KVR Audio

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:18 am

Had a brief demo session yesterday, made some not very complicated patches and played random presets.

Well, Thorn sounds quite good but unsurprisingly quite similar to Diversion. First it seems that Thorn’s output is a bit fatter and punchier, but this may be because it has “boost” and limiter switched on by default, if these are disabled it sounds very similar to Diversion, the same very bright sound a bit weedy especially in the low register.

On the other hand, that harmonic filter thing may have some serious power in shaping the sound character. So far I was messing with “bass contour 1” curve, making some additional adjustments – this may be used as a quick fix to excessively bright sounding patches. But potentially I think the harmonic filter may help creating oscillators having variety of characters and textures, or maybe even copying the oscillators of some other synths to some extent.

Filters are nice, though it seems that the drive may easily go over the top and distort the sound more than needed but that’s just a first impression, probably this is addressed just by more careful gainstaging.

Didn’t manage to create really impressive supersaws (ofc, nobody should be using supersaws in 2017 but I’m still making them when testing the new synths – just because), and the factory supersaw presets are not exactly stunning either. Well, not any synth must be Spire

The FM can give some really interesting results, especially with some complex waves.

Loved the glitch section – just switch it on, paint some random shit in the step sequencer and it will sound like you have spent several hours resampling, adjusting filters and bitcrushers, drawing the automations etc.

The GUI is fine – looks pretty and has nice clear layout. Don’t have any problems reading it.

Didn’t notice any bugs in Studio One x64, Windows, VST2.

Well, Thorn is obviously very deep synth which cannot be judged after one hour demoing, but the main question is – do I need it if I have Diversion. Somehow I can’t shake the feeling that Thorn is essentially the same engine with different set of controls.

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 8:48 am

Lower CPU tax?
that would be MY reason
i had 4 instances going this morning, sounded great and was hovering at about 15% CPU, i think that's pretty good.
Also, the GUI is inviting and everything is pretty intuitive.

I need to check out Diversion properly though, finally

Last time i tried it, it was about 20-25% per instance, too much for me. To use as bread and butter synth anyway.
I think Thorn could replace a few other synths.
The filter resonance is pretty weak though. Lucky the Drive is so awesome

Amram · Post by **Amram** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:18 am

What do u think , can Diversion replace Hartmann Neuron Synthesizer hardware?

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:23 am

oh god, i sold my Neuron 10 years ago, i think it's best if we all try to forget that little bump in the road.

Amram · Post by **Amram** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:27 am

sqigls wrote:oh god, i sold my Neuron 10 years ago, i think it's best if we all try to forget that little bump in the road.

ATS · Post by **ATS** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:46 am

Been demoing. I love the sound and it has something different to me than Diversion. It is more aggressive, in a very good way.

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:48 am

Download the demo and make your own decision.
It's a good synth but to me it's doesn't play in the same league as Serum or Spire.

shonky · Post by **shonky** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:36 am

Demoed this morning, pretty much sold and will purchase next Tuesday when I get paid. Think it's got a lot of scope and great fun to play with, good clean sound which will go well with my more lo-fi loves (Arcsyn, Phonec 2, Vacuum Pro).

Dimitry's always good with the updates, no issues with early teething troubles

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:37 am

I prefer the sound of Thorn to both Serum and Spire personally. Even with a pretty much unusable filter resonance (for my tastes). and the GUI is great! Spire has a good GUI too, but it takes a little bit longer to tame a sound, and also often kinda relies on the effects section too much... although good effects.
Different bag really. But as for Serum, pffft, don't even get me started on that thing.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:41 am

sqigls wrote: Even with a pretty much unusable filter resonance

Which filter models did you try? According to the manual, some of the filters are tuned to self-oscillation at high resonance, some others aren't.

ckoe · Post by **ckoe** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:42 am

Here is a short video of Thorn I have made today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHkUmwo1VYw

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:04 pm

recursive one wrote:
sqigls wrote: Even with a pretty much unusable filter resonance
Which filter models did you try? According to the manual, some of the filters are tuned to self-oscillation at high resonance, some others aren't.

no it's not about self oscillation, i'll demo again tonight and try to explain what i mean.
It's basically no good for getting into the pocket with fat dubby bass sounds for example... Like RePro-1, what type of filter is it? the bass just vanishes when the resonance is turned up.
But the filter drive on Thorn is quite good, so i'll be using it a different way to my other subtractive synths, when dealing with bass sounds anyway i guess.
If i buy it. Need to demo more

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:12 pm

sqigls wrote:
recursive one wrote:
sqigls wrote: Even with a pretty much unusable filter resonance
Which filter models did you try? According to the manual, some of the filters are tuned to self-oscillation at high resonance, some others aren't.
no it's not about self oscillation, i'll demo again tonight and try to explain what i mean.
It's basically no good for getting into the pocket with fat dubby bass sounds for example... Like RePro-1, what type of filter is it? the bass just vanishes when the resonance is turned up.
But the filter drive on Thorn is quite good, so i'll be using it a different way to my other subtractive synths, when dealing with bass sounds anyway i guess.
If i buy it. Need to demo more

I didn't notice this when demoing, though I don't remember if I was specifically abusing resonance.

I mean that basically there are different filter models with different resonance - do they all have the same issue with bass?

Will defo demo it further as well. It surely one of the most interesting recent synth offerings, even despite the potential overlap with Diversion.

bob bobwood · Post by **bob bobwood** » Thu Oct 19, 2017 12:30 pm

http://www.dmitrysches.com/
www - which will work.

Thorn: Dmitry Sches' new synth!