AIR plugins worth it ?

airon · 11-26-2019, 07:07 AM

The AIR plugins for VST hosts, as they're found in Protools which includes them, are on offer for just $29.

I wanted to ask around whether they're decent enough to stand alongside all the other pile of shame shit one may have accumulated over the years. I do enjoy using Sound Toys, Valhalla and so many others, so will I enjoy using these?

The AIR distortion and Lo-Fi plugins seem to be their own flavour. I'm more interested in what they can do to dialog than anything else.

They're available here on the DontCrack store. It's the season for deals.

Worth it ?

EpicSounds · 11-26-2019, 09:25 AM

I use them quite a lot and I also have nearly all iZotope, valhalla and soundtoys. Actually because of their simple and unified design I use them more than those more expensive plugins. I've featured them many times on the blog.

Consider buying on Plugin Boutique through my link?
https://reaperblog.net/2019/11/pb-air-sale/

EvilDragon · 11-26-2019, 09:38 AM

I had an issue with Velvet crashing a Reaper project on load. Had to do back-and-forth with Justin over e-mail in order to pinpoint why the project was crashing at all. The only way around was loading project with all FX offline, bringing all FX back online, freezing the track with Velvet and not touching it ever again. :/

SonicAxiom · 11-26-2019, 04:02 PM

I got those fx as a bonus in a 70,- EUR deal incl. plenty of really nice VSTi's like Loom, Structure, Strike, Hybrid, Velvet, DB-33, XPand!2 and a few others last year. Those VSTi are definitely worth it, even just one or two of them. I'd try to get the fx in an inexpensive VSTi bundle somewhere. The added value is substantial.

Never had any issues with those plugins in Reaper, btw (Reaper x64, Win 7 x64).

.

chip mcdonald · 11-27-2019, 08:25 AM

I've got the Hammond DB33 and while it sounds good, it's... put glitches into Reaper projects with it. Hard to pin down, almost uniquely so, but it get "software trepidation vibes" whenever I tweak it, or even open it.

Much akin to certain Waves plugins (Abby Roads plate), but a little more ...erratic in what goes wrong. It's different than the Trepidation When Using A SynthEdit Plugin, it's much more random and seemingly unprovoked.

My Inner Software Instinct is that in both cases there must be something with the UI dev kit that does something Reaper doesn't like? They seem to operate fine if you don't touch them, but too much of a certain kind of interaction with the GUI triggers it?

airon · 11-27-2019, 10:08 AM

Yeah, sounds good to me. They're nice and simple.

John, I'll give your link a shot.

Edit: Worked out fine. A little over 26 Euros, including tax. Gaaaawd, the download is slow though. 1 GB. Gotta be an Avid infestation.

Jordu7 · 11-27-2019, 12:25 PM

Hi,

just 3 days ago I purchased the Air Music Keyboard collection (with Velvet2, DB-33 and Mini-Grand) and Xpand!2 at PluginBoutique.
I ran into installer problems in my up-to-date Windows 10 64-bit system that apparently are well known to Air Music and occur with many of their plugins. However, they seem to be unwilling to remedy the problem with their installer trying to install an older Visual Basic package over a newer one. Windows does not allow that.
See this thread here:https://getsatisfaction.com/airmusic...m-hybrid-3-etc

The workaround is to either copy the installed parts (including the VST .dll files) before exiting the installer (which results in a roll back) and then manually copy them back or force the installer to quit at the error point using the Windows task manager. There's also a video in Youtube that explains the first method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XhRrb8vxFw

I did not have time yet to look at the plugins in more detail. But Reaper recognized and loaded the 64-bit VSTs without issue. Xpand has quite a lot of presets, should be useful.

pbognar · 11-27-2019, 03:32 PM

Can someone compare XPand!2 with Structure?

Structure appears to come with much more sample content - does it have a broader set of instruments? Is XPand!2 more synthy?

Goldreap · 11-27-2019, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbognar

Can someone compare XPand!2 with Structure?

Structure appears to come with much more sample content - does it have a broader set of instruments? Is XPand!2 more synthy?

Lots of info in this KVR thread which is mainly about Structure vs Kontakt, but XPand!2 as well.
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewt...p?f=1&t=487875

Xpand!2 is often on sale for $1. Lots of presets, sounds good, content about 1.5GB. No brainer.
Structure has 37GB content. I don't have it, but current sale price $29.56 is tempting.
Something holding me back though. People say the content is good, perhaps better than Kontakt factory stuff, but generic/bread and butter. Lot of hard drive space for something I might find disappointing.
Maybe I should download the trial version, but my heart's just not in it.

And the install problem mentioned above? The guy in the workaround video (linked by jordu7 above) thinks it might be just with the newer Ryzen CPU architecture having an incompatibility with the VC++ install.
I'm rambling.

cool · 11-27-2019, 11:00 PM

Good for its price (1$).

