What's the deal with these Creamware synths?

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:09 pm

There is a Hammond clone too, the B4000. No idea how they are selling, but I hope they release more of these great VAs.

StepLogik · Post by **StepLogik** » Wed May 23, 2007 11:26 pm

Bitexion wrote:There is a Hammond clone too, the B4000. No idea how they are selling, but I hope they release more of these great VAs.

If they are selling well it does seem plausible that they might try to make more.. I sure would like to see them take a crack at the OSCar or one of the OB polysynths.

Apparently the company's history has been rocky (didn't they tank and get bought out?) so I don't know if the outlook is good. But, if they start really selling these things then we might see the line continue to grow.

I don't know if this is true or not, but it seems like with dedicated DSP chips these ASB series could do highly accurate modeling that it superior to that of the VST's that attempt the same task but have to compromise because of limited resources. Most of the VST recreations I've heard have been mediocre to downright shitty.

MrFrodo · Post by **MrFrodo** » Thu May 24, 2007 1:50 am

Well, CreamWare definitely have a lock on look and texture. That became evident when I first got my hands on the MiniMax.

Now, if it had a vocoder in it, I'd put my money down on that one.

Carey M · Post by **Carey M** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:03 pm

I got a Pro-12 ASB today. Visually, it's pretty awesome and it feels like a serious and solid piece of gear. Tonally, well, it sounds pretty good. It has a real Prophety quality to it, and the analogue emulation is pretty good (drift, voices seem to vary slightly from each other). Yet, the digital nature of this synth was apparent from the very first sounds I heard, so don't expect it to replace a real Prophet.

I plan on using mine mainly live to replicate P600 sounds I used on our album. Should be more than adequate for that purpose. So far, I really like it, but I don't think I'll ever fall in love with it.

- CM

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:05 pm

The presets are presets made by other people for other purposes than yours. Reset a patch to a basic sawtooth and build your own sounds, it will sound alot better.

I wasn't going wild over the Pro-12 when I scanned through the presets..so the next day I brought the copies of the patch sheets in the Prophet 5 manual to the store and programmed those sounds. Completely different experience.

The Minimax does have some mind-blowing presets however, not all of them, but maybe 50% give you that "WHOA!!!" feeling when you strike a note.

Carey M · Post by **Carey M** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:19 pm

Well, I'm not commenting on the presets, as I barely even touched them, but the general quality of the Pro-12 sound. I'd never pass judgement on a synthesizer of this kind based on presets.

BTW, If you are accustomed to a Prophet, the interface will kick a*s

- CM

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Thu May 24, 2007 9:26 pm

I knew my way around the Prophet interface since I've toyed with Arturia and NI VST prophets before. Gotta love that polymod section, what a genious idea by John Bowen that was. And of course, keep that "Bypass" button on while you program, so your sound isn't washed in delay or phasing and whatnot.
They made a good decision when they made Bypass a global function and not preset decided.

But when I tried the Pro12 last summer, I wasn't planning on buying anything, and couldn't afford it anyways. Just wanted to try it out.
The Minimax I just bought on a whim a few weeks ago from an secondhand website in Norway, having heard all this praise about it.

DocT · Post by **DocT** » Thu May 24, 2007 11:06 pm

Bitexion wrote:The Minimax does have some mind-blowing presets however, not all of them, but maybe 50% give you that "WHOA!!!" feeling when you strike a note.

Maybe you find some more good presets in the bank on my site:
http://www.trippler.net/files/cream/SummaDocTMax.zip

Just for fun some not representative Prodyssey sounds from tonight:

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/prody3b.mp3

Not quite a finished track, just some fiddling.

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Fri May 25, 2007 11:49 pm

I found your sounds earlier when I was searching Google for minimax sounds

Those banks seriously stunned me, specially those wacky effects. I wouldn't thought those would come from a minimoog clone. I know you used the Minimax effects section alot. I couldn't figure out how you made filter and oscillator modulations without using the modwheel on the controller synth.

astraeus000 · Post by **astraeus000** » Sat May 26, 2007 10:08 pm

Have any of you Minimax owners had trouble with Midi notes locking up when sequencing? I've upgraded the firmware but Its still happening, even in Poly mode. I havent had this problem with my Prodyssey. I'm using an Alesis MMT-8 to sequence. By the way, this by no means takes away from the fact that I think this machine is amazing. If I didnt already have a PEK I would definitely consider picking up the Pro-12 as well.

Oh, and DocT, I love the ASB demos, keep 'em coming!

DocT · Post by **DocT** » Sun May 27, 2007 5:47 am

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/oddproddy.mp3

OggeOJ · Post by **OggeOJ** » Sun May 27, 2007 2:21 pm

supermel74 wrote:Are these straight up VAs or is there some sort of soft synth component? I'm referring to the tabletop models that emulate classic synths. It's so hard to tell nowadays especially since so many soft synths try really hard to look like hardware in their advertisements. How do they sound?

Ive seen the ARP model. Its very nice, both looks and performs really good. Sad thing was that I didnt have any money back then

OggeOJ · Post by **OggeOJ** » Sun May 27, 2007 2:39 pm

Bitexion wrote:There is a Hammond clone too, the B4000. No idea how they are selling, but I hope they release more of these great VAs.

A modular of some kind... woah!

Tidda · Post by **Tidda** » Sun May 27, 2007 3:41 pm

OggeOJ wrote:
Bitexion wrote:There is a Hammond clone too, the B4000. No idea how they are selling, but I hope they release more of these great VAs.
A modular of some kind... woah!

semi modular perhaps, but a real modular VA, real seperate mudules each with a seperate CPU etc. seems very unlikely.

Tidda

DocT · Post by **DocT** » Tue May 29, 2007 12:17 am

http://www.trippler.net/files/mp3/cornyprody.mp3

Prodyssey and Stylus drums

What's the deal with these Creamware synths?

Short Pro-12 report

Re: What's the deal with these Creamware synths?