V-Machine has landed.

[Sharp]

Hi all.
My -V-Machine arrived today as I expected and while I'll post a mode detailed review later, maybe even a video, I've got a few comments so far.

It's tiny, a lot smaller than I expected even though I knew the dimensions. It just looks smaller in real life, sort of like one of those Yamaha QY pocket sequencer. It's build quality is really top notch too. It's looks very much at home sitting on the OASYS and just to do some initial tests the learn function does indeed allow me to tie the V-Machine into the OASYS controllers in great depth. In a matter of seconds I had the OASYS controlling the V-Machine and the VSTi plugins that came pre installed on it.

It comes free with a few items, and one of which was Sample Tank SE. Loading the patches is extremely quick and from what I can see anything I selected regardless of how big the samples where loaded in under a second. So first impressions here are wow and I look forward testing some very large Giga files I have on the unit later to see how it holds up to those when streaming.

The audio response from the unit leaves me feeling it's a dedicated hardware device because I can't feel any latency at all.

Just did some initial tests with the OASYS running in Sequencer mode and everything seems to function as expected. No cutting off notes when the sequencer resets or anything like that. Laying down tracks on the OASYS with the controllers setup gives you the feeling of some great integration between the two so again, I look forward to trying my main sample libraries on it later and controlling filter in real-time.

For the most part I'm holding off doing any work on the unit until I upgrade the OS. There's a newer version out that's supposed to be a lot better and fixes some bugs, so I want to experience the V-Machine with the latest OS before I make any negative comments about it.

So my initial feeling right now are very good. From what I can see I believe the OASYS and the V-Machine will work very well together and with the V-Machine being able to run VSTi's and stream samples in any format you can think of, well.... it has it's place in my setup then and it will get lots of use.

Regards.
Sharp.

[Charlie]

Looking forward to your review - and I would be interested, how you did that "controller learning". I know several devices provide that - but I have to admit I didn't use it so far. Would be fun controlling RMX Stylus with my Oasys or a Logic sequencer.

[Grapite]

Sharp,
How long before you up the ram and drive? mine is also soon to come, with the rack for the studio as soon as available. I'm glad you have this, now I will have someone to irritate for help with the Wizard files when I get stuck! Good luck, not that you'll need it, maybe by the time mine gets here they will have complete auto script for the difficult plugs so we wont have to do anything.
Regards

[Sharp]

Looking forward to your review - and I would be interested, how you did that "controller learning". I know several devices provide that - but I have to admit I didn't use it so far. Would be fun controlling RMX Stylus with my Oasys or a Logic sequencer.

There's two buttons on the V-Machine with certain functions, but if you press the two of them down together the V-Machine goes into Lean mode. All you do then is move whatever controller on the OASYS you want mapped and the V-Machine picks it up and away you go. It's really simple, but I'm about to get my teeth into all the heavy stuff now. Had to go out for the day but I've cleared my entire night now to update the OS on the V-Machine and register the software that came with it.

So lots of heavy testing of this little unit ahead. They are also working on Syncrosoft protection so I'll be able to run my KORG Legacy collection on this too very soon

Regards.
Sharp.

[Sharp]

Hi Grapite.

How long before you up the ram and drive?

I don't think I will to be honest. I plan on using this for streaming samples, so I don't really need much ram anyway. As for the drive, I'd rather use a memory stick anyway to be honest as it's easy to clone for backup purposes.

They will be releasing a CPU upgrade kit soon, so maybe I will look at this again then. I would be interested in the CPU upgrade to get the extra poly count from the V-Machine. Maybe even run something very heavy on it like PianoTeq.

mine is also soon to come, with the rack for the studio as soon as available

Excellent Good for you.
I suspect that I will likely do the same as I'm downsizing here and the V-Machine and V-Rack with the OASYS are a long term solution for my needs.

I'm glad you have this, now I will have someone to irritate for help with the Wizard files when I get stuck!

I'm actually looking forward to seeing how these wizard files work because from what I understand so far, this is right up my alley.

When do you expect to get your V-Machine ?

Regards.
Sharp.

[iksrazal]

Hi all.
My -V-Machine arrived today as I expected and while I'll post a mode detailed review later, maybe even a video, I've got a few comments so far.

Looking forward to your review. I wasn't aware of this product, and by googling I found the v-rack with betters specs and about double the price:

http://www.smproaudio.com/no_cache/prod ... t[]=v-rack

Best I can tell, it'll have a street price of USD $1299 when it ships in the summer. Something to watch as it matures .

