KVR :: Instruments » So. How are you getting on with Tone2 Saurus... [View Original Topic]
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cyberheater - Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:20 am

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I must say I'm still pretty impressed by Saurus. It still sounds great and I've made some lovely sounds with it.

I'm also a bit surprised that there's been no updates but I guess the devs feel that it's pretty feature complete already.

(Please don't crap up this thread with Diva comparison talk).

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ariston - Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:27 am

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Sold it. Got Oxium instead.

The things that really bugged me were the inefficient UI (relegating often-used mods to the damn matrix) and the pronounced, ugly, and decidedly digital harshness when driving feedback/resonance/tube.

I didn't think it was a total loss, there's some nice sounds to be had with it when you exploit its sweet spots, but I had those bases covered with D... (oops). Damn impulse buys... the virtual (aliased) grit on the virtual keys got to me, I guess.

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Ingonator - Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:39 am

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I was impressed by Saurus after just 20 minutes of playing, especially as i started doing some of my own sounds...

There will be new soundbanks at the Tone2 website soon.

Personally i already made around 150+ presets for it which is the most ever besides Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V (around 200+). Some of those presets are published with the "Vintage" expansion, others are maybe included with the next soundset and the rest will follow later (with some more i hope...)

Besides the fact i also like other synths like e.g. Oxium this is currently my "go-to" synth. I also like the other Tone2 synths like e.g. ElectraX and Gladiator 2. I'll spend a lot of time with ElectraX in the next weeks/months for both an upcoming official expansion and my own signature soundset.

The Tone2 "guys" just work on new soundbanks, updates (e.g. Gladiator 2.4) and also some new stuff (no details yet).


Ingo

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braj - Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:49 am

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I keep meaning to check out that Himalaya retro bank. I might get Saurus when it comes on sale cheap in the market. My only other Tone2 synth is Firebird+. I do wish you could hidethat Saurus keyboard though, it is ugly and doesn't provide good visual feedback when the sequencer is driving the plugin. Firebird lets you hide its kb and that makes it very efficint regarding screen space.

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4damind - Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:25 pm

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I really hate the Demo but mostly because of the demo restrictions which makes it for me not very usable. Because I don't like Oxium there was some money left to buy Saurus...

IMO it's a good VA. I would put in the same department with Steinberg Retrologue. Very optimized algorithms, also with Unison and very flexible. I use it very often for leads and plucks and it fits very well in the mix.
I would say it has a bit a signature sound (Tone2 sound?) which is not really analog but also not digital.. some kind of "pseudo analog" but in a good way.
I'm not a big preset user but there are some very nice presets eg by Bigtone.

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Ingonator - Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:36 pm

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Saurus is one of those synths which don't "reinvent the wheel" but one of those which "just work" if you know what i mean.

I found that it sounds even better with an EQ added (e.g. Stillwell VibeEQ at around 110 Hz). It doesn't mean it sounds bad without (and in some cases with the EQ it sounds worse) but it could improve the sound IMO.

I am tired of people saying that if you use an EQ it's "cheating"...


Ingo

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cyberheater - Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:01 pm

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I'm amazed how CPU efficient it is. I can have a full songs worth of Saurus and don't need to freeze any tracks which is pretty incredible considering how power hungry some synth plug ins are.

I also find the interface to be very quick to dial in sounds. I'm a big fan of the single page interfaces and Saurus does not disappoint.

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quayquay17 - Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:29 pm

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I assume they also mix by mic placement alone as well

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_leras - Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:30 pm

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I demoed this and thought it was just a sub set of Electrax... sound was nice, but nothing over electrax imo. I didn't thnk it was the premier soft synth.

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Examigan - Tue Aug 21, 2012 2:58 pm

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I think it's great, and am working on a new demo track for it.

Also it's only at v1.0... it will be really cool to see what's in store for this synth in the near future.


-Rob

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cryophonik - Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:03 pm

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I finally bought it a month or so ago, but haven't had much time to use it until recently. I like what I've heard/seen so far. It's a nice contrast to Gladiator2 and ElectraX due to its relative simplicity and overall warmer sound. I do wish that it had more filter options, though.

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ATS - Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:09 pm

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I am a pretty big fan of Tone2 but when I demoed Saurus I wasn't all that impressed. I was not impressed with Diva either. Neither is for me.

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fisherKing - Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:31 pm

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i think it's a great synth. easy to work with, great fat sound. am doing more 'modern' music, so the vintage bank didn't do much for me. but for fat arps, pads..basses...it's pretty great...

