RX950 Classic AD/DA Converter

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Marco Raaphorst
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27 Mar 2018

When digital became the perfect blank canvas, adding character became our option of choice.

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KirkMarkarian
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27 Mar 2018

Data_Shrine wrote:
26 Mar 2018
Faastwalker wrote:
22 Mar 2018

That sounds great. A bit BoCish, which I like. Going to be checking this RE after work today & over the weekend. From what I've heard so far & the fact it's only $19 & also that it looks like a perfect RE device that fits the rack like a glove .......... thinking I might be hitting the BUY button quite soon after the TRY button ;)
Cool track.. you should try making it into a full song :)

I'm on the trial of the RX950 and boy, I do love it. It seems to eat up a lot of cpu but that's fine (maybe because I use it rewired and use many instances). I will purchase it soon ! I don't know how I lived without it so far. :P Putting some 12-Bit reduction on it (before or after) also seems to do wonders.
Oh, that is the full song - sometimes I just pop out a lingering memory, and that's enough. Kinda like a blip on the radar. Also, to the poster before you, I get compared to BoC a lot, even though I don't really listen to them. Must be the analog drift and melodies - maybe nobody else uses either of those, must only be BoC :puf_bigsmile:

As far as CPU hunger, I find it to be pretty low on my computer - I'm using a 2012 Mac Mini. I've got it RAM'ed out at 16GB, but RAM doesn't affect the RX950 - it's for sample-loading, etc. If you're re-wiring it, that might be the issue - and/or the multiple instances. I usually just plop mine down at the end of the chain, or mix my drums down with it. One seems to be enough for me, though my ears may be getting old. I didn't think twice about purchasing the RE, I only use Reason. It reminds me of my old Akai S-20 as well, which was one annoying machine to work with - so much effort for so little output!

househoppin09
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28 Mar 2018

mathieudemange wrote: Cheers everyone, and thank you all for your kind words.
selig wrote:
22 Mar 2018
Which reminds me: an “S900 mode” would be pretty sweet - always preferred the sound of the S900 over the ‘cleaner’ S950 and the super-clean S1000 series.
Indeed! Actually, I've got to confess: Mathieu could get a scary amount of my money by turning this into a series. RX900 next, then RX1000? ;)

Seriously though, more REs modeling the signal paths of other Akai units would be a dream come true for me. I don't know what the workload is like and how much of the research can carry over from this to other models, but I really do hope there's some chance of turning this plugin into a series. And don't forget the MPC60, MPC60-II and MPC3000, all of which would probably be huge moneymakers considering the level of nostalgia they seem to evoke in so many people.

Please, please, please... :)

subtractor101
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29 Mar 2018

Why doesn't Reason update the sampler NNXT with this ? It needs an update. Also Redrum or Kong would be great with a Lo Fi - SP1200 /MPC60 mode!

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Loque
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29 Mar 2018

subtractor101 wrote:
29 Mar 2018
Why doesn't Reason update the sampler NNXT with this ? It needs an update. Also Redrum or Kong would be great with a Lo Fi - SP1200 /MPC60 mode!
Scream4? And i think there is also a Scream module in Kong, but i am not sure it has lofi.
Reason12, Win10

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miscend
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30 Mar 2018

subtractor101 wrote:
29 Mar 2018
Why doesn't Reason update the sampler NNXT with this ? It needs an update. Also Redrum or Kong would be great with a Lo Fi - SP1200 /MPC60 mode!
Doesn’t NN19 already emulate the sound of vintage samplers? It definitely has a sound once you engage the filters and pitch shifting.

