KVR Audio

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:06 pm

Teksonik wrote:
No it's great and stands with the looks of some of the popular commercial synths of today. But then I grew up using hardware and not playing video games so I prefer that type of Gui and apparently a lot of other people do as well including developers.

No, it's garbage, just poorly executed stupid design, but so are many others, even commercial synths. But I guess some people just like ugly, pointless and impractical things like pixel wood. Or painted shadows.

Anyway, Synth1 isn't complicated and doesn't have that many controls, it's easy to use without even having the GUI open.

But take heart Synth 1 is much more likely to get bug fixes than it is a skinning system. I don't mind the current GUI with muted colors but if Synth 1 got an updated GUI I wouldn't complain.....

It's been quite a while since the last update, almost 2.5 years and it's still beta 3.

Cruba · Post by **Cruba** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:12 pm

fmr wrote:
Teksonik wrote:
.jon wrote:
Teksonik wrote: No that's a great skin. Some people want their plugins to look like tools and not toys.
No, it isn't great. That skin looks exactly like a toy and not a tool.

I'd rather get the bugs fixed to be honest.
No it's great and stands with the looks of some of the popular commercial synths of today. But then I grew up using hardware and not playing video games so I prefer that type of Gui and apparently a lot of other people do as well including developers.

But take heart Synth 1 is much more likely to get bug fixes than it is a skinning system. I don't mind the current GUI with muted colors but if Synth 1 got an updated GUI I wouldn't complain.....
It may be good sounding, but fortunately we have plenty of good sounding synths (even as freeware. I tried to use this in several occasions, but I simply can't stand looking at that GUI, which looks like the work of an eight year old kid. I always end giving up and shutting the thing off, firing one of the many synths I have that sound at least as good (probably better) and also look way better than this.

The look, for me, means a lot. I gave up of commercial synths and plug-ins just because of the way they look.

The good news is: It's 2016... In old times you would have been without a chance with this attitude. Tony Banks not using RMI cos' for it's look? lol funny idea!

Mellotron using musicians had to think about how to play, cos the sound was 7 seconds long, additionally calculate the rewind... Think about it in a quiet minute and tell me again you can't work with Synth1 cos of it's gui... lol

I've tested maybe 100 synths and Synth1 is the only one sounding that rich, is so flexible and has such a damn low cpu load for what sound comes out of it.

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 10:47 pm

.jon wrote: No, it's garbage, just poorly executed stupid design, but so are many others, even commercial synths. But I guess some people just like ugly, pointless and impractical things like pixel wood. Or painted shadows.

No, it's brilliant. But I guess some people just aren't smart enough to understand that fact. Don't be ashamed we still love you........

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:55 am

OK, I e-mailed Samuel (we both speak Portuguese, although with the natural differences between Portugal and Brasil) and he told me that he contacted Ichiro in August 2015 (which means AFTER the last beta we have), which replied him with thanks for the offer, but that he was busy at the moment, but he had plans to include a feature in Synth 1 to allow skins.

If that feature becomes available, Samuel will go further with this project.

Unfortunately, Ichiro is still probably busy enough to not have picked Synth 1 ever since, so, all we can do is wait and have hope.

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 11:05 am

Teksonik wrote:
.jon wrote: No, it's garbage, just poorly executed stupid design, but so are many others, even commercial synths. But I guess some people just like ugly, pointless and impractical things like pixel wood. Or painted shadows.
No, it's brilliant. But I guess some people just aren't smart enough to understand that fact. Don't be ashamed we still love you........

You'll just have to accept that my opinion is correct and better

We can obviously agree that it's miles better than the original skin.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 11:22 am

Im sure everyone owns a synth that sounds much better than synth1. Seems pointless arguing about how it looks when you have much better tools available.

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:48 pm

Sound better in what aspect exactly?

idfpower · Post by **idfpower** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 2:32 pm

Teksonik wrote:It's also free and still one of the best sounding freeware synths ever released. So just be grateful.

