I tried both. I really like both. I REALLY like Gladiator, but it can chew up CPU.
If anyone (or separately) can post :
What are the space requirements of Gladiator vs. ElectraX?
Which handles CPU better?
Thank you.

I have expansions, so I don't know what the raw/factory numbers are like, but on my system gladiator 2 vst plus data folder is about 73MB and ElectraX vst plus its various data folders are about 275 MB.... but like I said I have expansions for both.

Gladiator to me handles cpu better on my system, but it isn't a significant difference..... I actually prefer the sound of Gladiator, which is technically not as good as the sound of ElectraX, it just has a lil something dirty, imperfect that I like.....however I am more confident that more features will be added to ElectraX than Gladiator 2..No proof of that, just gut.
rsp

btw I only looked in the vst folder and the folder above it in Snow Leopard. If they put data in other folders like Application Support etc. I didn't look
rsp
Last edited by zvenx on Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:12 am; edited 1 time in total

actually I want to retract the it isn't significant....
just loaded a project with 50 Gladiator 2 instances with the default patch, and did the same with ElectraX......huge difference.. of course it will depend on the patch etc.

rsp

Electrax seems like it should be amazing. I was put off by it immediately, even though on paper it is a beast.
I think its the whole 'multiple voices' thing? Its like two seperate synths. I cant seem to think that way.
(Kinda throws me in Harmor too.)
But I agree, Gladiator does have something interesting going on sonically. Electrax seems very shiny and clean sounding, but really I dont think Ive heard enough sounds out of it.

Performance wise, I would think that Electrax is built to destroy some cpu, but Id guess (hope) its far more optimized to do it than Gladiator is.

I do find ElectraX very shiny, clean sounding and I would say bright... it reminds me a lot of Nexus 2..... it works for some genres and in other genres stick out like the keyboards in this monster.com ad

http://youtu.be/oERhSpSVHCo
rsp

I love Gladiator, but there's something funky going on with the oscillator, in that low frequencies seem to come in later, and the phase is all smeared. If you actually look on a spectrograph, you'll see that a 0-attack sound will trigger first in the treble, and then the bass hits later. This makes it not that good for basses, IMO. Which is a shame, because the filters, effects and shapers are brilliant!

It's best suited to pads, ambiences and etheral leads, in my experience.

Electrax seemed very good but didn't jump out at me in the way a lot of other Tone2 stuff has.

ElectraX is kind of a untapped beast really. I use it a lot and it's sonic potential is nuts. 4 layers, 3 osc per layer, dual filters, it's nuts. My CPU doesnt struggle with even the heaviest of patches so far, although I cannot compare that to Gladiator, I can say ElectraX won't stress your system too much unless you are on a particularly weak CPU.

It's funny, i've heard that phrase "There's something about that Tone2 sound" a few times in different places now. I guess it's just that je ne sais quoi that Markus and co bring to the table.

Grab the demos, but for ElectraX look beyond the ultrasaw stuff, look to use it as 4 synths in 1, or even just a 1 osc synth using wavetables.

I'm not the best at making sounds but I do love to mess about with synths, so ElectraX is pretty amazing.

I wish Gladiator 2 had that darker psychoacoustic processing thing, the "analogue" one. That's the only thing missing which makes ElectraX sound better than Gladiator in my opinion. The other processing modes, except linear, are all too bright and shrill in my opinion, making it difficult to get Gladiator to sit inside a mix (it always wants to "pop-out" and hurt your ears). If we'd get that mode for Gladiator then it'd be pretty much perfect.

As it is now, I just use it in the linear mode mainly.

Oh, and it's worth noting that Gladiator version 1 sounds completely different to Gladiator version 2. It's very much worth having them both installed if you own them. I actually prefer the sound of Gladiator 1 in some instances.

Cheers!
bManic

I would say that CPU handling is very good in both.

ElectraX has layers but no one forces you to use them - even with one layer you can create something interesting. Gladiator on the other hand is synth with "one screen GUI" concept.

Very generally speaking, ElectraX is more like a lead / synth / bass machine with strong sound.
Gladiator really shines when it comes to creating big evolving pads, textures, atmospheres, mainly because it uses so called Harmonic Content Morphing synthesis which allows you to create movement, life in your presets very easily. That's why, I see Gladiator as amazing Pad Synth - plus it's very easy to use, it's very entertaining (i remember that I really felt like HCM is some kind of new synthesis, not another boring VA, FM, Additive, Rompler or whatever synth). For lead I would use ElectraX because hmm it's much stronger, can be brighter and leads usually don't require a lot of movement, "life".

I would say that:
- if you're looking for pads, textures, atmospheres - pick Gladiator
- if you want some "new" interesting synthesis - pick Gladiator
- if you want strong leads, basses - pick ElectraX
- if you aren't bored with typical VA, FM etc. synths - pick ElectraX

im no synthiepro and i dont have Electrax, i can recommend gladiator2 though. for hard basses, hard sounds it is somehow lush though, it's a nice addition for plucks, background sounds, risers etc. also i love the RANDOMIZATION!!!!!! this is great and should be in some more synths this way, you get great sounds sometimes.

Thanks very much for the info. I demo'd both, although ElectraX was awhile ago. I was afraid it would be a large file.
I stupidly filled my hard drive converting old Akai discs to Kontakt files, and now don't know where to begin to delete them. So space is becoming an issue.
I also have to demo on a laptop, because my music computer isn't really connected to the net. It's a dual core Pentium 420. My music machine is also a dual core but Athlon, but a faster processor.
Gladiator totally blew me away sound-wise, but in VSTHost, playing 3 notes on one patch, I hit 30% CPU.
I kept eyeing my poor neglected MicroKorg in the corner thinking, well - I can put that on ebay...
I guess it seems time for some 'spring cleaning' and get rid of some things I'm not really using.
Again thanks for the tips.

Some big difference if I remember correctly: Electrax had no Unison. With my testings I liked Gladiator more.

75mb for Gladiator and 188mb for ElectraX here. ElectraX is exceptionally good on CPU, one of the best synths i have considering the number of voices and effects it does. Gladiator is average compared to other synths.

ElectraX has the advantage of being 4 part multitimbral (MIDI channel 1-4) and with one of the most enjoyable GUIs to work with, and I say that even though I'm not really a big fan of hardware 3D looks generally. All the controls in Gladiator are tiny and although it's all clear and on one page it's not as fun as ElectraX.

yes, randomization algorithm is amazing

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/756231/mp3_demos/gladiator-space-sta tion.mp3
quite a lot patches from this bank I designed by clicking first: "random all" and then tweaking it. Randomize in Gladiator really produces interesting effects.

I prefer the feel and sound Gladiator. ElectraX pierces my ears for some reason.