Hexeract By Auddict

[focusrite]

First impressions: It's very falcon a-like

[Tj Shredder]

Its still on sale... Just check it again...

And it is not only based on Hise, its the same developer. If you buy it, it will support the Hise developement as well. For me Hise is the real Hype and Hexeract is showing its great potential...
The double licensing does allow professional sound designers to jump on the waggon. A very good idea. It could turn into a real competition to Kontakt and at the same time invites all those freebie programmers to get creative...

[Caine123]

So is it a Synth?
Hope there will be some videos.

Wagtunes would u recommend it?

[Dozius]

EDIT: Eh, they have a different policy for commercial license, which seems to contradict the idea of open source. Oh well!

Yeah, they should ditch the dual license so only open source projects can use it.

[wagtunes]

So is it a Synth?
Hope there will be some videos.

Wagtunes would u recommend it?

It's hard to say exactly what this thing is. Without a manual, there's no way for me to tell if there are things that I'm missing. On the surface, it doesn't appear to be too complicated. But there are so many hidden screens and things I honestly don't know what its full capabilities are just yet.

For example. At first it appeared that the ENV had no effect on the sound. Release at 0 or 20 seconds made no difference. Then somebody pointed out that you need to click on this arrow thing in the osc section to actually access the ENV controls. So there are, in essence, two ENV controls. And the one seems to be an overall controller for the other. But I'm not 100% sure. That's why I need a manual. There are a lot of interactions here.

The architecture itself isn't too unwieldy. There are 3 LFOs, 3 Sequencers and 3 ENV generators. There is a mod matrix where you run patch chords similar to what you'd do with ACE. There is an FX section for each osc and then a master FX section. There are about 8 or 9 FX. They're decent.

While the thing is essentially sample based, it does also have raw waveforms like saw, square, etc. So in that respect it does kind of remind me of Omnisphere but nowhere near as complex as far as the overall architecture. It's kind of like an Omni lite. But it has its own sound. You can't mistake Omni for this and vice versa though there is some overlap.

I can see those who have Omni and swear by it probably not being too impressed by this thing. But for those who don't want to spend $500, this thing is a bargain and a half. There is simply no other synth that you can get for $100 (yes, regular price is $200) that does what this does. Is it worth $200? Again, without knowing how deep this thing can go, I can't say. But it's definitely worth $100 without blinking an eye.

[Caine123]

Thx wagtunes! I lobe my omnisphere but sometimes wanna dial something more lite.

Ok im still watching this.

[wagtunes]

Thx wagtunes! I lobe my omnisphere but sometimes wanna dial something more lite.

Ok im still watching this.

Well, then you might like this because it should be a lot easier to work with after reading the manual. And it's not too bad on CPU. The pads get a little crazy if you start playing big chords (about 40%) but other than that, nothing terrible.

I'm not sure I'd want to make a whole song of nothing but Hexeract. Maybe an atmospheric pad and one other sound to compliment the rest of the piece. I think 20 tracks of this would fry anybody's PC.

[OzoneJunkie]

What's the download size / installation footprint on this? And copy protection type?

Thanks for any/all replies.

[wagtunes]

What's the download size / installation footprint on this? And copy protection type?

Thanks for any/all replies.

Download: 1 GIG
Copy Protection: Simple Serial #

Most of the installation's 1 gig is the samples. By today's standards, this is a pretty light weight sample/synth.

[OzoneJunkie]

What's the download size / installation footprint on this? And copy protection type?

Thanks for any/all replies.

Download: 1 GIG
Copy Protection: Simple Serial #

Most of the installation's 1 gig is the samples. By today's standards, this is a pretty light weight sample/synth.

Thanks much!

[Tj Shredder]

EDIT: Eh, they have a different policy for commercial license, which seems to contradict the idea of open source. Oh well!

Yeah, they should ditch the dual license so only open source projects can use it.

The open source idea is not about banning of making a living with your craft. The most successful open source projects would not exist, if that would have been the idea (MySQL, Qt and Juce comes to mind). On the contrary, that model will strengthen the project. At the moment the sources are made by Hart. Its his copyright. He can decide whatever is appropriate. But you as a user can take the sources and modify them to your liking. Only if you want to publish your results, they have to be either open source again, or you have to buy another license from the original creator. It will become more complicated, if you open sourced some changes and someone wants to close it again, then that someone would have to get/buy the permission of all contributors, which is close to impossible, because you would also need a commercial license from Hart...
The GPL does not prevent you from selling your changes for some cash, but you have to keep the sources open which would make it impossible to protect it with any kind of DRM or copyprotection. Look for Ardour, they sell the Mac and Windows binaries, and Mixbus which is partially closed is based on Ardour... Without the support of Harrison Ardour would not be even close to the professional state it is now!

