AIR Instruments releases Boom as a VST

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DonnieAlan
Posts: 271
Joined: 25 Jan 2017

13 Nov 2017

AIR Instruments has released one of their iconic plugins, Boom, as a VST. Until now, it has only been available to Pro Tools users as one of the 5 AIR instruments included in all purchases of Pro Tools. Now, you can use in any VST/AU hosting DAW or software.

Boom is a very easy to use electronic drum machine. Its not Kong or Redrum, you can't load in your own samples. It doesn't have separate audio outputs for each of the individual drum parts. But it does have a unique electronic drum kit sound with 10 different electronic kits, all of which can be mixed an matched to make your own kits, with lots of easy to use controls to shape the sound of each drum part, and the ability to play your own MIDI grooves using standard MIDI drum assignments, or play preset patterns that you can create yourself.

Its worth taking a look at if you're looking for some good electronic sounding drums in an easy to program drum VI.

Additionally, you can use Boom to fill out other drum tracks or add depth to individual drum parts, such as a kick.

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pjeudy
Posts: 1559
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

16 Nov 2017

Boom.png
Boom.png (319.96 KiB) Viewed 2117 times
My opinion is that Propellerhead REASON needs a complete rewrite!
P.S: people should stop saying "No it won't happen" when referring to a complete rewrite of REASON. I have 3 letters for ya....VST
Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:53 pm

Manitou
Posts: 6
Joined: 27 Jan 2017

17 Nov 2017

My Air devices are all freezing in the plugin window, so until that problem is straightened out, no body gets a penny!
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Reason 10

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moneykube
Posts: 3447
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

17 Nov 2017

so does this air plug work with reason now?
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EnochLight
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Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Imladris

18 Nov 2017

moneykube wrote:
17 Nov 2017
so does this air plug work with reason now?
Depends on who you ask. I can get Xpand!2 to crash Reason 10 straight to my desktop. I can also get it to crash in Studio One, but not as much as Reason 10. I only paid $1 for that, though, so it's hard to be mad. I can't see paying $49 USD for Boom, though - even if it was rock solid stable in Reason. I have a plethora of 808, 909, CR78 , 606, etc kits these days.
Win 10 | Ableton Live 11 Suite |  Reason 12 | i7 3770k @ 3.5 Ghz | 16 GB RAM | RME Babyface Pro | Akai MPC Live 2 & Akai Force | Roland System 8, MX1, TB3 | Dreadbox Typhon | Korg Minilogue XD

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wireless
Posts: 100
Joined: 14 Apr 2017

19 Nov 2017

Hya,
This feedback might help.
I purchased Xpand!2 from Air Music, and liked it so much I went straight ahead and bought the Air Instrument Expansion Pack - the 'select' version for $59.95 - this for me was Wow! - lots of seriously good stuff in there, and for me excellent value for money.
However I quickly ran into stability issues with Reason v10 running on Windows 10, and I then discovered others had the same problem. After a few minutes of correct operation, the VST window reports that it is not responding - from there, the only way out results in crashing Reason. From the full AIEP suite, I have so far found issues with Xpand!2, Hybrid3 and Structure 2. I've had no issues with DB33, Loom, Vacuum Pro. I still have a few software packs bought but not yet tried (there's a lot here!).

I have formally reported this problem to both Air Music and Propellerheads, and while nobody yet has the answer, my guess is that this is looking like a Props issue as these VST seem to run OK in other DAWs.

The great news is that a product called 'jBridge' comes to the rescue - and although it's reasonably priced at 14.99 euro, you can download a demo version that runs for 20 minutes. In my case this was enough to prove the issue as my problems arose in less time than that (seemed to me it was related to use of the VST GUI - if you didn't tweak any knobs, it seemed to be stable for longer).

What many folks don't realise is that jBridge can be used to map 64 bit products to a 64 bit host (normal use is to allow older 32 bit VSTs to run in a 64 bit OS), which is what I've done and it has sorted the stability issue - not seen it happen once since. The result in Reason is that in addition to the VSTs showing in the 'manage' window, you will also see bridged versions of the same VST. I recommend that the disable the originals, so that you don't mistakenly select the wrong one in a composition.

I've now purchased jBridge and all is well. It doesn't appear to have much impact on performance, although I would say that the windows GUI seems slightly slower when navigating patches.

Enjoy!

DonnieAlan
Posts: 271
Joined: 25 Jan 2017

19 Nov 2017

The issues with the AIR plugins and instruments has been reported both here and at AIR by several, and I'm pretty sure both the P-heads and the AIR-heads are looking into it. Based on the behavior, it does seem to be an issue more with Reason than AIR, though. I can run the AIR vsts in other hosts with no issues whatsoever, so it doesn't seem to be an issue with AIR's vst design or implementation. Given the P-heads just came to the VST party just a few months ago, it may be not all the kinks are worked out yet with how they implement VST hosting.

In the meantime, however, as has been mentioned, Jbridge will work as a host within a host. Another is Blue Cat Audio Patchwork, which not only allows you to host VSTs, but allows you to set up multiple set-ups, kinda like Combinator. Its a great way to set up fx chains to use on multiple projects. So, Patchwork is worth looking at beyond just the vst hosting capabilities. But, for any VSTs that cause trouble being hosted in Reason (such as the AIR ones), you can host them by first hosting Patchwork VST, and then hosting AIR (or any other vst)in Patchwork. I've found doing that makes all the issues with AIR disappear. Which is another reason I think the issues like with Reason.

DonnieAlan
Posts: 271
Joined: 25 Jan 2017

19 Nov 2017

moneykube wrote:
17 Nov 2017
so does this air plug work with reason now?
Yes and no. I opened it in Reason and did quite a bit. But if you try layering it in Combinator it can cause Reason to just freeze.

nbot
Posts: 38
Joined: 27 Sep 2017

19 Nov 2017

If you're using JBridge remember to detach the plugin UI with option "Switch to separate GUI mode" (and restart the plugin instance). Otherwise it may hang occasionally even if you're bridging. There's downside of that - the plugin GUI will loose keyboard input so if you're using computer keyboard as midi source it won't work unless you bring focus to the parent window.

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riemac
Posts: 572
Joined: 21 Jan 2015
Location: Germany

27 Jul 2019

Boom is on sale for 10 EUR right now. Does it still crash Reason 10.4.?

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