Best free synth

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brok landers wrote:
V'ger wrote:ZynAddSubFX

>snip<
if that thing would't be so damned buggy, it would've come quite far...
Have you tried it since the One Synth Challenge last year? Several bugs
were squashed during that contest.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72402

The linux version, part of the linux at the link,
has never seemed buggy in normal use
(not having attempted deep Bigtone creation/editing)

The (400 meg iso) preconfigured linux studio above, includes it,
as well as a drum machine (hydrogen) and Rakarrack multi-fx, with
timemachine, ardour, and audacity for recording/editing.

Yoshimi is a newer fork, that also has lots of improvements.
Cheers
Last edited by glokraw on Fri Jan 25, 2013 12:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Indeed, as stable as any synth here on XP 32 (Reaper) thanks to lots of updates last years by Jackoo.

Don't know any synth free or commercial with the sheer range of Zyn, but with 3 synth engines inside I guess it's not that surprising. Good and varied FX too.

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The problem i have with ZynAddSubFx is the really bad GUI (rocket science skills needed and way too many windows), non host-syncable FX and LFO's, the weird MidiLearn function, and the feeling about it that it had to be tweaked heavily to work as VST (dummy window and other stuff). The pros are that the oscillators really sound fat. The filter is not bad, i have heard better on more recent synths though, especially on high resonance it's quite sharp.

All in all the downsides of it weigh more than the upsides FOR ME, that's why it's kinda catching dust in my plugin folder... i really wished someone would have picked up the synthesis parts and build a decent GUI around it, and made it stable. But i guess with so much code to go through it might be easier to start from scratch anyway. :P

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glokraw wrote:
brok landers wrote:
V'ger wrote:ZynAddSubFX

>snip<
if that thing would't be so damned buggy, it would've come quite far...
Have you tried it since the One Synth Challenge last year? Several bugs
were squashed during that contest.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72402

The linux version, part of the linux at the link,
has never seemed buggy in normal use
(not having attempted deep Bigtone creation/editing)

The (400 meg iso) preconfigured linux studio above, includes it,
as well as a drum machine (hydrogen) and Rakarrack multi-fx, with
timemachine, ardour, and audacity for recording/editing.

Yoshimi is a newer fork, that also has lots of improvements.
Cheers
well, i'm not on linux, and for sure i won't be, due to time issues...
but is there a win download of the bugfixed version?
i would love to see that thing stable, but last time i checked (which must be 2 or more years ago), it crashed all the time during various editing...
regards,
brok landers
BIGTONEsounddesign
gear is as good as the innovation behind it-the man

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How far away is that version 2 mr.bungle? :)
:hug:

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That Zyn is quite cranky and cumbersome to use, but I would vote it high on a 'best free' list. It has a very special character of sound. You people are so mean. And by the way it doesn't crash here at all now, so far...

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brok landers wrote: but is there a win download of the bugfixed version?
You can download it from here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=268277

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This ZynAdd synth is about the most uninspiring synth there is when you are sitting there, staring at that butt-ugly and complicated GUI and attempting to compose. I don't care what its range is or how many tricks. This synth needs to be classed with the synths you couldn't pay me enough to use, such as SynthMaster. Even the name of the thing is just plain STUPID.

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The Telenator wrote:This ZynAdd synth is about the most uninspiring synth there is when you are sitting there, staring at that butt-ugly and complicated GUI and attempting to compose. I don't care what its range is or how many tricks. This synth needs to be classed with the synths you couldn't pay me enough to use, such as SynthMaster. Even the name of the thing is just plain STUPID.
exactly, thats why i made a new quick n dirty GUI for Digits.

http://www.extentofthejam.com/
the GUI isn't ugly, just not...as you say, inspiring.
here is a sneak peek at my GUI. i'll share if the dev will answer
my email and allow me to!

Image
been making patches for it like a madman with the new GUI :hihi:
Last edited by layzer on Sun Jan 27, 2013 7:19 pm, edited 4 times in total.
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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Funny you should mention Digits as I just installed it yesterday and found the plain GUI refreshing and fast although what you've done there looks good.
The Telenator wrote:This ZynAdd synth is about the most uninspiring synth there is when you are sitting there, staring at that butt-ugly and complicated GUI and attempting to compose. I don't care what its range is or how many tricks. This synth needs to be classed with the synths you couldn't pay me enough to use, such as SynthMaster.
Although I can sort of understand it, I still find it weird that GUI counts for much more than sound.. :shrug:

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Try to use synths that are some kind of clone of hardware or digital hardware : Synth 1-nord lead 2, Dune Be- towards acces virus, Venom vb 303-roland tb 303, tal uno62-roland juno, waldorf ppg2 le (beat edition), Martin Lüders Pg8x-Roland Jx8p, SQ8L-ensoniq sq8 plus others fantastic ones like mausynth,t force alpha plus,Tyrell N6 + zebralette, get synthmaster cm, genesis cm and zebra cm and You are in heaven.

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V'ger wrote:Funny you should mention Digits as I just installed it yesterday and found the plain GUI refreshing and fast although what you've done there looks good.
The Telenator wrote:This ZynAdd synth is about the most uninspiring synth there is when you are sitting there, staring at that butt-ugly and complicated GUI and attempting to compose. I don't care what its range is or how many tricks. This synth needs to be classed with the synths you couldn't pay me enough to use, such as SynthMaster.
Although I can sort of understand it, I still find it weird that GUI counts for much more than sound.. :shrug:

i dont think it accounts for more, just enhances its appeal to use it. :harp:
HW SYNTHS [KORG T2EX - AKAI AX80 - YAMAHA SY77 - ENSONIQ VFX]
HW MODULES [OBi M1000 - ROLAND MKS-50 - ROLAND JV880 - KURZ 1000PX]
SW [CHARLATAN - OBXD - OXE - ELEKTRO - MICROTERA - M1 - SURGE - RMiV]
DAW [ENERGY XT2/1U RACK WINXP / MAUDIO 1010LT PCI]

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V'ger wrote:Although I can sort of understand it, I still find it weird that GUI counts for much more than sound.. :shrug:
Sound is the result of 'programming a sound', so when you do your own sound design, workflow is very important en a good GUI goes quite a distance towards that workflow. Having grown up with hardware synths (the ones with loads of knobs, yes I'm that old :D), actually 'seeing' the sound I'm dialing in on a GUI is pretty important to me.
CrimsonWarlock aka TechnoGremlin, using Reaper and a fine selection of freeware plugins.

Ragnarök VST-synthesizer co-creator with Full Bucket

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oatmeal :)

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The Telenator wrote:This ZynAdd synth is about the most uninspiring synth there is when you are sitting there, staring at that butt-ugly and complicated GUI and attempting to compose. I don't care what its range is or how many tricks. This synth needs to be classed with the synths you couldn't pay me enough to use, such as SynthMaster. Even the name of the thing is just plain STUPID.

:lol:

I remember thinking this years ago. I didn't get it.
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet

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