Don't forget Sytrus or Surge...

I have both synths and have studied both fairly deeply. I reviewed Z3TA 2 in WSM (a free on-line computer sound magazine) shortly after it came out. I've got a review of SM coming up in the next issue (watch this forum for an announcement). The SM review should be published/posted in a couple of weeks.

To me there's no competition. SynthMaster is wonderfully deep and yet ever so logical and intuitive to use. Z3TA has a few tricks that SM doesn't, but SM overall has a much greater set of capabilities. I'm not saying Z3TA isn't a decent synth, but compared to SM ... well, it's not contest really, IMO.

Sytrus isn't comparable to SynthMaster at all IMO...not to mention more expensive, OP made it clear cost is a factor and for the price of Sytrus he could get SynthMaster and pick up CM to get Z3ta+ 1.5 apparently. For that matter Sytrus is only $20 cheaper than Zebra, at that point I'd just recommend spending the extra 20

Don' t forget used market.
Sytrus has great sounds for OP and flexible arp as well.

Good luck with the used market. Sytrus (like all Image-line plugins) is not for resale.

I've never paid attention to the fine or extra large prints. actually the only thing I like to sell out of all I own is FL.
Just not my style. Sytrus is great but I hardly use it anymore. Every time I seat in front of SM I just go back to Zebra or Surge.
Something about SM..... In fact I enjoy z3ta+ sound better then SM

I like Synthmaster and it has a lot of possibilities...

But I really love the "feel" of Z3TA+2...

It easy to work with and dialing in great sounds with attitude is a breeze...

Zebra,Rapture and Z3TA+2 are my first call synths these days...

100% satisfaction - every time...

But I am starting to embrace Synthmaster - step by step...

I've got both but thanks for the offer...

Newest demo by Insigna (Ümit Uy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_JLhfcR654

I'm surprised that SM has fared so well on this thread. I had a very early version of SM that wasn't even close to Z3ta on any level. Now I guess I've got to go back and take another look.

For me, Z3ta is just great. Sounds great in the mix and there are some unique things you can pull out of it. The only thing I didn't like about it was the old browser system, and that was fixed in version 2.

Cheers
-B

Don't make me choose!!!!

SynthMaster has come a looong way since version 1.0, even since version 2.0 as well. The good reviews we have received so far from major music technology magazines (CM, FMM, DJMAg, Beat) is a result of this.

Synthmaster all the way. You won't get a better Features+Sound/Price ratio, it's the swiss army knife of synths.
Z3ta is pretty good and has some unique features (waveshaping ), but Synthmaster covers a lot more ground and sounds fantastic.

Z3TA
It's a bunch cheaper and sounds great

Exactly. I got many other softsynths which are better for some special tasks (e.g. Diva for "raw" analog sounds, PPG 3.V for wavetables, NI FM8 for FM, Sylenth1 for hypersaw like sounds or the Wavestation for vector synthesis) but Synthmaster is one of the best "all-in-one" (or "swiss army knife") synths out there (besides e.g. Zebra, Alchemy or ElectraX). The number of features is insane and most of them have a very good or even great quality. The import of samples and single cycle waveforms makes it even better.
If i had to choose a single softsynth from my big collection this would maybe be the one i would choose (and the Blofeld for hardware).
If i would compare it to a hardware synth it would be something like the Blofeld or a Virus TI which both got a very big amount of features (and a great sound) too.

Here is a list of things which are possible with the oscillator section of Synthmaster (not even mentioning the other features):
- basic VA
- PWM
- Osc Sync
- Osc FM (with additional modulation OSCs)
- Ring Mod
- Unison
- additive oscillator with 8 partials (32 when using all 4 OSCs in both layers)
You could use any available single cycle waveform for each of the partials.
- hypersaw/supersaw like sounds (with the additive oscillator and/or Unison)
- wavetable oscillator (creating wavetables from 2 to 16 single cycle waveforms by interpolation in realtime)
- sample import/playback (SFZ)
- single cycle waveform import/playback
- Multi Single Cycles (e.g. for using chromatic single cycles like in multisamples)
- vector oscillator (and 2D envelopes)

I got Z2Ta 2 too but while it does some great sounds and has a lot of features too i don't like it nearly as much as Synthmaster. I'm also quite used to the GUI of Synthmaster, i started at Synthmaster version 1 (shortly before the version 2 Beta started) BTW.


Ingo