Muse Research's Receptor has long been the industry standard for running virtual instruments and audio plug-ins without the potential issues associated with a general-purpose Mac or Windows computer. Their
Receptor VIP line represents the beginning of a new direction, with a rack-like interface in lieu of the old mixer (though the latter is still available) and a surprising amount of horsepower given its supposedly entry-level positioning.
In these videos, we look specifically at Live Mode, which allows you to organize presets under a "tag" (though a tag is really more like a folder on the Receptor VIP), then preload all needed plug-ins and samples up to the limits of the machine's RAM. This provides advantages such as "patch remain" (held notes aren't cut off when you switch presets) and no wait time as you bring up the next preset for the next tune--just like a hardware keyboard workstation.
Keep in mind as well that a "preset" can consist of multiple virtual instruments, key-zoned and velocity-switched as you see fit. So, it's really more like a multi or combi, and each multi can in turn live within a "Live Mode" set. Unlike the MuseBox, this isn't a walled garden of streamlined plug-ins, but open to running pretty much whatever you want.
Look for a full review in Keyboard soon, and if you can't see the videos below,
CLICK HERE.