[axb312]

Decided to bite the bullet on this one. Definitely need a manual for this thing.

I (and I guess a couple of other people, too) would appreciate an honest review from a synth pro.

Well, it's gonna take some time. This isn't a basic subtractive synth. Really could use a manual, which at the time doesn't exist.

I'll try to have something substantial to report before the month is out. But initial thoughts go something like this...

"Like Softube Modular, a lot of thought is going to need to go into making this thing sound good if creating patches from scratch."

The factory stuff, obviously, is good. But my gut tells me that these guys had to put a lot of time into getting those patches to sound that good. My first "try" at design was fair at best.

So yeah, this thing is going to require time and patience. So if that's something somebody is short of, unless they're going to be content using the factory presets or buying packs that are well done, this is probably a synth you want to stay away from if you're an impatient sound designer.

Is this a competitor to Zebra? And is Zebra easier to program?

Two completely different synths. Neither is a competitor to the other.

I might sound a little ignorant in saying this, but why do you say so? TBH I'm not an expert at synthesis so I'm looking for a good all rounder synth to cover a large portion of the ground I normally look for (pads, arps, risers, fx). For leads I understand I'll probably have to get a separate synth that does leads only really well. Maybe I'm wrong in this too.

At the end of the day though, sound wise, is Hexeract so different from Zebra?

Also, assuming you have both, which seems easier to program?

[wagtunes]

Decided to bite the bullet on this one. Definitely need a manual for this thing.

I (and I guess a couple of other people, too) would appreciate an honest review from a synth pro.

Well, it's gonna take some time. This isn't a basic subtractive synth. Really could use a manual, which at the time doesn't exist.

I'll try to have something substantial to report before the month is out. But initial thoughts go something like this...

"Like Softube Modular, a lot of thought is going to need to go into making this thing sound good if creating patches from scratch."

The factory stuff, obviously, is good. But my gut tells me that these guys had to put a lot of time into getting those patches to sound that good. My first "try" at design was fair at best.

So yeah, this thing is going to require time and patience. So if that's something somebody is short of, unless they're going to be content using the factory presets or buying packs that are well done, this is probably a synth you want to stay away from if you're an impatient sound designer.

Is this a competitor to Zebra? And is Zebra easier to program?

Two completely different synths. Neither is a competitor to the other.

I might sound a little ignorant in saying this, but why do you say so? TBH I'm not an expert at synthesis so I'm looking for a good all rounder synth to cover a large portion of the ground I normally look for (pads, arps, risers, fx). For leads I understand I'll probably have to get a separate synth that does leads only really well. Maybe I'm wrong in this too.

At the end of the day though, sound wise, is Hexeract so different from Zebra?

Also, assuming you have both, which seems easier to program?

The reason I say they are not competitors is because they are two completely different sound engines and sounds.

Zebra 2 is a more traditional synth even though it is semi modular. It uses waveforms. It has a simple wavetable system. It has numerous modulation options.

Hexeract is primarily sample based. It doesn't have as many parameters or modulation options though it is fairly capable in this area. It has more FX than Zebra 2.

I would use Hexeract more for atmospheres and soundscapes where I would use Zebra 2 for more traditional sounds as well as unusual leads and things. This isn't to say that Zebra 2 can't do atmospheric but the sound itself is just totally different.

As far as using a synth for leads or pads, there are very few synths that can't do both reasonably well. Some synths are monophonic so obviously can't do pads. But a polyphonic synth that has no mono mode can still do leads.

In short, Zebra 2 and Hexeract simply don't sound anything alike.

[egbert101]

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[axb312]

[/quote]

The reason I say they are not competitors is because they are two completely different sound engines and sounds.

Zebra 2 is a more traditional synth even though it is semi modular. It uses waveforms. It has a simple wavetable system. It has numerous modulation options.

Hexeract is primarily sample based. It doesn't have as many parameters or modulation options though it is fairly capable in this area. It has more FX than Zebra 2.

I would use Hexeract more for atmospheres and soundscapes where I would use Zebra 2 for more traditional sounds as well as unusual leads and things. This isn't to say that Zebra 2 can't do atmospheric but the sound itself is just totally different.

As far as using a synth for leads or pads, there are very few synths that can't do both reasonably well. Some synths are monophonic so obviously can't do pads. But a polyphonic synth that has no mono mode can still do leads.

In short, Zebra 2 and Hexeract simply don't sound anything alike.[/quote]

So Zebra 2 - primarily wavetable synthesis.

Hexeract - primarily subtractive synthesis (why do you say sample based? I understand subtractive to mean starting with a sound and all it's harmonics and filtering out unwanted frequencies - not 100% clear on how this affect timbre though)...

For leads I'm looking at the Legend by Synapse.

And yes, the hexeract soundscapes sound beautiful from what I've heard so far.