Synclavier V

[VariKusBrainZ]

Well weve had resynthesis in VST format since around 15 years, I just checked when I bought DiscoDSP Vertigo !!!

And I have an 'obsolete' Kyma sitting under my desk bought in 2002

[beely]

Sampling (and resynthesis) were added in Synclavier II, AFAIK. Multitrack sequencing was a later addition, but was not why Synclavier is known.

For me, who grew up through that era, the Synclavier was always about (in the mid eighties, here in the UK) it's high end sampling and workstation/sequencing capabilities, and then the hard disk recording stuff. That was the stuff that made the Synclavier the £100K monster it was by then.

The FM synth stuff from the "old" machines (late 70s/early 80s) was really not that important or used much on those later machines - read interviews from that time and no one's really mentioning or using it as a synth much at all - but the earlier generations, which were much more of a US thing, were of course used for those things - but not that many earlier gen machines made it over here.

So for me, the whole Fairlight / Synclavier thing was always about their abilities as a sampling workstation, rather than as a synth...

I'd still like to still some of the Synclavier sample libraries made available for modern samplers...

[Examigan]

I'd still like to still some of the Synclavier sample libraries made available for modern samplers...

You can get the "The Beast" and use it in Falcon
http://www.uvi.net/en/vintage-corner/the-beast.html

[jdoo]

while it's faithful to the original

Not really, it only has some of its functionality
Eg. Sampling, multitrack sequencing is missing.

The original is closer to what is a Daw bundled with synths and effects these days

Actually... Those features were not part of the original Synclavier, and when added - bumped the price to the $200,000 range.

[fmr]

So for me, the whole Fairlight / Synclavier thing was always about their abilities as a sampling workstation, rather than as a synth...

Indeed. The Fairlight was also a very competent additive and resynthesis machine, but very few were interested in that part. It was all about sampling and sequencing (the infamous Page R)

[Examigan]

But these days, every one probably has a good (or at least decent) sampler that probably is way better than what it could do at that time. I think it is cool that they concentrated on the other parts of it that made it great.

[Teksonik]

In this particular case, I have to disagree totally. I lived through the Synclavier era. It was our dream synth if we could afford one. I think it was like $20,000 at the time. Don't really remember. It was a long time ago. Point is, those of us who lusted after this thing and couldn't afford one WANT a recreation as close to the original as possible. We don't want a bastardized version. You want LFOs? Go buy another synth. Leave this one alone.

I am glad that Arturia made this as faithful to the original as possible and I hope they have no intentions of turning it into something else.

You know you don't have to use every feature right ? "We" ? I wasn't aware you were appointed the spokesperson for a generation.

I wasn't appointed anything. I was just expressing my opinion and my dislike for every emulation needing to go beyond the original just because "it can."

Then perhaps you should stop using words like "our" and "we" and "us" when expressing your opinion. I too wanted a Synclavier and a Fairlight back in the day but I wouldn't mind emulations of them that also take them a step further. I believe Arturia has done that with some of the other emulations. Adding things that weren't in the original. Like I said just because they add an LFO for example doesn't mean you have to use it but someone who wants it will have that feature at their disposal.

[wagtunes]

In this particular case, I have to disagree totally. I lived through the Synclavier era. It was our dream synth if we could afford one. I think it was like $20,000 at the time. Don't really remember. It was a long time ago. Point is, those of us who lusted after this thing and couldn't afford one WANT a recreation as close to the original as possible. We don't want a bastardized version. You want LFOs? Go buy another synth. Leave this one alone.

I am glad that Arturia made this as faithful to the original as possible and I hope they have no intentions of turning it into something else.

You know you don't have to use every feature right ? "We" ? I wasn't aware you were appointed the spokesperson for a generation.

I wasn't appointed anything. I was just expressing my opinion and my dislike for every emulation needing to go beyond the original just because "it can."

Then perhaps you should stop using words like "our" and "we" and "us" when expressing your opinion. I too wanted a Synclavier and a Fairlight back in the day but I wouldn't mind emulations of them that also take them a step further. I believe Arturia has done that with some of the other emulations. Adding things that weren't in the original. Like I said just because they add an LFO for example doesn't mean you have to use it but someone who wants it will have that feature at their disposal.

