Creamware

[CruiseControl]

I have used a creamware card for years now and I notice there is rarely any mention of their products in the posts. Is it because people have looked into them and decided they did not like them for one reason or antoher, or because they are just unaware of the products?

[Alan]

Most people are aware of them,but they are a very expensive solution.The main feature is the onboard DSP obviously,but it really only shines with their modular analog synths,because the audio plugs are not that much to write home about.I my position,I already have real hardware synths and a powerfull enough PC to run full projects with additional virtual instruments and and pretty much all the neccessary plugins.When you add it all up,my setup is just as powerfull,cheaper,and I didn't have to pay for eveything all at once.Also in my case I use Sonar,and to my knowledge Creamware only supports Asio drivers.Also,with the new FX Teleport,I can offload some of that CPU to an inexpensive spare PC.I think Creamware was a nice solution at one time for those who could afford it and analog modular synths was their thing,but technology has marched on quite a bit since then.It'll be interesting to see where they are going though,and my eyes will be peeled.

[bassdude]

All the action for creamware cards is at http://www.planetz.com/forums/

There is still no other card like them out there so technology hasn't quite marched on.
But these cards aren't for everyone.

The sharc DSP chips used on the pulsar's are still being used today e.g. the new euphonix broadcast consoles.

The heart of the pulsar technology is actually the software and not the cards themselves and is still being continually developed (SFP Vers 4 not far off). This means that Gen 1 cards (vintage 98/99) are still able to run the latest version software (not just drivers, I'm talking latest app software mixer/effects/synths etc)remaining up to date. Actually this is a cheaper way to expand the DSP e.g. buy a pulsar 2 then buy any gen1 pulsar etc cards to add dsp.

They are expensive yes but so is pro-tools.

Drivers supplied :-
ASIO 2.0, MME, DirectSound, GSIF, Sound Manager, OMS

Quality of effects is a subjective area. There are some duds and some exceptional like all systems.
I know of one dude likes the Vinco (vintage modelled compressor) so much he is selling his dbx blue 160. Crazy. Cash for something else I suppose.

[arela]

I run 27 wavefiles (stereo, mono,16, 24 and 32 bits) thru 12 wave-buses from CoolEditPro with no problems. And i added a lot of effects, still no problems
And this weekend we got the 70+ Flexor modules for the modular synth. http://www.adern.com/

I suppose after all, I could not get this high quality synths and effects cheaper anywhere else. So I will use my Creamwarecards for a long time (I hope :-) )