By DrWashington
On 14th March 2009
Version: 2.2
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Wow.
I'm still shaken and disturbed by the fact that this synth even exists in software form.
IT'S BLOODY AMAZING.
And, it'll only get better.
Lennard Addink has got to be one of the very best DSP programmers in the world. This is a rich, RICH piece of software. The sound quality is just absolutely top notch, and this coming from a long time Virus user. I prefer this over my Virus Rack XL, BECAUSE MY VIRUS RACK XL DIED... long, slow, and painfully. The sounds it made in its last throes should have been sampled. This is something I will forever regret. They were unbelievably, hysterically, awful. You people would have died laughing. I'm not kidding. I wish I had them. Anyway -
Now, I have a brick. A $1350, pretty black, beknobbled brick. Thanks, Access.
BUT! Though it's not as feature laden, the sound quality of Sylenth1 is at least on par with the famous German hardware offering. I'm still just shocked and amazed that one guy in the Netherlands did this all by himself. And, considering the CPU cost, this is work of brilliance beyond mere mortal comprehension. While other companies will spend years developing a single filter that costs 20% of a respectable modern CPU under normal use ALONE, Mr. Addink gives you everything you could reasonably ask for in a software VA for, oh, around 5-7% under normal (i.e. completely INSANE) usage.
If he were to create a truly feature-rich version of this synth, including true PWM, wavetables, etc., he could easily become a rich man. This is THE bread-&-butter VA soft synth to have, in case you were wondering.
Though this synth certainly can't do everything, for what it DOES do, it shines like no other. Absolutely stellar, and absolutely BEYOND worth what I paid. I cannot gripe that I pre-empted the group buy by two weeks. I am happy, and I feel no buyer's remorse, even though, had I waited, i could have purchased it for half of what I paid.
In case this doesn't make sense to you yet, in case you like electronic music or makin' beats, or whatever the hell it is you do with your studio when you just don't wanna be bothered by the world outside and you need to get lost in an evening of digital tweakage, let me state it plainly:
THIS IS *THE* SOFTSYNTH TO HAVE in 2009. This and VOPM, if you like/know FM. :) |
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By rob_lee
On 21st August 2008
Version: 2
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4 of 13 people found
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User Interface:
From the off im going to say that Sylenth 1 looks great..The user interface is well thought out and very pleasing to the eye.Navigation is made easy for the user by a single mouse click to access the various features within Sylenth 1.
I espescially like the big screen in the middle containing the Fx section which in itself is very well laid out..
(10)
Sound:
Well what can i say...i'd never heard of Sylenth 1 until it was recommended to me by a friend and to be honest when i heard Sylenth 1 for the first time he was playing the presets through a Virus TI in midi mode and i actually thought it was just the Virus until he told me it was a software synth called Sylenth 1.
So to sum the sound of this amazing soft synth up to a tee i would go as far to say that it truly has a stunning sound and puts many hardware synths with the big price tags to shame...
(10)
Features:
Where do i start here? Great Fx section for a start..each one sounds like it's a stand alone professional hardware unit and Phaser just sounds amazing.For me the features of Sylenth 1 gives me great scope for sound design and believe me this Synth does the business in that department no problem.I could go on about the features on this Synth but i'd need a day or two to explain them so for me Sylenth 1 scores a 10 in this department.
(10)
Documentation:
Everything is well explained in the pdf manual that comes with Sylenth 1 and very well explained it is so great documentation.
Presets:
Wow..the included presets are of the highest quality here with scope to design your own being one of my favourite things about this piece of kit.The possibilite's are endless.
The sound banks provided are great and there are also some additional sound banks available from third party sound designers which are great too.
Old School,House,Electro,Trance and Fx they're all in there.
(10)
Customer Support:
This is great because any querie's are answered swiftly by Lennard himself so everything in this department is plain sailing.
(10)
Value for Money:
Now do i spend £1599.00 on a new Virus TI or do i spend £111.00 on Sylenth 1???
It's simple i went for Lennard Digital Sylenth 1 on it's own merit.The features alone make it worth it's price and well where would i buy any better than this? Nowhere that's where!
Sylenth 1 for me is definatley great value for money in every aspect and without a doubt a very reliable instrument.
(10)
Stability:
The great thing about Sylenth is that it has stability written all over it.No crashes no problems here.I can run up to ten instances of Sylenth with only a 50% cpu hit and for that reason this instrument is a winner without a shadow of a doubt..i love Sylenth 1 because it's totally reliable and for music creation this is the first Synth i turn to.
