KvR's News Headlines announce the 1st quarter release of Albino 2.
This is great news. I have always loved the Albino sound but some missing features such as an arpeggiator kept me from going forward and purchasing it.
The new gui is awesome, 1100 RP presets..1100 and an arpeggiator plus other goodies.
This is definitely enough of an upgrade to send me to my piggy-bank and ordering it.
How about you all?
If you like Albino but have been holding off making the plunge to buy it, does this change your mind?

I think Albino is my favourite synth I don't own. I still don't really know why I never bought it, but even though it's even more tempting now, I might still hold off - my piggy bank is empty!

I've had it for ages and I'm a bit miffed that they'll be charging me to updgrade...especially given that I've bought RPs extra presets (which weren't too cheap) and Element P which is a huge pile of plop....

I have been considering getting a decent all-rounder synth for some time, and i have to say this looks very powerful. I'm led to believe it is capable of a massive variety of sounds.

If the good things people say about Albino 1 are true, we might be on to a winner here!

quincy you can find out for yourself.
Albino 1 is still available as a demo download.

Im hoping nthose nice linnplug people will let this output midi - cos it would be fabulous to finally have a decent arpeggiator that could be used on lots of other synths

Id probably pay the entry fee for that alone (and please dont try and sell me energy XT - tried it not for me OK)

But with a bonus synth attatched - its a winner

Quincy, It's a corker, no doubt about that.

If any of you guys have anything to suggest to me about what synth to buy, there's another thread in the instruments section that i started just for the purpose.

Cheers

Have you tried Synth 1 yet, that things amazing and free. The std bank that you get with it is terrible, Mr Toda was clearly no programmer but the synth itself is fantastic and there's loads of additional banks available for it....just a thought.

The presets that other people have done for Albino have been outstanding as well... Whenever I think I've heard everything the synth can do, somebody does another set of presets and I think... Whoa! very good analog stuff, and now with a killer arpeggiator?

... must have synth!! sits in a mix better than anything I've tried...

The arpeggiator and especially the spectral waves will be a big plus. To my mind, that puts it into the ballpark of a virtual virus for all practical purposes.

Too bad they took nine steps with the arppegiator and not ten... being able to latch the arpeggiator and then transpose it in realtime. That would have been very cool. Of course, maybe that IS possible, and I misread the blurb.

As it is, these additions will be enough to put it back on my "to get" list for sure.

I wonder what kind of spectral waves will be included and how many. The virus I believe has something like 70? That's a lot and I wouldn't expect that many on the Albino, but hopefully it will be a decent selection.

do not under estimate the value of 1100 *profesional quality* presets. In my mind, presets are what you are buying, and the synth is thrown in for free. after all, its the *presets* you will be using when you sit down to make music, not the knobs so much.

The only others that compare with quantity and quality are virsyn tera 2 (1400 presets) and discoDSP discovery (2100 presets); still, to my ears Papen's are the most desirable.

Well, I'm stoked. I just got Albino for Xmas, and a free upgrade to the new version sounds ace to me.

On the other hand, ~$50 doesn't sound too terrible a price to pay for those who have had it since it came out, especially if it adds good features and presets. My opinion, anyway.

-David

yeah, fair point, but I'm just a tight arsed whinger.

i would second pummel's point.
i start a lot of projects based simply on the 'musicality' of Albino's presets.

now sometimes that track gets removed along the way to a so-called finished project as I strip things back and layer things up, but usually I start with Albino and go from there.

i would also point out that energyXT CC envelope control works exceptionally well with albino because the controls sent to the mod wheel are always really well thought out -- i.e. very professional, very expressive sound design

and oh yeh, the basses were the most pleasant surprise for me. I went in looking for luxurious pads and prety much stumbled into the basses. I use an albino bass on just about every project. i don't even think i listened to them in the demo, but for my taste they're very good, very usable. work esp. well with a good tempo based delay. now looking forward to trying their arp for some basslines.

Damn, bought the bugger in September!

The one feature I am looking for most is the ability to send the LFOs to more targets. I often want to LFO the strangest things.

That and Hermode tuning would be beautiful. For a while I was regretting buying Albino instead of Z3ta. Maybe this will change my mind back. Albino sounds great, but I constantly get floored by the patches in the Z3ta, too.

Wow, nice specs, I think I'm sold!!!

BTW, it looks as they're releasing a hardware version of Albino also : Looks great!

