PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Hi there,

After many years of not using my Creamware cards my interest has being rekindled...haven't been here in a long time and noticed from my CP that I joined PlanetZ 10 years ago!

In an old PC I still have my PowerSampler & Pulsar II and was wondering if it was worth resurrecting them again after all that time?

I used Scope 3.01 and all was working well until I tried to upgrade to Scope 4.0 and nothing really worked after that and so I lost interest.

I see the current version of Scope is 5.1 and I was wondering how it all hangs together 10 years down the line?

I realise I will have to shell out €239 to update Scope but remember my last paid update caused me nothing but pain and eventually forced me to ditch Creamware altogether!

Are there any recommendations for PC spec ie. CPU/RAM/OS/MB etc if I do decide to bring my cards out of retirement?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

I was happily using my Pulsar2 and PowerSampler cards up until last year with Scope 5.1. The only reason I'm not using them now is that I got an XITE-1. So yes, very much still a viable option. I am still using an XP machine but a 64-bit version of Scope 5.1 is available which happily runs on Windows 7 64-bit (I think someone on here even has it running on Windows 8 ).

I'm not sure why you had problems with Scope 4.0. I have gone from 2.04 (I think it was) to 3.01 to 3.1c to 4.5 to 5.1 with no issues. In fact I think from 3.1c onwards I have found it is far more stable than the early versions. As you're starting from fresh I would only install 5.1 to keep your system clean (installing 4.0 first and then installing 5.1 can be a bit confusing as the drivers are different and you have to manually select the 5.1 drivers if you have already installed 4.0).

As an example set-up I was using an ASUS P5N-D which has two PCI slots (so no expansion to third card possible), 3.0GHz Pentium dual processors, 4GB RAM (only 3 useable by XP though I believe).

Thanks for the quick reply Mr A!

Good to know that the cards will still work in this day & age...I was always worried about the allkeys registration procedure and how I might fare if the product were no longer supported.

Would like an Xite-1 myself but the price...

As I am on the lookout for a 1U audio interface myself I was wondering whether CW ever got round to releasing the promised USB expansion card for the A16 Ultra that would enable it to be used without the Z-Link direct to the Pulsar II?

Not even sure if my Pulsar II has the Z-Link interface...I am guessing not but I'll take a look anyway.

I wonder if these ever come up used once in a while...hmmm. Got me thinking now.

I knew it would be fatal to come back to Planet Z after all this time!

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

Well lots is still happening.

Not sure I ever heard of a rumoured USB interface for A16 Ultra - but anyway Creamware are long gone and USB would probably have been crap for handling that many audio channels.

The A16 Ultra is now made by ferrofish:

http://www.ferrofish.de/index.php/en/pr ... a16mkii-en

Plenty of stuff comes up second-hand here and of course eBay, but not so often the A16 Ultras.

I can't recall the interface options on the cards (they're in storage at the moment). The PowerSampler card may well have a Z-Link option.

You can get new keys just by emailing Sonic Core with you card's serial - they will send you the latest key with all you're entitled to. I think you'll find lots of extra goodies if you plump for 5.1.

First of all, welcome back to the Scope world Glyn, and just as an addendum to Mr Arkadin's reply, its worth mentioning the many tremendous free devices that have been built by third party developers over the years and nearly all still work brilliantly with Scope 5.1. (some still need a little optimizing to get the most out of them when running on XITE-1 platform, I believe due to the newer SHARC DSP's used on that board.) Finally, if you are a Scope Modular fan, it would be rude not to mention the most recent update, Modular 4. And definitely worth looking at the various other updates and enhancements since you last used Scope.

Cheers

Also, to avoid most oddities and strange behavior, sticking with 32-bit over x64 seems to be the best choice for v5.1.

A few devices have issues or limitations when run on a machine with x64 (XTC mode, or a built-in sequencer not working, sample loading issue, etc).

Other than that, x64 performance is also solid.

Also, to avoid most oddities and strange behavior, sticking with 32-bit over x64 seems to be the best choice for v5.1.

A few devices have issues or limitations when run on a machine with x64 (XTC mode, or a built-in sequencer not working, sample loading issue, etc).

Other than that, x64 performance is also solid.

jksuperstar wrote:Also, to avoid most oddities and strange behavior, sticking with 32-bit over x64 seems to be the best choice for v5.1.