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zerocrossing - Tue Aug 21, 2012 3:51 pm

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I'm getting on just fine without it. The demo left me cold and there's so many great instruments out there I don't miss this one a bit.

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pdxindy - Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:03 pm

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The Mac version was missing functionality in the gui... that hasn't been fixed yet? (been away for almost 3 months).

I found the demo restrictions so annoying that I was always back to square one with 10 minutes to go somewhere... never got a single sound I really liked cause it timed out too soon. Even if I might have liked it enough to buy otherwise, I am not going to buy a synth in the hope I can actually use it to my satisfaction once the ridiculous demo limitations are gone. I do like the feature-set and one page gui though.

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mcnoone - Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:09 pm

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That's really not necessary to state that.
In a way, by stating that, your actually doing the thing you are telling us not to do.

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nineofkings - Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:12 pm

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It is necessary because it's happened within the first 15 posts of every other thread about Saurus so far.

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mcnoone - Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:18 pm

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Then maybe it should just state "NO COMPARISONS" and not include a name of a specific synth.

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Kindred - Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:27 pm

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nice sound and I like the level of control over the sequencer/arp

however...probably the worst set of factory presets of any synth - no problem if you want to create from scratch but not good if you need a quick synth to go to for some good sounds to start from...

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xx JPRacer xx - Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:32 pm

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I really like it, it's easy to get quick, usable sounds pretty fast. I agrre that there should be an option to hide the keyboard.

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trimph1 - Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:16 pm

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I think that the idea of hiding the keyboard would be a good one for them to work on.

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Ingonator - Tue Aug 21, 2012 11:30 pm

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One of the next official expansions will be a Dance/Trance bank...


Ingo

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cyberheater - Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:10 am

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I think that's my only gripe with Saurus. I find the expansion soundsets far to expensive. I know they are probably worth it but it's still too much for me.

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fisherKing - Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:04 am

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i also wish i could hide the keyboard (i'm ALWAYS posting here about plugin keyboards LOL).

meanwhile, i've tried to at least CLEAN the keys; i keep scrubbing them, but nothing helps...

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LeVzi - Wed Aug 22, 2012 8:20 am

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Maybe a virtual compressed air can and a virtual tissue box should come next

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osiris - Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:38 pm

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LeVzi - Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:39 pm

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I love the thing, cracking sound to it, easy to use, as always quality effects from T2.

I am still a bit puzzled by a couple of functions on the synth, not sure how to get the best out of them, but that's more my inexperience than the synths problem.

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penguinfromdeep - Wed Aug 22, 2012 3:53 pm

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not that well

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Timfonie - Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:01 pm

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I haven't tried the demo. Yet I can say the several sound examples are very tasty and inviting.

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himalaya - Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:35 am

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Here's a few thoughts of mine, biased or not, still, my own genuine observations after having used Saurus for a long time:

- I've seen people commenting that Saurus is just a subset of ElectraX. Saurus' oscillators and the filter are much different (at least the 24dB LPF I tested). The basic building blocks just sound different (edit: and I hasten to add, they sound much better to my ears), which is what I found out by doing direct comparisons.

- does it sound 'analogue'? Most definitely. When compared to one of my hardware vintage analogue synths the filter resonance, and some waves were very close. The resonant filter sweep in particular, was very authentic. By the way, I dislike doing 'one-to-one' comparisons as I like to take each synth and find its strengths, not worrying about much else. That's why in the past I used to imitate the 'analog' sound using an FM synth, a silly notion perhaps, but one which brings unexpected and pleasant results.

- the much maligned 'feedback' effect. This has a great sound if used wisely. I like it at about 11 o'clock with the LPF cutoff reduced to below 12 o'clock. Wiggle the cutoff for some nice timbres. This sounds even better with some resonance. Another good use: add 'zap' to sharp LPF decay sounds. It also works nice with drive up, res up low cutoff, for a dark, thick psychedelic type bass/lead.

- the audio rate sound of the LFOs is very, very good! Not much talk about this feature, which gives some very cool, clangorous sounds. For percussion this is Saurus' one of the best features. I reckon Tone2 ought to do a drum machine as they have all the ingredients in place.

- the mod matirx has some cool new options and is extremely well specified.

Criticisms? There are some.

- As some have pointed out, there's too much hidden in the mod matrix. Basics like master tune, noise, should be up on the UI.

- The 'boost' parameter produces a click when used on fast decay sounds (it's very audible on bass sounds). Also, it would be good for the boost parameter to have a 'bass boost' only option. I sometimes use filter 'drive' to reduce high frequencies which the 'boost' parameter adds to the signal. Good on bass sounds.

