I have too many old sound beads in my sound arsenal and now ready for my 64-bit environment
During the test phase, I noticed that many plugins work without further problems. One of the plugins in my arsenal that had problems, however, was the Togu-Audio Line (TAL) Dub 2 delay plugin. It was successfully converted into a 64-bit plugin, can also be easily loaded into Ableton Live 9 but unfortunately no sounds come out. I’m not sure but I guess it’s not about the conversion but more about the plugin itself, which may have a bug.
Review
My final verdict of the Sound Radix 32 Lives is mostly positive. Even if one or other plugin may cause problems, you can bring with 32 lives old freeware and commercial plugins back to life on a mac system. The workflow is super straightforward and easy-to understand. Criticism points exist in two areas. For a price of $99 USD, the software is a bit overpriced in my opinion. A price of $49 USD would be better here, especially if you consider that you get the J-Bridge software for only 15€. Also it’s a shame that 32 lives only works on Mac OS systems. Windows support doesn’t exist at this time and the developer don’t have yet a precise information if Windows is coming or not. If you are Windows users and need a plugin converter, you don’t have a choice and must go to the competitor J-Bridge.
How long do we need these converters?
It certainly also raise the question of how much longer such programs are needed. With the increasing number of 64-bit DAW’s, plugins, etc, more and more people will switch to the systems. Do we still need such converters in the future or are we only thinking of a temporary solution? In my opinion, in the future we can replace all available 32-bit plugins well with new and better developed plugins. Above all, these are higher in quality and optimized for modern systems. I guess converters will continue to exist, but demand will decline with raise of 64-bit systems and DAW’s. Which wold certainly be more interesting for me if a company puts a converter on the market that allows you to turn easily Windows VST plugins into Mac VST. There are many fantastic VST’s for Windows on the freeware market that I would love to see on Mac. But this another story.
On the whole, 32 lives convinced me from the simplicity and easy-to-use interface, the big compatibility of the plugins, even the high price and the mac limitation are not so great. If you are interest to buy this application, please download the free demo version where you can test if your plugins works fine.
Summary
+ Straightforward interface
+ big plugin compatibility (mac VST/AU)
+ fully function demo that allows you to check out if you plugins work fine
+/- iLok license (iLok Stick not required)
– Price to high
– Mac only
Here is my video review of the Sound Radix 32 Lives application
More information here: Sound Radix 32 Lives
Available here: Sound Radix 32 Lives
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