Miracle on Schlesische Straße?
Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind. It also means that Native Instruments is giving away a delay effect for free before it goes on sale at full retail – so now’s the time to grab it. (There’s also a download voucher, some Remix Sets, and a gear giveaway, but it’s the delay that I think rises to the level of newsworthy.)
The thing is, delays are very often as useful if not more indispensable than reverbs – whether it’s dark, dubby techno you’re producing or experimental soundscapes. And this one is really, really good – good enough that I’m a bit behind in writing about it because I got distracted trying it out; I was very quickly making some new ideas with it.
What makes Replika special is that it combines three delays in a single interface:
“Modern” is a clean digital delay – and delivers sounds you might expect of something like an Eventide.
“Vintage Digital” is my early favorite, in that it gives you a grittier, lo-fi sound that emulates retro digital units like the Lexicon.
“Diffusion” adds additional delays to produce a reverb (which is, naturally, how most digital reverbs apart from convolution reverbs work).
All of this is coupled with a resonant filter and phaser, and NI’s models of filters have been greatly improved (backed by some heavy research in the field), so … well, it all sounds good. Of anything we might love or hate from NI, you can count on things sounding like chocolate.
What brings this all together is that NI didn’t overthink the interface. There’s just a dead-simple UI for setting delay times. And with so many multi-taps getting, frankly, more complicated than you need, the one-knob approach is welcome. I always thought this was part of the genius of the Roland Space Echo. Complex multi-taps can open up creative possibilities, to be sure, but if you’re given a simple interface, you tend to focus on the sound.
Speaking of the interface, this is at last a plug-in built for Apple’s Retina Display. Hopefully others follow soon. (If NI has overhauled their graphics for this, you can expect more of their tools will be next in line.)
You’ll need OS X 10.8 or greater or Windows 7, and you do need a 64-bit host on Mac. (I will say, if your hardware supports it, I’ve actually been happy with recent OS X versions; if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a Windows install, seriously – even Boot Camp on Mac. And… let’s see if this comment earns me some hate mail.)
The free download is on the Replika product page:
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/replika/
NI has been putting out a stream of effects. Molekular is a whole sound design world of its own, with modular routing, if you want something deeper. But I have to say, going simple means I expect to wind up using Replika a lot. Let us know what you think.
NI holiday specials:
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/happy-holidays-2014/
I’ve been testing this out on sampled female vocals for a trance remix track. It sounds nice, flip through the presets, then change the timing and a few settings to taste, add a little compression, and hey, this sounds pretty nice already. The short manual’s even worth reading to get a basis on different applications.
Yes. Personally I love messing with Replika’s filter while the delays are playing, you can get some serious soundscape pizazz out of that.
I’ve been testing this out on sampled female vocals for a trance remix track. It sounds nice, flip through the presets, then change the timing and a few settings to taste, add a little compression, and hey, this sounds pretty nice already. The short manual’s even worth reading to get a basis on different applications.
Yes. Personally I love messing with Replika’s filter while the delays are playing, you can get some serious soundscape pizazz out of that.
I’ve been testing this out on sampled female vocals for a trance remix track. It sounds nice, flip through the presets, then change the timing and a few settings to taste, add a little compression, and hey, this sounds pretty nice already. The short manual’s even worth reading to get a basis on different applications.
Yes. Personally I love messing with Replika’s filter while the delays are playing, you can get some serious soundscape pizazz out of that.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously – even Boot Camp on Mac. And… let’s see if
this comment earns me some hate mail.”
Not at all. Personally, I keep telling people that they should not get stuck with OSX and Apple’s obnoxious planned obsolescence (i.e. 3000 USD$ computers with quad core processors that mysteriously become “obsolete” after a couple years).
I enjoy osx’s stability and performance when playing live, but in a few years’ time, as far as my own laptop is concerned, bring on bootcamp!
