Vintage Vault 2 is an update to the highly recognized first version which was just called Vintage Vault. Vintage Vault 2 now includes 50 instruments, 111 drum machines, and over 7000 presets. All sounds have been created by using actual hardware, no software emulation was created for the included sounds. Compared to the previous version UVI has added 7 new products, including BeatBox Anthology 2, Cameo, Digital Synsations Vol. 2, PX Apollo, UVS-3200, UVX80, and OB Legacy. Beatbox Anthology 1 was removed in favor of Beatbox Anthology 2. UVI offers a fair upgrade path for owners of previous instruments or the previous bundle. Existing customers should check their email and UVI account for an additional voucher. One important factor when going for this collection is that you have to spend less money hunting on eBay for a vintage synth that may not work, not to mention the relationship impact spending less money for hardware can have. UVI did send me a review copy with no strings attached.
UVI based in France has been producing music software products for more than 20 years. For years different products based on vintage synths have been sampled by UVI for you to work with. One of the advantages of UVI’s approach is that the sampled instrument sounds as the original hardware that was used. You have more options on the original hardware, but also have to spend thousands of Euro/Dollar if you want similar sounds in your armory. You are also quicker as with the presets included you can start right a way as you do not have to program the hardware synth.
One of the advantages of UVI’s approach is that the sampled instrument sounds as the original hardware that was used. You have more options on the original hardware, but also have to spend thousands of Euro/Dollar if you want similar sounds in your armory. You are also quicker as with the presets included you can start right a way as you do not have to program the hardware synth.
UVI released over the years different sampled vintage synths. With Vintage Vault 2 bundle UVI selected 20 existing products and offer them at a reduced price compared to buying them separately. Some products have been updated like Beat Box Anthology. We already reviewed some of UVIs next gen product like Beatbox Anthology 2.
- Beat Box Anthology 2 (New in Vintage Vault 2)
Included are samples from 111 drum machines: Acetone: AceT 1, AceT 2, AceT 6, AceT 8, XR Ten, HR Sixteen, HR SixteenB, SR Drums, Amdk 100, DrumBrute, MatrixBrute, Bhm Drums, D.Rythm 110, D.Rythm 220, D.Rythm 220E, D.Rhythm Five, D.Rythm Pad, Clap Machine, PT Seven, RZ One, OMB Two, DST, Dyn ADD1, Drmlator, AnalogR, EMD, 8 Bit Box, EM7C, Drumstar, OMB Five, Organ Drums, Drumzmo, Transwave Drums, ETI Drum Synth, Drumaker, Drum Performer, Rythm Eighty, DK5S, R Hundred , XD Five, K-DDD One, K-DDM Hundred, K-DDM2 Hundred, KPR Seven 2, KPR Three 2, KPR Five 2, Mini Pops 20S, Mini Pops 7, K-MR Sixteen, UVS3200, K-S Thre , Gadget Beat, Kick Machine 2, U1250, L 9000, L Drum, LM One , Optigan, Synsonic , Mini Pops , The Kit , TR Clone, Drum MX, P Drum X, P Fight, Concert Mate, Classic R-78, Classic R-8000, The 5o5, The 55, The 6o6, The 626 , The 66 , The 7o7 , The 727 , The 77 , The 8o8 , The 9o9, Sakata, DR Tracks, SCTOM, MPD Forty, SMS Clap, SMS MTX, SMS 400, SMS 800, SMS 9, SMS V, SMS Trix, Arranger Drums, SM305, Tam Star 200, Tam Star 500, Tam Star 204, Tom ED, Gadget 12, UniVox, VerDrum One, VermoDrums, Ratck, Wers Drums, Wers Matic , YCS 20m , YDD Ten, YDD Eleven, FM 4OP, YMR Ten, YPT Eight, YQY Ten, YRX Five, YRX Seven, and YRX Eight.
- Cameo (New in Vintage Vault 2)
Cameo includes a tremendous library of custom patches designed on the original Casio hardware. Cameo is made for the classic ’80s synth sounds.
- Darklight IIx
3 Instruments Inspired by the Fairlight, the sounds historical, edgy and very grainy. Fairlight Synth has been used by Jean-Michel Jarre, Supertramp, Michael Jackson, Art of Noise, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Yellow, Foreigner, Madonna, Eurythmics, Mike Oldfield, Prince, OMD, Duran Duran, Queen, Alan Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, Pet Shop Boys, and Depeche Mode. You get with this library the sound of the 80s.
Darklight IIx includes a digital synth, a digital drum machine, sequencer and a creative multi-phraser which reminds you of songs you have listened to back then. With Darklight IIx you get yourself a powerful 80s synth station.
- Digital Synsations
4 Instruments inspired by 1990’s digital synths such as Korg M1, Ensoniq VFX, Yamaha SY77, and Roland D50
- Digital Synsations Vol. 2 (New in Vintage Vault 2)
Here you find synth sampled and inspired by Roland JD800, Ensoniq Fizmo and Kawai K5000S
- Emulation II
UVI’s Emulation II was created to reproduce the warm digital sounds and analog textures representing old school E-mu Emulator II and E-mu crunchy Drumulator.The library was sampled from restored units. The Emulator II has been used by Depeche Mode, Genesis, Tangerine Dream, Simple Minds, Enya, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Mr. Mister, Stevie Wonder, and Pet Shop Boys. with the 2 instruments, you get 281 presets
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Emulation One
This library is based on E-mu Emulator (ONE) and E-mu Drumulator (ONE) masterpieces of 80’s 8-bit Sounds and Drum Machine. The Emulator (ONE) was used by David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Genesis, New Order, OMD, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kitaro, Vangelis, Yes, and Stevie Wonder.
