Muse Research has announced a new Solid State Drive (SSD) option for the Receptor 2 Pro line of hardware plug-in players.

SSD dramatically increases the data throughput of the Receptor 2 Pro and Pro Max, for greater polyphony and lower latency, as well as increasing the device’s ruggedness, by replacing the traditional rotating hard drive with solid state drive technology with no moving parts.

The SSD option is available on either the Receptor 2 Pro or Receptor 2 Pro MAX models, and offers either 128GB or 256GB of storage.

Details at the Muse Research site.

Solid State Drive technology addresses the bottleneck in modern data systems

RECEPTOR 2 has a wickedly fast processor RAM computational engine that performs with remarkable efficiency. The result is very high polyphony counts at exceptionally low latency with the 4GB of RAM installed in the system. Until SSD technology arrived the general belief has been that extending RAM memory to 16, 32, or even 64GB is a better way to achieve higher levels of performance. This requires a move to 64-bit operating systems, and comes with a commensurate increase in system overhead, increased power consumption and heat generation, along with dramatically longer load times to fill the RAM before you can start making music. Muse R&D has discovered that the real bottleneck is getting data off of the drive subsystem, and that a fast data retrieval system enables you to do much more with the existing RAM, amplifies the advantage of faster load times, and keeps the system quiet by managing power consumption.

Although RECEPTOR 2 ships with a SATA-2 drive interface built in which is capable of delivering data to the processing subsystem up to 300MB/s, in reality the existing rotating platter hard drives are only capable of delivering continuous data streams of 60MB/s to the processing subsystem. The Muse R&D philosophy is to improve system efficiency, and increasing the speed at which you get the data off the storage subsystem and into the processor goes a long way toward achieving this goal.

RAID drive systems, which increase data throughput by spreading the data across two or four drives do allow data to be delivered to the processing subsystem quicker, but they also add complexity, fragility, heat, and weight to a rig.

The new SSD technology offers significant performance advantages when reading data over a traditional rotating platter drive by orienting the data in a “virtual raid array” across the storage field. The result is continuous read speeds of between 250MB/s and 300MB/s. The fact that there is no friction in the system means that system heat is reduced, and since there are no moving parts, the storage subsystem is impervious to shock, vibration, and the rigors of constant touring. The result is an optimal combination of higher data throughput with improved ruggedness and reliability.

Two drives available: 128GB and 256GB.

Based on extensive testing and real-world touring experience, Muse R&D offers two configurations of this technology to customers like film composers and mission-critical touring situations where high polyphony and the ultimate in reliability is required.

“The solid state drive technology offers significant performance benefits to our most demanding customers,” comments Bryan Lanser, VP of Product Development at Muse Research and Development. “The incredible data throughput coupled with the fact there are no moving parts in these drives is just one more way in which we can make the RECEPTOR 2 the ultimate synth, sampler, and sound module more powerful and more reliable.”

RECEPTOR 2: Road proven and now virtually indestructible

Many of the world’s biggest bands and most famous artists use RECEPTOR 2 to run their synths, samplers, and effects both in the studio and on the road. That’s because RECEPTOR 2 packs massive amounts of power into a 2-rack space box that weighs only 18 pounds. The addition of optional SSD technology to RECEPTOR 2 not only improves the performance of any RECEPTOR 2, but it also offers reduces the weight of the product as well as drastically improving the mechanical ruggedness of the product since the drive subsystem has no moving parts.

2009 NAMM Show: Muse Research introduced RECEPTOR 2, a dedicated hardware plug-in player that runs hundreds of virtual instruments and effects with the convenience and portability of dedicated hardware. .

The RECEPTOR 2 uses a single-core processor and a 250GB SATA 2 hard drive and provides significantly more performance than the previous generation. RECEPTOR 2 also has a new look with a deep blue front panel, LCD, and blue power LED.

The single core AMD processor and high speed DDR-2 RAM of this new second generation of Receptor provide performance that is similar to the previous generation’s top-of-the line, but RECEPTOR 2 costs less with a MAP price of only $1999 US.

The unit also includes the Plugsound BOX collection of six different virtual instruments with hundreds of presets ready to go, right out of the box.

Details:

The RECEPTOR 2’s new hardware and software has been designed for optimized performance of your favorite virtual instruments and effects, and combines this performance with a number of unique features that make Receptor the ultimate musical instrument.