- It would be nice to have another flavour of filter drive, one which is more aggressive (and not volume compensated) and still 'warm'. Same with feedback: another option with a different sound would be nice.

- the formant filter is weak. This is surprising as Markus has absolutely superb formant filters in Gladiator.


Saurus gives another flavour of the 'analogue' sound, which is just as well, as it would be pointless to have each analog modeling VA sound the same! Real analogue synths don't sound the same, so why should software?

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cyberheater - Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:44 am

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himalya. Some comments on your thoughts.



Yes yes yes. Every time I fire it up I'm still amazed at the analogue sounds of it. It also has it's own character. The oscillators are thick and buzzy and the filter is liquid and smooth and importantly, when it starts to go into self oscillation it still sounds part of the synth rather then being tacked on like a lot of other filters.

The onboard effects are also very good. Impressive.



I need to play with this more. I've basically just ignored it since I'm not to familiar with that from a hardware point of view.



Yes. I thought this as well. Sunrizer on the ipad has a much better formant filter then Saurus. I hope Tone2 improve on this.

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LeVzi - Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:51 am

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I can't remember if it's filterbank or warmverb that has a wicked formant filter in it, I think it's warmverb. That would work nicely in Saurus.

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Aiynzahev - Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:02 am

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I think electric himalaya made some good points. It's a really good synth. I've been meaning to write a review on it. Beautiful character, very different from other synths imo and yes it does have it's limitations but it also has some pretty cool possibilities.

I think its worth Toen2 expanding it a little as there is so much out there these days though I don't know what to suggest.

Not at all and a sub-electraX, totally different. And I was expecting it to be just a cut down electraX though thinking about it that was a little cynical of me.

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osiris - Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:37 am

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That's what you'd think, but I find they all have different characters. ElectraX sounds different than Gladiator. Gladiator sounds different than Firebird. And Saurus looks very simple, but....it roars. I love it.

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_leras - Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:44 pm

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I thought Saurus was like a sub set of Electrax, or one of Electrax's four voices or something (sorry, thats vague).

I just felt there was something about the sound of the two that was very similar footprint. Something like the same compressor/EQ settings on the output?

The way the demo's worked bugged me somehow (have to restart after 20mins?) and I uninstalled them before going deep deep.

*I was quite tempted by Electrax, but Saurus just seemed to have some basic limitations in making sounds, can't remember but could have been the mod matrix.




.

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Aiynzahev - Thu Aug 23, 2012 6:41 pm

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On a side note I thought many of the presets in Saurus were really good.

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cyberheater - Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:12 am

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Yes they are pretty good. I especially liked the tutorial bank which was very useful.

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4damind - Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:31 am

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I agree.

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LeVzi - Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:35 am

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I think the demo limitations are going to be eased, at least I hope they are, seems to be a real bone of contention.

New banks are planned, which is always good.

I've never used firebird , seems I will have to get me that at some point, seems to be popular.

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4damind - Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:43 am

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Markus wrote in their Saurus thread about a longer demo time for the next version.

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braj - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:16 am

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I have it, it is a neat little synth, but I am finding I don't really use it in anything, not quite my style though I could probably squeeze out more from it if I tried. I wish the license transfer fee didn't exist, I'd sell it and use the money to buy Saurus. It would be cool if they had some 'trade-in' policy, even just the license transfer fee of $30 off a new product would be great, make Saurus $90 and I don't know if I could resist.

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mcnoone - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:45 am

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I don't like it.
In fact, I think it completely sucks.

Not Saurus, but this thread.
Putting a line like this in your OP -

Is simply not right.
I suggest you take it out of your subject, and op, and stop your nonsense.
No threads write things like that, and it's just disrespectful.
You could have just as well wrote "Please-No Comparisons", but not include some synths name.

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braj - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:49 am

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I have to agree. People like to complain that people beat up on Tone2 but often it is the way things are presented by/for them that cause conflict. This line is pretty needless and having it in the title only reinforces this mood every time someone sees this thread.

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pdxindy - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:51 am

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The demo restrictions are so limiting that it makes it basically useless for me... It always timed out before I was able to make some sounds I like, and then it resets to square one. That made the experience of the synth more annoying than exciting for me. There is no chance that I would buy a synth when I cannot make some sounds I like. I imagine there must be other people who feel the same, so I expect that sales would improve.

