The Legend HZ by Synapse Audio now available!

[hey212]

The separate effect plugin is a little weird. It seems to collapse everything to mono, and if you turn the polyphony knob to anything other than mono, the audio cuts off completely (at least in Bitwig). Also, there doesn't seem to be any mention of the separate effect plugin in the manual at all, which makes it hard to trouble shoot.

Has anyone else messed with it, and if so have you figured out how to use it on a stereo signal?

^ can anyone please confirm that the effect plugin is mono only?

[beely]

I don't think the filters are stereo in Legend, the oscillators are mixed into the filter, and you can't pan the oscillators individually before the filter.

And if the filter isn't stereo, then neither is any audio passing through it - you're going to get the same as if you pass stereo audio into a single Moog filter, it will mix to mono, at least until it hits the FX where those will be in stereo.

[Funky40]

Well, you can lock all the fx on front panel, or each one on the back panel, so hopefully one of those is useful for you.

the point is the sound preset switching" !
it´s not working as is, vs. "this"

........, or each one on the back panel,..........

This is not "locking" !.....it´s a bypass, -> NOT a lock vs. the bypass.
( vs. preset switching)

Well, you can lock all the fx on front panel, ........

Yes, that one IS a lock !......but also a _ALL_ fx bypass.
How useful is that vs. dealing with the "sound presets" ? not exactly much, no ?
That one is useful vs. sound programming.

.....a second switch is missing here. to define "what" this switch is locking.
That would be one option to handle that situation.

Not sure if you are "just" a customer as i am, or closer related ?

[seafire]

Well, you can lock all the fx on front panel, or each one on the back panel, so hopefully one of those is useful for you.

the point is the sound preset switching" !
it´s not working as is, vs. "this"

........, or each one on the back panel,..........

This is not "locking" !.....it´s a bypass, -> NOT a lock vs. the bypass.
( vs. preset switching)

Well, you can lock all the fx on front panel, ........

Yes, that one IS a lock !......but also a _ALL_ fx bypass.
How useful is that vs. dealing with the "sound presets" ? not exactly much, no ?
That one is useful vs. sound programming.

.....a second switch is missing here. to define "what" this switch is locking.
That would be one option to handle that situation.

Not sure if you are "just" a customer as i am, or closer related ?

Am I missing something really obvious here???

You can LOCK any parameter (afaik) including fx on/off on front AND back panel


So, ie, you can lock on reverb, and lock off the rest, and switch presets....or any variation of that.

[hey212]

I don't think the filters are stereo in Legend, the oscillators are mixed into the filter, and you can't pan the oscillators individually before the filter.

And if the filter isn't stereo, then neither is any audio passing through it - you're going to get the same as if you pass stereo audio into a single Moog filter, it will mix to mono, at least until it hits the FX where those will be in stereo.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. That's too bad if you're right. It would be great if there was a way to bypass the main filter so you could get a stereo signal straight through to the effects section.

The Fixed Filter Bank is amazing, I really want to throw it on a drum bus, but I can't have the bus being collapsed to mono first. The main filter already has a LP/BP switch, it would be great if that switch had a third position to you could choose LP/BP/OFF.

[Funky40]

Am I missing something really obvious here???

No, you don´t !

I did ! i missed that right click option. mea culpa.
i went thru the manual btw.....but i have troubles with manuals.

Ok, you have me.
What i was asking for is allready there !
That´s VERY great news.
I thank you VERY MUCH to go thru that with me, and to poin this out !


the request for a more unlinearised behave vs. the Dry-Wet setting on the Delay remains, though.
I work in GigPerformer (Host). I can correct and delinearise there any CC mapped parameter. So, i can live with this, once CC mapped. (but i´d not want to deal with any unrefined parameter using a DAW. Exactly a main reason why i try to omit the need to ever load any plugins within a DAW

Thanks !....and sorry

[4damind]

Impressive sound! Good work Richard & Team and of course many thanks to Hans

[Ah_Dziz]

Also does it have alternate filter types besides an " accurate transistor ladder"? 2 pole low pass, Bandpass, highpass, less "analog" flavored filters pulled from Dune? Seems like a fun addition.

12 and 24 db low and band pass modes.

Furthermore is the filterbank per voice or part of an effect chain? If it is per voice can it be tuned as a whole?

Part of the effect chain, sadly.

Thanks for the info, Zerocrossing. I've never played with any of the synapse stuff, but this seems just odd enough to be fun. I'm guessing from reading around the thread that the mod matrix runs at a lower rate than the audio engine. It would be real cool if it ran at full audio rate.

Is the CPU use crazy compared to other modern synths?

[BONES]

Of course, you could make a lifetime of paintings with only the color red as well but they're all going to look pretty samey.

You can use a full colour palette and still paint samey pictures. It's foolish and narrow-minded to suggest that a limited palette must necessarily limit your creativity. I'd also suggest that a single synth as capable as L-HZ is more akin to a painting method - watercolours, oils, etc. - rather than a single colour, and the vast majority of the most revered artists painted with the same tools for most of their careers.

My point is that you can get really close to the sound of a Model D with DUNE 3 and go light years beyond.

