absolute softest and warmest synth in existence?

[AstralExistence]

Based on your examples though, I think it's probably virtual analog "warmth" that appeals to you most.

i think so yes. but i also love the sounds of wavestation and padshop like synths. those kind of crystal like and glassy sounds. when it comes to pads, i do love analog pads a lot but just as much i love soft pcm pads and textures. to me, i don't think warm is always based on analog synthesis i see warm as soft sounding be it analog or digital. 'dreamy' is the singular word id used to describe the sounds most beautiful.

[SODDI]

I would guess that with your experience with these synths, it would be "all of the above".

Even the coldest FM voice can sound warm in context.

[ghettosynth]

It's really difficult to assign words to sound in a universal way because it's so subjective, but when people use the term "warm" to describe synthesizers this is the kind of timbre that first comes to mind:
Soft Pad

Could this be considered warm?

for sure.

Then I guess the moral of the story is if a single instance of Reason's 14 year old Subtractor can sound "warm" then anything can?

In fairness, just because you can make a synth sound warm for "some" sound, doesn't mean that the synth can sound so for other sounds, or even many sounds. The minute you open the filter a bit on Subtractor it would give itself away. Even the OP observed the "digital" sheen. I think that a more realistic challenge is to try to duplicate a sound from a synth known to sound good.

For example, with Diva, Bronto Scorpio's "Dream Synth" is a simple enough patch, two oscillators at the same pitch, slightly detuned and fed through a filter modulated with a typical slow pad attack. Add a touch of chorus and reverb, and that's about it. Any synth with two oscillators, two envelopes and a lowpass filter should be able to do something similar to the pre-effect sound. My guess, however, is that the detune just won't sound quite the same and the filter must won't quite get it. Moreover, when you open the filter a little, or push the resonance up a little, you will really hear how old technology sounds compared to state of the art.

BS Deep Space Diva is very similar, with one oscillator tuned higher and you can hear it as the first patch in this video. Sure, subtractor can sound "warm" in a muddy muted sort of way, but it can't retain that with the high end when you open the filter. Try the filter swell that you hear in the first 30 seconds or so of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScEXwvhx2Kw

I'll be impressed if you can make Subtractor sound that good using just Reason's built in effects and no other synths. To be clear, I like reason, I use it, I just don't think that the old Reason tools compete in any way for these kinds of sounds.

Here are the gold standards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cBTYRF4oTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNQfzF2LvSs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwbBZBH9_G0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gztg2sOfKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40RiwZJgbTo

Honorable mention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHJbUShzbXg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26v1lZwEevM

[Tronam]

In fairness, just because you can make a synth sound warm for "some" sound, doesn't mean that the synth can sound so for other sounds, or even many sounds. The minute you open the filter a bit on Subtractor it would give itself away. Even the OP observed the "digital" sheen. I think that a more realistic challenge is to try to duplicate a sound from a synth known to sound good.

The "digital sheen" remark was referencing a different example earlier in the thread. Regardless, as mentioned previously this whole notion of warm and cold varies from person to person. That low, muted tone is what I personally consider warm, but there's nothing definitive about my opinion. I also never tried to suggest that Subtractor was the greatest synth on the planet as your overly defensive exhaustive list of every classic analog instrument on the planet would suggest. I merely used it as an example in this case to poke a little bit of fun at its reputation for sterile coldness. If Subtractor can be coaxed into pretty sounds, then surely the issue with Zebra isn't that it can't be beautiful, but it just isn't being programmed to be so.

[ghettosynth]

In fairness, just because you can make a synth sound warm for "some" sound, doesn't mean that the synth can sound so for other sounds, or even many sounds. The minute you open the filter a bit on Subtractor it would give itself away. Even the OP observed the "digital" sheen. I think that a more realistic challenge is to try to duplicate a sound from a synth known to sound good.

The "digital sheen" remark was referencing a different example earlier in the thread. Regardless, as mentioned previously this whole notion of warm and cold varies from person to person.

That may be, but the audible qualities of the synth do not. My point wasn't to refute the "warmness" of the provided sample, but to point out that just because you can produce a sound that someone characterizes as warm, does not mean that the synth in general can be viewed as a "warm sounding synth." Almost any synth can produce a low resonance, low cuttoff sounding pad that will sound similar to the sound that you provided.

That low, muted tone is what I personally consider warm, but there's nothing definitive about my opinion. I also never tried to suggest that Subtractor was the greatest synth on the planet as your overly defensive exhaustive list of every classic analog instrument on the planet would suggest.

You're reading it as defensive when that was not my intention. It is certainly not an exhaustive list, but, rather, it is a list which contains some of the very best pad synths being used to play pads to remind folks what good warm pads sound like.

I merely used it as an example in this case to poke a little bit of fun at its reputation for sterile coldness. If Subtractor can be coaxed into pretty sounds, then surely the issue with Zebra isn't that it can't be beautiful, but it just isn't being programmed to be so.

