KVR Audio

dermichl · Post by **dermichl** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:24 pm

would love to get your opinions on this one!

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:29 pm

It's brilliant and unique.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:36 pm

Short and to the point. And true.

mellotronaut · Post by **mellotronaut** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:37 pm

a sound monster

dermichl · Post by **dermichl** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:40 pm

seems to fly under the radar, doesn't it?

psmacmur · Post by **psmacmur** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:42 pm

I used it for two OSCs and quite enjoyed it. It has a deceptive amount of depth. It has all the features I'd want in a modern VA, including a nice arp. For when that's not enough, there's the additive aspect of the oscillators and the option to define your own filter function. I found myself using it as a wavetable synth in the Dune sense: load up a couple of predefined OSC waves and morph between them.

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:30 pm

Might depend on your system.

When it was released, I tried the 32bit version.

I had some problems with it.

Wrote to support and was advised that:

just wanting to let you know that most likely the crash you experienced was
related to the fact that when running Live 32 bit you of course have a memory
limit of 2Gb, which, when exceeded indeed crashes Live. To overcome this you
would need to go to 64bit Live.

Seems a bit odd to have a 32 bit version if it's going to crash a host but this might just be related to Ableton Live. Needless to say, I didn't buy the VSTi.

Satch1 · Post by **Satch1** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:05 pm

Thankfully I've had no crashes in Reaper 32bit.

I absolutely love this synth, defo a keeper for me. Plenty of options to tweak the sound along with deep modulation and flexible FX routing... very rewarding

blackflag · Post by **blackflag** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:53 pm

The interface seemed sluggish when I tried the demo, and I remember wishing it had a distortion effect. I went with Harmor instead for the image synthesis and flexible envelopes.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 12:37 am

EvilDragon wrote:Short and to the point. And true.

, didn't feel like writing a novel last night, but maybe I should at least write a little novel:

The FM/PM/AM routing options between the up to 4 oscillators are very versatile, you can route the signal pre/post filter, even post filter resonance. As you can create your own unique filter types in the filter editor, this makes for some FM/PM/AM sounds, I had never heard before. Creating ones own waveforms in the oscillator free hand or with various helping tools also lets you create totally unique sounds from scratch. Plenty of envelopes and 5 LFOs (bi- and unipolar, monophone or polyphonic), a versatile arp which is a bit clumsy to edit (but can be used as modulation source only, so composing e.g. complex, temposynced filter melodies is possible), a plethora of FX (all very decent apart from the reverb maybe) and a Modmatrix which has been extended to 24 slots in the latest Beta (15 in the current release version) let you create very expressive and animated sounds of all types. They also added FX parameters as targets in the Modmatrix in the latest Beta (before only wet/dry was available).

With a bit of math and brain power only the sky is the limit with this synth. The import of single cycle waveforms in a future version would be appreciated.

Some Spectral videos I made can be found in these youtube playlists, improvising with patches from both soundsets I made for Spectral:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... RnFkQxgpJ5_
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... W5cbidQ0mz

and plenty of audio:
http://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/s ... ctral-rays
http://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/s ... excursions

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:42 am

I like it, but feel it's a bit overpriced.
I might pick it up if it ever has a real sale on it.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:49 am

I think it's underpriced for the sounds it can create.

Integratron · Post by **Integratron** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:57 am

Seems a tad pricey to me as well. The demo presets sound pathetic. They should have included some of Simons presets on the demo and included with the synth... would have doubled their sales.

Synchanter · Post by **Synchanter** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:25 am

After intensively comparing about 20 synth demos, I rate Spectral up there.
To me, it has a modern, bright, airy and cutting-edge sound, breaking new sonic territory, not trying to hark back to analogue.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:31 am

Synchanter wrote:After intensively comparing about 20 synth demos, I rate Spectral up there.
To me, it has a modern, bright, airy and cutting-edge sound, breaking new sonic territory, not trying to hark back to analogue.

Yes, absolutely true, if analog/retro/vintage is the goal/aim/preference, Spectral is the wrong synth to get, it can sound very warm, rich and lush though, but in general it has a crisp, digital, pristine sound.

LinPlug Spectral - your opinions wanted