What do you guys think of these oscillators? Lend me your critical ears!

[Aiynzahev]

Guys and gals, give me your critical ears and tell me what you think of these oscs compared to software.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2RaEiOUMSA

Would you say it's on the level of Arturia SEM, Diva, SynthSquad, Massive or Monark. And the judgement is based on what you'd like to work with as a base for all your sounds.

[ENV1]

For hardware it sounds horrible.

Didnt like it at all.

Personally i would rather use a good software, like e.g. Rapture.

[cryophonik]

Some sound great, some sound harsh, some just sound like boring, run-of-the-mill oscillators. To me, this seems sorta like asking people to taste-test different brands of flour or baking soda - the taste of the raw materials is rarely a good measure of the finished product. It's all about context and what you do with/to those raw materials/oscillators. If you've spent much time reverse-engineering patches, you've probably noticed that some of the most gorgeous patches are sometimes made up of some pretty basic or sometimes even unpleasant sounding raw oscillators after you strip the patch down to its most basic elements.

[Kaboom75]

Reminds me of DIVA but hard to compare them quality wise from a compressed audio video.

[foosnark]

To me, this seems sorta like asking people to taste-test different brands of flour or baking soda - the taste of the raw materials is rarely a good measure of the finished product. It's all about context and what you do with/to those raw materials/oscillators.

This. A thousand times this.

Andto a lesser extent that applies on the levels of synths/instruments too.

[SODDI]

Some sound great, some sound harsh, some just sound like boring, run-of-the-mill oscillators. To me, this seems sorta like asking people to taste-test different brands of flour or baking soda - the taste of the raw materials is rarely a good measure of the finished product. It's all about context and what you do with/to those raw materials/oscillators. If you've spent much time reverse-engineering patches, you've probably noticed that some of the most gorgeous patches are sometimes made up of some pretty basic or sometimes even unpleasant sounding raw oscillators after you strip the patch down to its most basic elements.

It is known.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Judging the sound of a synth on Youtube doesn't really work so well IMO, but from a quick shuffle through the video I didn't hear anything particularly outstanding that can't be done with other synths (hardware, or the latest gen of software synths). I guess the new distortion / feedback section DSI have implemented will be very nice, that would certainly be interesting (more so than the raw oscillators).

Aside from that, I think the main reason for purchasing a performance synth like this would be the user interface i.e. is it one knob per function? Which usually means it will be easier and more fun to play, which translates to a better experience when performing / recording live audio. How much menu diving is required is a very important consideration.

Also, does it have some outstanding modulation structure that is unique and not possible without a massive investment in a modular system or some other synth that costs 2 or 5 times as much? Chatter on hardware forums seems to surround on onboard sequencer, which does look to be a really powerful sound design and performance tool.

TL;DR

Playing it in person would be a much better way to judge the sound and features, especially given the price - not exactly an impulse buy ...

Peace,
Andy.

[DJ Warmonger]

Impossible to tell with that amount of distortion.

[izonin]

Sonically these oscillators remind me of Diversion and Waldorf Q. They sound very clean, but lack character and musical sweetness.

[kbaccki]

I dunno, I liked the 4th one.

[Aiynzahev]

Judging the sound of a synth on Youtube doesn't really work so well IMO, but from a quick shuffle through the video I didn't hear anything particularly outstanding that can't be done with other synths (hardware, or the latest gen of software synths). I guess the new distortion / feedback section DSI have implemented will be very nice, that would certainly be interesting (more so than the raw oscillators).

Aside from that, I think the main reason for purchasing a performance synth like this would be the user interface i.e. is it one knob per function? Which usually means it will be easier and more fun to play, which translates to a better experience when performing / recording live audio. How much menu diving is required is a very important consideration.

Also, does it have some outstanding modulation structure that is unique and not possible without a massive investment in a modular system or some other synth that costs 2 or 5 times as much? Chatter on hardware forums seems to surround on onboard sequencer, which does look to be a really powerful sound design and performance tool.

TL;DR

Playing it in person would be a much better way to judge the sound and features, especially given the price - not exactly an impulse buy ...

Peace,
Andy.

I will do a video on some extra functions like that soon. The modulation on this synth is on the level of Tone2 synths, basically almost anything can be modulated by almost anything. There is even an Audio Out Mod source like Nemesis.

It is difficult to judge based on youtube video, but you can hear it's tone generally and how much "movement" is in the sound.

Thanks for your opinions so far guys, keep em coming.

[fluffy_little_something]

I don't quite get the point of this thread. Aren't you a professional sound designer? You should not give a .... about what we think, especially based on a video. Your ears are probably better than ours

Frankly, to me a saw is a saw. It only sounds bad if there is something wrong with it, like the saw is not really a saw or some other components are messing the signal up.
Raw even my SynthEdit oscillators sound the same afaict.

[Aiynzahev]

I don't quite get the point of this thread. Aren't you a professional sound designer? You should not give a .... about what we think, especially based on a video. Your ears are probably better than ours

Frankly, to me a saw is a saw. It only sounds bad if there is something wrong with it, like the saw is not really a saw or some other components are messing the signal up.
Raw even my SynthEdit oscillators sound the same afaict.

I am not asking as a prospective buyer. I was just curious on the opinions of KVR users specifically as we all typically are more used to software.

Just curious because this DSI synth has a totally digital oscillator section instead of analog DCO's. That made me want to compare it to the latest generation of soft-synths.

I wanted to get a contrasting opinion to GS, which are more likely to be used to hardware.

[fluffy_little_something]

Oh, I thought DS is all about good old analog technology
But I assume they would not have used the digital stuff if it were not very good, after all they have a reputation to defend. Is that digital synth cheaper than their analog gear?

Send the waveforms through a scope and compare them to Diva's...

[Aiynzahev]

Oh, I thought DS is all about good old analog technology
But I assume they would not have used the digital stuff if it were not very good, after all they have a reputation to defend. Is that digital synth cheaper than their analog gear?

Send the waveforms through a scope and compare them to Diva's...

Well even their first synth had digital oscs next to the DCO's.

This is a $2k synth, one of their most expensive. It's also a mono-synth, although it has 4 voice paraphony.

It would be pointless to compare to Diva as it's not an emulation of any analog style waveforms. It's plain-jane digital designed to be stable and precise for modulation.