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pdxindy - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:55 am

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Hey, I was traveling for 2 1/2 months and not online, but before I left, it was always a Saurus fanboy who would bring up Diva first, just like here... They want some of the Diva luster to wear off onto Saurus

Think of it as a compliment and free Diva advertising... hehe

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Urs - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:59 am

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Might seem like that, but I don't want it. We don't need it. We're happy without any comparison at all.

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 8:59 am

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ariston - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:05 am

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What? What? I was going to type "Dominator CM", okay? Why the rolling of the eyes and the snorting of the nose?

Peace, y'all.

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:11 am

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Oh, bra-vo!

Premier opinion, mate! Cheeri-o!

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:12 am

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amen! A-MEN!!

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:15 am

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Nah, I think people get the point.

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:19 am

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In-depth, well-thought-out response. Thank you, fellow KVRian, for taking the extra time to post an informative reply to the topic at hand.

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:53 am

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That's FANtastic. I kinda doubt Tone2 needs it either.

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bailees7irish - Fri Aug 24, 2012 9:54 am

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cyberheater - Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:26 am

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Removed

I think Diva is a fantastic synth but most Saurus thread tends to end up filling up with pro Diva stuff. I can understand the passion but I didn't want this thread to end up the same. I'm not sure I'll succeed.

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satYatunes - Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:36 am

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Edit: I will come back to this and post my thoughts, just need to think through and confirm a few things.

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braj - Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:38 am

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Nice! Really it was just an invitation for exactly what you were trying to avoid. Good on ya for considering the feedback!

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cyberheater - Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:53 am

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I was happy to oblige

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LeVzi - Fri Aug 24, 2012 3:45 pm

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Yes you said that the first time, yet you felt the need to say it again.

It obviously bothers you, so why not instead just ignore it. It's not disrespectful, it's just trying to avoid the last select bunch of train wrecks where these threads tend to end up.

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Aiynzahev - Fri Aug 24, 2012 7:10 pm

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I wrote a review on Saurus here: http://www.aiynzahev-sounds.com/2/post/2012/08/review-tone2-saurus.html

Let me know what you guys think of it. I wanted to do it in more detail than you can here, but I will post a cut down version at some point.

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Ingonator - Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:11 pm

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Nice review indeed, i also like the waveforms comparisons.

About Dance/Trance. There will be an official expansion/bank for that soon...


Ingo

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4damind - Fri Aug 24, 2012 11:55 pm

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Nice review, also some interesting points like this waveform comparisons

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Aiynzahev - Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:22 am

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Thanks guys. I thought the waveform comparison was interesting, it shows the Tone2 did give us a completely new saw-tooth algorithm with Saurus and it's vary authentic. It also shows to me that analog emulations in general are not just marketing speech, at least in the examples I had.

Sylenth1 is a very precise saw-tooth and Largo and V-station looked much the same, though a tad sharper.

The analog emulations have all kinds of different shapes.

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PietW. - Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:54 am

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When I make music I listen more to my ears like what I see with my eyes.

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core - Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:25 am

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I also did a short review of Saurus at http://rekkerd.org/review-tone2-saurus-virtual-analog-synthesizer-plug-in/
Enjoyed this synth quite a bit!

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Ingonator - Fri Aug 31, 2012 5:00 am

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I just added several audio demos at this thread:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=358986

As soon as i do some more audio demos (and i made enough presets for doing several more...) i'll maybe start my own thread about it.

----------------------------------
UPDATE:
Here is a copy of the audio demos:


Hi,

some time ago i had created small audio demos for all of my presets which are included in the official "Analog" expansion/soundset for Tone2 Saurus.

Those demos use a single preset and no external FXs were used.

Here are the audio demos (all of them WAV files) of 28 of my own favorite presets from my Saurus presets in the "Analog" bank:

Saurus Preset Demo_Rez Arp

Saurus Preset Demo_Tremolo Arp

Saurus Preset Demo_Acidic Saurus 2

Saurus Preset Demo_Catherine Bass

Saurus Preset Demo_Chainsaw Bass

Saurus Preset Demo_Horny Saurus

Saurus Preset Demo_JP8 Low Brass

Saurus Preset Demo_Oxygene 4 Brass

Saurus Preset Demo_Cosy PWM Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Dreamy Saw Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Epic Strings

Saurus Preset Demo_Influx Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Reso Sweep Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Saulina

Saurus Preset Demo_Swell Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Vox Humania

Saurus Preset Demo_Bell Morph Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Bellish Vox Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Fat Rez Lead

Saurus Preset Demo_Full Feedback

Saurus Preset Demo_High Sky

Saurus Preset Demo_Abacab Fifths

Saurus Preset Demo_Rockford

Saurus Preset Demo_Singing Triangles

Saurus Preset Demo_Sizzle

Saurus Preset Demo_Chorused Wurly

Saurus Preset Demo_Electric Grand 2

Saurus Preset Demo_Tremolo Wurly

In some of those realtime modulation like e.g. Aftertouch or manual change of the Cutoff was used (e.g. first demo)

All of those presets are included here:
http://www.tone2.com/html/analog.html



It's no secret that Saurus is one of my favorite synths. So far i have created around 150+ presets with it. Maybe i'll do a few more audio demos soon.