Not really. It might feel that way but you have to remember to see these thing in context. I'd suggest that if you want to make something that sounds like it was made with half-a-dozen Model Ds, you'll get there in a fraction of the time if you use 6 instances of L-HZ rather than a few DUNEs. If you drew a Venn diagram of all the possible timbres each was capable of, the cross-over would still be the biggest section of either instrument. And if you restricted it to the kinds of sounds people might actually want to use in their own work, it would be even moreso. And the fact DUNE is capable of doing more than L-HZ will be irrelevant to anyone for whom L-HZ will do everything they need. You only have to load DUNE up to see this. The first preset is hugely impressive but who the f**k is ever going to find a use for it in a song? It tells you straight away that DUNE sounds absolutely amazing but it also suggests that it has features you don't really need.

I can make countless awesome VA sounds with D3 that Legend could not possibly hope to replicate.

Absolutely but so what? a) Just because DUNE offers more doesn't mean that L-HZ does offer more than enough, more than many people might conceivably need, and b)There is not a soul in this world for whom that matters even slightly, for the simple reason that even if DUNE or L-HZ is the only instrument you can afford, there are dozens of brilliant, hugely capable and great sounding softsynths you can download for free. e.g. If you have Vital, you might not see much value in DUNE's wavetable oscillators and, therefore, in the whole package. Absolutely nobody needs a one-synth-to-rule-them-all.

It's just a matter of whether you want to ride a bicycle or drive a Ferrari. To me the choice is clear.

Really? So you'd take the Ferrari up to the local grocery store and leave it in the car park to scrape on every speed bump and get bashed into by every idiot's shopping trolley, would you? To me, a synth like DUNE is an F250 - a giant thing that is way more than anyone really needs and is more of a pain than a useful way of getting around town.

If one is a beginner to the world of synthesis perhaps Legend would be the place to start and then graduate to D3 when their skills become more advanced.

Here we go again with your favourite argument. Well, guess what, buddy, you've got it arse-backwards, as usual. If you have the skills, you don't need to prop up your sagging ego with a massive feature list. you can get what you need from pretty much any old thing. You should hear, for example, some of the amazing timbres I'm getting from Baby Audio's BA-1 and GForce's Axxess. A simple synth with a great sound is all anyone who really knows their craft should need and restricting yourself like that is a great way to hone your skills. OTOH, a synth like DUNE makes you lazy.

[Ah_Dziz]

If modulation via OSC 3+6 are available via the matrix using some downsampled "modulation bus" which is pretty common in VA synths, you'd think they'd go ahead and have all the oscillators available for janky FM. Even band limited audio rate modulation makes fun noises. They're just often weird and unpredictable due to aliasing.

Is the demo available yet? I'm interested enough to give it a try for sure. I may get around to really giving Dune a fair shake while I'm at it. I really just have so many options at this point that I get lazy about checking out things, especially subtractive synthesizers.

Edits

[Jac459]

.... OTOH, a synth like DUNE makes you lazy.

Well, I globally agree with all you said.
And I think that actually, this is a quality of great synths to make us lazy.
I am baffled by the speed at which HZ bring me to sound territories I love. The way the oscillators simply interact with each others is awesome. Awesome and immediate.
If I want to do it in Dune, I can't. I need to select the tab of oscillators one by one and change parameters one by one. Of course, I can partly arrange that by midi controlling it, but I don't think overall it is the same smooth experience.

There is a strength to one tab synths. And HZ is extremely well build too take advantage of it.

[trusampler]

Incredible plugin, just purchased and love the sound and power of the new sequencer! Great Job Synapse Audio team and HZ ! This is a great companion to my Trigon 6, looking forward to the new patches

[seafire]

Am I missing something really obvious here???

No, you don´t !

I did ! i missed that right click option. mea culpa.
i went thru the manual btw.....but i have troubles with manuals.

Ok, you have me.
What i was asking for is allready there !
That´s VERY great news.
I thank you VERY MUCH to go thru that with me, and to poin this out !


the request for a more unlinearised behave vs. the Dry-Wet setting on the Delay remains, though.
I work in GigPerformer (Host). I can correct and delinearise there any CC mapped parameter. So, i can live with this, once CC mapped. (but i´d not want to deal with any unrefined parameter using a DAW. Exactly a main reason why i try to omit the need to ever load any plugins within a DAW

Thanks !....and sorry

No problem, glad I could help.

[sQeetz]

yep... bought it in an instance. Soooo phat!!! Some nice presets, too....
Upgraded from Legend


Maybe stupid question:
Wouldn't one be able to achieve the same results from 2 Legends in a container and using modulation in Bitwig?

[SebAV]

So the legend is discontinued ?

There are some things that could lead to this conclusion, yes. While The Legend is still available via an already posted link it disappeared from the list of plugins at their website. Additionally, TLHZ reports its version as 2.000 while TL latest is 1.50. Still I'd wait for Richard to confirm.

I had assumed the HZ version would be a complementary special edition rather than a version 2. At this point The Legend is more of an analog supersynth than a Minimoog emulation, which I suppose explains the price almost doubling.

It seems there’s no way to buy The Legend anymore (except as a RE for Reason). Too bad if you want a « simple » Minimoog or can’t afford the (legitimate) higher price. Model 72 would be the one to pick then.