NI studio collection, PT edition - any comments?

[harry maxon]

hi all

i did a search for opinions and didn't turn anything up recently. how are people liking the HTDM/RTAS native instruments protools edition? specifically the pro-52 and battery (especially battery)? easy to use? stable? does it play well with soft samplecell? a grand is a bit of change, but i'd really love to get rid of some outboard.

thanks in advance for any opinions.

cheers

harry

[fdc]

I used the battery PT edition plug-in. I liked not having another app running in the background. Everything seemed to work well - easy to use, etc. The midi timing wasn't consistent, unfortunately. On PTLE, it varied from 2-12 ms off. I would rather have it be 20 ms off always than to vary. Oh well. Anyone with comments about SoftSamplecell?

[joy4u]

SSC, (told me a Digi Tech Support Gui) has a basic D-C latency, but the midi timing is perfect.

[Captain Crunch]

I just bought the collection, and I must say, I love Battery. So long MPC! There is a little bit of latency, its true. But I just quantize and slip the tracks, its not really that big of a deal. Battery is one of those rare things where once you use it, you'll never do programming the old way ever again. Hopefully someone will come out with some really good Kit sample collections. The ones that come with it are just OK.

You can make any loop automatically match the tempo of the song you're working on, so I've been making "loop kits" for quick auditioning .

I haven't had time to do anything with the B4 and Pro-52, other than briefly try them out. They sound pretty legit-- a friend of mine is a B3 badass, and he was raving about B4.

$1000 US is definately a hard bit to swallow, but you get what you pay for. It crushes a lot of other plugs, value wise.

[peteri]

Hi

I pre-ordered from NI and posted as soon as I got them - so hopefully you'll be able to check via my profile.

In summary - very, very nice - I already had B4 and Battery - so even more of a hit for me, but worth it.

TOTAL integration with PT a joy, love only opening one app, latency is fine for me - but I'm a guitarist! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

End up using the RTAS versions more - as this saves a DSP chip (as no directconnect needed), and NI reckon timing better, Battery is indeed the drum sampler of choice, very easy, Akai import and you can play with the pitching/envelope/bit depth nicely - be even better when multiple outputs work in this format.

Also very, very nice having the B4 leslie and o/d and the Pro-52 filters available as effects insert - there that's another reason to get them.

Pete

[Tightbeats]

[Bryan]

my understanding is that the htdm versions introduce significantly more latency than running the same programs stand alone through direct connect.

however, these programs rule. all of them. Reason may be made by 'Propellorheads', but those NI guys are the ones who deserve that monikor! (okay, reason rules too.)

[Tim R.]

On a NI sidenote. I saw the Demo for "Kontakt" the new NI Sampler and WOW. Really kool! Super flexible UI and modular, so you only have open the functions you are using. Too many other great features to list. I'm eagerly awaiting it's April (MAC) release.

Tim

[PastaViking II]

We've been using the PT HTDM collection at our sound lab from Native for a few months and while Pro-52 and B4 run flawlessly it seems that Battery has a few problems with memory allocation (forget about more than two outputs) and increases the G4/733 system crash occurence considerably .

On top this package is more CPU heavy that the stand-alones, which isn't as noticeble on B4 and Pro-52 as on Battery which can slow the system to a crawl.

We still need to do some more testing but I think Battery has been causing NI a bit of headache and was rushed so let's hope for and update.

But I do agree that having everything inside Pro Tools is nice and much more convenient - but can't help wishing for real TDM versions of these beautifully sounding pieces of software.

Oh, and by the way: FM7 is the most impressive softsynth from NI so far. GREAT! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[ballerina]

Hi !

I've been using Battery pro Tools edition. It works well. Multiple outs is not implemented yet which is a big con. Also I'm having problems importing AKAI cd's. I can start importing but is an error at the end of the import, so in the end thee is nothing imported. Anyone nows anything about this ?

Another q. I'd like to ask is:

If I have a akai cd which is a cd plus format with audio tracks I can't seem to find it in macintosh. Anyone got a clue ?

Also, you asked for good drumlibrarys for Battery. Well I use Drumkit from Hell with Battery which is just the greatest sounding kit I've ever heard. Check it out: http://drumkit.toontrack.com