Upcoming AD Stuff...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
Okay, now that the release excitement of Axon has died down, we’re on to the Next Phase in our Big Plan. We’re actually working on several things at once, and I’ll attempt to boil them down to the essence.
1. Discord3 OS X update. There will be a minor update on the OS X side of Discord3 shortly; we’ve got some internal re-working, plus a minor bug fix. We have decided to not release 64-bit versions of OS X at this time, as the 64-bit port of AU is essentially impossible with our current working methods. We need to wait until the compatibility layer we used for Discord3 (and Axon) has been updated. We have successfully built a 64-bit OS X VST of Discord3, and we’ll release as soon as Cubase 5 64-bit is stable and public on the OS X side.
2. Axon Update. We’re adding multiple outs, counter reset on transport stop, and a couple other requested features to Axon, along with some minor bug fixes (mostly relating to Logic). This update will be both sides, and is a ways away.
3. The Next Product.
EDIT: Read the comments.
This isn’t a new product per se, but rather a significant update that will combine and deprecate several old products. One of the problems with our relatively large product line is that doing line-wide updates is disagreeable in the extreme; our intention in that regard is to reduce the number of products we offer, so that we’re able to better deal with the fairly regularly timed body blows emanating from Cupertino.
So, this product, as yet unnamed, will be a multi-effect consisting of the engines of Liquid, Fluid, Vapor, and Phase Two. You will be able to select any one of those engines per instance, and the whole will be lovingly wrapped in a stereo delay. In this regard, it will be similar to Discord3, in both layout and operation, but rather than three different pitch shifters, it will have four modulation effects. The delay will be routed slightly differently, more like a send effect than inline as it is in D3, but that’s a design decision that is down the road a bit.
For purchasing, we haven’t decided on a final price, but we will almost certainly hew to our current major effect price of $59. The way upgrading will work will be that for each of the four individual effects you own, you’ll receive a $10 discount from the price. So if you only own, say, Liquid, your price for this plug-in will be $49. If you own Liquid and Fluid, your price will be $39, and so on. We will, as I mentioned, be deprecating the four plug-ins in question.
If you have any thoughts on this combo-platter, now’s the time to make yourself heard; otherwise, we’ll forge ahead.
10 comments
Makes sense to me, I often find myself swapping between the plugins looking for which gives the best effect on a particular track; this update will make it a lot easier to do so.
Smart idea on the upgrade costs. One more reason I love you guys.
A great deal for customers who don't have the modulation plugs. $59 vs $155 for those, like myself, who bought all 4.
I'm usually really excited about the $10 upgrades as they offer alot of bang for the buck, but I'm not sure I'm excited about a $19 upgrade that given your description is a shell for the plugins with a delay on the out. Am I missing something?
"Am I missing something?"
I'm just guessing, but perhaps the four effects will adopt some functions from the others. For instance, Liquid and PhaseTwo have no wet/dry mix, PhaseTwo has a dedicated MIDI CC modulator, Vapor and Fluid have no stereo offset, etc. As well, given the layout of Discord3, there exists the possibility that the four engines will share an LFO rather than have LFOs stuck inside each engine, so that you could flip through all four on the same settings to see what sounds best.
That's all just a guess/wishlist, though. At the very least, this new one will be updated to newer technologies like x64, where the old ones won't. Can't say how compelling that is for anyone as reason to upgrade.
I hope they call it The Wetness, that would crack me up every time I use it.
I like the idea of a delay on a built in send, but I tend to run a reverb on the send after these plugins. For me it would work better if I could get a simple reverb instead of or included with the delay. Or maybe roll in something like Ratshack into the product but make the total delay time much longer so that it could work as a standard echo/delay line. Now if I could get separate delay and reverb and be able to change the order that they feed into each other, I would shit kittens. Plus I'll add in my standard request for an AD EQ plugin. I really want to see the Rough Rider of EQs.
I don't really mind the $19 dollar upgrade (or the fact that I have now spent ~$180 on these plugs). I can't remember when I purchased Phase II, and I snatched up the other three plugs the day they went live. That money has long been forgotten about. It's much more convenient to have all this wetness (moisture?) in one box. My real problem is that with Phase Two getting rolled up into this, we are down one more of the cell shaded designs. I kinda miss the old look. The new look is considerably easier to look at and see whats going on, but I get a little misty eyed over the old plugins.
-WGP
Is "deprecate" you're word of the day?
I second the vote for calling the revised multi-effect "The Wetness".
Cool idea on the new product. I don't own any of those effects, but will certainly buy this.
Sounds good. I always got confused that FLuid was not the FLanger. I assume serial routing? Sounds fun.
And the plug obviously needs to be called Wetspot.
Jeff, you're the only one confused by that, and it's been so consistent that I'm fairly sure it's actually a mental defect of some sort. ;-)
As for alterations, all four plug-ins will most likely get updated features specific to the context, but we'll work that out as we put them in and work through the inevitable hiccups. Regarding common LFOs, that would be tough. Have to have a gander at the internals; they're all very different plug-ins, internally, even though three of them look alike. That's where the resemblance stops.
-CR
Excellent news on the multi output version of Axon. I am buying this soon and multi out was the one thing I thought it was missing :-)
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