Here is one demo of a preset inspired by a Jupiter 8 pad/strings sound:
Saurus JP-8 Mellow Strings


I have found that the low end of Saurus could be improved by using an external EQ like e.g. Stillwell Audio VibeQ.

Here are 2 demos of a full track (using only my own Saurus presets including the drums) first without and then with an EQ:
Oxygene 4 Saurus Remix (no FX)

Oxygene 4 Saurus Remix (with EQ)

Not all of those presets are included in the soundbank mentioned above but maybe in future soundbanks.
BTW that track was not supposed to sound exactly like the original song!


UPDATE:
some more examples:

Abacab Saurus Remix (no FX)

Abacab Saurus Remix (with EQ)

All sounds from Saurus except the drums which are from NI Battery 3.
Again that track was not supposed to sound exactly like the original song!

ElecTronic Saurus

3 instance of Saurus, drums are from the "Drums" expansion/soundset for Tone2 ElectraX.



Most of the links above contain WAV files for better quality. In several browser like e.g. Safari for Windows (which i use) the tracks could be played directly. If you want to download the WAV files you could use "Save as..." from the right click menu.



Ingo

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V0RT3X - Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:18 am

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*edit* nvm

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V0RT3X - Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:29 pm

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I bought this on the KVR Market place just recently and Im finding it quite different from my other VA synthesizers.

I already own DCAM Synthsquad, DIVA, ACE, Twin2, Tyrell and I really find that Saurus adds a new sound to what I already have.

It also does great Brass sounds! Reminds me of the Oberheim stuff.

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osiris - Tue Sep 11, 2012 4:26 am

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Just trancealiciously.....

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Ingonator - Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:22 am

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As Saurus seems to be still quite underrated and some people don't really seem to get what's so special about it i want to do a list of some features based on both the specs sheet and my own experiences:

- Oscillators:

Besides all the usual waveforms each waveform could be morphed/crossfaded to a second one using the PW knob (could be also modulated with e.g. LFo and/or envelope).
Besides the "usual" PWM using a Square/Pulse you could also get some really new kind of sounds. E.g. with the Saw wave you morph to a double saw.

Each Oscillator got a Sub-Osc with a mixer knob for adjusting the Osc/Sub-Osc amount. Those Sub-Osc's got different waveforms and different octaves. Some even add two additional oscillators with different octaves.
This way with using all oscillators plus Sub-Osc's and e.g. a double Saw from the Saw PW amount you could produce a sound with up to 8 detuned saws.

A waveform morph (with PW modulation):
Saurus Preset Demo_Bell Morph Pad


- Noise:

There are two Noise sources both from the oscillator section ("F/A Noise") and the mod matrix. In the mod matrix you could assign a "Const" value to the "noise Vol" parameter to add a "normal" Noise to the sound.

The Hi-Hat sound in this song was done using the Noise source in the mod matrix:
Oxygene 4 Saurus Remix (with EQ)


- Osc Drift:

With this feature you could add some "instabilities to the sound which is most useful when using two oscillators.


- "Tone" knob (Osc section):

This knob/value has a big impact on the basic sound of the oscillator. If you go from 0 to -100 the sound will become "darker" and/or "smoother" and between 0 and +100 it will become brighter or more "harsh". this way you could also emulate an additional HP filter...

You could do some really warm sounds with Saurus:
Saurus Preset Demo_Cosy PWM Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Dreamy Saw Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Influx Pad

Saurus Preset Demo_Horny Saurus

Saurus Preset Demo_Oxygene 4 Brass


- Filters:

There are several different modes including different LP filters, HPF, BPF, Notch and a Formant/Peak filter. The sound of the last one is quite unique and could not be reproduced with the other filter modes.
Both Lowpass filters could sound quite different, especially when Resonance is applied to them.
With the "Soft" Resonance switch you get a totally different resonance behavior for a less !squelchy" (or ear piercing) sound.

