Prosoniq

The Prosoniq Orange Vocoder was an easy piece of software to install as it was just as easy to install as any other piece of software out there. It only took a few minutes and I didn't have any compatibility problems or other issues whatsoever. The interface of the software has a lot going on but is definitely easily manageable to figure out as long as you play around with it for a little while as all of the basic functions are easy to find and manipulate. The software contains an 8 voice synthesizer that has sections for two oscillators, a filter, and a small virtual keyboard. The software then has sections for a mixer, reverb, a graphic EQ, and an overall control section, so as you can see this software goes beyond the basic functions and features that you would expect with a vocoder. The manual for the software is easy to follow and could be helpful for beginners. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I am currently running the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I run the plug-in in Pro Tools LE 7.4 that runs with either a Digi 002R or a Digidesign Micro Box, depending on where I am. I've never had a problem running the plug-in on either of the systems, although it would probably be a problem to run a lot of them at a time as this will take up a decent amount of processing power. However, as long as you have a pretty good system that you've been running Pro Tools or another similar sequencer on, you should have no problems with the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder. OVERALL OPINION I've only been using the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder for a few months, but I've definitely become a big fan of the plug-in in this time. It not only sounds great, but it is also an easy plug-in to use and is quite versatile. The price is reasonable considering all of the things that this plug-in has to offer. If you are looking for a great vocoder that also has other features at a reasonable price, the Prosoniq Orange Vocoder is absolutely worth looking into.

Prosoniq's NorthPole is a filtering and delay plug-in that is available free in a number of different plug-in formats. I no longer run this plug-in, but when I did it was in Cubase SX. I now run Pro Tools instead of Cubase and never felt I needed to add this to my Pro Tools suite. I don't remember installing this plug-in, but I would probably remember it if I had a problem with it. The configuration of the interface is very easy to follow - it's broken into sections of sliders for delay and filters. The filter section contains sliders for cutoff, resonance, envelope follower, and distortion, while the delay has those for amount, time, and feedback. Those are all the parameters that one would need to know about when using the NorthPole plug-in. I don't believe that a manual is necessary - if these parameters are unfamiliar I'd recommend doing some research on what they do as I don't even know if they make a manual for this. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE When I was running the Prosoniq NorthPole plug-in, it was in Cubase SX 2.0 on Hewlett Packard Pavilion dv8000 notebook. I was running the VST version of this plug-in, but I believe that it is also available in AU and RTAS as well, so I guess I could be running this in Pro Tools, but I don't really see a need for me to have it as I don't think that I would use it too often. It isn't going to take up too much of your processing power, but since all systems are different I'd recommend just downloading and seeing for yourself. I first used the plug-in about five or six years ago. OVERALL OPINION In my time having the Prosoniq NorthPole plug-in in my Cubase plug-in suite, it wasn't a plug-in that I used too much. I tried it a bunch of times and it really didn't do anything for me. Perhaps I could mess around with it today and it would be different, but I haven't been motivated to try because I really just remember this being pretty lackluster. It will do as advertised I guess in terms of filtering your sound, but it just doesn't sound all that good to my ear. Again, if you're at all interested, the plug-in is free and comes in a variety of formats so you might as well try it!