Hi everybody,

head over to www.refx.net and download a demo of the BEAST.

Cheers,
Mike

Sounds positively wicked. Can't wait for the Mac port later this week!

PPG

I dont know, it sounds a bit too fuzzy for my liking, and i can get all those sounds from the JunoX2 anyway (or even the Junglist, i assume thats its competitor)

This is even more wicked then JunoX i think. Really cool presets too.

I really like the sound, very brutal!

yeah have to agree with Kriminal in that it sounds too much like the junox2.

too many beasts spoil the Jungle

Well I thought it was "wild"

Well I thought it was "wild"

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZz .... wake me up when its over !

While you can create some of the sounds on the junoX I think the BEASST is one in its own.

I mean this thing does make some killer and wicked basses.

+ some low down atmo evil sounds

dw

I'd get it even only for that "Lights in Green" preset. I don't know whats wrong with you guys - but i like it alot - device built for acid sounds with little work required.

Michael - if there's something that can be done/added to increase it's out-of-the-box abilities to make acid - it will be great idea to add it to make it a niche.

[ 18 June 2002, 22:20: Message edited by: Feveria ]

Hi Feveria,

perhaps you could provide some ACID presets. When using no PWM (set to green and 0) and using only SAW or SQR, low-cutoff and high-resonance spiced up with a bit of distortion you get pure acid sounds.

The BEAST is a lot more versatile than some people think...

I don't know how people come to think of it as a competitioner for junglist. BEAST is less than half the price.

Cheers,
Mike

Sounds really good to me

one way that you could make it easier to use would be to add the ability to route all of the oscs through one of the filters. that way you wouldn't have to try to automate both sets of cutoff and resonance if you were putting in filter sweeps, etc.

Am I missing something? where is the envelope?

I think it sounds nice... but I dont see an envelope.. or maybe im not looking at it correctly..

VitaminD: it only has decay, tb-303 style.

Personally, I would love to see an analog style step sequencer built into the Beast...
But other then that, I like the way it sounds
Looking forward for the Mac version.
Cheers,
-Nir

Beast also makes some excellent lead sounds.

love the gritty bite this thing has

and might I add well priced

the demo limitations are more than fair... I was able to hear how this puppy performs adequately within the 15 minutes.

I have to agree with Marc and Mr Tunes, its got some good sounds for lead, and indeed has bite. I had it running inside Cubase with an Acid style ensemble going in Reaktor, and Beast just cut through very fine.
I never did like Junglist that much.
But I like the Beast
bluedad

Looks more like a competitor for Tau Pro to me. Maybe people are thinking Junglist because it also sounds like an animal.

I'm at work so I haven't been able to test it out but it looks like a fairly interesting concept. Might have a look at the demo myself.

I like specialty synths most of the time, so another one is always a welcome addition as far as I'm concerned.

[ 19 June 2002, 03:27: Message edited by: Caleb Blake ]

I like it for basslines, gj keep it up . omg $30 , that is just awesome. paid $200 for the pro-52 and right now im just pissed that I paid so much for it.

[ 19 June 2002, 06:32: Message edited by: xfer ]

Spent some time today messing around with the Beast demo again, really giving it a work and and trying it in some of my tracks. Now, as i've already got the Junglist, JX Synth and JunoX2 (all legit i might add, for the benefit of the synical few ) i cannot see where this would fit in my set-up. Most of the presets are drowned in FX and its not unique enough to make me want to reach for my credit card.

Dont get me wrong, its a good synth, but it doesnt stand out enough for me as being different

A BIG thumbs up for the Beast.

I've only played with it a couple of times and haven't really tested it out to the full due to the 15mins timeout, but it's enough to play around with a few of the presets, do a few tweaks and it's easy to see the potential of the synth.

It has a distinctive sound - can have a lovely bite to it and with the oscillators stacked up and some PWM going - it can be a big sound with lots of movement - I like it.

Personally I wouldn't use the FX - I'd use better quality plug-ins for that, but they are a welcome addition to anyone that doesn't have access to posh FX.

And the thing that really strikes me with the Beast is that it seems to be good in all ranges - I could get some good basslines out of it (both fat and subtle) and very good leads and high frequency lines. It has a very nice portamento bend to it also - similar in character to my MS20 - too many VSTis don't bend too well - this one does though. And a musical distortion with the drive - better than most distortion plug-ins to my ears - it blends with the sound very well.

It would be too easy to think it's just a version of JunoX (sonically very similar though) but I found it more versatile than JunoX - mainly because of the bass end and a filter that sits well high up or low down. And although 15 mins doesn't let you seriously test the programmability, it looks like there is plenty of movement in there with the velocity mod options on so many of the parameters.

