KVR Audio

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed May 23, 2012 3:34 pm

What about Tassman? It can be found pretty cheap used, ~$50-75 so in a similar price range, and very quality.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Wed May 23, 2012 3:41 pm

Nielzie wrote:For me the most similar experience is with ABL Pro. Similar virtual patch Cables and real nice analogish grumbling sounds.

You should definatelly give it a try

It has a really good sound! Secret weapon

Only the control structure of the synth is modular, AFAIK, but that's enough to make modular madness materialize in minutes.

Sequent · Post by **Sequent** » Wed May 23, 2012 3:44 pm

For a modular that is very cpu friendly and has a very wide range of possibilities and fantastic sound (imo) I would also like to suggest Vaz Modular. No pretty cords... but it is a modular and there are a LOT of modules available. You would have to download the demo and see if it's an environment that you feel comfortable with. Vaz has been around for a while but sounds great (and analog) and is still actively being updated. They have a sub forum here at kvr.

http://www.vaz-synths.com/vmIndex.html

Echoes in the Attic · Post by **Echoes in the Attic** » Wed May 23, 2012 3:56 pm

Poly-Ana has oscillator fm/pm and all that good modulation stuff, like multipliers and modulations adders. Similar kind of vintage synth with a single panel layout. Doesn't use cables but applies modulation by knobs or dropdowns.

If you like the cables, ABL Pro (or ASM actually) is simpler, but a great sound. I've been hoping for years for an update to this (Mainly swing for the arp/sequencer). I think with a little better marketing push and no name change confusion, it could do really well.

Examigan · Post by **Examigan** » Wed May 23, 2012 5:05 pm

Lots of good suggestions here, thanks!

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed May 23, 2012 7:59 pm

Examigan wrote:
bmrzycki wrote:I find it interesting how quick some peole are to suggest synths without asking some very important questions of the OP.

1. What sound(s) in ACE do you like? It's possible the sounds you like can be found in other subtractive synths, FM synths, or maybe even freebies.

2. Why are you interested in ACE in the first place? Is it the freely assignable architecture, the sound of the filters, the audio rate LFOs, or maybe just the presets?

Without knowing the answers to those 2 questions I can't even begin to recommend another tool.
1. I couldn't hear all the sounds/presets as many would max out my PC, so can't list which ones I like, and I am at work now too.

2. The main synths I have are Synthmaster, Wusikstation, OP-X Pro II, impOSCar, and Wusikstation.
Synthmaster is semi-modular, but am insterested in having more of the modular-action going on in at least one synth of my collection.

There are a variety of synths that are modular or semi modular. What makes ACE somewhat unique is that all connections are at audio rate. LFO's can be osc's, OCS's can modulate LFO's, you can modulate the filter by itself and feed the output of the filter back into itself and so on.

Most synths, even modular ones, still have audio rate for the signal path and control rate for the modulation. ACE has audio rate for all the inputs and outputs and this is why anything can be connected to anything. It is also why it is heavy on the cpu.

For example, Zebra is semi-modular but it is not like ACE. In Zebra signal path and modulation are separate. In ACE there is no difference between the two. Bazille and Aalto are two examples of other synths like ACE. And both use lots of cpu too.

I doubt you are going to find a modular synth that can do audio rate modulation that will use less cpu than ACE on draft mode. I have plenty of patches in Zebra for example that will use more cpu than ACE in draft mode. Good luck though

JoeCat · Post by **JoeCat** » Wed May 23, 2012 8:18 pm

Funny no one mentioned this yet

http://www.u-he.com/cms/89-berlin-modular

JimmiG · Post by **JimmiG** » Thu May 24, 2012 6:46 am

What CPU do you currently have? Maybe it's time to upgrade... The concept of what is "CPU friendly" is changing, making it hard to make recommendations.

Examigan · Post by **Examigan** » Thu May 24, 2012 9:36 am

JimmiG wrote:What CPU do you currently have? Maybe it's time to upgrade... The concept of what is "CPU friendly" is changing, making it hard to make recommendations.

Pentium D 2.8 ghz, it's a dual core, but I think it came out before the core2duo, not sure.

So yes, it's old!!

But I can do a pretty lot with it, it's only till just lately that it struggles with newer synths, like Ace and Diva, that require a lot more horsepower.

You're right, it IS time to upgrade, but I don't have a big chunck of change to hand over to NewEgg or wherever...the mortgage seems to take the attention away from sites like that

Examigan · Post by **Examigan** » Thu May 24, 2012 12:18 pm

Examigan wrote:
JimmiG wrote:What CPU do you currently have? Maybe it's time to upgrade... The concept of what is "CPU friendly" is changing, making it hard to make recommendations.
Pentium D 2.8 ghz, it's a dual core, but I think it came out before the core2duo, not sure.

So yes, it's old!! But I can do a pretty lot with it, it's only till just lately that it struggles with newer synths, like Ace and Diva, that require a lot more horsepower.

You're right, it IS time to upgrade, but I don't have a big chunck of change to hand over to NewEgg or wherever...the mortgage seems to take the attention away from sites like that

I found a bare-bones kit for about $280, has a 6-core AMD cpu and 4 gigs Ram, 500 gig drive, etc... might just try for that if I get some extra birthday $$.

Something similar to Ace but less CPU hungry