CreamWare Noah

Don't know which Software I'm using, but it might be the last published one the included in the Synth, because I own the Noah EX Final Edition. Some of the previous reviewers said the Presets were not good (Did I read this?); I guess some of them could be better, but in terms of sonic performance & excluding the FX, they are very good (and with the effects, as well, but I'm not to keen on judging the a synthesis sounds with the effects not bypassed).

Editing the patches, is as some reviewers say, pretty easy once you get used to its menu, which it is pretty fast as well. the manual is OK.

Poliphony is not the big issue one'0s thinking about, when getting this sort of synth. For me it is satisfactory.

The built-in effects are very nice and somehow complex in routing posibilities, which means better, basically. Being able to use a compact flash card as Flash ram, is great to expand number of patch books... Midi is great... nice sequencers... pretty flexible and easy, once again (unless you're only used to a Casio VL-1).

GREAT SOUND DOT.

No need to speak of the Minimax, Pro One, Prodysey, SixString... Right? 10.

Plus great effects.

Had several synths from my first Yamaha DX7 (Absolutely love the DX sound & synthesis), Yamaha Sy99 to several Virtual Analogs or Subtractive Digital or Hybrid (Yamaha AN1x, that sound pretty good, Clavia Nord Modular, great harsh sound, Kawai K4r warm fuzzy, Ensoniq ESQ-1 Harsh creamy ) + an Oberheim matrix 1000.

And this synth absolutely removes all desire to buy any other Analog Synth for me (except maybe a Formant Modular one).

By now, everthing goes perfectly fine. So far I had it (second hand) for 3 months. Cannot jugde about Gigging it, because I only play at home.

Dealt with the new Guys on Creamware. And perfect treatment & feedback (to my taste). Still, had no problems with the Noah wahtsoever, thus, I cannot judge

For me it's simply great & because of the Quality & diversity of the Sound has rendered not-to-be-used-anymore almost every synth I had save the Oberheim Matrix 1000 and the wonderfull Nord Modular from Clavia. I have to give it a 10.

Using software version 1.1. The presets sound incredible, a very nice sampling of each of the vintage synths' classic sounds. You can edit all the parameters on the front panel of this unit, but you'll want to use the provided patch editor for a vastly easier interface. The manual is ok but could have been a bit straightforward (thats why it gets 9/10). But once you have the proper presets made, it integrates nicely into a MIDI setup, I use mine live all the time.

Polyphony is reasonable - around 12 voices total. Unless you want to build a song entirely from analog sounds, you won't be limited. The quality of each of the synth emulations (Minimoog, B3, Arp Odyssey, Pro-One) is so high that the sounds will make themselves heard very easily. The effects are high quality, and you have a fair amount of choices in how you can allocate them among the instruments. Built in arpeggiator and electronic drum machine if that's what you want to use it for.

Notice the 10/10 rating this has for all reviews. You can't fault the sound quality of this machine. The B3 emulation STILL doesn't sound like a real B3 + Leslie cabinet but it comes closer than any imitation I've ever heard. It's replaced my Korg Triton for all synth and organ sounds, because compared to it, Korg, Roland, and Yamaha don't even come CLOSE (I just use them when I need sample playback like piano or strings). THIS is the lush synthesiser sound that became impossible to find after yamaha DX7s and Ensoniqs flooded the market with their mass produced, jack-of-all-trades type machines. Want classic Oberheim sweeps, lovely Minimoog basses, spacey Arp leads, screaming Hammond organs, all with incredible attention to detail? Look no further. ANY ONE of those would have been worth the price of this rackmount, but it contains ALL of them! As someone else pointed out, the minimoog imitation actually sounds better than the voyager (which is more than twice the price and only does minimoog sounds). I don't care much for the Lightwave and Vectron synths, but they have their uses, and the Vocodizer is an immaculate sounding vocoder that makes the one that Korg included in a few of its synths, sound like cheap, muddy junk. And comparing it to a PC based VA emulation, like Arturia, is a joke.

The difference is all in the math that is used to calculate the soundwaves. Noah uses dedicated chips to do the calculations, whereas VSTis use the computer's CPU to do the calculations. While a Pentium CPU may be very powerful, and able to do many different TYPES of calculations well (e.i. jack of all trades), the chips used by Creamware (called SHARCs) are more suited to do calculations relating to sound production (and possibly other media calculations, like video processing, but that's another topic). You must have heard some VSTis that don't sound very clear or lively, compared to other VSTis. The difference is that the better sounding VSTis have better calculations (likely taking more processing power as well). Better calculations meaning (1) simply better math equations, (2) higher internal bit rate, and (3) higher internal sample rate. 2 and 3 are important in the same way when you do math calculations you're supposed to hang on to all the extra digits until the very last step, and only round off at the end. The final result can't help but be more accurate, and in this case, it's all the details in the waves that are produced that make the sound more realistic. I have yet to hear analog modelling that sounds anywhere near what the Creamware products generally provide, but that's a matter of opinion (I think a lot of people agree with me though). A big part of what makes real analog so thick is the natural variation in voltages that occur in the circuitry, and 'faking imperfections' is not as easy as you would think, it actually requires a lot of attention to detail. Take all the filters and envelopes off a synth and listen to one of its oscillators. Does it have bite, does it have grit, is it rich in overtones, or does it sound like a whine? You can't make a synth sound richer than its basic components, and if those are compromised, all you can do is try to hide it as best you can, maybe no one will notice (like the crappy sounding MicroKorg/MS2000). Some of what the accelerated SHARC chip calculations provide is very quick reaction to playing, not just *when* you hit the note, but *how hard* you hit the note, how *quickly* you start one note after another. Try a hammer-on trill on different mono synths and you'll see a difference in how they respond.

