RP Predator still worth it? if you got.....

[Elektronisch]

i missred and that caine has only serum and dune 2. If he has the synths like zebra 2 and more, then no you dont need predator. Dont buy it. Better throw your girl or yourself a nice dinner.

[Elektronisch]

i have missred that caine has only serum and dune 2. If he has the synths like zebra 2 and more, then no you dont need predator. Dont buy it. Better throw your girl or yourself a nice dinner.

[TB4C]

Just Sold My Diva.. so my Predator will be called on a little more often now.....

[2ZrgE]

If you have to ask somebody if you should get a certain synth or not, then you don't have enough knowledge of synthesis to be looking at anymore synths than what you already own. Some magic door isn't going to suddenly open because you bought one more synth.

That's a valid point.

I must admit that I sometimes buy synths just because I'm impressed by the demo presets. Having a full time job and a family (and playing an instrument as well) my producing time is rather limited, so I just don't have the time to explore my synths to the fullest.

And that's why I like about Predator: The preset ordering in genre categories - if I just want to grab let's say a Psytrance lead, I can open Predator and look in it's Psytrance bank and so on. A big time saver indeed.

Soundwise it's good enough for me, and it does not takes as much CPU as Spire or Serum (which I really didn't like at all preset wise...) And that's why I don't use the highly praised Massive, I just don't like the factory bank...

[wagtunes]

If you have to ask somebody if you should get a certain synth or not, then you don't have enough knowledge of synthesis to be looking at anymore synths than what you already own. Some magic door isn't going to suddenly open because you bought one more synth.

That's a valid point.

I must admit that I sometimes buy synths just because I'm impressed by the demo presets. Having a full time job and a family (and playing an instrument as well) my producing time is rather limited, so I just don't have the time to explore my synths to the fullest.

And that's why I like about Predator: The preset ordering in genre categories - if I just want to grab let's say a Psytrance lead, I can open Predator and look in it's Psytrance bank and so on. A big time saver indeed.

Soundwise it's good enough for me, and it does not takes as much CPU as Spire or Serum (which I really didn't like at all preset wise...) And that's why I don't use the highly praised Massive, I just don't like the factory bank...

Massive's presets are a huge disappointment. If you want to get something good out of that thing you either have to buy 3rd party sounds or create them yourself.

Zebra 2 is another synth whose factory patches left a lot to be desired, which is why I spent about a month making my own.

Boggles my mind why developers make really good synths but don't take the time to make presets that really show off what they synth can do and/or make them usable in the "real" world.

And don't even get me started on some Reaktor ensembles that come with ZERO snaps. Really?

[ariston]

Zebra 2 is another synth whose factory patches left a lot to be desired, which is why I spent about a month making my own.

At the risk of being called a fanboy, I'm going to disagree here. The Zebra factory patches are filled with lots of usable, more importantly: musically playable patches, with quite a few hidden gems here and there.

I listened to your Zebra patches and find them pretty pedestrian and uninteresting. Now this is just my opinion, and I don't mean to get on your case here, but if you present presets to the world yourself, and then off-handedly diss the work of other sound designers, you should be prepared for some degree of fallout.

It's all just a matter of taste, anyway. Oh, and I appreciate Massive's off-kilter factory bank as well.

[4damind]

There is some overlap with Dune2 not so much with Serum IMO.

Yes Predator is a bit dated compared to the other synth and some things like the Unison implementation sounds IMO not very good. But Predator is still a good preset synth because of the large preset library and (like most of Rob Papen synth) the presets are very good.

[wagtunes]

Zebra 2 is another synth whose factory patches left a lot to be desired, which is why I spent about a month making my own.

At the risk of being called a fanboy, I'm going to disagree here. The Zebra factory patches are filled with lots of usable, more importantly: musically playable patches, with quite a few hidden gems here and there.

I listened to your Zebra patches and find them pretty pedestrian and uninteresting. Now this is just my opinion, and I don't mean to get on your case here, but if you present presets to the world yourself, and then off-handedly diss the work of other sound designers, you should be prepared for some degree of fallout.

It's all just a matter of taste, anyway. Oh, and I appreciate Massive's off-kilter factory bank as well.

No offense taken. It's all subjective anyway. One man's killer preset is another man's piece of crap. Just like one person can love synth A and another person think it's garbage. I've had people both love and hate my stuff. Been like that for 35 plus years and I don't expect anything to change now.

Welcome to the real world.

[Compyfox]

Over the course of the last years, I realized that one really only needs a handful of synths that cover everything.

ZEBRA and DIVA for example are very versatile and cover a lot of ground. ZEBRA especially - also considering what v3 might do, and keeping the "Dark Zebra" upgrade in mind.

Then there is "Omnisphere", which is a beast in itself. But it sounded "too American" to me. This might change with Omnisphere 2. And now the game is turning interesting with "custom wavetables".

Let's not forget synths like SynthMaster, the old Alchemy (may it rest in piece), I still use z3ta+ for certain DnB Stuff, Massive is a go-to work horse.


In all seriousness - do we really need that much more other than a synths for "nostalgic values"?
(clones mainly, or Synth1, actual hardware ports like Korg, Waldorf and Novation)

The OP has NEXUS, the OP has a sh*tload of other synths and plugins. He is covered until infinity at this point. As much as "more synths" can help you, they also limit you in your creativity. Not to mention tax on your CPU.

I was at a clients place half a month ago to help mix a track. And he only used Kontakt (for Symphonic Strings), RMX and Omnisphere. Another production I helped him out with, he also only used Kontakt, Omnisphere, RMX, Arturia SPARK and one DIVA preset. And his production sounded as if he used three times the amount of plugins.

I also recently saw a video here on KVR, where somebody recreated an 80ies popsong on one Synth only.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAskx5LC0iQ

Granted, it's more of a step sequencer than a full fledged synth. BUT... this clearly shows that if you learn a synth throughout rather than buying more and more, you're way more creative with what you already have.

[wagtunes]

Over the course of the last years, I realized that one really only needs a handful of synths that cover everything.

ZEBRA and DIVA for example are very versatile and cover a lot of ground. ZEBRA especially - also considering what v3 might do, and keeping the "Dark Zebra" upgrade in mind.

Then there is "Omnisphere", which is a beast in itself. But it sounded "too American" to me. This might change with Omnisphere 2. And now the game is turning interesting with "custom wavetables".

Let's not forget synths like SynthMaster, the old Alchemy (may it rest in piece), I still use z3ta+ for certain DnB Stuff, Massive is a go-to work horse.


In all seriousness - do we really need that much more other than a synths for "nostalgic values"?
(clones mainly, or Synth1, actual hardware ports like Korg, Waldorf and Novation)

The OP has NEXUS, the OP has a sh*tload of other synths and plugins. He is covered until infinity at this point. As much as "more synths" can help you, they also limit you in your creativity. Not to mention tax on your CPU.

I was at a clients place half a month ago to help mix a track. And he only used Kontakt (for Symphonic Strings), RMX and Omnisphere. Another production I helped him out with, he also only used Kontakt, Omnisphere, RMX, Arturia SPARK and one DIVA preset. And his production sounded as if he used three times the amount of plugins.

I also recently saw a video here on KVR, where somebody recreated an 80ies popsong on one Synth only.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAskx5LC0iQ

Granted, it's more of a step sequencer than a full fledged synth. BUT... this clearly shows that if you learn a synth throughout rather than buying more and more, you're way more creative with what you already have.

That is SO cool. Now THAT'S a guy who knows his synth.

Excellent example and lovin every minute of it.