UVI Falcon - hybrid instrument - version 3.01 released - rumors, ads, praise, mud wrestling and off-topic inside!

[zahush76]

I'm in a dilemma here...
I had the UVI Falcon at the time, upgraded to version 2.0 and liked it very much.
But when i needed $$ i had to sell it to help me gather funds for the Hardware Prophet 10 rev 4.
So i kinda miss it - but at the same time i also have these vst plugins:
- VPS Avenger (which although not as complex - still is a multi engine synth and simpler to navigate)
- Komplete Ultimate 14 CE (which means kontakt and 3rd party libraries, massive x, reaktor etc)
- Arturia V collection 9
and so on.

So i'm asking myself to what extent this will be overkill.
With the vst's i already have - i have virtual analog, fm, wavetable, sample mangling, additive and so on.
But Falcon 3 is very tempting - and it has all these new sequencers which i can route to my hardware synths (Prophet 10, UDO Super 6 and Moog Matriarch) so it seems very useful even if i won't use its sounds (although regardless if i use it or not - it sounds awesome).
Then again, $199 - although a bargain compared to the full price, is still a lot.

Advice?

My advice is.... Upgrade avenger to Avenger 2 first.

I upgraded to Avenger 2 as soon as it was out
What i like about it is that it's a combination of complexity, a lot of different sound "engines" (va, wavetables, samples etc etc), quantity (8 of everything) - but above all a very very quick interface and not a steep learning curve like the Falcon has.
It takes a few seconds to get a complex sound. On Falcon on the other hand it's a bit more complicated. But i do agree it has way more options, this new midi out combined with the new sequencers, and it sounds a bit different.

[Jac459]

I'm in a dilemma here...
I had the UVI Falcon at the time, upgraded to version 2.0 and liked it very much.
But when i needed $$ i had to sell it to help me gather funds for the Hardware Prophet 10 rev 4.
So i kinda miss it - but at the same time i also have these vst plugins:
- VPS Avenger (which although not as complex - still is a multi engine synth and simpler to navigate)
- Komplete Ultimate 14 CE (which means kontakt and 3rd party libraries, massive x, reaktor etc)
- Arturia V collection 9
and so on.

So i'm asking myself to what extent this will be overkill.
With the vst's i already have - i have virtual analog, fm, wavetable, sample mangling, additive and so on.
But Falcon 3 is very tempting - and it has all these new sequencers which i can route to my hardware synths (Prophet 10, UDO Super 6 and Moog Matriarch) so it seems very useful even if i won't use its sounds (although regardless if i use it or not - it sounds awesome).
Then again, $199 - although a bargain compared to the full price, is still a lot.

Advice?

My advice is.... Upgrade avenger to Avenger 2 first.

I upgraded to Avenger 2 as soon as it was out
What i like about it is that it's a combination of complexity, a lot of different sound "engines" (va, wavetables, samples etc etc), quantity (8 of everything) - but above all a very very quick interface and not a steep learning curve like the Falcon has.
It takes a few seconds to get a complex sound. On Falcon on the other hand it's a bit more complicated. But i do agree it has way more options, this new midi out combined with the new sequencers, and it sounds a bit different.

Actually, after watching the full tutorial series of avenger 2, it is actually even deeper than I thought.
Anyway, sorry for the off topic, back to Falcon. A great synth with a great company constantly maintaining it for free

[l33t4e]

...

It’s the layman’s Falcon. Just admit it.

Speaking my mind Fleer!

What is Layman's Falcon ? I googled it but not much info.

Layman's terms: "words or text that are easily understood, as by someone who is not familiar with the jargon of a given profession or field." -dictionary.com

So in other words; A super synth for people that know nothing about synths and are very low in skill.

[zahush76]

I would never think of making a multisampled library for Avenger

Me as well - but that's not what i use Avenger for, is it?
The question is - having KU14 CE (which in itself is a whole suite of synths - including Reaktor, also samplers and libraries - and i also own many 3rd party libraries from spitfire, orchestral tools and whatnot), and Avenger, and V collection - will adding Falcon 3 add anything significantly new or important? Or will it add just a new "detraction" from focusing, having another synth to "re-learn", with hundreds of presets to explore, and numerous sound design options that will bring option paralysis more than anything

I would guess without a doubt that Avenger will get you a more massive sounding supersaw quicker than in Falcon.

True - but don't think that that's all it's capable of. It's not just some "eurotrance" supersaw machine or something.

[machinesworking]

I would never think of making a multisampled library for Avenger

Me as well - but that's not what i use Avenger for, is it?
The question is - having KU14 CE (which in itself is a whole suite of synths - including Reaktor, also samplers and libraries - and i also own many 3rd party libraries from spitfire, orchestral tools and whatnot), and Avenger, and V collection - will adding Falcon 3 add anything significantly new or important? Or will it add just a new "detraction" from focusing, having another synth to "re-learn", with hundreds of presets to explore, and numerous sound design options that will bring option paralysis more than anything

I would guess without a doubt that Avenger will get you a more massive sounding supersaw quicker than in Falcon.

True - but don't think that that's all it's capable of. It's not just some "eurotrance" supersaw machine or something.

I think only you can answer that question. I've personally banned myself from buying any big synths like Avenger until I get a full grasp of the interfaces of F'em, Opx-4, Hive2, Massive X, Animoog z, The synths in Reason Rack, Bioteck 2, PolyKBII, PolyMAX, Dozens of Reaktor ensembles and of course getting deeper into Falcon.

Mostly to speed up my workflow I've been thinking more about templates and getting the framework for the song or type of song, not new synths.

[Jac459]

...

It’s the layman’s Falcon. Just admit it.

Speaking my mind Fleer!