Replika is a nice present from NI. Too bad it’s 64bit only and Ableton Live still works better in 32bit mode (ie.e, bugs and no 32bit wrapper – please correct me if I’m wrong).
Sounds great, though!
Right – and actually, both Linux and Windows give you a chance to extend the life of that hardware. Plus, if you do get a new Mac, you can keep that machine running the other OS.
In Apple’s defense, part of what you see as the dividing line is to do with graphics chips. There’s nothing stopping you from running the older machines – you’re just getting broader compatibility with these other OSes. And the recent trend in Apple OSes has actually been to slightly expand compatibility / improve performance on the earlier hardware, so it’s not quite planned obsolescence.
In other words, I think it comes down to which hardware you like, and then how to get the most out of it. The PC hardware is always worth comparison shopping — and running the other OSes on your Mac hardware is always worth considering.
Nonsense. My current Mac is an early 2009 iMac. So now it’s six years old. Runs all the latest software just fine, including Mac OS X 10.10.2. My last Mac was a G4 I bought in 2000. I used that until 2010.
So where is this obsolescence you are talking about? You mean like Windows XP? Or the other issue is that the newer versions of Windows won’t run well on older hardware. My Windows using friends had to all get new PCs to install Windows 7. And then they hated it anyway. lol
Apple planned obsolescence is noticeable in software – Logic 8 (late 2007) being artificially prevented from working in OSX 10.7 (2011) was my particular pain in the ass.
As for hardware, glad your Mac is still working, but I’ve worked with people who owned 2007 Macbooks and were unable to upgrade to 10.8 or later, for instance.
Incidentally, I also have a 10 year old desktop computer running Windows 7 and DAW software quite smoothly.
My Mac Mini quad core i7 is about 1/3 of that price and makes use of an LCD monitor that would otherwise be gathering dust.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously – even Boot Camp on Mac. And… let’s see if
this comment earns me some hate mail.”
Not at all. I keep telling people that they should not get stuck with Apple’s obnoxious planned obsolescence (i.e. 3000 USD$ computers with quad core processors that mysteriously become “obsolete” after a couple years).
I enjoy osx’s stability and performance when playing live, but in a few years’ time, as far as my own laptop is concerned, bring on bootcamp! I guess it’s a love-hate relationship.
Replika is a nice present from NI. Too bad it’s 64bit only and Ableton Live still works better in 32bit mode (ie.e, bugs and no 32bit wrapper – please correct me if I’m wrong).
Anyway, it sounds nice! Great level of control over your echoes’ behaviour.
Right – and actually, both Linux and Windows give you a chance to extend the life of that hardware. Plus, if you do get a new Mac, you can keep that machine running the other OS.
In Apple’s defense, part of what you see as the dividing line is to do with graphics chips. There’s nothing stopping you from running the older machines – you’re just getting broader compatibility with these other OSes. And the recent trend in Apple OSes has actually been to slightly expand compatibility / improve performance on the earlier hardware, so it’s not quite planned obsolescence.
In other words, I think it comes down to which hardware you like, and then how to get the most out of it. The PC hardware is always worth comparison shopping — and running the other OSes on your Mac hardware is always worth considering.
Nonsense. My current Mac is an early 2009 iMac. So now it’s six years old. Runs all the latest software just fine, including Mac OS X 10.10.2. My last Mac was a G4 I bought in 2000. I used that until 2010.
So where is this obsolescence you are talking about? You mean like Windows XP? Or the other issue is that the newer versions of Windows won’t run well on older hardware. My Windows using friends had to all get new PCs to install Windows 7. And then they hated it anyway. lol
Apple planned obsolescence is noticeable in software – Logic 8 (late 2007) being artificially prevented from working in OSX 10.7 (2011) was my particular pain in the ass.
As for hardware, glad your Mac is still working, but I’ve worked with people who owned 2007 Macbooks and were unable to upgrade to 10.8 or later, for instance. And let’s not even get into the whole iOS / iPhone / iPad issues…
Incidentally, I also have a 10 year old desktop computer running Windows 7. It runs the latest version of my favorite DAW and I use it for recording and composition.
