surreal mccoy Posted March 17, 2009 Share Posted March 17, 2009 So please....give us your take now that you've purchased this unit....I'm most anxious to hear your pros & cons.....??? Thanks ahead..... Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrhudson Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Alrighty, here we go! Yes, I went ahead and purchased the Receptor Pro 2 Max with Komplete, and have owned it for about one week. First off, why did I end up going with the Receptor? One cost/value consideration/tangent is that I have a Mason & Hamlin grand at home, tried recording it at one point, and realized that I'm going to have to spend several thousands to get a really nice piano recording, between preamps and mics. (Tried some Earthworks mics that were wonderful but a little hissy when run through an Apogee Duet, something about phantom power requirements for the Eworks mics - you can hear the hiss in the beginning of this tune I was messing around with - http://www.4shared.com/file/73311848/d3bb104/STAY_V2_w_Strings.html) I might revisit the mics someday but for me, right now, part of getting the Receptor was to have a stable platform for a pragmatic, great piano sound for home recordings. If I were to add Ivory plus a very fast hard-drive to my current computer setup that would cost me, what, $600-800? So, right off the bat, the Receptor brings this to my world with stable performance (and beats hardware keys to my ear at least). So, this Receptor costs about $3700, but I figure that $3000 of that is value above and beyond the piano home recording element. In that sense, I viewed it as a $3000 item WRT live usage. (This line of thought obviously wouldn't apply if you already owned Ivory or some such arrangement but worked for me.) Call me too skittish, but I ruled out running Mainstage on a laptop. I'd need to buy a laptop with sufficient power so that I wouldn't worry about performance issues, and new macbook pros run up to $3000 anyway. One other consideration - I have a Kurzweil SP88x that suits me fine enough as a 88 weighted controller, so I didn't really need a board. Despite that, I was also looking at the Nord stuff, which would have been in the $2000-$3000 range. But now I'm looking at the Receptor saying - why not pay the extra $800 over a $2200 NE3 and get more, both in terms of expandability, sound quality, and potential breadth of sounds. (Not knocking the Nord stuff at all - enjoyed trying them out, stage, ne2). Also considered the PC3x but wasn't enthralled with the sounds. Another consideration - some come to the Receptor and are frustrated that certain cherished VSTs or softsynths won't run on the Receptor. In my case, I'm a piano player that only bought Logic 9 months ago and don't have a stable of softsynths that I'll be disappointed about not using. Anyone with cherished VSTs obviously needs to check compatibility, but, in my case, I can buy stuff with that in mind. Sure, maybe there will be some high-end plugin someday that I wish I could load, but..........any purchase will have its risks. So, I'm pretty happy so far. Akoustik runs without a hitch when playing it, velocity controls and dynamic range can be adjusted so I don't "pop" 127s on the controller (grands have way more weight, hardware keys are so light!). Running through my Adam A7s at home, it sounds great, you can adjust the spread to more closely mimic the "up front" player perspective if you'd like. I also enjoy playing it much more than the demo clips on their website would suggest - sounds much better once using it. Akoustik, on one channel in a multi snapshot, takes about 15% CPU, no worrisome CPU spikes, just runs great. Elektrik piano, also great.....and so on - I don't want to turn this into a review of NI, but Komplete plays just fine on the system, and I can create a snapshot with multiple instances of Akoustik, Elektrik, Komplete, Pro53, ready to be layered, mixed, etc... Can easily dial in effects through a mixer-like view from a connected computer/monitor - very easy and fun. Not "Receptor unique" but easy to do...... I haven't spent much time, though, fussing with MIDI control yet. I gigged with it yesterday and just had the Receptor nearby, and could rotate one of the knobs on the front for program changes. I just needed to set up the various sounds such that they were adjacent in the banks, which isn't hard to do with a little planning. Now, so far, all good. A few comments on the other side. First, echoing what others have said, a fancy, pristine sound module is only as good as the means used to deliver the sound to the audience. A lousy PA (or sound guy) can negate any gains from using this live. So, if you are, like me, not playing magical concert halls and the like, this is important to consider. Sounds great at home, live, less impressive (I'm running through a Traynor K4). Apparently you can run stuff out the outputs AND plug in headphones, and I might experiment with that - getting some headphones to bring more of the sonic goodness directly to my ears. (Any recommendations on this point?) One last thing - my unit shipped with an apparently older version of Komplete, and I need to make some updates. There have a been a few random crashes NOT while playing live but while setting up the channels, mixer setting, etc.. Its just on the editing side so far, and nothing has even come close to being an issue when playing. I think this can get sorted out, though. Even if not, a few hiccups in the interface while designing my channels, etc., isn't a disaster (but for the price.....) Advice to potential purchaser - download and read the manual until you know how to use it, then assess against your workflow. Also, think through how a midi controller would integrate well or not. Also, read many threads at KVR to get a view of real users and what they have encountered. Some of it is out of date, though, so watch the product being discussed and the dates of the threads. Does this help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrokeys Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Absolutely! I'll be pulling the trigger on one of these in the next couple weeks. I need Rhodes sounds (Mr Ray) and Piano Sounds (Ivory/Akoustik) with the ability to expand at a later date. This is it for me. I'm diving in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 Great review, Mr H - thanks! Studio: Yamaha P515 | Yamaha Tyros 5 | Yamaha HX1 | Moog Sub 37 Road: Yamaha YC88 | Nord Electro 5D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surreal mccoy Posted March 20, 2009 Author Share Posted March 20, 2009 Great review, Mr H - thanks! +1..... Unfortunately, your speaker/ amp connection(as you noted)can ruin the possibility of appreciating the difference between Receptor quality audio vs. a cheaper Casio voice.... another very important link in the chain...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrokeys Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 So i got mine....With Komplete....But Komplete seems buggy to me. NI Guitar Rig keeps on crashing.....Have you had any luck with this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.