Call me old-fashioned, but if I set the Threshold and Ceiling controls on a limiter to 0dB, and the input signal doesn’t approach 0dB, I expect nothing to happen. The same cannot be said for the AIR Maximizer mastering limiter. While the compressor and EQ may be pointless, though, they are at least harmless. Given that every DAW program on the planet comes with more powerful equivalents for free, I can only assume that they were included to bulk out the collection, rather than because anyone actually needs them. They work fine, but their only distinguishing feature is that they are wrongly categorised as Modulation effects in Pro Tools. In no particular order, AIR Compressor and AIR Parametric EQ are exactly what their names suggest: a simple, no-frills compressor and four-band parametric equaliser. The highlights of the original Creative FX Collection are summarised in the box for the purposes of this review, I’ll focus on the new plug-ins, of which there are eight. The original 20 plug-ins are now being bundled with various hardware products rather than with Pro Tools, but a new and expanded version is also available for sale under the name Creative FX Collection Plus. As a result, AIR products are no longer tied to Pro Tools, and the current versions of Strike, Structure, Velvet and so on are all available in Audio Units and VST formats as well as in AAX Native format. However, further upheaval was to follow, and the AIR team left Avid for a new home under the wing of InMusic, the group that also includes the likes of Akai, Alesis and M-Audio. Also bundled free with Pro Tools was the AIR Creative FX Collection, a set of simple-to-use effects and processors that eventually ran to 20 different plug-ins. These included the free Xpand! workstation synth module that was bundled free with Pro Tools and closely based on Hypersonic, along with the Structure sampler, Strike drum instrument and more. The following year, Wizoo were acquired by Digidesign, and under the AIR name, began producing a series of virtual instruments specifically for the Pro Tools platform. Wizoo then moved into sound design, initially with the curious VST Drum Sessions and then, in 2004, with the excellent Hypersonic virtual instrument. Founded by Peter Gorges under the name Wizoo, the company started life as publishers, writing third-party manuals for instruments like the Kawai K5000. The software development team now known as AIR Music Technology have had an eventful career. Once available only to Pro Tools users, AIR’s comprehensive plug-in bundle is now open to all - and has been augmented by some intriguing additions.
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