Here's the long awaited update for Hive. Food for the Hexagon
"You wanted more waveforms, you got them!"
And while wavetable synthesis has become ubiquitous recently, we have condensed this into an unobtrusive package that oozes quality over featurism. We've expanded Hive's already quite expansive library of factory presets with another 489 presets showcasing the new technology. Just use the new tagged preset browser with the *wavetable* tag. You'll be surprised just how flexible this synth is, and how little effort it takes to get great results. Also note that using oscillator unison, Hive's wavetable engine is exceptionally low on CPU - even though its interpolation algorithms run in realtime for best sonic experience.
A word on concept: Hive has always been about "less is more". Now, with wavetable synthesis, this is no different. We think that great sounding wavetables require a lot more work and attention than "oh, let's whip up some random waveform for this patch". We place the burden of wavetable design on people who enjoy spending hours and days with dedicated tools. That's why there isn't an editor, just the best possible compatibility. Hive is still Hive, but you can benefit from the abundance of wavetables available on the net, and the ones which were designed with Hive's built-in uhm wavetable scripting language.
Btw. it's such a major milestone for us, we'll also be celebrating this update with a little sale in our webstore. I'll be disarmingly honest, this isn't for unselfish reasons. Rather, ever since there was talks about a Hive 2.0 update, sales had dried up a little bit. So the sale will save a little more than the upgrade fee once it's due. There, we said it.
A few impressions of its wavetable synthesis:
Demo Track 1 (by Bjulin)
Demo Track 2 (by Bjulin)
Demo Track 3 (by Gareth Hester)
Demo Track 4 (new!) (by Dario Lupo)
This update is free for all owners of Hive 1.x. - Simply download & install (read IMPORTANT note on the page!)
Download links, further info, user guides... on the reworked & improved Hive website:
https://u-he.com/products/hive/
Enjoy,
- Urs & team
New Features/Improvements:
- New Preset Browser
- New Wavetable oscillator
- New XY Macro Control with auto-assignment
- New Mod Matrix modifiers (Curve, Quantize, Rectify, Slew Limiter)
- New Mod Matrix modulation depth cross modulation
- 489 new factory presets
- Added MicroTuning support
- Added VST3 support
- Pitchbend range now +/−48
- New user defined MIDI CC sources replace fixed expression and breath modulation
- Control A/B offset feature added (to use XYs instead of user defined MIDI CC sources)
- Reveal in Finder/Explorer function available for module presets
- Plug-in format and OS info displayed in GUI alongside revision number
- Mouseover shows parameter values in Data Display
- GUI performance improvements on Windows
- Init preset can be loaded from Data Display (for Win users: also works via right-click)
- Increased maximum number of skins from 10 to 20
- Improved handling of 14bit MIDI CC assignment
- Added UTF-8 support for user registration
- Windows installer suggests new default installation location
- Windows installer now certified
- MacOS High Sierra / Mojave compatibility
- Factory presets are tagged now
- Volume of factory presets now more consistent
Fixed:
- Fixed unsorted folders and presets when using APFS file system in macOS High Sierra / Mojave
- Fixed possible crash in Cubase when selecting presets (Mac OS X only)
- Fixed an issue where long preset names could extend outside the Data Display or Preset Browser window
- Fixed an issue in sequencer, if 'dynamic velocity' was active, it could produce notes with zero velocity
- Fixed zipper noises when turning/modulating distortion parameters
- Fixed an issue where clicks could occur during the first few notes played
- Fixed an issue where envelope sustain could overshoot and create loud clicks
- Smoother dry/wet fx parameter modulation
- Oscillator in flow mode now randomizes phase of first played note
- Fixed an issue where link button was reactivating itself when switching skins
- Various small fixes and improvements
Known Issues & Notes:
- Depending on the used wavetable, some presets might take a short moment to fully load
- Storing wavetables next to presets will only work in local (factory presets) location for now
- Mac: if installing AU plugin format, you may need to reboot your Mac after installation (Apple bug)
- Windows: if running an update installation, please check if the automatic folder selection chooses the correct path; if in doubt, use the manual folder selection option
- Windows: slight flickering of the browser background when switching presets
- Tags are now final, so if you were using the latest build (rev. 7485) or the tech preview (7742) to tag your presets, please check and adjust if necessary
