Guess what blew me away today... maybe in the top 5 most underrated synths? ABL PRO = WOWEE!

[marioisaac]

Theo this is nice little synth, I just tried demo today; now since you mention one of the the top 5 underrated synths, what are the other 4 on the list ? =)

[ObsoleteAcc99]

Hi marioisaac, good question. I haven't really "finalized" a list in my mind, but just meant whatever the top 5 underrated are, this is one of them. I think i'd also put Synthmaster there, and most definitely Curve 2. Unfortunately for preset users I think the factory banks on either of these only really show the excellence in few patches.. One must invest for certain in commercial banks if wanting good presets and not a sound programmer with SM2, but with Curve the thousands of online patches are really hit and miss IMO. I'd like to see someone like Vengeance, Arksun and Himalaya really flex their muscles with either of those two synths. Out of the two I'd say Curve is the sleeper as it is simply not often discussed here at length.. Synthmaster has more discussion but i don't feel it's quite fully appreciated. I guess I'd put that in top 10 underrated. You've got my really thinking about this

Saurus is definitely in the top 5.. It is absolutely a brilliant well rounded synth that simply sounds gorgeous and doesn't get anywhere near the support it deserves. I will think of the other two that would be in my personal top 5 and get back to you. The reason Saurus is in my top 5 is that I'd never sell it even if I quit music.. it would be something i would keep for eternity just in case I went back to music someday, as it is so good it would be the perfect all rounder to start with.

Oh heck, Korg MonoPoly is another.. Ridiculously low cpu and a truly nice (although not diva type analog) sound.. kind of well rounded and warm but still a bit digital in a nice way. Saurus on the other hand sounds fairly analog to me. Also in the top 10 would be a couple of Xils synth.

So my top 5 underrated as it stands would be in NPO, ABL Pro, Saurus, Curve 2 - with 2 more remaining. In the top 10 i would add Monopoly, Synthix/PolyKB/Oxium - Don't shoot me but I take that as one being all Xils and all under appreciated, and in fact, Gladiator/ElectraX/Rayblaster are also in the top 5, as I feel Tone2 in general is well...let's just say I am a fan. Also Synthmaster.

Top 5 overrated, well definitely TalUnoLX and U-He Zebra. I will think of the others.

It's like FX too, there are some incredibly good FX from little known devs which can barely attract a post here, in fact I am going to start a topic in the FX section now about one dev as I feel they really deserve some recognition

[kritikon]

It looks like Roland is bringing out a new hardware version of the 303.

I wouldn't get too excited about that. More and more it seems it's likely to be just another Roland VA thing that probably won't be anything like a 303 apart from the name. Pay musicians enough and they'll endorse anything just like in any other sphere. I suspect ABL Pro will be a better sound than anything Roland come up with. Remember all those MC303 things. OK, but not anything like the names suggested.

ABL Pro, VB303 and a set of drum samples and you've got a decent acid setup if you want to stay ITB.

[marioisaac]

Hi marioisaac, good question. I haven't really "finalized" a list in my mind, but just meant whatever the top 5 underrated are, this is one of them. I think i'd also put Synthmaster there, and most definitely Curve 2. Unfortunately for preset users I think the factory banks on either of these only really show the excellence in few patches.. One must invest for certain in commercial banks if wanting good presets and not a sound programmer with SM2, but with Curve the thousands of online patches are really hit and miss IMO. I'd like to see someone like Vengeance, Arksun and Himalaya really flex their muscles with either of those two synths. Out of the two I'd say Curve is the sleeper as it is simply not often discussed here at length.. Synthmaster has more discussion but i don't feel it's quite fully appreciated. I guess I'd put that in top 10 underrated. You've got my really thinking about this

Saurus is definitely in the top 5.. It is absolutely a brilliant well rounded synth that simply sounds gorgeous and doesn't get anywhere near the support it deserves. I will think of the other two that would be in my personal top 5 and get back to you. The reason Saurus is in my top 5 is that I'd never sell it even if I quit music.. it would be something i would keep for eternity just in case I went back to music someday, as it is so good it would be the perfect all rounder to start with.

Oh heck, Korg MonoPoly is another.. Ridiculously low cpu and a truly nice (although not diva type analog) sound.. kind of well rounded and warm but still a bit digital in a nice way. Saurus on the other hand sounds fairly analog to me. Also in the top 10 would be a couple of Xils synth.