Too many VSTis sound bland or try to fit in with the rest, so it's bloody marvellous to have another synth with real character - Maybe not to everyone's taste, but could be indispensible to the techno/acid crew. I'll be buying it - a steal for 30 bucks. This thing could replace my MC202 maybe (and it certainly has a far greater range of sound than most of the old Rolands).

Actually with the Beast, JunoX my MS20, MC202 and one or two others, I might have the synth setup I've always wanted for doing the trancey/acidy tracks that I've struggled with sometimes due to lack of nasty sound sources.

I reckon the Beast will be up there with 303s, old Korgs, Old Rolands and SCI synths for classic acid styles. And the good thing is you could use it for so many other styles too if you take out the drive and filter down.

I would maybe say it would be a better synth with an LFO or two, and maybe some more mod options, but it's meaty enough now. (and with some CC programming say for porta time changes and use of velocity it's tweakable enough as is)

Can it be set to retrigger or is it fixed to legato? (I like non retriggering filters anyway, so that's OK - just wondered)

Right up my street, I love it, thank you, here's my $30.

where have i seen them buttons before ...?
i understand from this thread it is worth a buy ?
anyone that made something withit already ?

peace

Remco

I like it a lot, lots of bottom in it. It's good starting points to build some bad basslines.

At $30, it costs nothing.

2 thumbs up!

Pat

Well I've been playing with it for the last couple of days and I'm going to get it simply because it has some pretty nasty bass and screeching leads. There's something about it I like a lot and keep going back to it. Ok, I've talked myself into it. Off to Refx
bluedad

Caleb,

You are completely right, I was talking from my perspective. But then again, if you compare them as sonic sources for your music, I think you are not really THAT in-depth with a synth like Pro52.

Personally I always thought the Pro5 was hugely over-rated as a synth (I used to have access to one too) - it has a nice basic sound but I never found it that versatile, the envelope is too slow etc...etc - it was only ever really well known because it was one of the first few decent poly analogue synths, but that doesn't mean it was actually GOOD. So the Pro52 also is over-rated - I've tried it out, and it didn't make me want to buy it at all - I WOULD buy a jupiter clone - whether that be a 8 or a 6, so I'm not biased against polysynths.

So it is fair to compare different synths - it's either useable or it's not - I think it's fair to say more people making electronic music would use the Beast regularly than a Pro52. Everybody needs either a bassline or a lead line or both, and Beast does it better than Pro52 to my ears. OK Pro52 is good-ish for pads, but so are an awful lot of other VSTis, whereas not that many VSTis are that hot at basses and cutting leads.

Actually, I think it is completely stupid to compare two synths as completely different as PRO-52 or JUNGLIST and The BEAST. It is akin to comparing a BMW M3 with a motor cycle. Sure, the're both really fast but there's really no common reference point for any meaningful comparison.

I've not played with the BEAST, and I probably never will, but it seems to me to be a competitor for TAU PRO more than anything [similar price, both mono-synths, no envelopes, on-board effects, etc].

I've made a conscious decidion to stick with the synths I have for the time being. In a year or so, when I've exhausted the possibilities of my current synths I might start looking around but for now I've got everything I need.

do a lot of these synth designers just cut and paste their code from one synth to the next? like the code for the filter of say junox into the code of beast etc?

cause they seem to knock them out pretty fast, especially since it was only a couple of weeks ago i read the other chap from refx asking for suggestions for their next dance synth

why is nobody bringing out anything new? it all seems like recycled stuff to me.

i really like mike/refx tho. i think nexus will be something. (so long as steinberg doesnt lock it to sx)

[ 22 June 2002, 00:31: Message edited by: prophet ]

"so long as steinberg doesnt lock it to sx"

Could someone please tell me what Cubase SX has got to do with Nexus?

Just a few comment...
...i like the, of course the intense and dramatic sound on all presets,

...but more than anything, i'm impressed by the variety of background delay/reverb atmospheres

...one regret, can you implement a vibrato modulation ?

As a solo sound,i would i like to use it on joystick with my left hand...

I forgot...
-would it be possible to implement a tempo relation with the host program on delay ?

Trying to avoid the whole "comparison" issue for a bit, I am really impressed by Beast. The sounds coming out of it are wonderful for bass. It is just a pity for me that it didn't come out a bit earlier as I would have loved to have finished a compo entry using Beast for bass. It has certainly given me a bit of inspiration.

Michael