Cheers,
Robert

[Grapite]

Sharp,
I should get it Monday, hopefully these will take the place of my Neko, I would much rather Use the O as a master, and leave the plugs to the V's. If they can get the soft right, they should be able to give Muse Research and Openlabs a run for their money! probably not good news for them, considering the cost of those items, but good for us. I in no way mean to compare these products, but for me, close enough. With all of the excellent plugs available now, I can't see having more than one board any longer, truth be told, I use plugs more than anything else now. Looking forward to your eval, don' hold back....I know you won't.
Regards

[Sharp]

Tonight was about getting the V-Machine upgraded to the latest OS, understanding what some of it's limitations are and exploring the unit in general. So with that said I'll start with the CPU.

Ok, it's a 1GHz, and that's pretty slow by PC standards, but the performance of the V-M for it's size is amazing (no heavy OS). A 14MB Piano takes about 1 second to load into Sample Tank, where VSTi's which are virtual synths have instant switching between sounds.

To the right of the display there's 3 lines that move from the bottom of the screen to the top. The far right is your CPU usage, the left and middle ones are your audio out peak meters. This is very handy because you can watch for Audio Clipping, and you can get an idea of how much of that 1GHz the plugin(s) your running are using.

Sample Tank will give you around 60+ notes of poly which means you can easily use this for multitracking, other other factory loaded plugin's on the unit (virtual synths) all vary in CPU usage. Some use very little and I would imagine the poly count is very high, where others with a few chords will push the CPU usage right up. Which is fair enough, it's a 1Ghz CPU and there are many plugins out there that are by no means “optimised”.

SM Pro Audio (the guys who made the V-M) are looking at releasing an upgrade kit which basically doubles the CPU for in around 100 UDS, so depending on your needs, that might be worth going for in the end if you find you need more “kick” or you want to run some CPU hogs like PianoTeq on this device.

Navigation is straight forward, you have up and down buttons that go between the different VSTi's you have loaded on to the device, and under those buttons you have your banks (category of sounds) and then finally the actual patches themselves. You can navigate them freely and when you do a two new options come up on the screen “Confirm” and “Return”. This allows you to navigate to any sound or to other plugin's and load it only when you pressing confirm or exiting back to the plugin your using by pressing return.

The V-M supports midi over USB, so that's very cool and a great way interfacing with your PC or other devices even like the AKAI Wind Controllers. A normal midi socket is provided, 3 USB ports, L&R out, Headphones and even an audio in for using the V-M as a effects module.

The V-M comes with a program called VFX which you can run on you PC or Mac. This program interfaces with the V-M and it's what allows you to setup your custom patches, load new VSTi's onto the V-M, backup, upgrade the OS and so on..... It does everything you will need and it even allows you to see the Plugin's your running on the V-M with their full graphical display. This is very handy for making edits and matching the controllers (the lean function) on your OASYS with the V-Machine.

The Learn Function is also on the V-M itself so you can setup controllers on the fly without access to your PC, and it will also allow you to save edits directly into the sounds you have loaded. Pan, volume anything that the V-M will display can be adjusted and saved without the PC.


Ok... more to come later. There's quite a lot to this little device and I've yet to do any real work on integrating it with the OASYS. If you have any questions just let me know.

Regards.
Sharp.

[Sharp]

Hi Guys.

Sorry for the delay in getting the rest of the review posted. I've started installing my own VSTi's now and I'm experiencing the full brunt of the VFX software and it's bugs. It's a steep learning curve for what is supposed to be a plug and play device.

The V-Machine itself is the business, it's just that the PC software that goes with it is as pure hell.

I have Superwave P8 and Samplelord running on the unit now, and I've started to load my Symphony of Voices Choir library in. So far the streaming is very impressive. A 64MB Choir sound is taking around 1 second to load and the the CPU usage is very low.

As a streaming sample playback device this thing rocks.

Regards.
Sharp.

[BillW]

Great information, Sharp. Thanks for taking the time to post. I've been interested in the v-machine for a while but, of course, nobody around here carries them.

[Sharp]

Here's my first video on the V-Machine.

Http://www.irishacts.com/misc/v-machine.mpg

I'll upload another later when I have it working with the OASYS, but at least you can see from this video how fast it is and loading and in general use.

Regards.
Sharp

[medusaland]

Here's my first video on the V-Machine.

Http://www.irishacts.com/misc/v-machine.mpg

I'll upload another later when I have it working with the OASYS, but at least you can see from this video how fast it is and loading and in general use.

Regards.
Sharp

Hi Sharp,

nice Video

Take care,

medusaland

[BillW]

Here's my first video on the V-Machine.

Http://www.irishacts.com/misc/v-machine.mpg

I'll upload another later when I have it working with the OASYS, but at least you can see from this video how fast it is and loading and in general use.

Regards.
Sharp

Damn it! Now you've done it...I've gone and bought one.

[Sharp]

Good for you
It's a great little machine.

Regards.
Sharp.

[RC-IA]

nice video! thanx!