Under-the-radar synths

[Impodiam]

https://vcvrack.com/

Includes All Mutable Instrument Eurorack Modules with the original source code (so they sound exactly the same as the Eurorack modules) - Braids, Clouds, Elements

I know this had a few posts on KVR, but come on.....

FREE

Once this gets it VST version I'm probably going to use it more than most of my PAID Plugins
My goodness. What a Beautiful interface.

[ariston]

.jon, you're right in making those helpful distinctions. Yeah, the "preset" thing used to be pretty bad. I wasn't fully aware of the changes.

Now, not to derail the thread even further: another another another Synth that's UTR and pretty unique: Enzyme. Probable reason: it sounds horrible. Now, it's a special kind of horrible, so if you're into that, you'll love it. Most probably won't. Programming it is hit and miss, because you never know what the hell is going on and how this parameter will affect that parameter. Thankfully, there are some friendly randomize buttons that will do the heavy lifting for you. Even the FX are really kind of weird... they tend to accentuate the horrible qualities of the sound.
Anyhow, if you're looking for that little special something that can claw your listener's face off, you've found it in Enzyme.

I really like it, btw, hope that came across.

[wagtunes]

.jon, you're right in making those helpful distinctions. Yeah, the "preset" thing used to be pretty bad. I wasn't fully aware of the changes.

Now, not to derail the thread even further: another another another Synth that's UTR and pretty unique: Enzyme. Probable reason: it sounds horrible. Now, it's a special kind of horrible, so if you're into that, you'll love it. Most probably won't. Programming it is hit and miss, because you never know what the hell is going on and how this parameter will affect that parameter. Thankfully, there are some friendly randomize buttons that will do the heavy lifting for you. Even the FX are really kind of weird... they tend to accentuate the horrible qualities of the sound.
Anyhow, if you're looking for that little special something that can claw your listener's face off, you've found it in Enzyme.

I really like it, btw, hope that came across.

Yeah, Enzyme is a very special beast. I tried to like it but I just couldn't. Can't get anything out of it that doesn't sound like a cat getting its eyes scratched out.

[Michael L]

I really like it, btw, hope that came across.

This is a beautiful UTR soundset for Enzyme by Julian Ray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyomm37SMYM

[cron]

.jon, you're right in making those helpful distinctions. Yeah, the "preset" thing used to be pretty bad. I wasn't fully aware of the changes.

Now, not to derail the thread even further: another another another Synth that's UTR and pretty unique: Enzyme. Probable reason: it sounds horrible. Now, it's a special kind of horrible, so if you're into that, you'll love it. Most probably won't. Programming it is hit and miss, because you never know what the hell is going on and how this parameter will affect that parameter. Thankfully, there are some friendly randomize buttons that will do the heavy lifting for you. Even the FX are really kind of weird... they tend to accentuate the horrible qualities of the sound.
Anyhow, if you're looking for that little special something that can claw your listener's face off, you've found it in Enzyme.

I really like it, btw, hope that came across.

Yeah, Enzyme is a very special beast. I tried to like it but I just couldn't. Can't get anything out of it that doesn't sound like a cat getting its eyes scratched out.

I never upgraded from Scanned Synth Pro as not much seemed to have improved in the aliasing department. It's fine so long as you stay low, but fairly remarkable how quickly it goes to shit in the mid to high registers.

Ghettosynth: I'm not sure what there is out there in terms of videos for Factory. Honestly, I can't even remember what it was that sparked my interest in the first place. The best I can suggest is demoing and playing about with the modulation randomisation in conjunction with the 'mutate' control. It makes the second word in the phrase "happy accidents" redundant. Nought quite like it.

[Russell Grand]

If a synth is and remains under the radar, there is probably some good reason for it.
Otherwise customers would be all over it, sooner or later.

True that. If there's one thing i learned with payware plugins, then it's that. Also, and especially, valid for hardware synths.

I disagree. There are plenty of VSTs that are fantastic but never get the attention they deserve. Plenty of Sugar Bytes' stuff is just one example. There are many freeware synths and effects that fall into this category as well.

[wagtunes]

If a synth is and remains under the radar, there is probably some good reason for it.
Otherwise customers would be all over it, sooner or later.

True that. If there's one thing i learned with payware plugins, then it's that. Also, and especially, valid for hardware synths.

