By bamoida
On 14th October 2008
Version: 1.9
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3 of 7 people found
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If you are looking for a synth with an excellent sound which is cheap and easy to program you are right here.
This test relates to FireBird+ v1.9
I am FireBird user since 2 years now. I have use it in several professional tracks and also did sounddesign. I really know this machine ;-)
User Interface:
The best user interface of *ALL* vst plugins. At the first view it looks like a one trick one-trick-pony. But it's extremely effective and very easy to use.
Fun:
FireBird+ has the best usability of *ALL* vst plugins. It's simply genious. Playing with this synth is pure fun. If you press the random button you get a new sound - but a usefull one.
Sound:
FAT. From science fiction to analogue. The demo mp3s don't really show it's real power. It's not only a trance machine. Be sure that you download the demo of v1.9.
A weak point of FireBird v1.2.1 was the reverb. Tone2 has improved this and a lot of other things with FireBird+.
Features:
At the first view it looks like a one trick pony. But it's definitely not. Fetures which are not often needed are hidden in the setup screen. The synth is smart and does a lot of things 'audtomatically'. That's why there is no knob necessary.
Docs:
Avaliable in a lot of translations.
Presets:
The synth ships with more than 300 presets. Additional 700 are available in soundbanks. All presets are usefull.
Customer support:
Unlike big companies like NI or Steinberg you get personal support from pros. You're a person, not only a number.
Value for money:
It's a steal and an absolute must-have. It costs only €59. It's worth €119.
Stability:
Tone2 has provided several free updates. FireBird+ v1.9 is rock solid.
One of the best syths out there. Great sound, excellent usability and cheap. A MUST HAVE! |
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Last edited by bamoida on 14th October 2008
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By grymmjack
On 15th November 2007
Version: 1.9
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6 of 6 people found
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[UI]
the interface for firebird is awesome. there are several skins to choose from and they are all very well done. a LOT of attention to detail and TLC went into the UI. the simplicity of layout and the beautiful tactile feel of the controls is really great. the setup screen is dead simple and it's very easy to use this synth to achieve great sounds quickly. everything important is on one screen and all of the complexity is hidden away from you leaving you only to worry about your sound (the way it should be IMO). the only slightly confusing thing is how the modulation wheel mapping is in the setup screen. it's odd only because setup is usually a global thing, but in firebird there are patch based settings in the setup screen. not a deal breaker for me though at all :)
[SOUND]
firebird sounds incredible. it's got some huge sounding filters and the distortion / drive is particularly awesome. the sheer number of filter types on offer is quite insane - but coming from tone2 we expect nothing less than greatness. the various waveforms available are versatile and cover a very wide variety of sound creation possibility and it's simple to quickly change and sculpt the sound by combining them in different ways. my *favorite* part of this synth is the FAT and ANALOG knobs in the sound source section, simply twisting these two at various degrees (which are obviously tuned with TLC to really be useful) is so much fun. you can alter the brightness, tone, and thickness of the sounds to be much more intense as needed, or back it off (which i find myself doing more of because firebird has so much balls) to make things fit more into a given mix.
[FEATURES]
the features available are very good and easy to use. there are all the staple features you'd expect from a great synth and a few you wouldn't like an advanced IQ micro-tuning system that actually makes a significant difference to the sound output. it's this kind of attention to detail that firebird has all over. there are governors for polyphony and quality for machines that are older or slower as well. i have 0 complaints about the features. Markus (the developer) even added a feature that I requested to allow for my inacurate pitchbend to work better.
[DOCUMENTATION]
the documentation is adequate. i didn't really need it though. it's available in 3 different languages, which is nice.
[PRESETS]
the factory banks (3 of 128 each) are awesome. the 3rd bank is a nice touch as it is the "init" bank so you can roll your own sound bank with ease. bank A and B have some excellent sounds for electronic music. really good ones that illustrate what this synth can do. the sounds range in category from bass to lead to pad to others and are useful and organized by prefix so it's a snap to dial in a sound you are looking for without hunting around too much. i've already mentioned the fat and analog knobs but i need to mention them again because with those 2 knobs every preset gets a new life. the randomizer is quite a cool feature too that is built into firebird and 90% of the time provides something new and interesting and somewhat useful.
