KVR Audio

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 6:57 pm

Well, of course not against hardware like the Waldorf Microwave 1, but in the software world I've been trying to see if others sound better, but have not been that impressed with wavetable synths I checked out. Recently I heard some newer soft synths that have wavetables like Dune 2 and Electra 2. I haven't heard a whole of wavetable stuff from those two, so maybe I'm skewed in thinking Vaz Modular wavetables sound better.

I was looking at getting another wavetable soft synth and it seems like Vaz Modular might be the best sounding one. From stuff I heard, it sounded more organic/raw compared to others that seemed to have more of a digital sheen to them.

Does anyone think Vaz Modular is one of the best wavetable synths out of soft synths? I was thinking about buying it and using it via a Wine program to record it into Logic X. I really like the Microwave 1 for it's organic raw sound, but in the software realm enjoy Waldorf PPG 3.0 and the Korg Wavestation soft synth. Not like I'm looking for classic stuff, just a nice sounding wavetable soft synth. I kind of use the PPG 3.0 and Wavestation soft synths as wavetable romplers even though they're not.

So what software wavetable synth impresses you with it's range of sounds?

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:00 pm

Zebra is sublime.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:04 pm

What an astonishing thread title, you don't see many of those

Kriminal · Post by **Kriminal** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:23 pm

Vaz synths were way ahead of their time. Awesome sound, and still capable of keeping up with the 'big guns' today.

robotmonkey · Post by **robotmonkey** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:27 pm

Not sure if it's the best, but boy, it sure is the ugliest.

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:35 pm

Haha, yeah it was a silly title, but I was trying to find more good wavetable soft synths and end up finding out one of the older softies seem to sound the better solution than the newer wavetable softsynths. It does have a messy interface though. But that's forgivable as it doesn't seem too hard to use and the sound is there.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:38 pm

It's a bit curious that the OP want to use Vaz Modular as some sort of bench mark for wavetable synthesis, as Vaz Modular according to webpage first and foremost is:

...a software modular synth, inspired by the classic analogue modular synths. It has an immediate approach to patch creation with modules created, connected and tweaked with a single-layer interface.

There wasn't many wavetables in those classic analogue modular synths of th 70's...

I think the OP will be better served by getting into Reaktor, most def there will be wavetable ensembles there he can utilize as he wants to.

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:12 pm

Kriminal wrote:Vaz synths were way ahead of their time. Awesome sound, and still capable of keeping up with the 'big guns' today.

Agreed.

robotmonkey wrote:Not sure if it's the best, but boy, it sure is the ugliest.

...and herein lies the crux of Vaz's problem (relative obscurity/quality). Well, you can also look at the part where, at first, they priced themselves out of range of their competition. What was Vaz initially? $300 or so?

So, they fixed their pricing... but never the UI. I've asked the developer several times if he'd consider a facelift... even just a modern preset browser... and was told that there was zero interest in either.

Still... it's worth it. It's got a lovely sound, IMO. I've not really explored it's wavetable options that much, but it's on my agenda since my "Let's talk about wavetable synths[/url]" thread.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5810887

brok landers · Post by **brok landers** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:25 pm

are we talking about wavescanning synthesis (array scanning) or playing back wavetable based osc´s?

stikygum · Post by **stikygum** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:52 pm

I'm talking about wave scanning.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:56 pm

Numanoid wrote:It's a bit curious that the OP want to use Vaz Modular as some sort of bench mark for wavetable synthesis, as Vaz Modular according to webpage first and foremost is:

'first and foremost' is your slant. its not in the developers description.
Despite your hypothesis, its more likely to be the fact that its got pretty good wavetable oscillators that means he'd bring it up.

...a software modular synth, inspired by the classic analogue modular synths. It has an immediate approach to patch creation with modules created, connected and tweaked with a single-layer interface.

Yes, inspired by. Not 'completely dictated by', as though noone should be allowed to mention the other stuff that it does well.

There wasn't many wavetables in those classic analogue modular synths of th 70's...

There's no 'of the 70s' restriction about Vaz, though. Again, that's your slant. For example, it also handles samples, and CZ style phase distortion.

I think the OP will be better served by getting into Reaktor, most def there will be wavetable ensembles there he can utilize as he wants to.

What, because of this misplaced notion you have that your interpretation of the design influences of Vaz somehow have any relevance to its actual capabilities?

Seriously; you're basically arguing that something cant be good at something it is actually quite good at, on the most spurious of grounds (ie what you think its 'inspired by').
Its also a bit ignorant of you to say someone should use an alternative to replace a tool they've specifically said they like.

blacktomcat666 · Post by **blacktomcat666** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:01 pm

stikygum wrote:Recently I heard some newer soft synths that have wavetables like Dune 2 and Electra 2. I haven't heard a whole of wavetable stuff from those two, so maybe I'm skewed in thinking Vaz Modular wavetables sound better.

Hm... VAZ wavetables don't sound better - Dune 2 or Surge have much better anti aliasing because of the internal multisampling / resynthesis (they require a special format and have other limitations to sound that good).

But VAZ wavetable OSCs are the most flexible (beside Reaktor), because it's a modular environment. Further the wavetables can have nearly arbitrary content (also regarding the number of slots and slot size) and use the *.wav format. Even stereo wavetables work. Try the following wavescanning examples with any other WT based synth (this are single, raw wavetables - no unisono, filters or fx):

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/mpnurujr3a1goc ... tables.mp3
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ipkskb3uxhob8x ... _Ghost.mp3

This is what makes the VAZ wavetable OSC unique (at least for me). But you can also do 'classic' single cycle wavetables like PPG Wave or Waldorf Microwave/Blofeld. Here some selfmade user wavetables from Terratec Komplexer, converted and played in VAZ (the wave scanning is used to keep equal length of the sound's evolution over time for all pitches):

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/lqbcsdr3dibk5s ... ck_VAZ.mp3

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:16 pm

Zebra, hands down. With user definable, true spectral and geometric morphing and the addition of two extra axes of waveform morphing provided by the Osc FX (before we've even left the oscillator module), something akin to 3D wavetable morphing is available to you right off the bat. If you turn the resolution parameter down, it becomes much more granular, and you get endless crossfades of waveforms rather than morphs, making it sound more like the older wavescanning and sequencing synths that used crossfades.

For quick and dirty fun, I quite enjoy Massive, too. Having a limited number of preset wavetables means you can change the sound a fair bit just by choosing different wavetables within the same sound.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:19 pm

I think Vaz Modular sounds like a decade old softsynth and does not compare to the best of today.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:34 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:Seriously; you're basically arguing that something cant be good at something it is actually quite good at, on the most spurious of grounds (ie what you think its 'inspired by'). Its also a bit ignorant of you to say someone should use an alternative to replace a tool they've specifically said they like.

Yup, bad ignorant me

Crazy to think Vaz Modular is the best wavetable synth