The Synthmaster 3 Thread

[kv331]

I can't get the $29 upgrade from 2.9 to 3 — there's no place in the upgrade form on the Synthmaster site to enter my serial number. Is there a way around this? (I am logged in when I try to upgrade)

Yo do not have to enter your serial to make the upgrade purchase, but you should enter your registered email address on the payment page.

[markc65]

OK that worked, thanks

[KTlin]

Hi guys, just released a new update for SynthMaster 3 (rev 14885). this update has factory samples for Plucked Strings:

Hi

I just tested this last update and I encountered a lot of issues:

- the sample import feature doesn't work, so I was unable to import my own samples. If I try to drag&drop them in the sample editor window nothing happens and if I try to import them using the "Import File(s)" dialogue the SM3 crashes instantly (the VST2 version) or it doesn't output any sound as if the file is empty (the VST3 version).

- the Transpose parameter (in the SampleEditor) doesn't work. Whatever value you enter it doesn't have any effect.

- the Fade Out parameter (in the SampleEditor) doesn't work. Whatever value you enter it doesn't have any effect.

- the Crossfade Length parameter (in the SampleEditor) doesn't work. Whatever value you enter it doesn't have any effect.

- when a multi-sample is loaded in a Basic Osc none of the algorithms (Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass) are working. For example, if the Lowpass algorithm is used, the HiCut knob doesn't have any effect when turned and when the Highpass algorithm is used the LoCut knob doesn't have any effect when turned.

- the "SONY C48 A#2" sample under the A String in the Acoustic Guitar 1 multi-sample set is an empty file, it contains no audio information, so the note A#2 doesn't output any sound when using the Acoustic Guitar 1 set.

- I find it very odd and unintuitive that in the mapping editor the velocity range goes from top to bottom (vel 0 at the top, vel 127 at the bottom). It doesn't make any sense. It should be the other way around, like in all the other samplers (Kontakt, Halion, etc). So, for example, if you set the velocity range for a certain sample to be 0-40 than that sample should be at the bottom of the mapping editor, not at the top as it is at the moment.

- all these new multi-sample sets (Plucked Strings) are recorded way too quiet. Even with the Osc Volume and the Master Volume set to max, and even if I play very hard on the keyboard, the SM3 output level peaks at only around -18dB, which is way too low.

- later edit: there's an issue with the scrollbar for the modulation matrix. If you try to scroll by grabbing the scrollbar (not by using the scroll wheel) you have to move the mouse left-right instead of up-down which is obviously wrong.

Also, I'm pretty disappointed that all these new guitar multi-sample sets have just one velocity layer. I was hoping they will have at least two. I know this is not intended to be a proper sample library but having just one velocity layer is quite limiting when trying to create more expressive sounds with SM3.

[Kross2]

While Synthmaster's preorder price is tempting and while my curiosity about the 3rd version is intriguing, I was not thrilled with the 2nd version, as the presets were not very inspiring(which is very odd, being that every type of synthesis is implemented.)
If for example...Andras Haas from Pink Noise Studio was designing presets for SM 3, I'd be all over this preorder!

[Jac459]

While Synthmaster's preorder price is tempting and while my curiosity about the 3rd version is intriguing, I was not thrilled with the 2nd version, as the presets were not very inspiring(which is very odd, being that every type of synthesis is implemented.)
If for example...Andras Haas from Pink Noise Studio was designing presets for SM 3, I'd be all over this preorder!

I have the everything bundle and I find the presets quite good actually. And some are even awesome I feel.

[zvenx]

Everyone's taste is of course different, but the abundance of BigTone presets alone made it worse the price for me.
rsp

[Jac459]

Everyone's taste is of course different, but the abundance of BigTone presets alone made it worse the price for me.
rsp

BigTone, good to know. I will have a focused listening on these ones.

Clearly some presets makers are really great, like I am discovering the presets of Kevin Schroeder for Dune 3 and they are really excellent (even the factory preset).

[zvenx]

Yes I love Kevin's stuff for Dune 3 (and the one announced but not yet released, he also has some nice stuff in Hive)..
But yeah can't say if they are your cup of tea, but BigTone is the guy for me... (he also has two older banks on your favourite synth).
rsp

[Jac459]

Yes I love Kevin's stuff for Dune 3 (and the one announced but not yet released, he also has some nice stuff in Hive)..
But yeah can't say if they are your cup of tea, but BigTone is the guy for me... (he also has two older banks on your favourite synth).
rsp

Haha, thanks for the heads up!

I will definitely check BigTone.

I also remember Exode, he was kind of the king of the presets makers for reason studios rack extensions back in the day. I loved his work on Zero Hybrid, an FM synth rack extension and it was the first time I told my self "wah! who did this?".

[kv331]

Guys we are trying to bring more designers into the table for SynthMaster 3, as much as we can. My target is to reach 1000 factory presets by the end of 2024, but we should first finish the development and release the product.

[Examigan]

Everyone's taste is of course different, but the abundance of BigTone presets alone made it worse the price for me.
rsp

BigTone, good to know. I will have a focused listening on these ones.

Clearly some presets makers are really great, like I am discovering the presets of Kevin Schroeder for Dune 3 and they are really excellent (even the factory preset).

Bigtone, Nori Ubukata, Insigna and Rob Lee make very good presets.

[Jac459]

Everyone's taste is of course different, but the abundance of BigTone presets alone made it worse the price for me.
rsp

BigTone, good to know. I will have a focused listening on these ones.

Clearly some presets makers are really great, like I am discovering the presets of Kevin Schroeder for Dune 3 and they are really excellent (even the factory preset).

Bigtone, Nori Ubukata, Insigna and Rob Lee make very good presets.

Good to know. Any synth where the work of Nori Ubukata, Insigna and Rob Lee were particularly good?

On Rob Papen synths, I think JoMal is really good too.

[zvenx]

I like some of the sounds of Nori but I find he (at least in many of his synthmaster patches) doesn't even utilize modwheel in his patches...
rsp

[yellowmix]

If for example...Andras Haas from Pink Noise Studio was designing presets for SM 3, I'd be all over this preorder![/color][/b]

Can you link some of these "designed" presets? I did a Google search and found Pink Noise Studio products that are sampled directly from hardware synthesizers and thrown into Kontakt/Reason sampler.

What I like about Synthmaster and the presets/expansions is that it is primarily a synthesizer with sampling capability, but does not rely entirely on samples. In fact, the entirety of the SM2 expansions' samples total 523MB. Pink Noise Studio's (Oberheim) Matrix Kontakt instrument is 1.2gb by itself!

[yellowmix]

I like some of the sounds of Nori but I find he (at least in many of his synthmaster patches) doesn't even utilize modwheel in his patches...

Sounds of the World and Art Rock Basics are heavy on samples. So lack of creative modulation on some acoustic instruments is somewhat forgivable. The Pop Hits, Historical Synth Giants, Japan Vintage preset recreations generally assign vibrato to MW, but some have timbral and other changes to stay true to the original it's cloning.

His presets for Arturia are great and make use of all four macros.