What's the deal with these Creamware synths?

Post by **braincandy** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 8:30 pm

After reading up a bit on the Pro-12, I'm sort of surprised that it's not discussed more around here. The P-5 is revered, but not a realistic possibility for many of us on here as they still cost quite a bit. SOS gave it a very nice write-up and it's going for less ($650 USD @ audiomidi.com & $699 elsewhere) than many of the current VA's.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may06/a ... amware.htm

audio examples:
http://asb.creamware.com/index.php?lang ... &product=5

zingo · Post by **zingo** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:10 pm

Bitexion wrote:No no no it is way better than the softsynths. You just have to try it. That is like saying a Minimoog will just sound like a VST synth because Arturia made one called Minimoog V.

Eh? Apart from the overload routing you spoke of, surely the Creamware ASB series should be regarded as software emulations of the real thing? Most of them originated as plug-ins for the Scope platform but are in their ASB incarnation running on dedicated hardware (i.e. are VA's)?

Bitexion wrote:It's made out of wood and metal. These synths cost nearly a thousand dollars for a reason.

I played with the minimoog and prophet ASB in a music store and to be honest the build quality was what made me look elsewhere. The "prophet", which I was most interested in, felt downright flimsy to me. I got the feeling that the knobs weren't attached to the outer casing but only to an internal board as they wiggled disconcertingly when turned. The "minimoog" was somewhat better though but neither felt like a 1000$ instrument to me.

shroom · Post by **shroom** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:42 am

Sweden vs. Norway. Fight Fight Fight !

calyx93 · Post by **calyx93** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:26 pm

I've been quite interested in these too - as the years go by, I wouldn't mind a smaller, more reliable replacement for both my P5 and P600. I just don't have any good stores in the area that carry these.

Are there any P5 owners out there - very in tune to what their Prophet sounds like (and very reluctant to let it go, because of that sound) - that would ditch the originals for the Pro-12? How about any Odyssey owers? Mini owners? I know we, as synth enthusiasts, place a lot of value in the entire "package" of a vintage synth, but with a good controller and with your eyes closed... anyone?

I think I'm more concerned about how thing such as how faithful the filter and poly-mod sections sound. Those are the achille's heel of most software recreations, and those are the areas in which I'm quite reluctant to believe can be replaced by software generation alone. Anyone care to post their experience with using filter FM or other classic tricks on the Pro-12?

Septicstudio · Post by **Septicstudio** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:06 pm

braincandy wrote:After reading up a bit on the Pro-12, I'm sort of surprised that it's not discussed more around here. The P-5 is revered, but not a realistic possibility for many of us on here as they still cost quite a bit. SOS gave it a very nice write-up and it's going for less ($650 USD @ audiomidi.com & $699 elsewhere) than many of the current VA's.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may06/a ... amware.htm

audio examples:
http://asb.creamware.com/index.php?lang ... &product=5

I am really in love with the Pro12, i like this ASB the most of the trio I got, by far.

It is really relaxing and melancholical to play this one.....I even thought about getting the real deal, untill I saw the pricetag, 2999 US dollar for a Rev2 without shipping and ciutoms to Holland, wow, I guess I stick with the ASB then for now hehe

Karnevil · Post by **Karnevil** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:06 pm

Bottom line: The Creamware synths are the most authentic VAs you'll find.. Both the minimoog, prophet and prodessey emulations are very nice.
The prodessey has a couple of minor bugs in the sound engine, but hopefully that'll be fixed soon.

I wouldn't take too much stock in SOS and other online reviews. keyboardmagazin gave the Arturia minimoog V a 9/10, and gave the minimax also 9/10. They said the minimoog V was an excellent synth. Well, coming from creamware synths to VSTs like minimonsta and minimoog V is a big letdown.
Especially the resonance on the Minimoog V is completely off, and the sound in general lacks character and detail (compared to CW stuff).
So not only does the Creamware synths have a better basic sound, but are also much more realistic when you start to modulate and change the sound (more powerful and exact dsp processing).

iProg · Post by **iProg** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 2:57 pm

The Pro-12 is awesome, I will buy that one when it drops by my local store again. Analog feel!

gd · Post by gd » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:19 am

I thought that they went bankrupt? I wish they would have made a CS-80 emulation synth.

