| Creamware first impressions [message #77368] |
Sat, 23 December 2006 14:01  |
TCB
Messages: 1261
Registered: July 2007
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Senior Member |
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Hey all,
This should be taken with some grains of salt, which if you remember are
quite a bit larger than the ticks on a 100 mm fader using a 14 bit MIDI stream,
but so far I'm really knocked out by the Creamware card. Keep in mind that
it's been shown here that I'm deaf, not a 'pro,' and can't hear the difference
between different brands of USB flash drives. I use a PNY when some people
claim the SanDisks are punchier. The big problem I had with the CW gear before
was stability, and it's only been a day but so far absolutely rock solid.
'Cause I'm deaf I only use 44.1 so I don't have clocking issues.
I remembered the synths as being spectacular and they are much better than
I remember. Frankly I don't think I've heard digital synthesis done better,
with the possible exception of the OASYS PCI card, but I think I'd still
give the CW gear the edge. Keep in mind I've owned a fair amount of Waldorf,
Access, Nord, and Clavia gear over the years. There's no reason why it should
sound better than native, DSP code is DSP code, and I wonder if maybe it's
precisely because the gear is a little old that it sounds so good. Expectations
were a little lower back then. In any case, they clearly went for sonic quality
over polyphony with the synths. The Prophet is absolutely killer, the wavetable
synths spit out psycho bells that are to die for, the minimoog is ripping.
The B3 is very nice as well, and it can do thin and cheesey as well as it
does big and crushing which I like because I tend to use organ sounds as
minor decoration.
The software has also gotten easier to use. I'd say it would make it a lot
easier if someone had a bit of experience with modular synths, but I managed
to get everything running and making noises without reading the manual. I'll
have to get to that soon. I think it will be a minor hassle to get used to
running the Scope environment while using Live/SX and I'm not sure how I'm
going to bounce tracks to audio when I start hitting the wall on the DSP
on the Scope board. Probably just run one of the ADAT outputs to one of the
ADAT inputs. Having the big display and being able to use keyboard shortcuts
to switch virtual desktops will help a good bit.
Which also brings up the one complaint I have about the CW card, the DSPs
do get chewed up pretty quickly and they don't seem too smart. That is, if
I open up a Prophet the DSP load goes up even when it's not doing anything.
Most native plugs these days only take resources when they have something
to do. I'm quite sure I could use two 14 DSP cards without trying too hard.
Again, it will just involve a little time learning to manage the workflow
and I'm willing to do that for synths and f/x this good.
Paired up with a UAD card it's a damned impressive system. I might spring
for another one of each, using the UAD for vintage type f/x and the CW for
mixing and synths. I gotta say, it's a pretty enjoyable, creative combination.
Now that I like it, we'll see CW out of business soon.
TCB
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