KVR Audio

Apostate · Post by **Apostate** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 10:17 pm

4damind wrote:Papen has some of the best (=usable) presets in synth IMO.

This times 100.

I see Papen as having a few knockouts. Blue II is just a great synth, period, a top ten in my eyes. Punch BD can be so interesting, the layering is definitely an awesome touch. Predator has become more than just a preset machine as time goes on, but I keep mine mostly because a) the effects work terrific on many synths and in many contexts and b) I'm extremely interested in the upcoming Predator 2.

mcc> · Post by **mcc>** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:44 pm

big fan of rob's synths...their actual sound as well as SOUNDS, the creative-genius behind each new offering and the ONGOING-SUPPORT he provides for them (new complete-soundsets often come with FREE-updates and not just like ten sounds...can FAW say this?) rob's been around forever and before half these companies even knew what a synth was. i agree with the guy who's delving further into Predator as to sound-design...it's a monster synth to play with once you understand it's thinking. Blue2 with it's 1500 (?) presets is a most-valuable commodity. i end up backing-off some of the effects and modulations in most cases.
Blade is weird to look at but still very useful...i recommend eternity sounds SLIZAN blade soundset. not as excited about the RAW-synth as there's just so much of that sort of noisy machinery out there today who's sound can basically be achieved through filters, distortion-effects, and modulation. but when it comes to real synthesis and it's finer points... it's hard to beat rob papen.

djshire · Post by **djshire** » Sun Oct 04, 2015 4:05 am

I guess I get to tell this story again....

When I was starting out, I had a decent sum of money, so I got Komplete 7. I figured I was going to love Massive, use it a lot (like everyone else), and it was going to be my main synth.

I hate Massive. I really tried to like it. But it just sounded bad, even after going through the presets and making my own presets. So I had to search for another main synth (Logic ES2 sounds good but not great, and the other NI synths didn't sound like "main" synths to me).

So I demo'd various synths (this was years ago), and when I tried out Predator, it all just "clicked"....I loved it from the get go, the interface was wonderful to me, and it sounded like what I had been trying to find. Its my most used synth, at one point I made an entire song from just Predator, but then my HD died and I lost everything, though I may revisit that idea sometime in the future. I have a bought soundset for Predator that sounds great; made by Ummet Ozcan, back when he was making tech trance and not big room house like he is now.

Granted, my first foray in RP stuff wasn't Predator....it was a $15 no-brainer sale for RP Delay.

I got eXplorer after getting Predator and Delay, I even got a nice discount for having those too!

I have never used Blue-II, Punch BD, or RAW (I have yet to upgrade to eXplorer 3 from 2). See above for Predator. Blue sounds wonderful, I really need to explore it more and find some uses for it (I think it would probably inhabit the same production sound area as Absynth). I use Punch quite a bit, but I typically mix it with other sounds instead of just using it on its own. I use SubBoomBase mostly for sub sounds, occasionally for hard-edged stabs. I feel like I should look at Blade a bit more than I have, so I really can't say much about it. I have yet to find a use for RG, beyond thoughts of using it for deep house bass guitar basslines.

JackJ · Post by **JackJ** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 7:48 am

You can't go wrong with Blue II or Predator - first rate synths. If you're a Reason user, RP offers two synths that are exclusive to Reason as rack extensions, namely Quad and Vecto. I own both and they are great.

Akanishta · Post by **Akanishta** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:10 pm

I've been using Blue since it first came out. Fantastic sounds and functionality. I can't recommend it enough.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 4:33 pm

I really liked Albino and none of the new things...

Albino sounds cool and was innovative when it came out. His other synths may build on that same engine, but it hasn't sparked my interest enough to buy any of them.

core · Post by **core** » Fri Oct 09, 2015 6:16 pm

Big fan of Predator here

mcc> · Post by **mcc>** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:15 am

though they parted ways many years ago it's difficult for me to think or talk about ROB PAPEN (and albino especially) without thinking of LINPLUG. though not quite the all-around preset-monster that BLUE 2 is if i had to choose one synth to take with me to a desert-island it would be SPECTRAL.
it's simple: i fall in love everytime i open it...with it's gorgeous interface, the depth of it's sound, it's willingness to go new and old places without too much effort. i love it's arpeggiator and the feel of it's knobs, it's sleekness while being very rugged at the same time...the browser is easily understood and reliable and it's quite good on the cpu. i never not have a good time with it....could it be those FX? whatever it's short-comings please don't tell me or go ahead but let me say i'm all-heart and no-brain about this one....that's how great i think she is. (or he...or it or whatever : G)

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:25 am

ford442 wrote:I really liked Albino and none of the new things...

Albino sounds cool and was innovative when it came out. His other synths may build on that same engine, but it hasn't sparked my interest enough to buy any of them.

i don't know if anything will ever be as good, for exactly what it was, as albino 3 ever again.

for me, it had weak bass, weak arps/leads with no "bite", but it just had the most magical "sit in the mix perfectly", and "let's chain these" pads i have ever heard from any softsynth. Just warm, but not overpowering, but emotion evoking, butter smooth pads.

The thing is here, was it linplug's programming? Or was it rob's genius programming? Perhaps a bit of both? In any case, I don't think Rob has quite ever programmed pads to the level he did in Albino - he just did such a majestic job with them.

He obviously parted with peter and chose to go with Jon, and that partnership has bared some magnificent fruit. I couldn't be happier. But if there's ever any way, any way at all, to just re release albino 3 again some day, would anyone really complain?

mcc> · Post by **mcc>** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 1:41 am

i totally agree but even better yet would be an albino 4....complete with usable leads and basses! : P

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 2:05 am

TheoM wrote: The thing is here, was it linplug's programming? Or was it rob's genius programming? Perhaps a bit of both?

Others have made great patches for Albino (Frank Genus comes to mind first). So if two drivers win races with the same car is it the car or the drivers ? A bit of both as you said.......

The secret to Albino for me is it's four layers. Allows for some very complex sounds and yes "usable" leads and basses..............

I wish Rob and Peter could work something out so Albino could live on but with Linplug's recent dropping of half it's catalog I doubt that will ever happen.........

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 2:17 am

Teksonik wrote:
TheoM wrote: The thing is here, was it linplug's programming? Or was it rob's genius programming? Perhaps a bit of both?
Others have made great patches for Albino (Frank Genus comes to mind first). So if two drivers win races with the same car is it the car or the drivers ? A bit of both as you said.......

of course that's entirely subjective, and i have like 5 thousand commercial albino sounds including all of frank's, and i don't agree that any other programmer met Rob's standard with Albino. Different strokes....

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 3:06 am

TheoM wrote:and i have like 5 thousand commercial albino sounds including all of frank's, and i don't agree that any other programmer met Rob's standard with Albino. Different strokes....

No, some of them surpassed Robs standards.............

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 4:37 am

djshire wrote:So I demo'd various synths (this was years ago), and when I tried out Predator, it all just "clicked"....I loved it from the get go, the interface was wonderful to me, and it sounded like what I had been trying to find. Its my most used synth, at one point I made an entire song from just Predator

It's certainly great for getting ideas down quickly. His use of the effects section is really good, too.

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Sat Oct 10, 2015 2:12 pm

I love Predator and Blue II as well. Jon Ayres' synths have always had a signature sound even long before he partnered with Rob Papen.

I think if I were forced to choose I'd pick Blue II over Predator just because of it's deeper feature set.......

What do you think of Rob Papen synths?