A few devices have issues or limitations when run on a machine with x64 (XTC mode, or a built-in sequencer not working, sample loading issue, etc).

Other than that, x64 performance is also solid.

Just to add to this.If you keep a 32 bit system you do not need 5.1! SC may even give you 5.0 keys for free which run fine on 32 bit.

Ask them and be nice.

Fluxpod wrote:Just to add to this.If you keep a 32 bit system you do not need 5.1! SC may even give you 5.0 keys for free which run fine on 32 bit.

Seriously, so if I purchase some plugins instead I can have 5.0?

no new v5 keys are being generated. only v5.1 is available.

garyb wrote:no new v5 keys are being generated. only v5.1 is available.

Right, but if I was desperate I could get a 4.0 key or do you get 4.5 regardless?

they are basically the same.

v4 keyfiles are made as there is time. if you decide to get a v4 keyfile, do it soon. S|C may cease to archive the Creamware keyfiles.

Hi garyb,

just to be certain, I can always purchase a 5.1 keyfile, yes?

I'd not want to start collecting cards I can never use since Xite is mildly expensive and I wish to learn how it all works before I even consider a system like that.

I have a 6DSP with classic I/O, which I believe is recommended by this community as a bare minimum in terms of the joy I might derive.

I will write to S|C anyway, since surely it can't hurt to know what I am *entitled* to and what I'm not.

As I understand 5.1 contains many of the plugins that have been separate products over the years so it's rather exciting to be entering the situation at this time.

I am on Windows 7 and am pretty happy with it. I went through all the Vista troubles so I can't see myself wanting to go back to XP, but saying that it seems some people have managed to get XTC running with older software.

I will look for the email address to sonic core and send them my serial number.

As you say, S|C should probably drop the old key archive system and develop a new automated service at least for the base hardware.

yes, there are plans for an automated system. i wonder if you have any idea how many man hours are involved in such a system and how much money it takes to produce it. there are literally a handfull of people at S|C including myself and only a couple are programmers....since v6 must be finished and the company still needs to do work to make money, i wonder when in the near future this can be done...

the fact is(and i like saying this from time to time), Scope is a miracle that it even exists. Scope is light years more advanced than any other system on the planets and it has the highest quality processing and synths. it's not made for constant upgrades, but is a quality product that is worth using 20 years down the line with or without updates. unfortunately only hard core audio affectionados can really appreciate this...again, a miracle...

of course you will not be able to use the card in win7 without v5.1.

+1

(even while I'm on OSX--> OS9 and back...)

garyb wrote:Scope is light years more advanced than any other system on the planet and it has the highest quality processing and synths.

Took me a while to get on board the starship but I'm here now.

it's not made for constant upgrades, but is a quality product that is worth using 20 years down the line with or without updates.

Since I've come at this point to Windows 7, might as well use it since it will inevitably become end of life to Windows 8 (just hope S|C will support Win8 at some point). The problem there is, I like keeping windows fully up-to-date, since my DAW is online.

of course you will not be able to use the card in win7 without v5.1.

I was pleasantly surprised that it actually costs less being in Australia than in Germany

v5.1 works in windows 8 already.

garyb wrote:v5.1 works in windows 8 already.

One thing I do like is the fact the plugins are pure C+ and not VST, which for a studio is much better IMV, but since the focus of sonic core is not MIDI sequencing, I will still always need a DAW.

It's a pity that the samplers are so old school. It would be really nice if Native Instruments for example, could open up their source for the Kontakt Player and run the encrypted libraries in read only mode.

I guess this will be possible with Scope 6, so glad to be on board.

(Scope 6 will work on my 6DSP card no?)

yes, v6 will probably work on the pci cards. i say probably because it isn't released yet.

actually, Samplers are one area that the native world has an advantage. there's nothing stopping Kontact from being plenty useful next to Scope.

also, a DAW is the entire system. a Digital Audio Workstation. Scope is part of the DAW. the program that is great to run with Scope and that you are thinking of when you say DAW is a sequencer. it is a midi and audio editor/arranger/recorder, a fancy multitrack, if you will. there's nothing wrong with running that on native code either, although there is at least one DSP based sequencer that is planned by a developer for Scope. it's called Parseq. i'm thinking that it would be released around the same time as v6, but only Audio Biscuit knows for sure: http://audiobiscuit.de/en/Parseq

I'm interested, i hope it will have a drum map.