(10)
Finally:
I wrote a little review which is displayed at the Lennard Digital website which read:
"Sylenth1 in one word is truely amazing! Everything about Sylenth1 oozes creativity right from the word go, I can use 10 instances of Sylenth1 and still only have my CPU at 50% therefore making this softsynth my number 1 for music production. I would go as far to say that I couldn't really tell much difference between Sylenth1 and my Virus TI, for sure Sylenth1 renders my other soft synths obsolete as I have finally found a synth that can do pretty much everything. I'm now working on my first soundbank for Sylenth1 with such inspiration I have not found whilst using any other VST. I could go on but most of you who own Sylenth1 probably know the potential it has by now and those of you who don't own it - GET IT!"
Rob Lee
Thanks i hope this review was helpful to you....
Rob |
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By M-Prod
On 21st July 2008
Version: 2.0
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5 of 8 people found
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Finally, the osx version is out. After rediscovering this amazing synth I have to do my first review.
User Interface
Great and easy interface. Layout is superb. Design could be cleaner to my personal opinion. I'd also prefer the possibility to see part A en B together in one view.
Sound
Well this is what it all comes down to.. The best sounding softsynth ever. Bought it for windows last year after reading a praising review. And how right they were.. Then switched to osx in January and had to wait for the new osx version. After using many other synths I now realize how much i missed it. Suddenly i find the sounds i need instantly. 8, 9 or more sylenths or more in my projects, for bass, lead, ambient, drum sounds, fx..
Features
It's a great VA synth that exactly does what it's supposed to do. I don't consider many features a plus, I consider the right amount of features a plus and that's what this synth has. It makes me want to make sounds, where I was a preset junky before. It's very light on the CPU too.
Documentation
Fine manual (never needed it, but flipped through it for this review).
Presets
Great presets and a lot of them. Inspiring, rough edgy, smooth.
Customer Support
I contacted lennard by mail on a few occasions and he always answered me within minutes! Very friendly and helpful and solved my (license) issues immediately.
Value For Money
Great for two reasons. First it's an amazing product.. Second, the osx versions was free for former windows users. I've seen that different in other products (which i don't mind because porting takes time and effort)
Stability
Never problems whatsoever.
I hear he's working on other plugins.. expect great things from this Dutch guy! |
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Last edited by M-Prod on 21st July 2008
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By djanthonyw
On 21st July 2008
Version: 2.0
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8 of 11 people found
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I have never been inclined to write a review for any plugin until now, because this gem totally blows me away!
User Interface:
I consider the interface of any synth to be extremely important. The lay out of Sylenth1 is very clear and easy to understand, even for someone that's new to synthesis. As of this review I have been producing music for over eight years and I have never been inclined to program any sounds from scratch until I found this monster!
Sound:
In my opinion there are very few synths that compare to, or exceed hardware virtual analog synths, but Sylenth does both. Sylenth has this incredibly thick, warm, analogish sound while still being able to fit great in a mix. There are a few companies that advertise "sell your hardware, because our software can replace it", which is true to some extend, but Sylenth is the only software synth that really did replace mine... I just sold Virus and Nord! However, I do want to state that Sylenth is in no way a clone of the Virus, Nord, or any other synth, but I feel that it does have some characteristics of both, except with a smoother, creamier sound.
Once I heard Sylenth in action I jumped on the opportunity to get rid of my hardware. When it comes to music production nothing is more convenient than having a native software synth inside of your DAW software and when it sounds this good there is no contest!
Features:
Sylenth is extremely well balanced when it comes to features. It has enough features to do what you want, but not so many that it's overwhelming. Besides the actual synth, Sylenth features some very high quality built in effects that don't get in the way, they're neatly placed on an LCD panel in the GUI. A lot of people consider a synth that has a bunch of 'bells and whistles' to be a programmer's synth, but on the contrary I consider Sylenth to be a programmer's, as well as a musician's synth because it's very inviting and a pleasure to use.
Presets:
Sylenth1 version 2.0 now comes with over a 1,000 presets. All of which are extremely high quality. I will say that a lot of them are geared towards dance music, but there are no rules, you can use the presets in any genre of music. I think the irony with Sylenth is that it comes with so many presets, yet it begs to be programmed!
Documentation:
Sylenth comes with a PDF manual, there are also a few videos on lennardigital.com. Because Sylenth's interface is extremely intuitive, most people will probably jump right in without even reading the manual. That's usually how it is for me as well, but I did read the manual, because when I like a product as much as I do Sylenth, I usually read the manual just for 'fun', and to kind of 'take it all in'.
Customer Support:
I emailed LennarDigital once. I wanted to know how long it would be for the release of the Mac version of Sylenth. Lennard responded promptly a couple hours later telling me the estimated time frame. I will say that I think he should respond a little more often in his support forum here on KVR though, but it's clear now that he is just very focused on his work. When he does post in the forum or respond to an email he is very courteous and helpful.