So my top 5 underrated as it stands would be in NPO, ABL Pro, Saurus, Curve 2 - with 2 more remaining. In the top 10 i would add Monopoly, Synthix/PolyKB/Oxium - Don't shoot me but I take that as one being all Xils and all under appreciated, and in fact, Gladiator/ElectraX/Rayblaster are also in the top 5, as I feel Tone2 in general is well...let's just say I am a fan. Also Synthmaster.

Top 5 overrated, well definitely TalUnoLX and U-He Zebra. I will think of the others.

It's like FX too, there are some incredibly good FX from little known devs which can barely attract a post here, in fact I am going to start a topic in the FX section now about one dev as I feel they really deserve some recognition

Thanks for the tips; I have Synthmaster CM and is a nice synth; I also have the Cable Guys CM but haven't dive into it.

I'm getting now all the xils stuff to give it a try =)

yeah fx is nice as well, I always like to know of unknown gems

tx

[BBFG#]

Anything based off the SH101 or TB303 is overated in my book. And the same goes for the Junos.
I can '+1' on most of Tone2 synth, although Saurus is not really in my top list.
SynthMaster is definitely underated and so is the AAS VA-2 IMO.
Most people miss the straight analog programming you can get out of Alchemy so for that reason, it's highly underated as a VA also.
But get to know your Zebra, especially its 'dark side' (hz).
It 'grows' on you.

[Mike Janney]

It looks like Roland is bringing out a new hardware version of the 303.

I wouldn't get too excited about that. More and more it seems it's likely to be just another Roland VA thing that probably won't be anything like a 303 apart from the name. Pay musicians enough and they'll endorse anything just like in any other sphere. I suspect ABL Pro will be a better sound than anything Roland come up with. Remember all those MC303 things. OK, but not anything like the names suggested.

ABL Pro, VB303 and a set of drum samples and you've got a decent acid setup if you want to stay ITB.

ABL Pro is not a focused 303 emulator at all, which was kind of fail in our marketing. Have you tried our ABL2?

[ObsoleteAcc99]

It looks like Roland is bringing out a new hardware version of the 303.

I wouldn't get too excited about that. More and more it seems it's likely to be just another Roland VA thing that probably won't be anything like a 303 apart from the name. Pay musicians enough and they'll endorse anything just like in any other sphere. I suspect ABL Pro will be a better sound than anything Roland come up with. Remember all those MC303 things. OK, but not anything like the names suggested.

ABL Pro, VB303 and a set of drum samples and you've got a decent acid setup if you want to stay ITB.

ABL Pro is not a focused 303 emulator at all, which was kind of fail in our marketing. Have you tried our ABL2?

Mike after demoing your abl2, the ease of use compared to phoscyon is a revelation. Same with your adm. I can't get over the incredible value of your triple package price... Ive been bugging you now and then re adm, as you do know there are some "non hardware standard" features I would love to see in it, but nevertheless I would call it, along with microtonic, the essential edm drum machine plugin. I am really so incredibly impressed with your stuff. I've always been one for just opening a plugin and feeling immediately at home with it. The way I feel with abl2 is that whenever I want to do my 303 acid, I would simply open that and go to work. Done. I can't even imagine why I'd use something else.

Its funny how so many of us, me included, have GAS and in some cases the best tools for the job have been around for a decade already. I'm also extremely impressed that you updated to 64 bits on both platforms free of charge. You are the type of developer I want to support. Good products with damn fair prices and good service. I have been demoing them since Xmas now and solid as a rock too. It's just a shame over the years I have had such bad GAS that I have often thrown money at stuff in excitement that I never ever use, and now that I find a product I can't fault and wish I could use right now , I can't actually afford it quite yet. Lol. The nature of the beast.

I have so much respect for your business ethos I'd also refuse to save a bit of money and buy these in the marketplace second hand so to speak.. The point is don't change a thing and just keep doing what you are doing man, (well release new stuff whenever you like, I'm sure it would be brilliant), the plugin world needs more devs like you.. Exactly the type of independent guy I want to always support. (and i will before the month is out, you have my word).

[urlwolf]

Quick question. On FL 12 I get a strange behavior.
I'm using ABLpro triggering it with the computer keyboard (in FL, press ctrl T) . But as soon as I tweak a knob with the mouse, it loses keyboard focus. The only way to get it to gain keyboard focus again is to click on another window (I do on the mixer); then focus is back. Extremely annoying.

Any idea why this happens? Other synths don't do this.