I disagree. There are plenty of VSTs that are fantastic but never get the attention they deserve. Plenty of Sugar Bytes' stuff is just one example. There are many freeware synths and effects that fall into this category as well.

I think it's a combination of 2 things.

1) Some companies either don't advertise enough or there is something about their image that puts people off.

2) Their software isn't mainstream. Meaning, the quality is there but the application of how to use it doesn't fit in with the majority's requirements.

I agree. I think Sugar Bytes stuff is amazing and unique. Cyclops is almost like a toy and maybe that's the problem. It's too much fun so it can't possibly be a serious synth. Same with Factory, though not quite as extreme. Factory is almost a normal synth.

So yeah, I don't get the lack of Sugar Bytes love either unless it's for the 2 reasons I stated above. And of course price can come into play if people think the software is overpriced for what it does OR too cheap and therefor can't possibly be a serious product.

[chk071]

So, basically, once again the same argument, i guess? Synths which have been misunderstood. There's gotta be a reason they have been misunderstood though. Or that they just didn't get the attention, or went under the radar. You know, there's plenty of synths which didn't went under the radar. Sylenth1, Massive, Spire, Serum... the Minimoog, Virus, JP-8k, Waldorf Q.... sure, subtractive is easier to get into, and wavetable is rather just a flavour of subtractive. Something like a Buchla will naturely not be as popular as a subtractive synth.

So, basically, it bows down to two simple things. Usability, and quality. Synths which went under the radar obviously failed to deliver one of the two things, or both. That's why they went under the radar. Deservedly.

[Nielzie]

If a synth is and remains under the radar, there is probably some good reason for it.
Otherwise customers would be all over it, sooner or later.

True that. If there's one thing i learned with payware plugins, then it's that. Also, and especially, valid for hardware synths.

I disagree. There are plenty of VSTs that are fantastic but never get the attention they deserve. Plenty of Sugar Bytes' stuff is just one example. There are many freeware synths and effects that fall into this category as well.

I think it's a combination of 2 things.

1) Some companies either don't advertise enough or there is something about their image that puts people off.

2) Their software isn't mainstream. Meaning, the quality is there but the application of how to use it doesn't fit in with the majority's requirements.

I agree. I think Sugar Bytes stuff is amazing and unique. Cyclops is almost like a toy and maybe that's the problem. It's too much fun so it can't possibly be a serious synth. Same with Factory, though not quite as extreme. Factory is almost a normal synth.

So yeah, I don't get the lack of Sugar Bytes love either unless it's for the 2 reasons I stated above. And of course price can come into play if people think the software is overpriced for what it does OR too cheap and therefor can't possibly be a serious product.

Agreed. Agreed and agreed (everything Sugar Bytes = special).

[wagtunes]

So, basically, once again the same argument, i guess? Synths which have been misunderstood. There's gotta be a reason they have been misunderstood though. Or that they just didn't get the attention, or went under the radar. You know, there's plenty of synths which didn't went under the radar. Sylenth1, Massive, Spire, Serum... the Minimoog, Virus, JP-8k, Waldorf Q.... sure, subtractive is easier to get into, and wavetable is rather just a flavour of subtractive. Something like a Buchla will naturely not be as popular as a subtractive synth.

So, basically, it bows down to two simple things. Usability, and quality. Synths which went under the radar obviously failed to deliver one of the two things, or both. That's why they went under the radar. Deservedly.

Quality, if we're referring to sound, I guess can be measured by instruments if you're looking for a perfect sawtooth wave or supersaw wave or whatever. But usability is so subjective unless an interface is so convoluted that you need an engineering degree to understand it. But in either case, it still comes down to what the masses expect out of a synth. It's easy to take the safe route, look to see what's been done before and just do another synth like it. Of course then you risk being so ho-hum "been there done that" that nobody will care. Still, a much safer path. Look at The Legend. It's just a mini but I'll bet any amount of money it's sold damn well.

Sugar Bytes? Their stuff is what I call an odd duck if you compare them to "traditional" synths. And maybe the use of these synths is a little off the beaten path. And maybe that makes them deserving of low sales because they don't appeal to the masses.

