Noob question: Renaissance, bundled plugins and their quali

Sorry if this has been discussed previously, I couldn't find anything with the search function and there was no stickied topic for stupid noob questions. Akai's homepage also doesn't mention ANYTHING about the included plugins, or maybe I'm just blind.


So, what plugins does Ren ship with and how good are they? I read the SOS review briefly and it mentioned Ren ships with 4 instruments, but I don't remember it mentioning anything about the FX (I just quickly skipped the review through though).

How good are the instruments? Great, useable or completely meh? Do they cover all the bases, or do you need other instruments in practice?

How about FX? Does it even include basics like EQ, compressors and reverb? If so, are they any good? Or even passable? Comparable to, say, Logic's or Ableton's stock plugins?

I'm on a tight budget here and I'm torn between a few options and I definitely don't have thousands to spend on plugins right now, I want a package that will allow me to make decent sounding music with just the stock plugins.

did you listen to the demos on the akai soundcloud page
well if you didn't your ears are in for a real treat
needless to says i didn't bother installing them so really i not qualified to fully answer
but there are some miracle workers in this forum that can turn water in wine
they may disclose their favorite presets.
and let us know your options maybe don't mention the "M word" doesn't bring out
best in people.

good luck my friend

i've only played around with a couple of the included VSTs once so i really can't comment. if i remember correctly, 1 of them includes a bunch of bread and butter type instruments. the other included a 808 kit.

as for the FX, they offer all of the basics you'd expect - a couple of different compressors, reverbs, HPFs, LPFs, etc. there's also have a transient shaper which is pretty cool. the problem with the FX is that there are no meters. so you have to adjust everything by ear.

i don't have any 3rd party VSTs to compare but i doubt anyone is buying the Ren for the VSTs or FX. but out of the box, you probably have enough to keep you busy. plus i hear there are a lot of free VSTs you can download. i think the Ren is now shipping with a lite version of pro tools which might also include some plugins?

Don't like the vsts much but the fx work great for me

I found the 809 to be pointless. A drum machine within a drum machine which dilutes the experience. I have no intention of using any of the plug ins. But they needed to add them in for selling points.