- Mello
The Origins of Sampling—a Sound that Shaped the 60’s, inspired by the Mellotron. The Mellotron has been used by the Beatles, Genesis, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. A Mellotron is in a nut shell a sampler which uses tape which is drawn over a head which plays the recorded sound. Pure vintage goodness.
- OB Legacy (New in Vintage Vault 2)
OB Legacy includes six instruments based on sounds created by Tom Oberheim. You have heard sounds from Tom in hundreds of songs. With OB Legacy you can endure the sounds inspired by the work of Tom Oberheim and append some of the most innovative and influential analog synths to your collection.
- PX Apollo (New in Vintage Vault 2)
UVI has sampled a classic Moog, you can tell from the UI that UVI was clearly inspired by Moog’s Apollo front panel. UVI has gone beyond the classic Moog Apollo capabilities by offering authentic sounds from a restored Apollo plus newly created ones.
- String Machines
11 Vintage String Synths (ARP Solina String Ensemble, Crumar Performer, Elka Rhapsody, Eko Stradivarius, Korg PE2000, Logan String Melody, Siel Orchestra, ROLAND RS-505, ROLAND VP-330, and Yamaha SS30) reproducing orchestral string sounds through analog synthesis
- The Beast
Synth and drum machine inspired by the vintage Synclavier. Synclavier has been considered in the past as the Rolls Royce of Synth. The hardware was manufactured by New England Digital Corporation (NED), USA and was highly influential to the composer in those years. Synclaviers have been used by The Cure, New Order, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Foreigner, Michael Jackson, Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Genesis, Kim Wilde, The Cars, Soft Cell, Geoff Downes, and Frank Zappa.
- UltraMini
Revered Analog Synth is based and inspired from Minimoog and Moog Voyager.
- UVS-3200 (New in Vintage Vault 2)
This is a sampled KORG PS-3200 which comes with classic and modern patches. The used KORG is a semi-modular 48-voice polyphonic analog synth
- UVX-3P
Inspired by the Huge Analog Sound of a famous Roland JX-3P
- UVX-10P
The Glory of 80’s Analog Polyphony, Inspired by Roland JX-10, MKS-70 (Rack) and JX-8P
- UVX80 (New in Vintage Vault 2)
UVX80 is based on a rare Japanese 8-voice analog synth from 1984 and comes with more than 250 patches, my guess is that this is an Akai AX80 which UVI sampled and made available to us composer.
- Vector Pro
3 Instruments inspired by the Sequential Prophet VS and Yamaha SY22
- Vintage Legends
6 Instruments inspired by the Yamaha CS Series and DX1, Elka Synthex, Rhodes Chroma and DK Synergy
- WaveRunner
7 Instrument Retrospective of Wavetable Synthesis
Installation
After you purchased Vintage Vault 2 you will receive a serial number which you register on UVI website in your user area. During the registration, you register the software to your iLok account. After doing so you install the 3rd party iLok License Manager, in the iLok software tool you download the license to your computer or alternative to your iLok dongle. With that being done you can now download the Vintage Vault 2 packages directly from the UVI website (look into your account) and install the software onto your MAC or PC. Overall for a fresh install, you need to download more than 110GB. Installing locally is done through unpacking the archives downloaded and point the UVI player (see below) to the packages. UVI supports the activation of three different devices/computer.
Sound
Vintage Vault 2 now includes 50 instruments, 111 drum machines, and over 7000 presets. All sounds have been created by using actual hardware, no software emulation was created for the included sounds. There are most likely several sounds for every project you work on included. The available synths and drum machines sound very realistic and allow you to add that vintage sounds or use the synth in a modern context.
UVI also includes several tools and functions to further tweak the sounds to allow you to create something unique. While UVI aims to harmonize the look and feel the effects presentation is slightly different.
Overall you get great sounding synths that can be changed if needed.
User interface & Usability
Each included instrument must be used with UVI own player software/VST. You can use either the free UVI Workstation or Falcon which is a powerful player and hybrid instrument which can be used to further shape and manipulate loaded Instruments. Falcon is the more powerful version of UVI Workstation with some additional features like a Synth, Sampler, and Sequencer. Falcon runs as a standalone client or in your DAW (VST, AU, AAX) on MAC or Windows. Both software players have an intuitive and easy to use and modern interface design.
Every included product has a different look, UVI is trying where possible to harmonize the presentation, however, the main driver for the UI is the look and feel of the sampled instrument which results in a different appearance for each product.
The User Interface design is great, however, a harmonized interface would make it easier to use different instruments without the need to look for certain features. An overall browser across all instruments and presets would be of great value.
Listen to some of the included products
Rating: Five out of Five stars
Vintage Vault 2 is perfect for any vintage synth collector. With UVI’s Vintage Vault 2 you get your hands on a large collection of authentic vintage, synthesizer sounds which are ready to use. This collection of synths from the 70s and 80s sampled from different hardware synths is absolutely astonishing. Each included instrument can apply changed and transformed by using included effects, some which have not been available with the original hardware that was sampled. UVI has also taken some instruments further and included sounds designed by the UVI team.
Areas of improvement: With the new version and the additionally included synths UVI flagship product Vintage Vault 2 is one of the leading collection of sampled sounds that are ready to use instantly. Driven from this large set of sounds and presents a way to browse through all presets across all included instruments would be fabulous. Due to the high-resolution screens available these days a resizeable GUI would help people with not so good eyesight.
