My only concern is its external power supply, which is rather insubstantial. The rotary encoders also feel firm, as do the rear panel's I/O sockets - stereo quarter‑inch outputs and a quarter‑inch headphone jack, a quarter‑inch microphone input, MIDI In and Thru, plus a USB 1.1 (not USB2) port that carries MIDI and program data from a Mac or PC. The Plugiator's Plug‑in Manager handles everything from patch management to synth editing and software installation.Ĭosting just £379, the Plugiator is reassuringly heavy and it feels robust. Whereas Sonic Core has continued to manufacture ASBs, inDSP decided to develop a much lower‑cost product that would allow users to run all of the ASB soft synths (and more) as plug‑ins within a single, affordable box: the Use Audio Plugiator. There's no love lost between inDSP and Sonic Core, and Holger Drenkelfort of Sonic Core has gone on record to say that his company does not agree with inDSP's use of Creamware's technology. In December 2006, Creamware again filed for insolvency, and its intellectual property rights were distributed to two competing companies: inDSP and Sonic Core GmbH, the latter of which was founded in March 2007 by former Creamware employees.

Soon after, Creamware achieved modest success by turning its soft synths into products called Authentic Sound Boxes (ASBs) - promising, although somewhat flawed hardware units with control panels that had the look and feel of the original instruments. Then, in 2005, the company's founder set up inDSP Audio Technologies in Bangalore and moved elements of Creamware's software development to India. Retaining their staff, the company immediately resurfaced as Creamware Audio GmbH, and continued trading (which is naughty, but legal).

Other developments, such as Noah, failed to appear long after their promised delivery dates and, in June 2003, Creamware Datentechnik GmbH declared themselves insolvent, blaming the late arrival of their own products. Indeed, Creamware Elektra for the Mac was the only product in 20 years that I have been unable to review simply because it did not work. Reinventing themselves as manufacturers of DSP cards and related software, Creamware's ability to make inflated claims regarding their products remained undiminished and, while some users liked their products, I was not a fan. However, reviews were less enthusiastic (see Sound On Sound, September 1995) and the company was not a great success. Offering a low‑end hard disk editor and a cheap audio restoration system, they burst upon the scene with exotic claims that they would replace the market leaders of the era. Once upon a time there was a German company called Creamware. This desktop DSP box runs and offers hands-on control of Creamware's ASB range of synth plug-ins - and it costs under $500.

Silverbox vst serial