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Marco Raaphorst
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31 Mar 2018

miscend wrote:
30 Mar 2018
subtractor101 wrote:
29 Mar 2018
Why doesn't Reason update the sampler NNXT with this ? It needs an update. Also Redrum or Kong would be great with a Lo Fi - SP1200 /MPC60 mode!
Doesn’t NN19 already emulate the sound of vintage samplers? It definitely has a sound once you engage the filters and pitch shifting.
No, it doesn’t do aliasing, quantisation noise or odd/even harmonics

tanni
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31 Mar 2018

Doesn’t NN19 already emulate the sound of vintage samplers? It definitely has a sound once you engage the filters and pitch shifting
emulation of vintage sampler has considering some more things. For example the pitching/transpose of the multisamples. My old AKAI sampler (and other hardware samplers too) transpose the multisamples with special algorithms. All my sample programs from the old AKAI CD-ROMS sounded in software sampler not so good, because I hear the steps from one multisample to another. In my AKAI Sampler were this not the case. So, no software sampler (like NNXT, NN19, Kontakt, etc.) transpose it in that way if I know. Thats because RAM is on computers and today not a question any more and you can sample every key today.
I would like to see a software sampler that emulates the old hardware stuff realistic. Its not only about a little distortion, high filtering and bit reducing and so on.
I dont like the handling and using gigabyte-libraries of samples of today. I love the handling with small and efficient libraries. I have a lot of old AKAI programs/samples which are fantastic with no more than 3 or 4 samples per program.
So hardware samplers emulation is not only one effect in the audio chain, like the RX950 I think.

mataya

01 Apr 2018

tanni wrote:
31 Mar 2018
Doesn’t NN19 already emulate the sound of vintage samplers? It definitely has a sound once you engage the filters and pitch shifting
emulation of vintage sampler has considering some more things. For example the pitching/transpose of the multisamples. My old AKAI sampler (and other hardware samplers too) transpose the multisamples with special algorithms. All my sample programs from the old AKAI CD-ROMS sounded in software sampler not so good, because I hear the steps from one multisample to another. In my AKAI Sampler were this not the case. So, no software sampler (like NNXT, NN19, Kontakt, etc.) transpose it in that way if I know. Thats because RAM is on computers and today not a question any more and you can sample every key today.
I would like to see a software sampler that emulates the old hardware stuff realistic. Its not only about a little distortion, high filtering and bit reducing and so on.
I dont like the handling and using gigabyte-libraries of samples of today. I love the handling with small and efficient libraries. I have a lot of old AKAI programs/samples which are fantastic with no more than 3 or 4 samples per program.
So hardware samplers emulation is not only one effect in the audio chain, like the RX950 I think.
Junkie XL explains it quite good in one of his videos, on samplers I guess.

M

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Marco Raaphorst
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02 Apr 2018

I personally don't like samplers to have old simulation build-in. I want samplers to innovate.

The old stuff is good, but was not perfect, that's why they gotten improved over the years. Now we have choise to apply RX950 or anything else to the signal, which is great. As an option.

tanni
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02 Apr 2018

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
02 Apr 2018
I personally don't like samplers to have old simulation build-in. I want samplers to innovate.

The old stuff is good, but was not perfect, that's why they gotten improved over the years. Now we have choise to apply RX950 or anything else to the signal, which is great. As an option.
yes, I also want to have an updated sampler in Reason. Maybe an update of the NN19 which has to be backwards compatible but also allows much more functions including new, better transpose modes for samples in realtime and timestretching, new filters, new Multi stage envelopes which are adapted to synchronization and so on.

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miscend
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02 Apr 2018

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
02 Apr 2018
I personally don't like samplers to have old simulation build-in. I want samplers to innovate.

The old stuff is good, but was not perfect, that's why they gotten improved over the years. Now we have choise to apply RX950 or anything else to the signal, which is great. As an option.
NI Kontakt does that very well. It has every bell and whistle in the world. But most people dont find working in Kontakt to be very inspiring so they just use it as a Rompler for commercial libraries. In fact building sampler patches in Kontakt is a chore. Tal Sampler has built up a following by being the exact opposite of Kontakt.

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clone
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15 Apr 2018

Can the converter be used on all instruments, or only on certain ones like the sampler?

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QVprod
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15 Apr 2018

clone wrote:
15 Apr 2018
Can the converter be used on all instruments, or only on certain ones like the sampler?
It's an fx device. You can use it on whatever you want.

EdGrip
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23 Apr 2018

My trial ran out, so I bought this. Happy to support such a lovely, inexpensive and useful effect.