Advanced features such as Z-Load, Snapshots, Unified Preset Access and the MIDI filter make this ideal for creating, manipulating and performing with virtual instruments and effects.

“Technology never stands in one place for very long. The significantly increased power of the RECEPTOR 2 starts where our previous Receptor Pro left off, which means you can run more plug-ins and play more voices at a lower price point,” comments Chris Halaby, CEO of Muse Research. “RECEPTOR 2 is designed to help a musician make more music in the studio or on stage.”

The RECEPTOR 2 will be available soon from major music retailers and online providers.

The Plugsound BOX collection features 6 virtual instruments covering a wide range of sounds and styles, including fretted instruments, keyboards, synthesizers, General MIDI instruments, drums and percussion, and Hip Hop sound sets. 

Here are the details on the virtual instruments:

• Keyboard Collection: features acoustic pianos in several styles as well as less-traditional honky tonk and modified versions. Features a large assortment of electric pianos as well as electric organs, tone wheel organs, clavinets, and electric grand sounds.
• Fretted Instruments Collection: features a comprehensive collection of acoustic and electric guitar samples. 
• Hip Hop and R ‘n’ B Collection: This collection features various loops, kits and multi-sampled instruments. The drum loops and instrument phrases are all sorted by tempo, letting you trigger in tempo and quickly create beats. 
• Synth Collection: This comprehensive collection of both modern and classic synthesizers provides you with a wide range of pads and leads to use either by themselves or layered. The collection also contains various stacks, flute-style leads, voices, tines & bells, basses, pads, sweeps, and more.
• Drums and Percussion Collection: The Drums and Percussion collection has over 6,000 drum sounds sorted into various kits. 
• Global Collection / GM: This collection is designed to serve as an ultimate General MIDI (GM) module, with instrument categories such as world, orchestral, basses, guitars, keyboards, drums and percussion all organized in standard GM layouts.

The Receptor 2 PRO and Receptor 2 Pro Max are available now.

This video features Thomas Dolby’s take on the Muse Research Receptor 2 Pro and the Receptor 2 Pro Max. 

According to Muse:

These new models of Receptor are faster, smarter, and better in all respects than the previous generation. They feature entirely new computational engines including incredibly fast dual-core processors that offer twice the power of the previous generation, new SATA-2 storage systems that offer three times more disc bandwidth, 10 times the networking speed, and 50% more memory that is twice as fast as before.

IK Multimedia and Muse Research have teamed up to offer the Total Workstation Rack, powered by SampleTank and Receptor.

The Total Workstation Rack is a combination of Muse Research’s unique Receptor hardware plug-in player with IK’s Total Workstation line of Powered By SampleTank instruments: SampleTank 2.5, Sonik Synth 2, Miroslav Philharmonik, SampleMoog and SampleTron. These IK products come pre-installed and authorized within Receptor, allowing immediate access to make music live and in the studio.

The Total Workstation Rack is available for  $1,999.99/€1,599.99.

Muse Research has announced a new model of their Receptor hardware plug-in player: Receptor with Komplete Inside.

The new Receptor option features the comprehensive Komplete 4 software collection from Native Instruments pre-installed, pre-registered, and ready to make music right out of the box.

For some, avoiding the hassle of dinking with registering all these apps may be worth the entry price.

The product comes with two extra installations available, letting you install Komplete 4 on your studio or laptop computers as well. The package is available now through select U.S. retailers at a special price of $2799 USD retail MAP – a $1000 savings over the price of the two products purchased separately.

Description:

Receptor with Komplete Inside: everything you need in a user-friendly package.
Receptor has a well-deserved reputation as the ideal way to run your favorite virtual instruments and effects. Many users comment on how Receptor’s intuitive host environment makes their favorite plug-ins act and feel more “real”. The convenience of Receptor’s completely integrated design, superior performance, and stellar sound has made it the choice of some of the world’s biggest bands, producers, and engineers.

Now with the power of Komplete inside, Receptor is the perfect alternative to a sound module, synth, sampler, or guitar / effects processor with a comprehensive assortment of instruments and effects and thousands of presets to choose from.