Some of what I like about the Noah is how it responds to playing - something as simple as a PWM pad is FUN to play (using the Pro-One) - little differences in key velocity cause the sound to vary in a very natural-feeling way. You can't help but play an instrument BETTER when its interface reacts to your playing nicely. Think of a high quality guitar with strings a half inch off the neck - no matter how nice the tone is, it's hard to play expressively because just getting a note to sound is too difficult.

I use this at gigs all the time. I would recommend getting familiar with it BEFORE a gig and using it for presets, I would not want to program this live. I would also recommend being familiar with how to change its global parameters (midi in channel, internal sync) because these can get mysteriously reset and cause great pre-gig consternation. But that being said, just set up presets and it's a snap to use live. Did I mention that it really sounds good, live?

I don't have to deal much with customer support, fortunately, but the impression I get is the company nearly went bankrupt a few years ago and now has 2 or 3 people employed who do all the work. Don't expect quick responses.

This is the best sounding synthesiser I have. It's worth more than what I paid for it - it's underpriced. It is the best VA synth you can buy. Too bad the company is so broke they'll probably never develop a CS-80 or Chroma emulation. But the synths that they did make for this box, are just fantastic.

I just bought a new Noah EX (Final Edition). This is a very powerfull and flexible synth. It synths (Minimax, Vectron, ...) sound as good as the best syth I ever had (Virus C, Evolver, SH101,...). The recreation of Vintage synths are amazing and make it very easy to use. The only though decision is to use a Minimoog, Pro-One or Odyssey for a given track. What a luxury! Presets are good but this synth are made to be tweaked.
The integration with the computer is excellent and the manual is quite good. The only minor comploexity is the management of the presets. It si extremely powerfull but having two locations (Noah & Computer) makes it slightly complex. The benefit is that you can use the Noah independently. By the way assigning ANY parameter of ANY synths in the 4 slots to one of the 4 (x4)controllers is a breeze. Never was real-time tweaking so intuitive and simple...probably even better than on the Virus or the SuperNova.

The main feature is the choice of synths you get. Lately you had Minimax, Pro-One, Prodyssey, Vectron, Lightwave, B2003, EDSi8, 6-Strings, Vocodizer, Interpole + a large selection of effects + an arpeggiator/sequencer per slot. That's a lot of flexibility. On several modules you also have audio-in(From the external audio-in or from one slot to another). That expends again the flexibility and invites to experiment with near-modular approches.

The on-board sequencer is great. The on-board arpeggiator is quite good, but is lacking user's programmable pattern. But you can combine the arpeggiator and the sequencer in two different slots and achieve some great results.

All in all the features/flexibility are absolutely great.As always you have to accept and learn to work with whatever design decision that was made. But at least you can choose between the ease-of-use of a Minimoog or the challenging complexities of the Vectron.

About expansion capabilities: It was obviously a major selling point that turned out to be false. But nowadays you know what you get, you know the price and you can make a decision. The future MIGHT still bring the PROFIT-5 to the Noah. That will most probably be the last module.

Several of the synths are sounding soo good that they would be worth the price I paid on their own. I would say the Minimax, the Pro-One, the Prodyssey, the Vectron (and maybe even the Lightwave) as being in that league.

THE major benefit of the carefull recreations of classics is that they are very lively. You don't need to use complex modulation matrixes to make them sound interesting. Their basic design makes them sound interesting and react lively to any tweaking or expression.

Noah is well built, solid and stable. The product does exist for quite sometime and there are very little complaints about reliability issues. Remember, it was originally designed and built like a high-end product.

Creamware has become quite a thin company. I would not rely too much on their support. But PlanetZ is a great community.

My Noah EX is probably the best buy of a musical intrument I ever made over the last 25 years. I was thinking of a Virus TI but I lost patience and was afraid of stability issues. Noah was 1/3 of the price and it should make me happy for another year or more.

Just plug the USB cable into your Computer, install the software and off you go!!

Synths, Organs,Guitars, Vocoders, you name it- that thig`s got it.
It easily replaces four other Synths (EX-Version),plus an effects rack. (It has more than 40 effects in-built)Noah can be used as an audio-interface for Computers. You can route e.g. your VST - Synths through it, add effects, send it through the in-built Moog filter,etc.