Post by **braincandy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:52 am

Karnevil wrote:.

I wouldn't take too much stock in SOS and other online reviews. keyboardmagazin gave the Arturia minimoog V a 9/10, and gave the minimax also 9/10. They said the minimoog V was an excellent synth. Well, coming from creamware synths to VSTs like minimonsta and minimoog V is a big letdown.

I know reviews can be a bit overboard when it comes to praising gear, but I've seen SOS give not-so-glowing reviews to pieces of gear before whereas with Keyboard it's usually positive. I generally trust SOS reviews more because of this. I'll also say that I've agreed with SOS with their reviews on the pieces of gear I've owned.

I still would really like to acquire a Blofeld once I sell the Ion (and the Blofeld appears on the market), but the Pro-12 is definitely gaining my interest.

Sir Ruff · Post by **Sir Ruff** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:35 pm

braincandy wrote:
Karnevil wrote:.

I wouldn't take too much stock in SOS and other online reviews. keyboardmagazin gave the Arturia minimoog V a 9/10, and gave the minimax also 9/10. They said the minimoog V was an excellent synth. Well, coming from creamware synths to VSTs like minimonsta and minimoog V is a big letdown.
I know reviews can be a bit overboard when it comes to praising gear, but I've seen SOS give not-so-glowing reviews to pieces of gear before whereas with Keyboard it's usually positive. I generally trust SOS reviews more because of this. I'll also say that I've agreed with SOS with their reviews on the pieces of gear I've owned.

I still would really like to acquire a Blofeld once I sell the Ion (and the Blofeld appears on the market), but the Pro-12 is definitely gaining my interest.

Yeah, the SOS review is pretty fair I would say (as are most of them). [Sometimes they're even to finicky, dwelling on some of the most superficial aspects]... And if they went to the effort of comparing a rev2 + 3 with the pro12, you can assume they will be thorough..... I hadn't been sure about buying a"synth-specific" VA until I read that review-interest if piqued!

SWAN · Post by **SWAN** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:37 pm

The Studio Electronics Synths (SE1) are around the same price as the money youd pay for one of these......wouldnt it be better to get real analogue? Or are they good enough to stand alongside?

MitchK1989 · Post by **MitchK1989** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:57 am

SWAN wrote:The Studio Electronics Synths (SE1) are around the same price as the money youd pay for one of these......wouldnt it be better to get real analogue? Or are they good enough to stand alongside?

They're polyphonic for starters...

Bitexion · Post by **Bitexion** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:01 am

It's good enough to stand up to an analogue. Plus, as Mitch mentions, 12-voice polyphony with a button press. Thus, you're brought deep into Memorymoog territory (minus the unison of course). You get the fattest strings pads and weird modulated pads, and can play 10 finger chords if you want to.

Antonin · Post by **Antonin** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:14 am

there are some wavefiles here, comparing the creamware pro-one (not 12) to the original, and the minimax to a moog, if it's of any use to someone...?

http://www1.keyboards.de/magazine/m0404/404022wp.html

ChasIII · Post by **ChasIII** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:25 am

Bitexion wrote:It's good enough to stand up to an analogue. Plus, as Mitch mentions, 12-voice polyphony with a button press. Thus, you're brought deep into Memorymoog territory (minus the unison of course). You get the fattest strings pads and weird modulated pads, and can play 10 finger chords if you want to.

Hello. Do you have any knowledge of the CreamWare Klangbox's? Are they the same but without the User Interface?

Also how do you like your Ion compared to the Creamware synths?

Thanks.