Synthmaster, Diva or Spire?

[~Pd~]

Synthmaster gets my vote. Sounds amazing, versatile, CPU usage can be tiny or huge depending on the patch, polyphony and quality settings. The dev is friendly and responsive and updates the product frequently. And it's inexpensive.

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/ ... -5-524003/

It's only gotten better since that review...

[Orbit-50]

I have to say that pound for pound, dollar for dollar, Synthmaster is one of the most versatile and best sounding synths ever made. Period! This is coming from a guy who thought because of the price, and the name (sorry Bulent I never liked the name) that Synthmaster was a joke. I finally tried it out this year and found out that it was definitely no joke! It rivals synths costing way more and is a must have in any synth arsenal. My vote goes to Synthmaster.



.-.

[Robmobius]

Gotta' say, Synthmaster is great value for money (as op just said).

[pdxindy]

The Oxygene recreation is excellent... the lead that comes in at the 1 minute mark is not quite right... it's weak sounding compared to the original... besides that it is very well done.

[Aubrey Lamont]

I have Diva and Synthmaster. I use Diva everywhere. Haven't touched Synthmaster in months. I just don't think it sounds as good for my purposes. But I don't do EDM.

To me, it doesn't make much sense to compare them. Two totally different synths. I have nothing against Synthmaster, aside from its terrible GUI.

[declan32001]

I have Diva and Synthmaster. I use Diva everywhere. Haven't touched Synthmaster in months. I just don't think it sounds as good for my purposes. But I don't do EDM.

To me, it doesn't make much sense to compare them. Two totally different synths. I have nothing against Synthmaster, aside from its terrible GUI.

I couldn't come close to comparing Diva to Synthmaster or Spire if my life depended on it, but for anything approaching EDM it would not be the first synth I'd turn to for many reasons.

I am one of those that thinks Spire just sounds too thin and I stopped playing with it very soon after I checked it out.

I am impressed with Synthmaster, and I guess I'm one of the few that considers it's GUI a plus. I also think it's a huge bargain so it received my vote in this context.

But if you don't have Zebra I'd make it a consideration, and Z3ta+2 is definitely worth checking out.

[Ingonator]

I am one of those that thinks Spire just sounds too thin and I stopped playing with it very soon after I checked it out.

I am impressed with Synthmaster, and I guess I'm one of the few that considers it's GUI a plus. I also think it's a huge bargain so it received my vote in this context.

I agree to both points, Spire never really did it for me (and i had checked it multiple times...). I like the GUi of Synthmaster, especially that one with the orange color.

Anyway i got both Synthmaster (since version 1 which many maybe don''t remeber...) and Diva. Both got their strong points and none could really replace the other one.
Two different beasts IMO where Synthmaster is a lot more versatile and is comparable to other "big" and/or versatile synths like Zebra, ElectraX, Diversion, Largo and Alchemy.


Ingo

[dune_rave]

For me Sm and Diva is interesting, i have no time to demo Spire.
I tried the first (maybe 1.0) Synthmaster version years ago, and that was also kind of cool hybrid synth, but the new version is much more.
But first I obtained Diva, and imho its the best vsti ever.
I think Sm got me with the soundbank that includes many Sounds from the album "Snowflakes are dancing" (Tomita). Those sounds are supa!

[Ingonator]

While Synthmaster is very versatile and sounds great for really raw and/or fat analog sounds i got some great synths like e.g. Diva, NI Monark, the free OBXD synth, Oxium and TAL Bassline-101.

In terms of "versatile" synths i got e.g. Synthmaster, ElectraX, Diversion, Largo, Linplug Spectral, Alchemy and some more.

Anyway while i got all those my "go-to" synth is still Tone2 Saurus for which i did a shitload of patches (200+) and just started doing some more. While in certain aspects other synth are maybe superior Saurus simply does it for me. I also got the PSP NobleQ EQ to improve/boost the low-end where necessary. I was just messing a bit with the Rong modulator in Saurus and just noticed that the new digital oscillator in Diva got one too. Quite interesting, especially in combination with the Croos mod feature. The "High Quality"switch in the digital osc does quite a difference in that respect too.

Besides that the free OBXD synth currently is one of my favorite synths.

In terms of a "proper" Supersaw sound i got several choices (e.g. Diva, JP6K, Synthmaster, Reaktor ensembles and others) but Diva seems to be the best at the moment, especially in combination with the new Uhbie filter. Diva seems to be the only synth that includes the other Osc modes of the Roland JP-800 like e.g. the Feedback Osc which is really cool.
In terms of emulating multiple vintage synths and mixing their modules Diva is unrivaled anyway.

As a conclusion the choice of the synth really depends on what you want to do with it.
I simply gave up finding the one synth that could do everything. Theoretically this is possible but there will always be a lack somewhere.


Ingo

[Dasheesh]

merge monster...um num num...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 1&t=403921

[VitaminD]

DIVA has a rep for being CPU hungry but my overclocked i7 920 from 2008 can handle three of them on high quality with Soundtoys and Slate Digital plugs at the same time. If I want to I can reduce DIVA to lowest quality and run more of them then wap them upto full quality mode for the mixing and render.

When the Intel i7 8 core comes out later this year it will laugh at DIVA.

The issue isn't simply more cores.. but performance per core. You can get a ton of performance if you upgraded now to even an i5 4570 (4 core).

I'm not sure where the line is with DIVA.. but there is a line where adding more cores means diminishing returns. Too many cooks in the kitchen. Have to make the kitchen capable of accommodating all of them.

[aMUSEd]

I have Synthmaster and Diva. Synthmaster undoubtedly can do more as it has more OSC and filter types but it's more of a mixed bag in terms of quality, filters can get steppy when driven and the huge patch library has some good patches but also some that are not so. Diva is quality across the board.

Can't see the fuss over Spire (but didn't over Sylenth either - both fairly standard synths). Dune 2 looks interesting though.

[Nokenoku]

I am honestly a bit shocked, that DIVA got the most votes here.
Don't get me wrong ... it's absolutely a great synth, but completely not suited for those kind of sounds.
It just sounds too heavy/think, and it's impossible to get clean saw/square-waves out of it.
Also it doesn't have a lot of presets for EDM.

I don't know Spire and Synthmaster though.
I'd recommend Sylenth1, if it wasn't discontinued and/or if it was cheaper.

[Ingonator]

It just sounds too heavy/think, and it's impossible to get clean saw/square-waves out of it.
Also it doesn't have a lot of presets for EDM.

Seriously? Could you explain a bit futher what you mean about the Saw/Square?
If you sample a real analog synth rarely any onf them has a "perfect" Square or Saw wave if that's what you mean.
Diva got 5 different Osc modules/models (Minimoog, Jupiter 8, Juno/alpha-Juno, MS-20 and JP-8000) with different kinds of Saw/Square waves (which got different shapes). The resulting shape also changes with the filter model used (even at maximum cutoff). I just checked that myself.

What do you mean with "too heavy? Maybe it sounds too much analog for you?

Concerning EDM for Diva there are several 3rd party banks and the Supersaw oscillator is new so there will be more in the future.


Ingo

[DubLifeSD]

The more I dig around SynthMaster the more I'm impressed. Some of the stock presets can sound pretty 'meh'...but once you spend some time under the hood, it's an absolute beast of a synth. I feel it excels at lush pads and fx, and overall I just like the way the sounds sit in the mix.