Cthulhu VST

[8O]

Looks great:

http://www.xferrecords.com/products/Cthulhu

http://youtu.be/3t2yD1kX2_w

Bach & arps, what's not to like...? Anyone tried it already?

[The Northern Contingent]

Yes - bought it immediately and love it. Think of it like the Schwartenator on steroids. Xfer Records plugs are outstanding and the support is second to none. Like all of Steve Duda's products, its got amazing depth and quality - the more you use it the more you realise how much there is to it.

At this price its a steal.

[8O]

Thanks! The video mentioned a demo version being available, but couldn't see a link anywhere... may just buy it anyway

[8O]

Ah, demo version now available http://www.xferrecords.com/products/Cthulhu

[ikeaboy]

I got it last week and I really like it so far. I'm trying to figure out if I can alter individual note lengths in the arpegiator so it will send ties to my xoxbox and phosycon. Who knows I may even read the manual.

[The Northern Contingent]

Yes you can - alt/option click at the top of the step on the sequencer window to tie notes.

[ikeaboy]

Yes you can - alt/option click at the top of the step on the sequencer window to tie notes.

I couldn't find that in the Manual, brilliant! Thanks TNC

[The Northern Contingent]

No problem! I only found out from a post on the Xfer forums. I think Steve forgot to put it in the manual!

[dazzer]

Cthulhu is a total blast, excellent fun.

[SpeedKing]

Ohh, that looks awesome. I am definitely getting this one. Cthulhu + Catanya (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09ixxQO5kVk) = ridiculous possibilities.

As a formal musician for 10 years of my life until I discovered DAWs, I do feel it's a bit like 'cheating' sometimes, but as someone who just *loves* music, I also can't help but need to reel myself in and realize that MUSIC will always be about how GOOD something sounds to the ears. How it gets created is only about 2% of the importance of the piece. How it SOUNDS is the rest. Who cares of a flamenco pattern made on a DAW is impossible for someone to play on a real guitar? Who cares if Cthulhu makes my knowledge of proper 4-part harmony writing useless in some contexts? If it sounds beautiful, then the goal of the song is realized. I'll just have to get my ego boost some other way.

Anyway, yeah, this looks quite cool.

And I also like how the tutorial videos are already made in Ableton. That definitely helps minimize frustration in terms of routing and whatnot.

[ikeaboy]

I may be wrong but I think the pattern sequencing capabilities of Cthulhu are on par with Catanya so you wouldn't really need both. I agree with your other point, give somebody with poor musical ideas all the songwriting tools in the world and, nine times out of ten, they'll just develop more complex bad music. It's about vision and taste IMO.

[ze2be]

So many plugs, so little time!

[SpeedKing]

I may be wrong but I think the pattern sequencing capabilities of Cthulhu are on par with Catanya so you wouldn't really need both. I agree with your other point, give somebody with poor musical ideas all the songwriting tools in the world and, nine times out of ten, they'll just develop more complex bad music. It's about vision and taste IMO.

Yeah, definitely a lot of overlap with both plugs. The one thing I like about Cthulhu is that the arpeggiator is a 4 voice arpeggiator while Catanya's is 3, if you look at their sequencer.

Just judging from the videos though, it looks like Catanya's sequencer patterns are still far and away what exists in another VST (ie: Cthulhu). Well, programming the arpeggios from scratch is pretty much the same, but Catanya has 700+ pre-programmed choices you can click on to hear and tweak or use as a template. Cthulhu might have a cool database of pre-programmed sequences too, but it just didn't appear that it was as robust at all as Catanya's. At least not yet, who knows what updates could be in the future. But, also, when I get Cthulhu I might be shocked at the number of patterns that are built into their programs (I hope I am).

[ikeaboy]

I didn't know catanya had that sort of depth although I always liked the look of the pattern sequencer.
It reminds me of midi clip view more than Cthulhu's. still no mac version though and I think the company sank.

[ze2be]

One thing I dont like about step sequencers is that they play too precise cords. Does any of these two offer the ability to play looser cords? Rob Papen has a guitar type arp that does this.

Abletons Grooves can randomize velocity and timing on midi clips, but I dont think it will loosen up a static clean cord. It will moove the whole cord instead of spreading out the individual notes. I sometimes assign midi clips to controllers and use session view tracks as step sequencers. You can do a lot with that, by using all the midi plugs in clever ways.