FX Expansion Geist

Just came across this bit of software and have to say it looks pretty dope. Seems to do a lot of what Ableton should do but doesn't. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Ableton 'cause I've switched to 8 recently and haven't really explored it significantly yet. Anyways check it out guys and lets us know you think. Costs about £150 so I'm guessing this is aimed at people with cash to splash.

looks pretty rad!

looks like maschine (without the hardware)

Yeah I'm gonna try and get it. I really want a decent step sequencer / mpc / machine style vsti and I think this pretty much does the job.

Seems kind of redundant if you're running live 8, but I reckon I'd have to try it 1st.

  On 10/21/2011 at 5:59 PM, sneaksta303 said:

Seems kind of redundant if you're running live 8, but I reckon I'd have to try it 1st.

Yeah you maybe right its just I'm new to Live 8.

this is rad. Finally I will never need to touch kontakt ever again.

  On 10/21/2011 at 5:59 PM, sneaksta303 said:

Seems kind of redundant if you're running live 8, but I reckon I'd have to try it 1st.

That was my initial thought, but it probably does a few things Live doesn't do natively.

edit: yikes! it's expensive :(

oh boy. I downloaded the demo and there are already some annoying things about the interface. For instance in the sequencer you have "tools" which seems like total overkill to me. You make notes by clicking, but then to delete notes you have to actually change the tool first. LAME. Maybe there is some more intuitive way of working with it, but if that's it I can see it being really irritating to work with.

However this all is after spending about 5 mins with it.

looks fantastic. i love that kind of sequencer on my drums

like, I think ultrabeat is amazing. but the presets are shit, and it's kind of tedious to load samples in.

there should be a way to load folders in quickly.

anyway, i wonder in what way this is superior to ultrabeat.

  On 11/1/2011 at 10:46 PM, slightlydrybeans said:

oh boy. I downloaded the demo and there are already some annoying things about the interface. For instance in the sequencer you have "tools" which seems like total overkill to me. You make notes by clicking, but then to delete notes you have to actually change the tool first.

Yeah that was how it use to be in the old versions of Cubase which I loved. I might download the demo but at £150 its just too expensive imo.

ya it's expensive, and there are no torrents of it out yet. It costs as much as logic does!

BUT I must say it's pretty rad for a sequencing sampler. I found out there is a tool that does adding notes, one for removing them, and another that does both with R and L click... dumb, but once you figure it out you just ignore the other 2.

I just hate kontakt so much I'm dieing to get a better sampler. GURU is also pretty good, but apparently now discontinued due to Geist. Also stupid. They should just sell it for $50 or something. I'd totally buy it for that.

  On 11/1/2011 at 10:49 PM, vamos scorcho said:

looks fantastic. i love that kind of sequencer on my drums

 

like, I think ultrabeat is amazing. but the presets are shit, and it's kind of tedious to load samples in.

 

there should be a way to load folders in quickly.

 

anyway, i wonder in what way this is superior to ultrabeat.

a bit apples and oranged IMO as this is mainly a sampler. No synth capabilities to my knowledge. Ultrabeat is only kinda a sampler, but mostly a drum synth.

I read an article about this in CMM, watched a tutorial video, and downloaded the demo.

I think it has a lot of potential, especially in that it makes it easy to very quickly create new patterns by locking elements in place and randomizing others. The effects and control you have over each hit seems exhaustive, allowing you to draw hundreds of envelope curves for each pad instance. I also like how it gives you the ability to play out the patterns live on the fly and switch between them mid pattern via MIDI.

The workflow is the only part that scares me. Setting up a drum loop then using a DAW would require you to trigger a pattern via MIDI each time, which means to have Geist play, I would have to playback audio in my DAW at the beginning of loops each time (as far as I can tell). I'd much rather make drums in a daw, and then drag them into Geist to further smear.

I don't think so really. I think inside the DAW it picks up the absolute position of the pattern. There is a song mode which allows you to layout patterns inside it. That might be goofy though. BUT I normally trigger patterns from the daw, starting a new one every 1 or 2 bars though so that's not an issue to start someplace in the middle.

Is that what you mean?

Yes I'll have to try out this song mode.

Should be noted that it is on sale until Dec 31st for $150

Mm so that's like £80 .. guess that ain't so bad. Still I think £50 is what I'd pay. Bottomline they need to sell product and £150 is just silly money for software. I know you can do a lot with it but come on there's no overhead at all. The reason software gets pirated is 'cause people don't have that kinda money to burn.

exactly. The stuff I do end up buying is always under $100.