ReSpire down to £64 reduced from £189

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Billy+
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19 Feb 2021

Well there you go readers , go grab your self ReSpire for cheap if you were unsure it's all sorted.

Any sound packs can be converted using a demo license and they should all work
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image.png (92.01 KiB) Viewed 1202 times
Except for modwheel position

EdGrip
Posts: 2343
Joined: 03 Jun 2016

20 Feb 2021

My view is that ReSpire is a bit of a disaster and is best avoided. You can view it as a Spire preset machine, but I think for most users it's best to either save up and buy Spire, OR spend the money on a different synth.

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miscend
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20 Feb 2021

Yeah you could use ReSpire as a preset player and a cheaper alternative to the $189 VST. Then use the Spire VST demo as an editor librarian now we know it converts patches to the RE format.

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buddard
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20 Feb 2021

As far as I understand it, the CPU performance and the GUI are both much better in the VST version?
And the RE version doesn't even seem to have any CV inputs (unless it's an old screenshot in the shop?).

In that case I don't see any good reason to buy the RE version.

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Billy+
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20 Feb 2021

I own and use both.

CPU and GUI are an issue with the RE and was the main reason I brought the VST version as it is more difficult to program the RE and I have a few patches that suck DSP totally when in the RE version that I can happily use in the VST version.

Having said that I and others look through the changes and it looks like the features that matter are on par.

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buddard
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20 Feb 2021

Billy+ wrote:
20 Feb 2021
I own and use both.

CPU and GUI are an issue with the RE and was the main reason I brought the VST version as it is more difficult to program the RE and I have a few patches that suck DSP totally when in the RE version that I can happily use in the VST version.
So if the RE is worse than the VST in every way, why do you use it? Genuinely curious. :-)

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Billy+
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20 Feb 2021

Quickness pure and simple.

It was a pain sometimes to surf through different patches from different banks in the VST version until they changed it, as I would normally convert the banks to repatch files it meant that I could just drop them into reason and have a play and because I'm lazy I would probably just use the patch inside ReSpire but if it started playing up or the project started to get bigger/more complex only then would I drop spire in.

Since the browser updates I just load up spire

I also use mixed in keys Captian and they added a vst hosting option which means I can load spire and use the patches I want, which isn't possible with respire due to the lack of midi routing in reason.

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Billy+
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20 Feb 2021

Oh and I wouldn't say ReSpire is worse in every way but it can be a pain by comparison to the VST version, quite a lot of the patches I have are more than acceptable in ReSpire and if you're not programming patches but just tweaking presets then it's mostly ok.

The rack extension is definitely not worth full price and would need a lot of work, but for 65 bucks I think it's reasonable especially if you're aware of the down side.

2 stars out of 5 would be a reasonable rating for ReSpire.

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joeyluck
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20 Feb 2021

I don't own the VST and the RE has served me well enough. For me personally I prefer when possible to have the interface accessible in the rack and the patches available in the browser.

RE counterparts have always seemed a touch more heavy on CPU, which might be in part because of the sandboxing?

I don't use that many instances of ReSpire in any project, so I haven't run into any huge issues even on my MacBook Air.

I think if it didn't have the VST counterpart, it wouldn't receive as much criticism in the RE format. People accept the heavy CPU usage of some other RE synths like Expanse. And people compare the GUIs...where the VST might be nicer (not being constrained to RE dimensions), but the RE on its own is not a bad interface.

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Billy+
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20 Feb 2021

Yeah and to be fair I've had way more expanse patches suck the life out of my machine, the difference is that I can use Spire and it does perform and look better than ReSpire but it's definitely not the only synth that can grind my system to a halt.

And given that the main questions being asked included a prerequisite that vst's wasn't an option I say try it, for 65 bucks it's ok and the two are on par as far as features are concerned "apart from modwheel position".