I'd still love to have the ability to switch the A/D part and the Filter part on and off separately.

...and, the dream would be that the filter can close completely - but, I understand this effect is all about authenticity. :)

jimmyklane
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23 Apr 2018

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
02 Apr 2018
I personally don't like samplers to have old simulation build-in. I want samplers to innovate.

The old stuff is good, but was not perfect, that's why they gotten improved over the years. Now we have choise to apply RX950 or anything else to the signal, which is great. As an option.
I personally really dislike “neutral” samplers...older (late ‘80s/early 90’s) samplers have “a sound”...even my “newest” sampler the EMU e5000 has a mid-forward sound to it....everything I own puts its own sonic signature on whatever I sample into it, which is a sound I’m pretty much unable to get in any DAW...that Reason will let me modulate things at audio rate so easily has given all of them a new lease on life, since freaking out hardware with midi messages often leads to fun accidents.

The NN19 was designed to be as clean as possible, I think, as it was with us all the back at Reason 1.01, and they wouldn’t have gone with a character piece that early I think....so no emulations there, despite it looking a bit like an Akai!
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

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Marco Raaphorst
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23 Apr 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
23 Apr 2018
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
02 Apr 2018
I personally don't like samplers to have old simulation build-in. I want samplers to innovate.

The old stuff is good, but was not perfect, that's why they gotten improved over the years. Now we have choise to apply RX950 or anything else to the signal, which is great. As an option.
I personally really dislike “neutral” samplers...older (late ‘80s/early 90’s) samplers have “a sound”...even my “newest” sampler the EMU e5000 has a mid-forward sound to it....everything I own puts its own sonic signature on whatever I sample into it, which is a sound I’m pretty much unable to get in any DAW...that Reason will let me modulate things at audio rate so easily has given all of them a new lease on life, since freaking out hardware with midi messages often leads to fun accidents.

The NN19 was designed to be as clean as possible, I think, as it was with us all the back at Reason 1.01, and they wouldn’t have gone with a character piece that early I think....so no emulations there, despite it looking a bit like an Akai!
The NN19 has a High Quality Interpolation parameter. Switch it off and the highs are affected in ways like old samplers. Thats is a lo-fi character which the NN19 has to offer.

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Bumbum
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23 Apr 2018

Marco Raaphorst wrote:
23 Apr 2018
jimmyklane wrote:
23 Apr 2018


I personally really dislike “neutral” samplers...older (late ‘80s/early 90’s) samplers have “a sound”...even my “newest” sampler the EMU e5000 has a mid-forward sound to it....everything I own puts its own sonic signature on whatever I sample into it, which is a sound I’m pretty much unable to get in any DAW...that Reason will let me modulate things at audio rate so easily has given all of them a new lease on life, since freaking out hardware with midi messages often leads to fun accidents.

The NN19 was designed to be as clean as possible, I think, as it was with us all the back at Reason 1.01, and they wouldn’t have gone with a character piece that early I think....so no emulations there, despite it looking a bit like an Akai!
The NN19 has a High Quality Interpolation parameter. Switch it off and the highs are affected in ways like old samplers. Thats is a lo-fi character which the NN19 has to offer.
Woah, TIL . Thank you for this!

jimmyklane
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23 Apr 2018

Bumbum wrote:
23 Apr 2018
Marco Raaphorst wrote:
23 Apr 2018


The NN19 has a High Quality Interpolation parameter. Switch it off and the highs are affected in ways like old samplers. Thats is a lo-fi character which the NN19 has to offer.
Woah, TIL . Thank you for this!
Did people not know of this???!!!???

This is from the very eariest days of Reason when computers were slow. Take off high-quality Interpolation and turn ON Low Bandwidth and you’ve got an approximation of what the S3000 does. The S1000 was actually miles and miles ahead of the pack with its 8-windowed sinc interpolation routine. The S900/S950 uses something much more gnarly and distorts sounds played up and down the keyboard
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

jimmyklane
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Joined: 16 Apr 2018

24 Apr 2018

Once the contest has ended, I think I’m going to undertake some tests on the RE/VST vs both the original modeled hardware as well as some of the more common software solutions like Decimort, Morgana, and even a few other pieces of hardware.