What is Layman's Falcon ? I googled it but not much info.

Layman's terms: "words or text that are easily understood, as by someone who is not familiar with the jargon of a given profession or field." -dictionary.com

So in other words; A super synth for people that know nothing about synths and are very low in skill.

Thanks for the translation...
Despite the obvious insulting part for me (forum life ), I really pity the very rare people thinking that about Avenger...

(but I don't care enough to open a debate, let's continue on-topic, with Falcon).

[Jac459]

I would never think of making a multisampled library for Avenger

Me as well - but that's not what i use Avenger for, is it?
The question is - having KU14 CE (which in itself is a whole suite of synths - including Reaktor, also samplers and libraries - and i also own many 3rd party libraries from spitfire, orchestral tools and whatnot), and Avenger, and V collection - will adding Falcon 3 add anything significantly new or important? Or will it add just a new "detraction" from focusing, having another synth to "re-learn", with hundreds of presets to explore, and numerous sound design options that will bring option paralysis more than anything

I would guess without a doubt that Avenger will get you a more massive sounding supersaw quicker than in Falcon.

True - but don't think that that's all it's capable of. It's not just some "eurotrance" supersaw machine or something.

I think only you can answer that question. I've personally banned myself from buying any big synths like Avenger until I get a full grasp of the interfaces of F'em, Opx-4, Hive2, Massive X, Animoog z, The synths in Reason Rack, Bioteck 2, PolyKBII, PolyMAX, Dozens of Reaktor ensembles and of course getting deeper into Falcon.

Mostly to speed up my workflow I've been thinking more about templates and getting the framework for the song or type of song, not new synths.

PolyMax is about ... 15 minutes to lear no ? Hive 2 and Animoog are really 2 synths I have hard time getting comfortable with... I find actually Falcon easier to learn...

[noiseboyuk]

Sometimes I don't get peoples comparisons. Falcon 100% started off as the Machfive sampler, a collaboration with MOTU, by version 3 it had various oscillators, analog modeled filters, and granular engines built in as well as MIDI tools, making it a more workstation synth. Now that's fully realized in Falcon, but, it's still to me not a synth like Avenger, they're completely different. At least in the sense that Falcon has a base as a sampler, and Avenger a synth.

It's an interesting observation. I think UVI do a pretty good job at making people forget it is fundamentally a sampler, their factory library has no real mutlisampled instruments in it. So I get why people make the comparison.

[noiseboyuk]

The question is - having KU14 CE (which in itself is a whole suite of synths - including Reaktor, also samplers and libraries - and i also own many 3rd party libraries from spitfire, orchestral tools and whatnot), and Avenger, and V collection - will adding Falcon 3 add anything significantly new or important? Or will it add just a new "detraction" from focusing, having another synth to "re-learn", with hundreds of presets to explore, and numerous sound design options that will bring option paralysis more than anything.

For me I've still never bonded with Falcon. I suspect I never will. The sheer effort to click with that very unmusical but computer-logical workflow is pretty debilitating, and even the browser is still woeful. YMMV.

[Fleer]

...

It’s the layman’s Falcon. Just admit it.

Speaking my mind Fleer!

What is Layman's Falcon ? I googled it but not much info.

We’re both believers

[Harry_HH]

...

It’s the layman’s Falcon. Just admit it.

Speaking my mind Fleer!

What is Layman's Falcon ? I googled it but not much info.

We’re both believers

It must be either a chicken or a pigeon.

[machinesworking]

PolyMax is about ... 15 minutes to lear no ? Hive 2 and Animoog are really 2 synths I have hard time getting comfortable with... I find actually Falcon easier to learn...

Lol I knew someone would point out PolyMax! I just haven't cracked the manual on it to see if it has any special tricks that aren't obvious. With Hive I'm 95% there, I just never learned or cracked the manual on the new features.

[machinesworking]

Sometimes I don't get peoples comparisons. Falcon 100% started off as the Machfive sampler, a collaboration with MOTU, by version 3 it had various oscillators, analog modeled filters, and granular engines built in as well as MIDI tools, making it a more workstation synth. Now that's fully realized in Falcon, but, it's still to me not a synth like Avenger, they're completely different. At least in the sense that Falcon has a base as a sampler, and Avenger a synth.

It's an interesting observation. I think UVI do a pretty good job at making people forget it is fundamentally a sampler, their factory library has no real mutlisampled instruments in it. So I get why people make the comparison.

My main DAW being DP I've been observant of Machfive for years, so when it became Falcon it magically isn't just a sampler with great synth capabilities like Kontakt. < To be fair they put in the work, just saying they downplay it's sampler capabilities these days. I think UVI rightly wanted to move away from the comparisons that M5 would get to Kontakt, and target Omnisphere.

For me I've still never bonded with Falcon. I suspect I never will. The sheer effort to click with that very unmusical but computer-logical workflow is pretty debilitating, and even the browser is still woeful. YMMV.

I think one thing that keeps me motivated with workstations like Flacon is it does not suffer from the law of diminishing returns. Sometimes a workflow won't be obviously efficient or fast until you're completely immersed in it. My experience with Logic pre Apple buyout was on those lines. Oddly enough for me Apples changes to Logic to make things eassier for new users slowed down my workflow and sent me running back to DP.

I guess there isn't always a comparison between complexity and in the end of faster workflow, I'm just giving up the idea that Falcon might be more complex because you can go deeper with it, and complexity does often lead to great results if you get over the hump.

[Korg Supporter]

I just bought and tried Falcon, and I find its character to be cold and clinical, even when browsing the oscillators and filters. It sounds cool on paper, but it does not impress me to the extent that Icarus and Omnisphere have.

[Fleer]

Have a go at the texture and bow oscillators (and harmonics).