I used it for some time, but gradually I had to abandon it. Most sounds are outdated and, as a whole, the plugin sounds “cheap” and muddy. However, even with these shortcomings, it is still good for its price

bobobo · 12-19-2019, 06:22 AM

found this and ordered & installed yesterday
https://www.thomann.de/gb/air_music_...ogy_xpand2.htm
you get a serial
serial is to be entered in another website http://redeem.plugivery.com
and you get a serial

download xpand!2 via airmusictech
https://www.airmusictech.com/product/xpand2
get the trial

beside the plugin it will install the ilok tool where you have to sign in
and enter the serial you got from (*)

ilok is a little pita , but xpand is simple, fast and nice

i apologize if this this post breaks any forumrules because its kind of advertising.

Multibomber · 12-20-2019, 05:05 AM

Guys... the Lo-Fi plugin is worth the price all by itself. Say you're at the end of your mix and you need your snare to be a bit louder, but you don't have any room to turn it up and its gonna mess with all your compressors blah blah blah… Put Lo-Fi on your Snare Buss and start turning up the Clip knob. Your snare will start getting louder, but the actual meter level will decrease, so you can turn up your snare even more. Keep turning up Lo-Fi until you notice it change your snare sound, and then back it off a few dB.

Its a very specific tool for a very specific situation, but oh man what a lifesaver when you're in that situation!

IonianStreams · 01-11-2020, 06:28 PM

I'm getting regular Reaper crashes with AIR's The Riser plugin. Seems to happen when using or even just opening the MIDI editor on a track with The Riser effect. It's not always reproducible, but I'm getting it quite consistently as follows: I have a track template with The Riser effect setup. I insert the track template as a new track in an existing project. Then when adding a MIDI item to the track and opening the MIDI editor -- crash!. This may only happen within an existing, larger project. When I do this in a fresh, empty project with just the one track things seem normal. Like chip mcdonald said above, I think once the track is setup (i.e. you've managed to finish your MIDI editing without a crash and saved the project and you don't need to touch it anymore), it seems stable.

Reaper 5.973 64-bit
Windows 10
The Riser version 1.0.7.19000

ilovesoca · 02-26-2020, 06:10 PM

Over the break, I also purchased the Air Music Keyboard collection (with Velvet2, DB-33 and Mini-Grand) and Xpand!2 at PluginBoutique. My first impressions are that I love the three keyboard plugins for their very high-quality sounds. I haven't really dived into Xpand!2 yet.

The GUIs, however, are tiny and unscaled. If I use one of the old HiDPI modes (Windows 7+) selectable via "Preferences\General\Advanced UI/system settings", then the Air plugins' GUIs are usable but the rest of the interface is not optimized.

Because of this, I'm not sure Xpand!2 is worth it, since it requires a lot of GUI navigation. The keyboards would be better with more GUI interaction, but they're great even on default settings.

I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 6 running the latest update of Windows 10. Does anyone else with these plugins have the same issue?

beingmf · 01-06-2021, 07:48 AM

After a major Hybrid3 crashfest yesterday I switched the "Run as ..." VST options to a) "dedicated process" (so it won't drag the whole project into the abyss) and b) to "Buggy plugin compatibility mode".

45min without a hiccup now, fingers crossed. And: praise the Reaper!

chip mcdonald · 01-06-2021, 09:31 AM

I bought the Strike 2 drum vsti because it was on sale and because apparently I must try every drum vsti there is...

..and I can't get it to install, it stops at a blank menu. Tried everything. Contacted their support, no results. Can't register it. Their web page support link doesn't work.

It was only $15, but apparently I wasted my money.

serstickman · 01-06-2021, 09:53 AM

Air makes good stuff, imo. I have their plugin collection ($5 score via Plugin Boutique over the holidays) & their XPand! library.

Love the ensemble, chorus & flange plugins on guitars because of the mix knob on each!

beingmf · 01-12-2021, 02:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip mcdonald

..and I can't get it to install, it stops at a blank menu.

You're sure the iLok window doesn't show in the background, behind the other windows?

chip mcdonald · 01-12-2021, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beingmf

You're sure the iLok window doesn't show in the background, behind the other windows?

Each time I tried tabbing through to see if any other thing was still running as part of the install. If ILok is doing something it wasn't there - and it shows in ILok as being registered to me. So I don't think it's an ILok problem.

It appears to be stuck wanting to download "online resources" that apparently aren't there anymore? I've heard from AIR so it's a loss.

beingmf · 01-13-2021, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip mcdonald

Each time I tried tabbing through to see if any other thing was still running as part of the install. If ILok is doing something it wasn't there - and it shows in ILok as being registered to me. So I don't think it's an ILok problem.

It appears to be stuck wanting to download "online resources" that apparently aren't there anymore? I've heard from AIR so it's a loss.

Bummer! I also recently tried to demo "Velvet" (as I'm not that convinced by the electric piano options I have, and no space for a real Rhodes), and it didn't work either. The plug was asking for a file, which I picked, but still refused to load completely. Bad start, immediately deleted it.
(I really really like "Hybrid" though, and XPand isn't wrong, either)