With the "Feedback" amount you could create some really "crazy" sounds. Here is a demo of a preset using the full feedback amount:

Saurus Preset Demo_Full Feedback

A Rez sweep pad:
Saurus Preset Demo_Reso Sweep Pad


- Osc Sync:

This could be used for doing "typical" Sync sounds or some crazy stuff when using different waveforms and/or waveform PWM. The third envelope in Saurus is very useful for pitch modulation in Sync sounds and/or for morphing a waveform.


- Ring modulation:

I have used this only rarely so far but you could get some interesting sounds with this.


- "Boost" button:

This adds an EQ with "Psychoacoustic" modeling. Depending on the sound it could boost the low and/or high frequencies. In some cases the result is not as wanted (e.g. too much high frequencies but too few low frequencies) which is why for some cases using an external EQ is a better choice at the moment.
In a future update this could be maybe solved by either adding a simple EQ or a "Bass boost" feature.


- Unison:

With using the 2 voice Unison and the Stereo spread (the "Pan" knob in this case) you could get some really fat and/or "broad" sounds. Works also nicely in combination with the Chorus FX.
BTW as Saurus is quite CPU efficient even with 4 voices unison you should not max out your CPU, depending on how many voices you use (e.g. 8 or 16).
The number of voices which is set in the GUI is independent of the Unison which means with 8 voices and 4 voice Unison you use up to 4 x 8 = 32 "real" voices.

example:
Saurus Preset Demo_Epic Strings


- LFOs:

Besides the "basic features" both LFOs got a freqency range of 0.06 Hz up to 440.12 Hz which means you could do "audio rate modulation" with those!


- FXs:
Both the Chorus and the Reverb sound quite nice and "musical" IMO.
I have only a small experience with the Delay so far but it could sound quite nice too.


- Arpeggiator:

I have used this only rarely with my own presets but it could be really powerful based on the sounds i have seen by others. You could also assign the Arp pattern to any modulation destination.



That's it for the moment. I will maybe add more info soon.



Additional Saurus soundsets:

For additional Saurus soundsets you could check here:

http://www.tone2.com/html/sounds.html

http://www.electric-himalaya.com/tone2_saurus_old_volt_sound_bank.html

More soundsets are currently in progress.

Additional audio demos:
At the websites above or in one of my last posts at this page.



Ingo

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Ingonator - Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:25 am

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Hi,

the new "Top Of The Clubs" soundset/expansion for Tone2 Saurus is out:

http://tone2.com/html/top_of_the_clubs.html


I have sent my contribution quite late but a few of my sounds made it into the final selection (those marked with "IW"). I made a lot more which will either released with other official expansions or as part of a "signature bank" which i plan for the future.


Ingo

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fisherKing - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:08 pm

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my demo is in there (06:09)..nice! it's a great soundset, for a great plugin.

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zvenx - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:15 pm

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For me, it still isn't grabbing me in a way and purpose I think it was designed for, I use it occasionally for stuff that I would sometimes use Electra-X for....but dont' quite find the right sound.. yes I know someone will show me the tech info that they are completely different, but it still doesn't grab me for analog vintage stuff, so I use it for more modern sounds like I use Electra-X
rsp

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satYatunes - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:18 pm

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oh.. did I miss the announcement somewhere? most of my presets made it. It really is a great soundset and shows the power of this plugin.

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Ingonator - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:27 pm

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here it is:
http://www.tone2.org/forum/index.php?topic=1201.0


Ingo

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zvenx - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:30 pm

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That said, the new bank has some really nice sounds in it based on the mp3 demo.

rsp

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Ghostwave - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:35 pm

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I don't mean to hijack this thread but if you are not getting on very well with Saurus, send me a PM. I'm looking to buy a licence ...

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zvenx - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:39 pm

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if that was me, sorry, I have never sold software, I always think that one day I may find use for it.. and it isn't that I haven't found use for Saurus, it is just not much use...but not dying to get rid of it..... plus I am about to buy the new bank now
sorry, but thanks
rsp

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Aiynzahev - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:42 pm

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This sounds really cool! Impressed with the quality of the demos in particular, but funny enough I think this highlights Saurus' quality to me more than the vintage style sounds.

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zvenx - Mon Oct 01, 2012 12:43 pm

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and maybe that's why I like the demos.....it sounds modern to me..a la electraX and Nexus et al.

rsp

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osiris - Mon Oct 01, 2012 2:08 pm

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The new bank is outstanding. I can't believe Saurus can sound like that. What I loved is Saurua can go SO low on bass notes without distortion. Pads were worthy of Massive (and that's high praise, believe it) Love it.