Except every added feature comes at a cost. You don't just get things for free. More money, more CPU usage, and most importantly, more bugs. Everything you add has to be tested. Does it break something else when you interact feature A with feature B?

People seem to think all you have to do is wave a magic wand and anything you want added to a synth is done with no problems. I wish life was that simple. It's not. And the last thing I want is to be a "beta tester" for whatever changes they make to the synth. Arturia increased all the GUI sizes of their old synths. Great. It now takes a minute for each one to load because of the way they implemented the new GUIs, which, IMO, was a total waste of resources and could have been done much more efficiently. But oh well, what's done is done. I guess we should just be greatful the GUIs are bigger than they were.

Point is, stuff doesn't just happen. There are consequences to every action. Right now, I have a Synclavier that works flawlessly.

I don't want to mess with that.

[VariKusBrainZ]

^ amusing that you refer to resources and time when not so long ago digital synths had to render offline over a matter of hours much like CGI still does today

[wagtunes]

^ amusing that you refer to resources and time when not so long ago digital synths had to render offline over a matter of hours much like CGI still does today

If you're talking about VSTs, I was 100% hardware until 2013, so I totally missed those days. And if that's the case, i am SOOOO glad that I did because that is total insanity.

[Teksonik]

Point is, stuff doesn't just happen. There are consequences to every action..

Thank you Captain Obvious........

Right now, I have a Synclavier that works flawlessly. I don't want to mess with that.

So don't update..........

So in other words it's all about you....got it....

[exmatproton]

In this particular case, I have to disagree totally. I lived through the Synclavier era. It was our dream synth if we could afford one. I think it was like $20,000 at the time. Don't really remember. It was a long time ago. Point is, those of us who lusted after this thing and couldn't afford one WANT a recreation as close to the original as possible. We don't want a bastardized version. You want LFOs? Go buy another synth. Leave this one alone.

I am glad that Arturia made this as faithful to the original as possible and I hope they have no intentions of turning it into something else.

You know you don't have to use every feature right ? "We" ? I wasn't aware you were appointed the spokesperson for a generation.

I wasn't appointed anything. I was just expressing my opinion and my dislike for every emulation needing to go beyond the original just because "it can."

Hopefully, Arturia will agree with me and won't touch it.

I disagree for around 70%.

On the one hand i like emulators and strictly (for the most part) emulate what was in the original. However, since i can already modulate anything via my DAW, it makes no sence at all not to build that in a vst (disclaimer: only when it won't hurt cpu usage too much and/or quality of the overall emulation).

The hassle to modulate stuff via a DAW can be solved by adding a nice mod-matrix and 2 or 3 lfo's. There is just no excuse anymore these days to "just emulate" a synth (disclaimer: if we are talking about modulating stuff).

[VariKusBrainZ]

^ amusing that you refer to resources and time when not so long ago digital synths had to render offline over a matter of hours much like CGI still does today

If you're talking about VSTs, I was 100% hardware until 2013, so I totally missed those days. And if that's the case, i am SOOOO glad that I did because that is total insanity.

15 years ago Csound could do stuff that couldnt be done in realtime but now Csound can on an off the shelf computer

[electro]

The FM synth stuff from the "old" machines (late 70s/early 80s) was really not that important or used much on those later machines - read interviews from that time and no one's really mentioning or using it as a synth much at all - but the earlier generations, which were much more of a US thing, were of course used for those things - but not that many earlier gen machines made it over here.

So for me, the whole Fairlight / Synclavier thing was always about their abilities as a sampling workstation, rather than as a synth...

Where are you reading this? Synclavier FM sounds are all over tons of 80s records.

I'd still like to still some of the Synclavier sample libraries made available for modern samplers...

A list of all Synclavier factory library samples would be nice to have, but I don't think it had any artifacts worth emulating. Who would even want to use a Synclavier VST for Multitrack recording and sampling in 2016? Those functions are completely obsolete.

[robotmonkey]

If anything, I hope Arturia will make it more authentic by moving the price more closer to the original hardware.