Steinberg built-in synths (Spector, Mystic, etc)

[goldenhelix]

I had never really used these - I have enough other synths that I had kind of ignored them even though I knew they exist...

I decided to give them a spin though, and I find myself a little confused. Let's take Spector for example. It seems you have 6 oscillators, but you only have controls for 2. I assume that the 6 is just voice doubling of each of the 2?

I also cannot seem to duplicate the preset sounds. This is usually how I learn synths: take a preset, try to figure out what makes it tick, then try to start from scratch and get something close to the preset. In the case of Spector, I can't seem to do this at all. It's as though I'm missing the ability to select the actual wave form (which appears to be in the little box next to the Osc A and Osc B, but this doesn't really seem to affect the sound very much).

I tried looking for a manual for these but it doesn't appear that there is one. Anyone used these enough to actually know how they work?

[ghettosynth]

There used to be a "Plugin Reference Manual." It is still installed from my older versions of Cubase but not in the latest versions. At any rate, these go back to at least Cubase 4.

ftp://ftp.steinberg.net/Download/Cubase ... erence.pdf

I like them, but that phase was a while back and now I would have to read the manual again myself.

The six oscillators in spector are chosen in the dropdown underneath the center window. It's not really like a traditional synth though. The manual describes what the different settings do. The six oscillators each generate two waveforms that feed the two spectrum filters. What you are thinking is two oscillators are the two waveforms generated by the six oscillators. You only get to choose the ratios of the six oscillators and some other generic parameters for all six oscillators at the same time.

[goldenhelix]

Thanks, that is very helpful.

I think I'm starting to get Spector (the one I've played with the most - probably a total of about an hour at this point). The manual is not particularly well written in one regard (or maybe I'm just stupid): it makes it sound like you can actually select 6 different oscillator waveforms, but really you only have two, as far as I can tell. The 6, as I originally suspected, are just pitched-down duplicates of the other two.

It's kind of a cool synth. Certainly won't be replacing my other workhorse synths any time soon, but I the spectral filter lets you get some interesting sounds. I gather these aren't highly regarded in the synth world and probably few people actually use them, so sometimes that can be a benefit, if you can get a type of sound that isn't everywhere.

[ghettosynth]

Thanks, that is very helpful.

I think I'm starting to get Spector (the one I've played with the most - probably a total of about an hour at this point). The manual is not particularly well written in one regard (or maybe I'm just stupid): it makes it sound like you can actually select 6 different oscillator waveforms, but really you only have two, as far as I can tell. The 6, as I originally suspected, are just pitched-down duplicates of the other two.

It's kind of a cool synth. Certainly won't be replacing my other workhorse synths any time soon, but I the spectral filter lets you get some interesting sounds. I gather these aren't highly regarded in the synth world and probably few people actually use them, so sometimes that can be a benefit, if you can get a type of sound that isn't everywhere.

Yep, pretty much. Each oscillator generates both A and B waveforms. Then you choose the ratios between them with the dropdowns. I did pretty much what you're doing about a year or so ago. I think that I posted here somewhere about them. In any case, I like them both, but I agree, they're not going to replace your workhorse synths. I've been off on this cold thing lately, so they're good for that.

[ghettosynth]

Page two of this thread, I've linked a video for Mystic.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=475205&p=6650263&hi ... c#p6650263

[Googly Smythe]

A couple of quickstarts from Sound On Sound...
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/spector-synth

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... stic-synth

[gentleclockdivider]

Aren't these coded by Virsyn ( for cubase )?

[fmr]

Aren't these coded by Virsyn ( for cubase )?

Yes. Prologue, Spector and Mystic are all extracted from Virsyn Tera (which had like six synth engines built-in). Each of these is one of those synth engines alone. I find them quite good, actually, and original. Virsyn Tera was (is) a do it all synth that was only surpassed by Zebra 2, when it came out.

Too bad that Virsyn neglected their synth heritage. Tera, Cube and Poseidon were (are) all impressive synths.

[wagtunes]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

[fmr]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Oh really? This can be true about Prologue (anaTera), which is basically a subtractive synth. It's not like it sounds bad, but surely there are better ones now.

But Spector (which is based on the special Spectrum Oscillator, or Spectrum Filter - although it is named Spectrum Oscillator, it is placed in the filter section, and acts as a filter)... there are few synths that can compete with it - maybe Razor and/or Harmor. Since it comes bundled for free, I think we have no reason to complain about it's shortcomings.

And Mystic is based on the formant filters of Tera (formanTera). Another very specialized tool, capable of unique sounds. Again, for the price, I don't think there are reasons to complain.

I'd rather see these than another bunch of analogue emulations that repeat countlessly the same old boring and tiring sounds. But I guess that I am the minority

[wagtunes]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Oh really? This can be true about Prologue (anaTera), which is basically a subtractive synth. It's not like it sounds bad, but surely there are better ones now.

But Spector (which is based on the special Spectrum Oscillator, or Spectrum Filter - although it is named Spectrum Oscillator, it is placed in the filter section, and acts as a filter)... there are few synths that can compete with it - maybe Razor and/or Harmor. Since it comes bundled for free, I think we have no reason to complain about it's shortcomings.

And Mystic is based on the formant filters of Tera (formanTera). Another very specialized tool, capable of unique sounds. Again, for the price, I don't think there are reasons to complain.

I'd rather see these than another bunch of analogue emulations that repeat countlessly the same old boring and tiring sounds. But I guess that I am the minority

The problem is, regardless of what these synths do or don't do, they just don't sound all that good.

[fmr]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Oh really? This can be true about Prologue (anaTera), which is basically a subtractive synth. It's not like it sounds bad, but surely there are better ones now.

But Spector (which is based on the special Spectrum Oscillator, or Spectrum Filter - although it is named Spectrum Oscillator, it is placed in the filter section, and acts as a filter)... there are few synths that can compete with it - maybe Razor and/or Harmor. Since it comes bundled for free, I think we have no reason to complain about it's shortcomings.

And Mystic is based on the formant filters of Tera (formanTera). Another very specialized tool, capable of unique sounds. Again, for the price, I don't think there are reasons to complain.

I'd rather see these than another bunch of analogue emulations that repeat countlessly the same old boring and tiring sounds. But I guess that I am the minority

The problem is, regardless of what these synths do or don't do, they just don't sound all that good.

I am not going to discuss that. All that thing of sound good, not sound good is just small talk, IMO. It's the final sound, and its uniqueness or lack of it that matter the most to me. For me, they sound good enough.

As a matter of fact, one of the first things I do when I am trying a new DAW is creating a sequence with ONLY it's internal instruments. Sometimes, I feel a little disappointed. I wasn't, with these.

[MFXxx]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Agreed - SB Stock are pretty drab, samey and well...

[Googly Smythe]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Agreed - SB Stock are pretty drab, samey and well...

Does this include Retrologue and Padshop?

[chk071]

As a Cubase user, I used to use them at the beginning until I got synths that actually sound good.

I have not looked back since.

Agreed - SB Stock are pretty drab, samey and well...

Does this include Retrologue and Padshop?

IMO, yes. Still the best collection of stock synths on a DAW. Although Logic seems to be pretty well equipped in that regard too, probably even better.