Peter.

no, its just a 3d render.

maybe Formz? anyone clarify? or who did it?

Just pulling your leg!

Nice picture though.

Peter.

SEXIEST GUI 2004

quite an award..

seeing as theres only 6 days gone by:-)

I was hoping for some extra modulation routings, like envelope destinations and an distortion module.

If you need distortion, you could always get SuperCamelPhat.

-David, who requested distortion for CronoX 3.

pummel wrote:

do not under estimate the value of 1100 *profesional quality* presets. In my mind, presets are what you are buying, and the synth is thrown in for free. after all, its the *presets* you will be using when you sit down to make music, not the knobs so much. The only others that compare with quantity and quality are virsyn tera 2 (1400 presets) and discoDSP discovery (2100 presets); still, to my ears Papen's are the most desirable.

Albino has been my workhorse because of both the quality of the presets and their usability. Albino sits *extremely* well in a mix. it's so well-designed and easy to use that when you're auditioning patches and you think 'i wish it would do this,' getting that sound is a piece of cake.

i would have been perfectly happy if Albino had never been updated, but Albino 2 is a total wet dream.

wrench45us wrote:

and oh yeh, the basses were the most pleasant surprise for me. I went in looking for luxurious pads and prety much stumbled into the basses. I use an albino bass on just about every project. i don't even think i listened to them in the demo, but for my taste they're very good, very usable.

nearly every one of my tracks has an Albino bass...

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What is spectral waves?

Patrik

Albino's been my favorite VA subsynth since the day it was released. Rob and Peter, just tell me when and where you want my $50US sent and it's on its way.

Patrik wrote:

What is spectral waves?

Single Cycle waves, I think?

Peter.

arp_laszlo wrote:

everything

absolutely true.

lwg wrote:

Rob and Peter, just tell me when and where you want my $50US sent and it's on its way.

In care of seamonkey, MI,USA.

pummel wrote:

do not under estimate the value of 1100 *profesional quality* presets. In my mind, presets are what you are buying, and the synth is thrown in for free. after all, its the *presets* you will be using when you sit down to make music, not the knobs so much.

OK, now change "you" to "I" and I might agree with you. I never ever use other people's presets in my music. I'm not an Albino owner, but when it was first released I went through all the sounds and gave them a listen. Unfortunately none of them really caught my attention at all, and in all honesty even 1100 presets would not be enough to sell me on a synth.

just curious - did you try to roll your own?

I'm also not too fond of this particular synth (Albino 1), I've tried the demo and it just didn't catch my attention at all. Many of the presets were just a variation of another preset, with no really diverse sounds. I generally make my own presets, but there has to be something there to attract me initially. I was not fond of the GUI and that was a major turnoff for me. Compare it to the looks and usability of V-Station's GUI and, well, there is no comparison.

Gotta love being able to use the mouse wheel or to right click on a knob!

looks schmooks
It's a great synth
this is the news i've been waiting for

To me looks and GUI usability are above all, look at Absynth 1/2, they sound absolutely awesome but are a nightmare to program. Coincidentally, Synth 1 and Discovery share a similar soundset, but I've yet to create anything useful in Discovery, where as in Synth 1 I can have a field day and the only limit is my immagination (ok maybe not completely ). Point is looks DO count for a lot, and not just looks, but the usability of the GUI.

If something looked and smelled like a shit but tasted like strawberries, would you try it?

Quote:

If something looked and smelled like a shit but tasted like strawberries, would you try it?

Are you trying to tell us that shit tastes like strawberries Arney? Well I'll be...

I've not had the 'pleasure' of tasting shit, so I couldn't tell you

maybe we could start a new thread
'shit vs strawberries'
BTW I do not find albinos gui to be unusable

just comparisons like the one above

opiadream,

Roll your eyes all you want..

Didnt you know...
Hyjacking a topic is illegal dude!

I'll look at AL when its released. Since it will be the same price as the old but upgraded- thats an incentive...

I just bought Albino a month ago, and LOVE it. I'm using it lots in every track I do. I'm thrilled to hear about an update with a cool arpeggiator and hundreds of new patches. I definately recommend this synth.

I also agree with the ease of programming Albino compared to Absynth. The clumsy editing setup of the original Absynth (it's a bit better now) was a real drag when I first got it. Albino's GUI is very straightforward, and totally invites you to mess with presets to give them your own "touch".