Virtual Instruments

I’ve been using DrumCore 4 with Cubase 10 for approximately 3 months now. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone into this product. Its ease-of-use and fabulous user interface makes it suitable for both professionals and beginners. DC4 is feature-rich. For example, their BROWSER makes it very easy to find suitable LOOPs, FILLs and KITs. You can filter on DRUMMERs, METERs, FEELs , TAGs, and AUDIO or MIDI. You can choose from literally thousands of LOOPs, FILLs and KITs (e.g. 22,000 Audio Loops!!). And the quality of their AUDIO LOOPs are at a professional level! I’m very impressed by the features and the content of DrumCore 4.

Embedded in Reaper. I use it with EZDrummer, Ample Bass P Lite II.
Different musical styles.

The program is not easy to use.

Overall sound quality is good.

Pros: Good sound quality, many effects
Cons: Not intuitive. No actual manual. The official manual is in fact a list of features.
Only a few tutorials regarding the newest version.

I use the UVI libraries on two of my PC’s. My main touch screen pC desktop, and also on my pc laptop. Since my laptop doesn’t have the largest hard drive, I keep all of my UVI sample libraries on a dedicated msata drive with 500gb capacity. Uvi has recently updated their download and installation process, which used to be really confusing and used to involve moving files into subdirectories, but they now are quite streamlined with a download and install manager that works great. I use it with iLok, but is also setup to use elicenser if needed. I hate elicenser and only use it for cubase. ILok is much better, more secure, and in programs that don’t offer multiple licenses, it’s easier to deactivate from one to move to another.

Most of the UvI synth libraries share a common set of parameters,customized graphics that suit the theme of the line of synths being emulated. There are exceptions to this, and unfortunately, not all UVI libraries share a common foundation where sounds are loaded in from a root directory. Fortunately, all three synths in the Digital Sensations V2 all share this feature. Apart from having a common way of loading sounds, this convenient method allows easy favoriting of your more used patches. With a library this large, it’s important to have this feature. Other uvi libraries, the sounds must be loaded in via the application, not the uvi player. A feature which I’d like to see normalized across all libraries moving forward, and preferably backward in an update.
Parameters are somewhat basic. You have some control over the basic sound with envelopes, lfo’s, and Multimode filters. Some rudimentary control over the sound source is available, but as it is a sample library, is limited.
Sound quality is pretty superb. I got addicted to these libraries for a reason. For one, I really enjoy vst clones of synths, such as arturia’s V collection. While th4 uvi libraries are not “clones” per se, they do offer an accurate flavor of the original synths at hand, and offer modern interpretations on what might otherwise be somewhat of a dated sound.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the UVI workstation (or Falcon), it is a stand-alone, vst, RTAS, or AAX platform where you may install individual sample libraries. While I am only ever concerned with UVI’s synthesizer libraries, they are not limited to such, offering string, brass, piano, EM, and even libraries of toys.
For my interests, I stick with the synth libraries. I presently use the Digital Synsations V2, Synth Anthology 2, Vintage Vault 2, UXV80, and UVPX80 libraries, with a few more I’m interested in but do not yet own. I find I buy one every month or two whether I need them or not. I’ve kind of become addicted.
The UVI player is your platform for your sound libraries, and while each individual library may contain their own unique set of subfeatures, the player itself will allow you to arrange any 4 sounds from any 4 libraries at any given time, and has sophisticated arpeggio features and additional built-in effects. Individual libraries may supplement these features as well.
The digital sensations 2 library is a bundle of three libraries sampled from the Kawai K5000/s/w/r, the Roland JD-800/990, and the Ensoniq
Now again, these libraries are not clones, but use sounds from each of these synths as the foundation sound source for each patch. The sample set is then manipulated with its own set of filter, envelopes, lfo’s, etc. I presently own a JD800 and have owned a K5000, and the essence of these synths is certainly there, but many sounds have been brought back to relevance with some wonderful programming straight from the factory. It’s kind of making my aging jd800 irrelevant.
Similarly to the IK Syntronik, each library features a unique GUI that resembles the respective synth, but in reality, these libraries share the same parameters. I haven’t deeply explored the effects or arp sections, but based on the presets, they are certainly powerful and flexible.
Now, so,e advise on purchasing the UvI libraries. Wait for sales. Each library I own I paid no more than half it’s normal retail price. Also, but bundles and not individual libraries. For the DS V2, I paid $149. Single libraries seems to run $49-79.