But, to say that they're "bad" synths is ridiculous. And the reason I say this is because I could play you a track I made that heavily features Cyclops and you wouldn't have known it was Cyclops had I not told you. Mixed in with the other synths that I used in similar manners (Yeah, other synths can actually do what Cyclops can do albeit with a lot more work) you couldn't tell Cyclops from the other synths. So if we're judging a synth as being good or bad based on the quality of its sound, Sugar Bytes stuff, as under the radar as it might be, just doesn't belong. Now if you want to say the interfaces are convoluted and that's why people don't buy them, fine. That's a valid argument. I pass up on a lot of synths because of GUIs, mostly because of size issues. But that doesn't make them bad synths.

[tripleflows]

Anything from the Steinberg virtual instrument team, mainly HALion, Retrologue and Padshop.

[chk071]

Just wondering, but, comparing Retrologue to Diva, Monark, Legend, or even freeware like Charlatan, TAL-Noisemaker, or Tyrell N6, do you think Retrologue is superior? Or Padshop, when comparing it to other, more richly featured granular synths? Don't get me wrong, not saying the plugins you mentioned are bad, but, do they really deserve flying higher than under-the-radar? Apart from Halion, i don't really think so. Especially not Retrologue.

[AnX]

CM Dominator was a great synth when it came out. I dont think many ppl appreciated the sound quality at the time.

Shame it was kept up to date...

[tripleflows]

Just wondering, but, comparing Retrologue to Diva, Monark, Legend, or even freeware like Charlatan, TAL-Noisemaker, or Tyrell N6, do you think Retrologue is superior? Or Padshop, when comparing it to other, more richly featured granular synths? Don't get me wrong, not saying the plugins you mentioned are bad, but, do they really deserve flying higher than under-the-radar? Apart from Halion, i don't really think so. Especially not Retrologue.

Retrologue 2 is a tricky one. At first sight, it is an advanced subtractive virtual analog synth, but nothing special. It does not have the near perfect vintage analog sound and warmth like Diva has. However if you just start playing with special oscillator modes like cross-modulation, ring modulation and sync, distortion modes, parameters seq, you can realize that it has a very cutting edge, characteristic sound. Certainly not reminding of something existing, but tuned to produce very musical results.

But it does not end here. Its main power comes from its morphing modulation and that's where it excels: there are some other synths that does the same (Massive, Discovery, Nord Lead, Falcon or now Avenger), however Retrologue allows morphing on virtually ALL parameters, easy to setup and provides great visual feedback what's happening in the sounds - I think this is a very important aspect that gui designers started to recognize recently. This kind of morphing complexity does not matter in a e.g. a standard EDM stab, and I bet the 99% of users not even aware of this feature, but the sounds you can get with all parameters morphing can be way more expressive than a perfect analog but somehow static Diva sound. Despite the first impression, Diva modulation setup is not limited at all, but its implementation on that gui makes it the worst nightmare to use, very discouraging compared to Retrologue, or the bests in this term: Avenger or Falcon.

If you like hard, edgy, fm-ish, cross modulated sounds, then Retrologue is killer. It does great job for any kind of virtual analog sounds, as it has enough analog drifting, detuning features, a huge selection of filters that - contrary to the popular belief - can sound silky and smooth when setting the right filter envelope settings. And it can be very plucky.. but you have to use the Shift modifier when setting envelopes... these are all little details that makes the difference. You have to experiment with Retrologue for some hours to discover its potential... unfortunately it is mostly hidden in right click menus

I made two Retrologue reviews (about R1 and R2 separately), explaining all above in much more details and with sound examples:
https://synthmorph.com/blogs/news/tagged/retrologue

HALion (especially 6) is a creative powerhouse with so many deep synthesis engines mixed, playing in the same league as Falcon and Avenger, however it takes quite a bit of time to get familiar with...

Padshop...this is the one where I used only presets occasionally, this is something still to be discovered... reminds me a bit of Absynth.

[chk071]

Ok, but as you also mentioned, a lot of other synths offer the same functionality, and, sound better to my ears. If you compare Sylenth1 or Spire with Retrologue, for example, which have a similar feature set (TBH, i don't have much use for ring or cross modulation, never got very pleasant sounds out of those), they both sound better to me. Retrologue is surely a nice offering with the DAW, but, it is a VA engine derived from another synth/sampler, and not really spectacular for me. For me, it is a typical soft synth. Sounds okay-ish, but, nothing i'd prefer over the usual suspects.