KVR Audio

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:31 am

Whenever I break this synth out after a period of not using it I find myself having a great time, smiling a lot and programming it for hours. Time flies by.

It's not meant to be a one stop, but for me it's great at what it does.

fisherKing · Post by **fisherKing** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:42 am

just for what it is, it IS great fun. noisy, nutty...very cool.

Grizzellda · Post by **Grizzellda** » Sun May 03, 2015 3:51 am

Oh, it's fun alright! Sure, really cool synth. I'll say that I like SugarBytes in general...they have a nice creative approach & I can dig their stuff like, totally, man! heh heh,

It's refreshing software & I like that.

As for Cyclop, well I could just sit & look at that lovely GUI & be satisfied! You mean to say that it produces sound as well?

It would be nice if it was polyphonic, as it has quite a synthesis engine, but I understand their approach, you know, marketed for bass wobbles, etc... Beautiful synthesizer.

jeffb01 · Post by **jeffb01** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:45 pm

I love it, too. Thanks for this thread, I'll use it today. I just hope I don't waste 2 hours playing space invaders on it - j/k...

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:51 pm

jeffb01 wrote:I love it, too. Thanks for this thread, I'll use it today. I just hope I don't waste 2 hours playing space invaders on it - j/k...

It's one of those synths that just as entertaining as useful. And there is some depth to it in terms of cool programming options and layout. There are many, more eclectic synths I wish were even half as fun.

Sim.Sky · Post by **Sim.Sky** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:08 pm

i have to admit that i was always a bit skeptical towards this synth... just because of the video-game-like (dare i say toy-like?) gui, whatever... anyway, i eventually snapped it during their easter sale (it was even less than half of the regular price, come on

) and so far i'm actually really enjoying it - it's just a fresh approach to creating tones with the wobble and mod knobs and the various synthesis modes. plus the sound is literally big imho! honestly i'm pretty glad i finally gave it a chance

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:11 pm

When I first demo'd it I was borderline mortified by the video game. Then I watched a couple of tutorials and my doubts slid away. Love the gui, and I don't care about the naysayers. Excellent synth.

UncleAge · Post by **UncleAge** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:25 pm

It is without a doubt my favorite interface to play with out of all the synths/fx I use.

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:49 pm

Sugar Bytes are good at making interfaces which can be complex and still be entertaining. Cyclop's GUI was a bit of a gamble in my opinion, but it only took me 10 minutes to get to grips with it. It's nice when plugins give you that "mad scientist" vibe, there are too many battleship grey or dark blue, flat and uninspiring layouts where everything is just plopped in your face (ok, bad turn of phrase) all at once. It's almost like these plugins are saying "welp, here are the parameters, get on with it" which is fine and all if the functionality has what you need, but I probably care more for GUI than I'd like to think, and Sugar Bytes are doing it right. WOW2 is another good example of both a good, fun GUI and complex functionality.

Cyclop mainly gets used for gimmick synths and morphing ostinato patches, or weird one-shot FX. I wouldn't use it as a total bass solution because the bass response is a bit too lumpy. But it's great for grooves and gimmicks and crazy solo sounds

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Sun May 03, 2015 2:56 pm

Sendy wrote:Sugar Bytes are good at making interfaces which can be complex and still be entertaining. Cyclop's GUI was a bit of a gamble in my opinion, but it only took me 10 minutes to get to grips with it. It's nice when plugins give you that "mad scientist" vibe, there are too many battleship grey or dark blue, flat and uninspiring layouts where everything is just plopped in your face (ok, bad turn of phrase) all at once. It's almost like these plugins are saying "welp, here are the parameters, get on with it" which is fine and all if the functionality has what you need, but I probably care more for GUI than I'd like to think, and Sugar Bytes are doing it right. WOW2 is another good example of both a good, fun GUI and complex functionality.

Cyclop mainly gets used for gimmick synths and morphing ostinato patches, or weird one-shot FX. I wouldn't use it as a total bass solution because the bass response is a bit too lumpy. But it's great for grooves and gimmicks and crazy solo sounds

You can get a seriously disgusting (in the "good" way) bass line, or you can overdose on the robot thing. I mean, I'm guessing that's what it's meant for, and it does it's job really well imo. It's not at all hard to customize what you want either, at least in my experience.

Hah! No I don't work for Sugar Bytes...

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Mon May 04, 2015 8:05 am

Too bad it is not polyphonic. Like the video game though.

SirKen · Post by **SirKen** » Mon May 04, 2015 1:52 pm

2ZrgE wrote:Too bad it is not polyphonic. Like the video game though.

You can easily use it like a polyphonic synth by installing pizMIDI plugins. You just need to have a computer that can handle multiple instances.

2ZrgE · Post by **2ZrgE** » Tue May 05, 2015 8:04 am

Thanks for the hint.

Nowadays a VST synth wihout polyphony just does not feel complete to me.

Monark as monophonic I can understand, but with Cyclop I just miss the possibility.

J.Hartmann · Post by **J.Hartmann** » Tue May 05, 2015 9:21 am

I own it and honestly it's one of the synths I use the least. The reason is simply because I fail at doing any interesting sounds with it.
I love playing with synths and getting something out of them, I use both commercial and free synths, small or big, I don't care as long as I can make something, even if just for fun, exploring and experimenting.
Unfortunately with Cyclop after hours of playing with it, I hardly come up with any sound I can use. From my experience I see it as a synth good for effects. Got much better options if I have a sound I want to design, specially for bass.
Good to know that the users who replied before seem to enjoy it much more. Wonder what sounds you're making with it.

mcnelson · Post by **mcnelson** » Tue May 05, 2015 11:26 am

2ZrgE wrote:Thanks for the hint.

Nowadays a VST synth wihout polyphony just does not feel complete to me.

Monark as monophonic I can understand, but with Cyclop I just miss the possibility.

Cyclop is very much intended to be and marketed as a "Bass" synth, hence the lack of polyphony.

Is Cyclop Too MUCH Fun?