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4damind - Mon Oct 01, 2012 11:49 pm

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The soundset gives also some ideas about Saurus.
IMO not analog and not digital. I would say it's a "polished virtual analog"

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Ingonator - Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:58 am

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Saurus does not copy any specific synth (both soft- and hardware) which makes it sound quite unique IMO. Anyway it could also sound like "oldschool" synths easily.
The basic sound of Saurus also depends on the setting of the "Tone" knob in the Osc section. At the last page of this thread i started to create a small "tutorial" about the features of Saurus.


Ingo

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filter303 - Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:26 pm

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Now that I have used Saurus for a while I am starting to feel like I know it a bit better.
So far I have created almost 100 patches for it and I think it's quickly becoming one of my favourite VSTi's. I am very happy that Saurus can modulate the envelope points. This is a feature that I have missed on many synths I own. What I like most about this synth is the sound itself. Saurus is very cabable of making nice oldskool analog synthsounds with the exception of distorted sounds.
That "tube" knob is totally useless for my taste. But it's not a big deal as I just never use it.
I didn't like the filters extreme resonance first but I learned the sweetspots and that soft button is very useful too. I can't believe I am actually writing this but I think that Saurus actually sounds better than my Prophet08. But don't tell my wife that as the prophet was a gift from her

Here is what I would like to be fixed/added into Saurus:

-More LFO's with delay and keytrig mode.

I really love making patches that have multiple tempo synced LFO's running on different rate's and modulating the same parameter. This way I can create some very unusual modulation patterns. I don't understand why so many developers restrict their products so much modulation wise when it doesn't cost anything to add more modulators. Tempo synced LFO's need a proper keytrig mode also.

-SubOSC post filter routing.

From what I've understood A6 has been one of the source of inspirations for this synths. Yet they missed one of the best features of Andromeda, which is the ability to change sub oscillator routing to post filter.
Very useful for giving a solid body for filter heavy sounds.

-OSC 1 or 2 as a mod source.

Very interesting sounds could be had if anything could be modulated by those oscillators.

-Patch layering

Simple synths like Saurus could be taken into a whole new level when layering two patches together.
Yeah, things like this can be done from the host but it's not the same thing as saving it as a preset and having the sound coming out from a single synth. This is often very outlooked aspect.

-GUI bugs need to be fixed.
I've experienced some GUI bug's and I hope to see them fixed soon as they are very annoying.
Sometimes when I change a patch the GUI shows the knob / led positions of the previous patches. This is so weird. But I have to say that otherwise Saurus has been very stable. I haven't experienced even a single crash with it.

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Ingonator - Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:13 am

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Hi,

like the other preset designers i have received a NFR copy of the "Top Of The Pops" soundset and IMO this is just amazing. A perfect mixture of oldschool and modern sound and i really like the Arp/sequencer presets.

With my own presets and the three commercial soundsets (two from Tone2 and one from Himalaya) i got tons of great sounds for Saurus now (around 1250 now). I loved that synth from the first minute on and now love it even more.

And as we know Tone2 this will not be the last soundset...


Almost the same amount of love goes to the other Tone2 synths. IMO they got a great combination of sound quality, features, easy to use GUi and CPU use.
Except a few components like e.g. a Moog filter in ElecraX (besides many other filters) those synths are mostly "original" and/or innovative and not based on known synths.
Not to forget that tons of additional presets are available for those synths, mostly available at the Tone2 website.


Ingo

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V0RT3X - Tue Oct 09, 2012 8:41 am

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I owned saurus for a short period, and I have to say it is very very good. If you need a good workhorse VA synth you should definitely check it out!

Tone2 Support is also some of the best in the business too!

Cheers,

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Echoes in the Attic - Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:09 am

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Seems like most of the things you want are available in ElectraX. It seems from my testing that most Saurus sounds can be done with ElectraX (if not all) and ElectraX is much more versatile. I think if you stick to the VA components of ElectraX and less with the wavtables and digital stuff, you've got a similar sound to Saurus. I think ElectraX has a great feature set. I owned it once but it had some weird hiccups until V1.2 which fixed all the things that bugged me about it. Now I'm debating picking it up again. Such a great mix of simplicity and versatility. Can't see the point of Saurus if you have ElectraX really.

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satYatunes - Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:13 am

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Thank you very much Ingo. It showed up little after my post.