Something for every musician and every musical situation
Whether you play classical, rock, country, rap, dance, jazz, music theater, or all of the above, Receptor with Komplete Inside has you covered thanks to the 12 award-winning instruments and effects that come ready to go. Amazing acoustic and electric pianos, synths, organs, strings, drums, and more are available to you with just the push of a button, giving you more musical power than you ever thought possible in a single two–rack space unit.

And Receptor is equally at home on the road or in the studio, with pro-grade audio I/O for playing live and Muse’s unique UniWire technology for integration with your DAW in the studio.

Convenience and a great value

In a world where it’s common to have to pay extra for added convenience, Receptor with Komplete Inside makes having world-class sounds and effects available right of the box an incredible value that saves you time and money. If you were to buy Receptor and install Komplete 4 yourself, you’d pay $3798 at list price, and you would have to install and authorize the software on your Receptor before use. The Receptor + Komplete inside package is available to you at a remarkable $2799 MAP (US) – a savings of $1000 – and you can spend the installation time you saved making music.

Receptor with Komplete Inside is available now through select retailers worldwide.

Receptor is a stand-alone synth, sampler, and sound module that makes it easy for musicians to perform live using VST plug-ins. Receptor has a unique preset and effects architecture that enables the user to create great sounds that can’t be found in any other hardware device. New plug-ins can be loaded into Receptor in one of two ways; using Receptor’s standard installer routines or, for plug-ins that aren’t supported by Receptor’s installer mechanism, installing the plug-ins directly into a folder and then checking the “Unsupported Plug-ins” box on the Set Up page. It is this latter installation facility that has so greatly increased the number of plug-ins that you can run on Receptor.

“Right out of the box I started tweaking the amazing assortment of pre-installed plug-ins.” comments dance music artist and Receptor user Richard Devine. “It’s an extremely versatile live effects box in addition to the synthesizers and samplers. I’ve been using it on all my gigs with just the plug-ins that were shipped with it.”

Plugorama

Muse Research maintains a separate website that supports Receptor called www.plugorama.com. The plugorama website provides support information as well as updates for Receptor software. Receptor has hundreds of software synths and effects pre-installed, and dozens of these come from “premium” developers whose products can be purchased directly on the web. New to the plugorama site is a complete listing of the new freeware plug-ins that have been determined to run on Receptor.

Although Receptor was designed for live use, it also serves as an external processor in the studio. When used in the studio, it is desirable to return individual channels of audio signals back to your DAW or mixer, and for this reason Receptor has a built-in ADAT optical interface. Version 1.2 software redesigns the mixer to support these outputs, and provides you with complete routing control over the ADAT outputs as well as the S/PDIF output, raising the total number of outputs on Receptor to ten, in addition to the four inputs.

Version 1.2 software also includes many new MIDI mapping features, designed with the input of keyboardist and Receptor endorser Jordan Rudess. These MIDI mapping features make it easy to set up multiple layers and splits in Receptor, making it an ideal tool for live performance, regardless of what music style you make.

Muse Research also demonstrated a new technology in Receptor that makes it possible to load plug-ins in just milliseconds, versus the several seconds or sometimes tens of seconds required by a computer. Z-load technology was developed by Muse Research to further enhance Receptor as the ultimate synth / sampler / sound module. Muse Research has also applied for a patent for this.

Version 1.2 software will be the second release of software since the introduction of Receptor, and is available free to all Receptor customers by visiting the www.Plugorama.com website. Version 1.2 software is expected to be available by the end of the first quarter of 2005.

For more information, visit the Muse Research site.

Receptor is a stand-alone synth, sampler, and sound module with the ability to serve as an advanced effects processor. UniWire technology makes it possible to seamlessly integrate Receptor into a VST host on a Mac or PC by simply installing the UniWire VST onto the host, and then connecting the Receptor to the computer over a standard Ethernet cable. The company announced that it intends to support other plug-in formats as well.

Unlike other CAT5-based audio and MIDI solutions that use proprietary chips or just the physical layer of Ethernet, UniWire is completely compatible with standard Ethernet hubs, switches, and routers. UniWire software has an intelligent bandwidth management feature that automatically adjusts the number of channels available, allowing audio and MIDI transmission and reception regardless of network configuration. And since UniWire is compliant with all standard network devices, you can use wireless 802.11B or G network devices with it, although the company strongly suggests using 802.11G peripherals with UniWire for best results.

For more information, visit the Muse Research site.