I’ve found that in order to get THAT sound, you have to utilize just one sample per NN19 unit which emulates each voice in the S950....otherwise it’s being used like a bit crushing and bandwidth restriction/filtering tool bolted on to the end of a signal chain. By using just one sample per output with a polyphony of one you end up with something very similar to the actual input and output circuitry in the actual hardware.

For example, if you want to record one note into the S950 and play it up and down the keyboard then each individual voice is generated in 12 bits at whichever audio bandwidth you’ve chosen to sample at. BTW: audio bandwidth is the actual term used on the early Akai samplers....not sample rate. In any case, if you load that same sample into, say, 8 different NN19 units and bolt an RX950 on the back of each one....set polyphony to one and then program your chords in separate MIDI lanes (which by the way allows you to simulate poly aftertouch!) then you get much much closer to the behavior of a real Akai S950.

So hopefully this helps somebody get the sound they want!
-Jim
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

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QVprod
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24 Apr 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
24 Apr 2018
Once the contest has ended, I think I’m going to undertake some tests on the RE/VST vs both the original modeled hardware as well as some of the more common software solutions like Decimort, Morgana, and even a few other pieces of hardware.

I’ve found that in order to get THAT sound, you have to utilize just one sample per NN19 unit which emulates each voice in the S950....otherwise it’s being used like a bit crushing and bandwidth restriction/filtering tool bolted on to the end of a signal chain. By using just one sample per output with a polyphony of one you end up with something very similar to the actual input and output circuitry in the actual hardware.

For example, if you want to record one note into the S950 and play it up and down the keyboard then each individual voice is generated in 12 bits at whichever audio bandwidth you’ve chosen to sample at. BTW: audio bandwidth is the actual term used on the early Akai samplers....not sample rate. In any case, if you load that same sample into, say, 8 different NN19 units and bolt an RX950 on the back of each one....set polyphony to one and then program your chords in separate MIDI lanes (which by the way allows you to simulate poly aftertouch!) then you get much much closer to the behavior of a real Akai S950.

So hopefully this helps somebody get the sound they want!
-Jim
That's an interesting thought. Not sure I completely agree in concept, but of course I don't have old samplers to compare with but I do have some experience with sound modules. I'm pretty sure there's only one D/A process which is pretty much what the RX950 emulates. I'm not so sure the polyphony of 1 contributes to that, but rather that every sample (in modules at least) has it's own individual filter, Where I do agree with you is that putting an entire drum loop though the input and A/D will definitely sound different than running each individual drum sound sound though a separate device which would be a lot more similar to sampling directly into one of the hardware units. As far as samples across a keyboard though, like bass, I'm not so sure that the separating the samples would be necessary for the same effect. However, resampling a sample through the RX950 into another NN19 (or XT) would have the benefit of the processed sample being stretched instead of the dry sample, which sounds to me more like how the actual hardware would work. I could be wrong though.

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hurricane
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24 Apr 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
24 Apr 2018

I’ve found that in order to get THAT sound, you have to utilize just one sample per NN19 unit which emulates each voice in the S950....otherwise it’s being used like a bit crushing and bandwidth restriction/filtering tool bolted on to the end of a signal chain. By using just one sample per output with a polyphony of one you end up with something very similar to the actual input and output circuitry in the actual hardware.

For example, if you want to record one note into the S950 and play it up and down the keyboard then each individual voice is generated in 12 bits at whichever audio bandwidth you’ve chosen to sample at.


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Marco Raaphorst
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25 Apr 2018

Comparing is a tricky thing.

I learned one thing over the years: don’t try to be a purist, be creative. Make things works by discovering their unique character.

We think the old days were so perfect, but they were not.

I am mainly a guitar player. Most guitar players are conservative, not liking non tube amps. I don’t agree. Modern stuff can create new sounds, often with all sorts of colored imperfections. Use it, make it work.

Sorry for the rant 😎

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