for Spektral Delay users...

This is a great Plugin but what a pain. What versions of Stream Manager and DirectConnect are you using to make it work, I tried all of them (I think) and every time I quit PT with a session using SD I get an error 1 or 2 and I have to reboot. I just downloaded the update and I think it's even worse...

Basically, if you use Protools you should stay away from anything made by NI. trust me, I own all their stuff, and have had nothing but nightmares for the last few years. I don't even bother trying anymore, I can't waste more time on this nonsense. NI tech support is almost non-existent, and they don't give a flying fig about all the problems. to date, not ONE Protools-related bug has been fixed. not one.

I agree with you, Reaktor is another pain, I've been using Kontakt with not that many problems, does anybody else feel this way about NI...?

i use kontakt and absynth with direct connect when am sound designing. They make great sounds but they are pretty unreliable. What usually happens in the sound gets all distorted and staticy after a while. Sometimes reinstantiatng the direct connect plug helps, sometmes not. Sometimes give up and stop using them. But i sold my EIV and jumped on the soft sampler train, oops, so I am waiting for Mach Five, I guess. I hope that is more integrated with protools workflow. With kontakt, when I want to manipulate a sound with the sampler, I do a Cmnd-opt-K export as an interleaved stereo file to a preset folder, then go into kontakt and drag that sound to a new instrument. Not too bad, but if it were drag and drop in the session it would be much cooler.

i don't trust anything native. snap crackle and pop is the thing that native software has in common with rice crispies. that said, i do use the b4 and the prophacy from time to time and they're ok. as far as the rest of this stuff goes i'd stick with a hardware sampler o gigastudio for now.

You must be using the B4 stand-alone. the PTE version is useless, as all the presets overload the TDM input when midi velocity goes above 100 or so. You can't save a lower output in a preset, either, it goes right back to full overload when you next launch the session. Absynth does the same thing. Just amazing, and NI doesn't care at all.

I took the NI DirectConnect (Spektral, Kontakt and B4) from the plugins folder and my system is way more stable. It's amazing that these clowns can get away with this, calling them "Pro Tools editions" . Too much money for headaches...