My Mac Mini quad core i7 is about 1/3 of that price and makes use of an LCD monitor that would otherwise be gathering dust.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously – even Boot Camp on Mac. And… let’s see if
this comment earns me some hate mail.”
Not at all. I keep telling people that they should not get stuck with Apple’s obnoxious planned obsolescence (i.e. 3000 USD$ computers with quad core processors that mysteriously become “obsolete” after a couple years).
I enjoy osx’s stability and performance when playing live, but in a few years’ time, as far as my own laptop is concerned, bring on bootcamp! I guess it’s a love-hate relationship.
Replika is a nice present from NI. Too bad it’s 64bit only and Ableton Live still works better in 32bit mode (ie.e, bugs and no 32bit wrapper – please correct me if I’m wrong).
Anyway, it sounds nice! Great level of control over your echoes’ behaviour.
Right – and actually, both Linux and Windows give you a chance to extend the life of that hardware. Plus, if you do get a new Mac, you can keep that machine running the other OS.
In Apple’s defense, part of what you see as the dividing line is to do with graphics chips. There’s nothing stopping you from running the older machines – you’re just getting broader compatibility with these other OSes. And the recent trend in Apple OSes has actually been to slightly expand compatibility / improve performance on the earlier hardware, so it’s not quite planned obsolescence.
In other words, I think it comes down to which hardware you like, and then how to get the most out of it. The PC hardware is always worth comparison shopping — and running the other OSes on your Mac hardware is always worth considering.
Nonsense. My current Mac is an early 2009 iMac. So now it’s six years old. Runs all the latest software just fine, including Mac OS X 10.10.2. My last Mac was a G4 I bought in 2000. I used that until 2010.
So where is this obsolescence you are talking about? You mean like Windows XP? Or the other issue is that the newer versions of Windows won’t run well on older hardware. My Windows using friends had to all get new PCs to install Windows 7. And then they hated it anyway. lol
Apple planned obsolescence is noticeable in software – Logic 8 (late 2007) being artificially prevented from working in OSX 10.7 (2011) was my particular pain in the ass.
As for hardware, glad your Mac is still working, but I’ve worked with people who owned 2007 Macbooks and were unable to upgrade to 10.8 or later, for instance. And let’s not even get into the whole iOS / iPhone / iPad issues…
Incidentally, I also have a 10 year old desktop computer running Windows 7. It runs the latest version of my favorite DAW and I use it for recording and composition.
My Mac Mini quad core i7 is about 1/3 of that price and makes use of an LCD monitor that would otherwise be gathering dust.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously”
No hate … I agree with that assessment.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously”
No hate … I agree with that assessment.
“if you want to keep hardware running longer, you might think about a
Windows install, seriously”
No hate … I agree with that assessment.
quality.
quality.
quality.
Weird that it’s 64-bit only – switching between 32-bit and 64-bit should always just be fiddling with a few compilation flags, the underlying code is always exactly the same…
Agree. I also think 64-bit is being pushed (forced?) too soon. Or, to put it another way, nothing against 64 bit being introduced, but 32-bit is being phased out too soon.
Weird that it’s 64-bit only – switching between 32-bit and 64-bit should always just be fiddling with a few compilation flags, the underlying code is always exactly the same…
Agree. I also think 64-bit is being pushed (forced?) too soon. Or, to put it another way, nothing against 64 bit being introduced, but 32-bit is being phased out too soon.
Weird that it’s 64-bit only – switching between 32-bit and 64-bit should always just be fiddling with a few compilation flags, the underlying code is always exactly the same…
Agree. I also think 64-bit is being pushed (forced?) too soon. Or, to put it another way, nothing against 64 bit being introduced, but 32-bit is being phased out too soon.