Helix, Diversion, Dune 2 or Spire... Hmmm

[DHR53]

Helix – sounds great, flexible, low cpu.

Diversion – sounds great, flexible, high cpu, on sale

Dune 2 – Sounds great, pretty flexible, low cpu, reasonably priced

Spire – Sounds great, flexible, high cpu? priced higher

What's your opinion. Which would you buy currently if you didn't have one of these. I may even upgrade my Alchemy (from player) which I think is a great synth in the same league as these. CPU is definitely an issue with me as I've resisted a number of popular synths solely on that basis... But if the sound is "that" much better I might make an exception... No flaming synths, just why you like one or the other, please. Er,I probably should add that 3rd party support (good patches) is also important to me as I don't have the time to program patches!

[chk071]

Although you might not want to hear this: What sounds best to you. Really, they all sound different as far as i can tell. Only you can decide. Anything else would be just opinions from people who could have a different taste.

[recursive one]

Imo Dune 2 has the best sound quality/CPU usage ratio of these four.

[BBFG#]

All of those seem good.
I've pondered each one myself.
I vote you upgrade Alchemy.
Its kept me from needing those others.

[xamido]

Dune 2. You mention cpu and it uses pretty low cpu (just don't abuse the unison too much). Sound wise it's really good. I also like that the gui is very inspiring for me.

[chk071]

Yeah, i love Dune 2's GUI for simplicity and straight forwardness, as the GU in version 1 already. Sound wise it really depends on what you're doing. You surely won't be getting the most harsh digital sounds of it. It sounds pretty soft altogether, the envelopes, the oscillators. Rather suitable for the nice, tame tones. That's also why i'd demo everything, it's so much down to personal preference.

[MillerSam]

I work on a video or more for Dmitry. (Diversion)

Yes the CPU is huge but turn down the oversampling to x2 and Unsion not too much and your CPU don't have problems

I will post the first today or tomorrow

[pdxindy]

Diversion is a really cool synth... but if cpu is an issue, then get Dune2

I made a comparable supersaw patch in Dune2 and Spire. Dune 2 was 10% cpu and Spire was 35% (same number of notes played) Spire kills the cpu for me.

Dune2 is new so likely does not have many soundsets yet (haven't checked actually), but they are on the way no doubt.

[BBFG#]

Out of the four (and five) you mention, there seems to be only two (and three)
which appear most active in development and support.
So I would probably eliminate the first two off your list, just because of that.

So Dune 2; Spire; or upgrade Alchemy.

The next questions are, what kind of sounds and capabilities are you looking for.

(BTW, as far as third party sounds, check out Yuroun and Patchpool).

Yeah, I still vote for Alchemy, but I'm a known fan of theirs.

[DHR53]

Thanks for your insights folks! I have to humbly disagree about my ears as versus everyone else's. To me any of these synthesizers is capable of most any sound with maybe some filter variations and fx tendencies. I'm probably an Ambient/Synth music lover in general... so all of these are capable of other-worldly sounds big-time! They are all in the "big ass synths" category AFAIK (4 osc. extensive routing). I don't really have one except for Zebra... which is a prerequisite for me. I really like the sound and simplicity of Dune 2's gui. I suspect it's popularity will lead to excellent 3rd party in the near future.

Alchemy is one of my favorites although I've only purchased soundsets and the player version but it's the most expensive, unless it's purchased on sale or second hand... I'm currently leaning toward upgrading Alchemy and or Dune 2 although I have to say the supplied patches in Diversion are across the board the best I've heard in a demo. Nice job designer and or programmer! Excellent. Actually it sounds so good I'd be tempted to throw a bunch of instances in a song leading to much freezing! Ha!

[BDeep]

Spire is said to be optimised so it will have lower CPU (but seeing is believing), I like the unison on this, but I don't gel with the filters (not even the new ones). I love Diversion, its sound is just stunning and it's a sound designers dream. But CPU demanding.
Helix, just demoed that briefly, didn't care much for the GUI and I don't think there's many sound banks available? Also demoed Dune2 only briefly, but in terms of features (if you care for that) I would have to give the edge to Diversion. Although if you use unison much and think you'll use their differential unison engine, then obviously it's unique.
Spire has quite a few sound banks, Diversion some, I have no doubt Dune2 will have plenty in some time.

I'd choose Diversion, but that's just me, sound quality and synth structure do it for me. And I don't care as much for unison or sound banks. It's currently the cheapest of the bunch, but I've no doubt that both Spire and Dune2 will have a sale in due time (if you have that much patience )
Tough choice! Let us know what you settled on once you make up your mind

[DHR53]

I would agree Diversion is very easy to program... it seems to be the most logical routing scheme (to me) of any of the big synths but I can't put my finger on why that is. It's similar to Helix which I think is also very well thought out, it just doesn't sound as BIG as Diversion. I'm using Studio One 2 currently so I can easily convert tracks to audio on the fly so that's a consideration. Alchemy is one I always come back to looking for signature sounds but using the player I'm not really familiar with the synthesis capabilities and sound design scheme... Still reviewing video tutes at the moment.

[Sampleconstruct]

Here comes some help for your decision for/against Diversion:
http://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/s ... -diversion

[BDeep]

I would agree Diversion is very easy to program... it seems to be the most logical routing scheme (to me) of any of the big synths but I can't put my finger on why that is.

I think because of the layout (it makes sense in relation to the signalflow) and the most important bits are on one page. Lovely modulation as well, bit like Massive.

[BBFG#]

Alchemy is one I always come back to looking for signature sounds but using the player I'm not really familiar with the synthesis capabilities and sound design scheme... Still reviewing video tutes at the moment.

This is your best bet.