[SUPPORT]
customer support from tone2 in my experience has been great. i've not had any issues with the synth besides the one i mentioned with my pitchbender and that was addressed in v1.9 after almost 3 months of no word from the developer it was quite cool to get a personal email announcing the availability of the new version with that support added in. it was an excellent gift and will keep me a customer of tone2 for a long time to come.
[VALUE FOR MONEY]
the cost for this synth is €59, $79 which is a total value in my opinion for what you get. after spending quality time with this synth you can tell that a huge amount of effort and insight went into it's plans. the price is fully justified and then some. well worth the outlay.
[STABILITY]
i've had no issue with firebird in the following hosts: cantabile 1.2, orion platinum 7, tracktion3, energyxt 1.x, ableton live6, flstudio 7, and renoise. i have not used firebird in an extreme scenario yet though, mainly i use it for bass and lead sounds to compliment other synths when doing electronic music.
[SUMMARY]
if you need a good synth with very high quality sounds for a modest price you can do a hell of a lot worse than firebird. if you are new and want to learn about synths and how to program sounds firebird is an excellent choice as it's so damned easy to use and easy to get a good sound out of. it is very encouraging to design sounds when the sound coming out is beautiful to your ears.
this is quite a great synth! |
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Last edited by grymmjack on 15th November 2007
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By Uchdryd
On 11th September 2007
Version: 1.8
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I was reluctant to give this synth a 10 in every category, because to some people that might imply that it can't possibly be improved, but *anything* can be improved, and I just wouldn't feel right about giving it anything less than the best scores in all categories.
USER INTERFACE:
This is where Firebird really shines, IMHO, because you can have the greatest-sounding synth in the world, but if it's a chore to use, then, well. . . you won't be using it much! This thing is a joy to work with. The controls are presented in a logical, fashionable, and usable way. Call it German engineering. ;-) It must be understood, however, that simplicity of design does *not* imply lack of functionality or a dearth of features. Read on.
SOUND:
Although it *can* be used as a virtual analog synth, Firebird sounds refreshingly digital. The filters are simply outstanding, and there are plenty to choose from. The user has the option of selecting low, average, high, or ultra quality, which is great when you want to have several instances of Firebird active and don't have the fastest CPU in the world. I use the low or medium setting and then switch to high before bouncing tracks or rendering the song. Did I mention that it sounds fantastic? It does. ;-)
FEATURES:
A very nice arpeggiator, a good LFO that's routable to any one of several places, many quality effects, glide mode (1 key or 2), and the ability to apply "modifiers" to the oscillators (which incredibly enhances the amount of sounds you can create).
DOCUMENTATION:
The manual is basic, but well-written and easy to read.
PRESETS:
You'll want to make your own, but the ones that are included are excellent and show you what's possible. (Well, *hint* at what's possible, anyway.)
CUSTOMER SUPPORT:
Marcus provides very good support to his customers.
VALUE FOR MONEY:
It's *so* very well worth the price. For far less than 100 dollars, this is an unbelievable deal.
STABILITY:
The latest version of Firebird+ is 100% stable. It's also very quick to load and totally "glitch-free."
I've tried the great majority of VSTi synths and this is my favorite of them all. I end up using it time and time again because it's a pleasure to use and it sounds great. |
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By Shy
On 16th May 2007
Version: 1.8
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3 of 5 people found
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FireBird is a synth I had been looking at for a long time and was very interested in. Loved its easy to use yet powerful features/sound shaping possbilities. But something was missing for me. The sound just wasn't quite as nice as I wanted it to be. I always thought "gee, this synth just doesn't sound as good as it should, it's almost there, but not quite." Well, this issue has been fixed, big time.
FireBird+ is a huge improvement over the previous versions sound quality wise. The filters have been seriously upgraded, the overall sound is much better, and this synth is absolutely among the very best sounding software synths ever made.
