you can think of so I know what to start downloading right away

Also, (sorry for taking up so much of your time), I read something about a rhodes emulation? any one have a link or name? I have loung lizard 2, but I am thinking a CW Rhodes would prob sound pretty amazing compared to the vsti..

In conclusion, I will be using the card PowerPulsar in the same box as a Powercore PCI, and a UAD1 card, *pray* it all jives together, my Mobo is an Asus A7N8X, XP2500+, 1GIG of Crucial PC700 CAS2.

This was the mobo paul suggested I purchase when I spoke to him upon my card purchas so im crossing my fingers on all this.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for taking the time to read this semi long winded post..

Speak to ya soon, as I hope to have the new card in my possesion by the 1st of the month

Cheers!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Basic Pitch on 2004-02-19 13:28 ]</font>

sinix · Post by **sinix** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 1:54 pm

I too am very confident in the future of CWA. Confident enough in having just sold my Pulsar II and currently waiting delivery of a PowerPulsar like yourself.

This might not be the answer you want to hear, but I think all the synths you mention are "must haves" for the platform. I own all but Solaris at this point and I'm hoping to pick that up shortly (played the demo for hours on end).

If I had to get one at a time I'd probably go for the Adern modules first followed up by Vinco and then Minimax. Those are the bread and butter of the Creamware platform for me.

My top pick for free devices is Kick-Me from Adern. The absolute best electronic kicks come out of that thing!

Good luck.

borg · Post by **borg** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 4:09 pm

hi there,
welcome back!

the fender rhodes/EP thing is only a deep wish from the community. rumours are going around that it might be the first plug by the new CWA team... can't even remember the source

you can however download this one for modular: http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic ... 3&forum=15

flexor is great, so seems minimax. and so does solaris, prodissey of you like it, vector synth if it fits your style, sparC by wavelength is pretty groovy too, give it a try, as the rest of his affordable 'commercial' synths and free/shareware stuff.

saturn is a very nice freebie. i've always been quite fond of the d-tune synth. FM4 by mjerom has something that makes me like it somehow. spaceF's synthetic, orbitone's three-o-three...
all depends on what stuff you're after, of course, but these are synths the either me or Z people have been raving about.

nowadays, i hardly use anything else than ModIII/Flexor as source, SFP stock fx, STW bundle stuff, spaceF Echo, some other 3rd party things like d-mute (get infiniti by wavelength if you like loop delays).
do a search on 'top' 'list' 'synths' 'download' and you'll find plenty of lists already...

have fun

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 5:43 pm

I can only agree with borg and sinix

Solaris and Flexor is probably the most comprehensive big bang as Flexor modules can be played in Solaris 'slots'.

Flexor is definetely it's very own color of sound and as such a 'must have', not to mention that it's top quality - the native corner would sit slack-jaw if they had to - or could

review this stuff.
Hats off and respect for the Adern developement team !

I have the complete Wavelength bundle - also highly recommandable. Stephen's synths are very homogenous in their sound design. Each one is pretty unique on a certain 'style' of sound - you could (possibly) setup something similiar with a lot of tweaking with other tools too, but I prefer the straight approach.
He did a great job in instrument design imho.
With enough DSPs his drum stuff is also great, read: a customized drum module of several DrumVoxes.

And since delays are indispensable today the Echo2M by spacef is a perfect completion of the package.
Celmo's latest BAM bass amp simulation has impressed me too, even as a non-bass player.
It adds lots on nice color to sound, very smooth and not restricted to bass.

I just find it remarkable what you get for a really fair price by the above mentioned 3rd parties

cheers, Tom

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 11:24 pm

I remember you... Welcome back!

I've got the Pro-One and the Solaris, and anything that's got any of John Bowen's work in it, is a must have. I don't think the synths would be where they are today without this man. Many props to Wavelength, Spacef, Adern, and others.

The Pro-One sounds very nice, and I like to run it into the Echo2 from Spacef. The Solaris has got to be one of the most versatile synths that I've ever fooled around with. I'm still just sratching the surface.

At this point, I've got 27 DSP's and I'm pretty happy with this setup. Soon I'd like to swap out another Pulsar II for a PowerPulsar, but that's some time away.

Oh, yeah, ASUS motherboards kick ass.

Glad you figured out your problems, looking forward to your contributions...

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:41 am

I wonder what makes ASUS boards seem so much better than everybody else's...

I've had better luck with them too!!

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:51 am

Shayne White wrote:

I wonder what makes ASUS boards seem so much better than everybody else's...

I've had better luck with them too!!

A big plus is having well designed & implemented intel North & South bridges (AKA 'chipset') on the MOBO, as they're the main glue for the computer system.

Royston

interloper · Post by **interloper** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 7:57 pm

The jumperless BIOS and proven performance in audio systems over time is a testament to their quality.

I remember the days of the CUSL-2 mobo's from ASUS for the PIII's. At the time, it was one of the best boards around. I've built five systems on ASUS boards, without any problems.

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:31 pm

On 2004-02-20 19:57, interloper wrote:
I remember the days of the CUSL-2 mobo's from ASUS for the PIII's.

that's my machine

never had a problem.

menno · Post by **menno** » Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:56 am

On 2004-02-20 02:41, Shayne White wrote:
I wonder what makes ASUS boards seem so much better than everybody else's...

I've had better luck with them too!!

No luck here. My Asus onboard fan power just failed a few weeks ago

This also happened about 1.5 years ago, so I think Asus isnt that great...

Luckily motherboard monitor shutdown the pc in time. I have the fans running from the PSU connectors in the meantime.

Still, a good excuse to upgrade my setup

Thinking of getting the A7N8X-E. Saw a few posters here recommend it.

As for plugs/synths, I would recommend getting only one at a time, and only buying more when you have mastered it. I guess I prefer the feeling of getting a new one every now and then, rather than all in one go. Also sometimes its worth to wait for CW to do a special bundle or offer.

Cheers,
Menno