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joeyluck
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20 Feb 2021

The saving of the mod wheel position inside a patch is interesting. We have been having a discussion here about whether mod wheel position should be saved inside a Reason project (without automation) viewtopic.php?f=61&t=7521821

Some REs do and some don't. But no Reason device saves the mod wheel inside a patch. To me saving the position in a project is one thing, but inside a patch I think is odd.

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Billy+
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20 Feb 2021

well I say you're not doing it right if you don't wiggle it just a little bit :lol:

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integerpoet
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20 Feb 2021

MrFigg wrote:
16 Feb 2021
EnochLight wrote:
16 Feb 2021
abandonware
“Abandonware. Dead products. “
Lost souls and corpses.
You’ve been listening to Coil again haven’t you? :)
"Abandonware" is a bit of online computer geek jargon. It's commonly used in discussions of what developers "should" do when they cancel software products. Especially what developers of closed-source products "should" do with regard to their source code because often there's an imaginary community which would perform maintenance. But sometimes it's used as a complaint that a developer continues to sell a product without showing any interest in performing maintenance on it (much less adding new features).

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MrFigg
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20 Feb 2021

integerpoet wrote:
20 Feb 2021
MrFigg wrote:
16 Feb 2021


“Abandonware. Dead products. “
Lost souls and corpses.
You’ve been listening to Coil again haven’t you? :)
"Abandonware" is a bit of online computer geek jargon. It's commonly used in discussions of what developers "should" do when they cancel software products. Especially what developers of closed-source products "should" do with regard to their source code because often there's an imaginary community which would perform maintenance. But sometimes it's used as a complaint that a developer continues to sell a product without showing any interest in performing maintenance on it (much less adding new features).
I know :). It was a private joke :).
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

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Gothi
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27 Feb 2021

Lot of bad energy in this thread. For me to take such a negative attitude to this kind of synth, it should be malfunctional, not working all, aka no sound and flickering gui :shock: Well, the one I just bought on sale instead of heading for the new Algorithm. works for all practical purposes I can think off. Sound is extra thick compared to other softies in my ears, and the shaping options overwhelming to my ends already. I could find examples to be picky about too, but I usually just ignore them and move on instead of writing internet novels about them. Fortunately, net forums have taught me to try out products myself, if anything. Would have been completely misleading for my taste, standards and needs if I just had followed the dominating advice given here. Don’t know about you, but to me the sayings below nail the truth about gear preferences:

To each, his own
Different strokes for different folks
Horses for courses
Whatever floats your boat
One man’s sushi is another man’s sht
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder
There are no such things as ugly women, only too few bottles of vodka (no, wait....)

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SynthRatings
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04 Mar 2021

The shop now shows €109 as the new, non-discounted price for ReSpire, I don't think this has been mentioned here.

I've just finished a video review of Spire VST, see below (TLDW - it's a pretty great synth).
Keep in mind the sound of the RE is indentical to the VST. There are some GUI issues, but those won't bother you too much if you're not designing your own sounds.
The reported CPU differences are of course a bigger issue potentially, I haven't tested that myself.

It is my opinion that there aren't a lot of other RE synths that can give you this sound quality, certainly none that will give you as much EDM ammunition out of the box, so if you want to work completely VST-free then you might want to consider ReSpire.

I publish ratings of VST and RE instruments on a dedicated YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SynthRatings

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Billy+
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04 Mar 2021

Looks like it had its price reduced its £99 and now not listed under the deals section but is available for the lower price within the rewards page!

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SynthRatings
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Joined: 06 Sep 2018

04 Mar 2021

That's a great spot with the Rewards Billy, should help solve a few people's Rewards problems :puf_smile:
I publish ratings of VST and RE instruments on a dedicated YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/SynthRatings

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

04 Mar 2021

SynthRatings wrote:
04 Mar 2021
That's a great spot Billy, should help solve a few people's Rewards problems.
To be fair you spotted the lower price first, but it's definitely an option for using up reward points.

sdst
Competition Winner
Posts: 896
Joined: 14 Jun 2015

04 Mar 2021

this is good to decorate the browser, there are some REs that are decorations

especially when cpu usage is insane

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