No, that doesn't follow, you missed the key point. Just because you can coax some pretty sounds out of a poor quality synth, doesn't mean that the synth will perform as the OP, or anyone, expects. "A" warm sound does not a warm synth make. Open the filter on your sound, or turn up the resonance, it will fall apart. So even if you can fool someone with a few good sounds, you're not going to convince anyone that such a synth is a great synth by today's standards. Maybe OP can't program Zebra, or maybe when he gets something like you demonstrated and gives it a little resonance, it doesn't sound as good as Diva and he gets frustrated. I don't know. I do know that this absurd thread is all over the place with nonsense descriptions of sounds and I think that posting videos with good sounds and solid descriptions of patches is more useful than pop-quizzes.

That said, I'm certainly not convinced that Zebra can't create decent warm pads, especially the Hanz Zimmer version.

At any rate, please don't take my post as a criticism of your sound, per se, or in defense of the OP, or even Diva. I was just trying to find some common understanding of the types of sounds that we're talking about and how those sounds come across from the synthesizers most able to produce them.

[CrystalWizard]

Try SQ8L can do crystal glass and analogue warmth even better get the hardware.

im on x64 i swear the best synths, especially free are still x32 makes me want to load up x32 daw and some se/sm plugs. i certainly have a powerhouse pc now to run them. why is jeff holding his hand over his ass as well as the synthmaker guys. it fing sucks because it doesn't have to be that way if they would just get there shit together and release x64 versions.

"i don't take camel audio seriously anymore. they have had over two years to release v2.0 and they have not. what they have done is let people make tons of sounds for there product but alchemy hasn't been updated since november of 2012 however you look at it."



entitled much?
why don't you design, code, and test the 'absolute softest and warmest synth in existence'?

[AstralExistence]

That may be, but the audible qualities of the synth do not. My point wasn't to refute the "warmness" of the provided sample, but to point out that just because you can produce a sound that someone characterizes as warm, does not mean that the synth in general can be viewed as a "warm sounding synth." Almost any synth can produce a low resonance, low cuttoff sounding pad that will sound similar to the sound that you provided.

i wouldn't really say i was fooled as much as confused what was going on with the example. it did sound warm, but it also had this really metallic and buzzy like sound that i just didn't know what it was. so i just simply said, "for sure." didn't really know how else to describe it. its very true. subtractor does fall apart when you open its filters and especially, turn up the the resonance.

[AstralExistence]

edit.

[AstralExistence]

It's really difficult to assign words to sound in a universal way because it's so subjective, but when people use the term "warm" to describe synthesizers this is the kind of timbre that first comes to mind:
Soft Pad

Could this be considered warm?

for sure.

Then I guess the moral of the story is if a single instance of Reason's 14 year old Subtractor can sound "warm" then anything can?

In fairness, just because you can make a synth sound warm for "some" sound, doesn't mean that the synth can sound so for other sounds, or even many sounds. The minute you open the filter a bit on Subtractor it would give itself away. Even the OP observed the "digital" sheen. I think that a more realistic challenge is to try to duplicate a sound from a synth known to sound good.

For example, with Diva, Bronto Scorpio's "Dream Synth" is a simple enough patch, two oscillators at the same pitch, slightly detuned and fed through a filter modulated with a typical slow pad attack. Add a touch of chorus and reverb, and that's about it. Any synth with two oscillators, two envelopes and a lowpass filter should be able to do something similar to the pre-effect sound. My guess, however, is that the detune just won't sound quite the same and the filter must won't quite get it. Moreover, when you open the filter a little, or push the resonance up a little, you will really hear how old technology sounds compared to state of the art.

BS Deep Space Diva is very similar, with one oscillator tuned higher and you can hear it as the first patch in this video. Sure, subtractor can sound "warm" in a muddy muted sort of way, but it can't retain that with the high end when you open the filter. Try the filter swell that you hear in the first 30 seconds or so of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScEXwvhx2Kw

I'll be impressed if you can make Subtractor sound that good using just Reason's built in effects and no other synths. To be clear, I like reason, I use it, I just don't think that the old Reason tools compete in any way for these kinds of sounds.

Here are the gold standards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cBTYRF4oTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNQfzF2LvSs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwbBZBH9_G0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gztg2sOfKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40RiwZJgbTo

Honorable mention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHJbUShzbXg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26v1lZwEevM

fing gorgeous examples sonically. musically speaking though, they were boring and too newagish. my favorite genre of music is industrial futurepop.

[AstralExistence]

edit.

[AstralExistence]

edit.

[AstralExistence]

edit.

[AstralExistence]

edit.

[AstralExistence]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4LA2n496nQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgHtif9OV90

beautiful.

[chk071]

Take TAL-U-NO-62, add TAL-Chorus-LX, and you're there. Or just buy an analogue synth, if you're so keen on "that" sound. But really, there's nothing in those vids, which you couldn't do 99% with any soft synth too. IMO.