MOTU Symphonic Instrument Soft Synth User Reviews at zZounds

"My experience? Good potentially, but beware PC bugs." submitted December 31, 2005

Overall

Sound

Features

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Back to Product Information

Sound: For an all in one orchestral unit I find the sounds OK, as you would expect some much more useable than others, though of course taste can come into this. With a toal of about 8 gig devoted to sounds, it is a reasonable job. Feature: Version 1.0 was a severe let down in having only one output pair, and this restricted the usability of it greatly. Version 1.1 free update has cured this silly situation thank goodness, and it now has the features you would expect from a good plugin. Quality: I had big installation problems on my music PC as a VST plugin with it which I had never before experienced with a plugin. The installtion crashed half way through. The problem is still not resolved, and I had to make a workaround by installing on a second computer and copying the VST .dll file, having first installed the DXi version alone on my main computer (which did install). I had to do the same with version 1.1 update, but now the instrument kept crashing inside Cubase on loading samples or trying to save. After much searching, found that reducing the hardware acceleration on my graphics card cured this. Very strange and not good for confidence. My guess is this is PC buggy overall. Possibly fine on a Mac, I wouldnt know. Value: I think it is fair value (when you get the thing working correctly) Manufacturer Support: I contacted Motu with my initial installation problem. They replied some days later but there suggestions did not help. I replied to them but never got another response. The Wow Factor: The graphic interface is OK, but I would prefer a cleaner simpler look. Some of the graphics interface are unnecessary and just confusing to the eye. Overall: I shall use it a lot I expect for miscellaneous orchestral use, it is another good pool of orchestral samples.

5 of 5 people (100%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

close [x]

Thank you. Your vote has been counted. Could you briefly tell us why the review was or was not helpful?

"Caveat Emptor!" submitted August 20, 2005

By a customer from peoplepc.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: composer

Music Style: orchestral - light classical

Back to Product Information

VERIFIED BUYER

zZounds has verified that this customer bought this product from us.

Sound: Sound is about average. Problem is that MOTU spreads their available MB too thin. They provide a dozen mediocre versions of an instrument instead of a few good versions. In my case, with Windows and SONAR 4 Producers Edition, there were stuck notes on some instruments and clicks on all instruments. Some instruments, like the timpani roll, were a joke. It crescendos then decrescendos for the duration of the note, and there's nothing you can do about it. Feature: On paper, the product had EQ and Reverb and other useful features, but at least with Windows and SONAR, any attempt to use these features either crashed SONAR or crashed the whole operating system. Quality: This product has just come out, so one shouldn't be surprised that it has bugs. That it has the bugs it has, however, is another matter. Maybe the product works better on a Mac or with Mac software, but on Windows and with SONAR, it exhibits the behavior of a piece of software that is about midway through the testing/debugging process. Value: If you plan to use it on Windows, be careful. If you plan to use it on Windows with SONAR, forget it. It isn't worth the risk. Manufacturer Support: The tech reps wanted to help, and some seemed more knowledgeable than others. One remarkable plus is that one could actually get them on the phone! But no, they did not solve the problem. I worked with them for over two weeks, trying to tweak SONAR to make their clicks and stuck notes go away. In the end, since the quality of the instruments was no better than what I was already using, I simply uninstalled the program and put it on the shelf. The Wow Factor: The hype surrounding the product certainly sounded good, and the number of GB they were using made it sound as though they had some good instruments here. As I said, the instruments turned out to be mediocre, though they could have been good if more MB had been alloted to each one. The Concert Piano, for instance, is good (and it has over 100 MB devoted to it, whereas the violins have 30 and are mediocre). Overall: I've already uninstalled the product and written it off. I have some especially good soundfonts from Sonic Implants and Soundfonts.de, so it was only selected instruments that I needed. At this point, I'm hoping against hope that Sonic Implants will relent and convert the rest of their Symphonic Orchestra to soundfont format. But I'm not risking buying any more products like this.

6 of 7 people (85.71%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

close [x]

Thank you. Your vote has been counted. Could you briefly tell us why the review was or was not helpful?

"No Joy.. dLL heLL" submitted July 20, 2008

By a customer from cox.net

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Rock, "Alternative", "Country", "Jazz", "Drum and Bass", "Techno", etc

Back to Product Information

Sound: I can't make any sound with it and, the box it came in makes a bad drum. They are so worried about software piracy... what about this ripoff. Feature: Accessories; The dongle device you must connect to the computer before you can use the software is only to protect the MOTU corporation from piracy. But what about the consumer.. is there no recourse? Ease of Use: It crashes the computer every way I try to install it. Quality: etc... Value: Of course it is not worth the 270.00 Manufacturer Support: They are impossible to reach. , their phone is always busy. And I am on my third day without response from thier website. They return e-mails unread.

2 of 4 people (50%) found this review helpful. Did you?

Thanks for your opinion!

close [x]

Thank you. Your vote has been counted. Could you briefly tell us why the review was or was not helpful?

"Moto Symphonic Instrument is a big bugger" submitted October 2, 2007

By a customer from hotmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: Hiphop

Back to Product Information

Sound: If your lucky Ease of Use: Great sounds from this product ? i forgot how it sounds Quality: No way, i had installation problems on my dualcore pc. I just gave up and trow it in a box Value: No, all pc users save your money for other symphonic instruments Manufacturer Support: They did solve your problem They were difficult to reach And all the upgrades was useless I loss over 200 euro's The Wow Factor: Nice colors but, if you can't make music with it. It's useless Overall: If the product were lost or stolen. I would be happy about, and then buy a proper symphonic instrument.

Did you find this review helpful?

Thanks for your opinion!

close [x]

Thank you. Your vote has been counted. Could you briefly tell us why the review was or was not helpful?

MOTU Symphonic Instrument Software Synthesizer (Mac and Windows)

User Ratings

"My experience? Good potentially, but beware PC bugs." submitted December 31, 2005

"Caveat Emptor!" submitted August 20, 2005

"No Joy.. dLL heLL" submitted July 20, 2008

"Moto Symphonic Instrument is a big bugger" submitted October 2, 2007