Stability & CPU:
For the moment I'm running Sylenth in VST format in Logic 8 by using FXpansion's VST-AU adapter. Sylenth appears to be rock solid, however there is GUI bug with the adapter and Logic 8 that does not let you drag a plugin's GUI anywhere. I'm sure all will be well when Sylenth is released in Audio Unit format in the near future.
Also, I can't get over how CPU efficient this synth is. For my main workstation I'm running a Mac Pro 2 x 2.66, which is equal to four cores. In Logic 8, one instance of Sylenth moves the CPU meter on average, about one pixel, on one core... it's hardly even registering! It really makes me ask what most of these other developers are doing to make their plugins use so much processing power. LennarDigital is definitely doing something right!
Value For Money:
I've never been more satisfied spending money on a synth, hardware or software. For me, replacing my hardware was priceless.
Conclusion:
I've searched long and far since the beginning of my journey with music production for a synth that I'm truly happy with. I now feel that I've reached my destination. The bottom line is if you're looking for a solid, inspirational VA synth, look no further. I highly recommend Sylenth1. |
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Last edited by djanthonyw on 17th August 2008
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By JimmiG
On 2nd December 2007
Version: 1.21
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7 of 9 people found
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If you are like me, you probably already have half a dozen freeware and shareware VA synths laying around that you haven't even had the time or motivation to really get into..
Why should you spend this kind of money on such a seemingly simple subtractive synth, then?
Oscillators
The biggest argument for this synth is the sheer number of oscillators (called "voices" in Sylenth-speak) that it can generate and play back. It comes with four "real" oscillators, which is already more than most VA's have. In addition, each oscillator can produce up to eight detuned virtual oscillators, for a total of 32 oscillators. With 16 voices (of polyphony), you can get up to (16x32=) 512 oscillators going at the same time. The synth lacks a "master unison" to stack and detune the 16 "real" voices, but 32 oscillators from pressing a single key should be more than enough, no need to get silly here. Sylenth1 is the "king of the supwersaw" - Most softsynths only offer one Unison oscillator and one or two regular ones, or only a "master unison", kicking the synth into monophonic mode. The only synth I can think of that beats it is the hardware Virus TI with its hypersaw oscillator, free sub oscillators and master Unison mode. It also offers many additional features and a much broader sonic pallette, but it does cost at least 10x more. Still, Sylenth is capable of producing many Virus-like timbres.
Filters
While the oscillators sound very warm and full, the filter is a little too "polite" for my taste. With a high resonance setting, the audio signal is attenuated for the benefit of the self-resonance sine. This means you'll almost never get dangerous resonant peaks that might damage your ears or speakers, but it also means that the filter seems mellow and tame sometimes. With a bit of drive and distortion added, it can sound pretty nasty, but it takes some effort to get there.
Features, or rather, Limitations
This is where you really need to think hard if the synth is for you, especially considering the asking price. As other have stated, many important features are mising, resulting in a very basic synth ”on paper”. PWM is mising though you can fake it using two oscillators (a bit fiddly with multiple detuned waves). Oscillator sync is missing. The mod matrix is fairly incomplete. The Tempo Sync button is global only. Serial filter routings are impossible. The features that are implemented on the other hand are rock solid. I think it's a matter of different philosophies when releasing the 1.x version of a synth. The developer can implement all features he ever dreamed of implementing, which many do. This results in bloated, buggy plugins with high CPU usage, unexpected behaviours and frequent crashes. The other route, which fewer choose, is to thoroughly test what you have now and release it. Then, add new features with incremental upgrades, again thoroughly beta testing and optimizing each new feature that goes into the synth. I do hope the developer intends to add new features for free – asking for more money for upgrades at this point would be a little unreasonable.
GUI
The GUI simulates a real hardware synth, with a mixture of knobs, sliders and LCD's. The layout is similar to ReFX's Nexus with a big LCD in the middle and various controls surrounding it. The LCD is used only for effects and the arpeggiator (unlike Nexus where it's the main patch browsing facility), but it's positioned in the center of the window. The controls you actually use when creating a sound are towards the edge of the window. This doesn't quite make sense from a workflow perspective as it puts the effects rather than synth parameters in focus. I also prefer GUIs where the value of the current parameter is displayed as a tooltip. When it's displayed on a separate "LCD", you essentially have to look in two places at the same time - at the knob to judge its relative position, and at the LCD to see its numerical value.
Conclusion
It may sound like I'm very negative about certain aspects of this synth. This is not true at all. With a synth this good sounding and easy to work with, every little flaw really stands out. The synth is also still in its infancy, and future updates might add new features or refine existing ones. Other than the small faults, the synth is thought out and extremely easy to work with. It's tweakable and meant to be played. You won't be hand-drawing envelopes or spend hours setting up intricate modulation routings and custom waveshapes with this synth. You will however be creating powerful, musical sounds in no time. |
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