The Minimoog emulation is simply a dream come true. It not only sounds like a real Minimoog, but has all the features we all were dreaming of since the early days when the "Mini" was still in production: It is up to 13 voices polyphonic, it`s programmable and always stays in tune! All the things aforementioned are true for the emulation of the Sequential Pro-One, too. New is an truly arse-kicking version of the ARP Odyssey, called PROdyssey. Together with the Synths you get a great sounding Guitar Synth, a Waveable Synth and a Hammond organ, all in great sound quality.

Seems very solidly built.

When I brought my newly purchased NOAH home, I connected it, switched the power supply on and - POOOF - my Noah was dead. I contacted Creamware on the next day (They are situated in the next village)
and they arranged getting a replacement for me within a few hours.
Great guys there!

If stolen, I`d buy another one without hesitation. This thing replaces four other synths with ease. (My Waldorf Q has to go now)
It`s worth every single penny, hope that Creamware will carry on.
It sounds very inspirative, visit your local dealer and give it a try-
I`m sure you`ll buy one shortly after!

Fairly easy to use once you get the hang of things. Excellent computer integration makes tweaking very easy. Everything can be tweaked on the computer screen or from the front of the unit.

Huge list of features include great sounding synths. Huge variety of modeled synths, including analog (MiniMax & ProOne), vector synthesis, Organ (B-2003), guitar/bass (Six-String), filter bank, vocoder, etc. More types will be available via download - since this synth uses plugin technology, it can be reconfigured with new types of models at any time. It also has a great variety of effects, including a guitar amp simulation, excellent reverb and many, many more. The polyphony is real huge - but it makes up for this in the quality of the emulations.

In addition, it can be used as an USB audio/midi interface transferring up to six channel of audio (a very nice bonus).

The sounds are incredible. In my opinion, it has the best digital emulation of an analog synth available. >MiniMax is incredible - along with the Pro-One synth. The other synths are great too, but these two really stand out. I can't wait to see what other synths are released for this thing in the near future (I heard an electronic piano emulation is coming soon).

No problems so far. Seems to be pretty solid. Although, I would be real careful with it if it wasn't mounted in a rack.

So far, I haven't had to use support.

I would definitely buy it again if it was lost or stolen. It is expensive - but nothing else can do what this thing can do - and nothing else has the versatility to adapt with new plugins you can download from the Internet.

I do wish it had ADAT inputs to go along with the ADAT outs. I also wish for more polyphony and simultaneous synths, but again, this is excused since the sound quality of the emulations is so amazing.

Also, too bad they didn't use USB 2 or Firewire instead of USB 1.1. That would allow for more audio in/out capabilities and future expansion.

After spending a few hours getting to know Noah, it becomes extremely intuitive and easy to use. The computer software interface that goes along with the synth is absolutely excellent for tweaking and programming, but it is optional. Using only the front panel, you can edit all the parameters of the various synths, effects, etc. It only has four rotary knobs and some buttons on the front, but the menu structure is fairly easy and quick to navigate to get to all the parameters. It is one of the most intuitive hardware synths I have used once I took a few moments to get used to how things work.

Ok, polyphony is pretty low on this thing when compared to other synths out there, but Noah makes up for it with the quality of emulations and the flexibility to use many, completely different synth types.

First, the emulations are amazing. Especially Minimax, a recreation of the MiniMoog. It is the best digital emulation of an analog synth I have come across. The others are great also.

Second, the flexibility to switch between totally different synthesis types and emulations with just one box is awesome. Plus, the system is designed so you can download more instruments as they become available and add them to your setup. So, when CreamWare comes out with a digital piano emulation, or a Noah sampler, or converts their Modular III synth to Noah, you can continue to expand the synths you have available to you, all in one box. Plus, there will likely be third-party development of synths and effects to use with Noah (like there is for the DSP card system currently).

Finally, as an extra bonus, Noah can be used as a USB audio and midi interface. You can trasfer audio and midi back in forth to your computer via Noah's usb connection. You can even route your software synths to playback through Noah. EXCELLENT!

Like mentioned above, the included synth emulations (and the effects) are excellent. And, as development continues, it can change to include whatever new sounds/synths you want to add to it.

Too early to tell - but seems solid to me.

Creamware support is good for the most part. There is some room for improvement. I did notice that they just started a new user forum and seem to be participating.

If I was just rating Creamware, I would provide a lower score. However, I am also including the incredible Creamware users in my rating

The best support is provided by the very helpful Creamware user. www.planetz.com has a wealth of information about the DSP cards, and I am sure this level of user enthusiasm will also be there with Noah. The user community around Creamware products is amazing.

It is kind of expensive, but in my opinion is worth it becuase of the versatility and excellent emulations. Remember, you are not just getting one synth when you buy Noah. Instead you are getting a DSP system capable of transforming into many different synths, effects, etc.