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filter303 - Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:19 am

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I have ElectraX (it's my favourite synth at the moment). But I would have to say that to my ears these two don't sound the same. I am not able to get the same kind of "vintage" tones out ElectraX that I get from Saurus.
ElectraX might have more modulators but it's easier to get a good sound out of Saurus. ElectraX also can't do unison the same way Saurus does. Anyways, I don't see a problem in having them both in my toolset

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Echoes in the Attic - Tue Oct 09, 2012 9:35 am

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Oh yes I forgot unison. I don't like unison sounds much so I forgot that. But with 4 layers, it doesn't miss stacked sounds much. Have you heard the vintage soundset for ElectraX? I think it can do vintage pretty well too, but it's easier to veer off the vintage vibe with ElectraX than Saurus I guess. I do understand what you're saying though. I like synths with limitations as well that keep the sound within a certain range.

Saurus on a mac is too annoying though. You have to click the waveform boxes one at a time to cycle through the full set of waveforms, same for any selector (filter types, lfo's). Makes it far too annoying to try different types.

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Ingonator - Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:02 am

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Both Markus and Bastiaan had holidays recently and both were and am working on soundsets (Saurus + ElectraX), updates for ElectraX and Gladiator (out now) and also on other stuff. Anyway an update for Saurus (especially for the Mac) should be one of the things to be done.

My personal wish for the update are some simple EQ knobs like in ElectraX. Currently i am using an external EQ from time to time (not for all presets).
It's always great to have a built-in EQ as an interesting tool for sound design. I already discussed with Bastiaan about this and there are chances that something like that will be implemented at a future update.


Ingo

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satYatunes - Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:06 am

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You mean, you can't directly click on the LEDs that glows when something is on? and you have to click on the button to cycle through all the selections?

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Ingonator - Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:07 am

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Seems to be a problem with the MAc version. With the PC version it seems to work fine.


Ingo

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RiffsAndBeats - Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:19 am

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Saurus is killer, especially together with ElectraX, Gladiator and Firebird.

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Ingonator - Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:23 am

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Agreed to all that.

Be prepared for some amazing news in the near future...


Ingo

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Perimeter Sound - Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:30 am

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Saurus just got a new 'trance' soundset didn't it ? And I'm pretty sure there's another new soundset coming up very soon for it. Plus what Ingonator was smiling about.

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pdxindy - Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:31 am

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Exactly... and Tone2 declared it "not a bug" which to me was justification for not fixing it anytime soon (which is what has happened)... there were also a couple other odd gui behaviors on the mac too, but I forget what they are now... that and the hated demo restrictions made Saurus nothing but a frustration for me... I like some sounds I heard posted by users (some not) but I never got anything I liked myself cause the demo always timed out before I got somewhere satisfying.

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Echoes in the Attic - Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:53 pm

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This is what drives me crazy about tone2. They'll say that something like this is "not a bug", that it's just a "feature" on the PC that is not available for the mac. Who cares what you call it though. It's something very crappy on only the mac. But this is not an inherent problem in OSX. You can't claim that OSX prevents clicking on buttons to change waveforms directly, that's absurd. It's just something in the design that they screwed up on the mac side. Having to click a button seven times to change to a waveform is not a good thing.

However the flip side of this is that although they will deny that something is a bug or even a problem, they will often fix things in updates which they previously said was technically impossible to change or that was not a problem. Very strange. I can understand not promising a fix, but implying that something doesn't need to be fixed only turns people off. The initial release of ElectraX had a couple things that really didn't seem to work right. When they said these things weren't problems and couldn't be changed, I sold it. But lo and behold, an update came along that fixed the problems. I wouldn't doubt that the issues with Saurus on hte mac will get fixed, despite the fact that they don't call it a bug.

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Ingonator - Thu Nov 01, 2012 3:51 am

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Tone2 just released the "Dark Toxic" soundset with 140 new presets for Saurus:
http://www.tone2.com/html/dark_toxic.html

Price is 29 Euros or 39$:
http://www.tone2.com/html/shop.html


So together with the Himalaya soundset there are 4 commercial Saurus soundsets available now. Here are the links for the other three:

http://www.tone2.com/html/analog.html

http://www.tone2.com/html/top_of_the_clubs.html

http://www.electric-himalaya.com/tone2_saurus_old_volt_sound_bank.html


Ingo

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core - Thu Nov 01, 2012 4:32 am

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Now that's a different kind of audio demo, doesn't sound like the usual Tone2 "fun" ones.

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