As I already said, something I really love about this synth is the fact that it's really not hard to understand and it's quick to program, yet the sound design possibilities are remarkably broad thanks to the HCM synthesis approach. It's just really fun to work with. I seriously can't say the word "fun" when it comes to tweaking some other synths I like. FireBird+ is one of the very few that are powerful as well as fun to program.
If you're into synthesis in general and are looking for a synth that can give you the possibility to produce sound in a different way and that can give you powerful, mean sounds, lush sounds, windy sounds, organ sounds, and unique sounds you don't hear from anything else, you really shouldn't miss it.
Edit:
with the v1.8 update, the sound quality has improved immensely! It retains its basic character but it sounds quite different, which does have a downside: you might not get the character you want from a few of your old patches. But the upside...it sounds absolutely incredible. I can now say it's one of my top two favorite digital synthesizers, the other being Nord Lead 2X.
More new filters have been added and existing filters have been improved. The selection of filters in FireBird+ is broad and allows truly huge diversity. Also, high quality reverbs have been added. They are seriously good sounding and usable!
Do yourself a favor, download and try this amazing synth. After that, you might very well stop searching for that lush sound you're after. |
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Last edited by Shy on 16th August 2007
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By Hewitt Huntwork
On 7th September 2006
Version: 1.0
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I have great news for you if you missed out on the Firebird group buy here at KVR. Firebird is easily worth the full asking price ($69 at the time of this review).
I casually monitor group buys here at KVR and had decided against getting Firebird based on 1) the fact that I own a couple of other synths that I thought filled a similar space in my toolbox, and 2) comments from users (and a review in CM) that say it is ideally suited for trance, a genre that is far afield from my own purposes.
I can't remember what prompted me to try the demo, but that was what changed my mind, and fast!
The first thing I noticed was the sound. Since sound is subjective, I will just say that I liked it right away. When I listen to a synth I always try to envision whether I can use it in my own music, and with Firebird I was able to hear it almost instantly. I am not a trance expert, so for all I know it *may* be ideally suited for trance, but I was able to imagine it playing a role in my pop/rock/acoustic/ambient recordings.
The other things that really made a difference for me were the arpeggiator (which has a built-in gate) and the drop-down programming menus. The same way that some people prefer to use a roland-stlye "XOX" pattern sequencer, I wish ALL my synths had drop down programming menus. I'm a preset tweaker by nature, but Firebird makes me want to program my own sounds (and I have been doing just that). The "Random" button will give you a whole new leaping off point, including which waveforms are used in the patch. A couple of my "Random" patches were so good I just saved them the way they were without any tweaking at all.
User Interface: the interface is uncluttered, and designed to keep things simple. It does this well. A few users on the forum (myself included) have commented on the appearance of the gui (chiefly the knobs) and Markus has responded with openness and interest. If you break down the gui into its functionality and its appearance, I would give it perfect marks for functionality and say that I wouldn't mind if it got a little bit of a facelift.
Sound: I like it. Try the demo.
Features: If other devs are smart, they will adopt Markus' best features on their own synths. Menus, arpeggiator, random button. In addition, I like that rather than having fully-programmable FX, he has multiple types of the same effect and you can tweak 2 parameters of each. Not revolutionary, I know, but this idea is in keeping with the user-friendly concept of Firebird.
Documentation: Haven't needed it much, but I did glance over it to find out what the "Pop" button does.
Presets: It comes with 300, and they do a good job of showing what Firebird can do. Since it is so easy to program, I would love to see Markus host a preset exchange.
Customer Support: While I haven't had any issues that needed resolving, I gave a ten here because of three things: First, Markus' presence here at KVR. Second, he once sent me an email just to check if his messages to me were arriving marked as SPAM. Talk about attention to detail! Third, like I said, I haven't had any issues that needed resolving, and that is a good thing! I emailed Markus with a couple of feature requests, and he responded very quickly.
Value For Money: It's great. Sign me up for any expansions!
Stability: No problemns there.
I told Markus I would like to see a mute button for each of the oscillators. I would also like to see some more pattern options for the arpeggiator/gate. I would also like to have lots more sounds (which I understand is in the works). I would like to have several skin options. These things are minor and Markus has said that the version 1.1 update will be out soon. |
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