IRCAMAX 2 anyone tried it? Is there a way to demo?

[ejlif]

I was eyeing the IRCAMAX 2 pack. The IRCAM stuff is very cool, I've used it in UVI Falcon and MOTU Mach 5. The demos aren't exactly selling me on IRCAMAX 2 but I'd like to try it myself. I didn't see a way to demo it. Seems like a leap of faith based on the demos. Just wondering if anyone had used it and had any thoughts on it?

[Rixende]

I totally agree. I like the IRCAM stuff and I am curious about the IRCAMAX 2. But spending 150€ without demoing? Nonono.

[ejlif]

I totally agree. I like the IRCAM stuff and I am curious about the IRCAMAX 2. But spending 150€ without demoing? Nonono.

For the the demos are worthless and more of a turn off than anything, gives you very little info on how this stuff works, just some techno music that doesn't even seem all that interesting to try and sell it.

I recently got UVI Falcon which has the IRCAM granular. It's a great sounding sampler and very very deep, almost to deep for me, I'm really good with Simpler and it's hard to jump over to something like Falcon when all you want to do is create something and instead you are having to learn, but little by little I'm getting better with it. The IRCAM granular stuff if very good sounding and opens a whole new world for manipulating sound. It would be awesome to compare the sound to IRCAMAX 2.

[n9]

I bought the package. I agree that it was a lot to spend, but I needed to (for reasons ethical and practical) to replace the GRM Freeze plugin that I've been using for 13 years and the IRCam Freeze implementation seemed like it might be superior and so I took the plunge. I can't imagine that they are selling very many copies based on their youtube videos and not allowing people to try it out for themselves.

In any case I very much like the Freezer plugin that comes with it. It has more options than I could have asked for and they are generally solid and useful. It uses 10-16% CPU on my 2.5Ghz i7 Macbook 15, which feels like a lot (GRM used <1%) but the sound is very, very smooth and I like it better than GRM, Granite and the Reaktor ensembles that I've been using. Even without any reverb or EQ I am liking what comes out when I feed it acoustic piano and nature recordings.

As for the other stuff I haven't spent that much time with it. The polyphonic audio->midi is interesting, but it isn't really realtime in that the sample and play bit isn't continuous. You can set it to go every 16th or 8th or manually or on a timed interval. Then every sample it produces new notes... it can't really detect note starts and stops, then, only harmony. I worked with it a bit, mapping a momentary foot controller to the manual trigger and wiring the midi out to a pad to play behind me playing piano live and it was interesting... that said, I could have just used the actual MIDI that I was generating with my playing to probably greater effect, so while the implementation is good I haven't found a way to use it yet -- it is a creative plugin, though, and seems like it could have a wide number of uses. One thing that was interesting was running a recording of the Conet Project through it with a 1/2 note trigger frequency into a Pianoteq. It produced a nice balance of regular and wild results, but again I could do the same thing with live's audio->midi with the added benefit of note on/off detection and the timing being preserved.

The grain delay, the harmonizer and the other modules are not really my bag. I don't see myself using the synth or filter although the physical modeling seems to hold promise.

I wish that some of these more "academic" audio software makers would engage more with the realities of their customers like Soundtoyz and the like. Some free bits, demos, and the like (perhaps selling the individual components broken out?) feels like it would make them more money.

[lnikj]

Thanks for the info. I have IRCAMAX 1 and enjoy playing with the SuperVPSynth, now that it has actually been fixed after being broken for most of last year. It would be the freezer that I am most interested in too.

I have been waiting to hear what somebody thinks of IRCAMAX 2, and waiting to see what price it is in the next Ableton sale.

I have always thought that IRCAM have some sort of disconnect with the reality of ordinary users (especially with regard to pricing). (Mind you, so have GRM!) I wonder if they see their primary customers as other institutions.

[shreeswifty]

there is a lot of work that has gone into IRCAM2 the PAck is really nice and like all packs it creates scenarios for creativity.
I own both Ircamax1& 2 and they are wonderful.

Are they ESSENTIAL? No, not at all. are they really nice and give you some incredible textures and opportunities, YES.
honestly, i thought Oscillot was going to be amazing and i got all worked up for it too and when i got it i was not as into it as i thought.
I find myself working with BEAP alot more. My point being is that Everything is marketed as "REVOLUTIONARY, ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES for Design" and that's just ridiculous

The only PACK i find ESSENTIAL these days are K-devices Holder and Modulators

I hope this helps you out.