Please stop saying silly things, ok? Just because it's free doesn't mean ppl should just accept that fugly GUI. Ugly is ugly - be it free or not. Stating that doesn't mean I'm ungrateful - it's the truth.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:31 pm

.jon wrote:Sound better in what aspect exactly?

Everything. Better osc, better filters, better envs, better fx.

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:41 pm

idfpower wrote:
Teksonik wrote:It's also free and still one of the best sounding freeware synths ever released. So just be grateful.
Please stop saying silly things, ok? Just because it's free doesn't mean ppl should just accept that fugly GUI. Ugly is ugly - be it free or not. Stating that doesn't mean I'm ungrateful - it's the truth.

+1 it is by far the most ugly UI with awesome sound combination in free VST land (i think....).

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 3:47 pm

AnX wrote:
.jon wrote:Sound better in what aspect exactly?
Everything. Better osc, better filters, better envs, better fx.

Oscs sound great, filter does it's job, absolutely nothing wrong with how the envelopes sound (!), delay and chorus sound great. Yeah the mini-fx, the distortions etc sound like shit, nbd.

Synth1 has a tried and tested, versatile VA architecture that can produce a really wide range of beautiful, evocative, dramatic and fascinating sounds which have a pure and clean character.

Sure there are "fatter & warmer" actual analog emulations, if that happens to be your definition of good. They suck at making Synth1 sounds tho.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:27 pm

.jon wrote:
AnX wrote:
.jon wrote:Sound better in what aspect exactly?
Everything. Better osc, better filters, better envs, better fx.
Oscs sound great, filter does it's job, absolutely nothing wrong with how the envelopes sound (!), delay and chorus sound great. Yeah the mini-fx, the distortions etc sound like shit, nbd.

Synth1 has a tried and tested, versatile VA architecture that can produce a really wide range of beautiful, evocative, dramatic and fascinating sounds which have a pure and clean character.

Doesnt sound good to me, never has, amazed anyone uses it these days tbh.

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 4:57 pm

.jon wrote:You'll just have to accept that my opinion is correct and better

I've already accepted the fact that your opinion is incorrect.

idfpower wrote:
Teksonik wrote:It's also free and still one of the best sounding freeware synths ever released. So just be grateful.
Please stop saying silly things, ok? Just because it's free doesn't mean ppl should just accept that fugly GUI. Ugly is ugly - be it free or not. Stating that doesn't mean I'm ungrateful - it's the truth.

I'm saying silly things ? Bitching about the GUI of one of the most popular freeware synths of all time is beyond silly and reeks of entitlement. I don't think the Synth 1 GUI is "fugly" although I admit it would be nice to have alternatives so no, your "truth" is just your opinion. Some of the color combinations shown in this thread over the years are certainly fugly but if you choose sensible colors and the right size Synth 1's gui is perfectly functional. Don't like it Synth1 ? Don't use it. Pretty simple.

Anyway just as FMR did I emailed Sam. His response shared with his permission:

"I'm so glad to hear that you like the GUI for Synth1 that I've designed. Thank you! It was a really satisfying personal project to work on, I feel really motivated to help the free software community.

So I have contacted Ichiro Toda, right after I finished the skin (around August 2015) offering giving the skin to him and hoping that he could implement it on a newer version of Synth1 and he replied to me saying that he was very busy and doesn't have time to work on it at that moment. But he said that he plans to add a function that will allow users to customize the skin for Synth1. If it happens to be implemented I plan to make a few changes like the shadows for example it seems to bother a lot of people. Fingers crossed!

I will be so happy if people are able to use my Synth1 skin.

Cheers,
Sam"

So although it's not likely to happen it's not impossible Synth 1 could get a skinning system in the future. However I wouldn't hold my breath.

Sure there are better sounding synths than Synth 1 but she holds a special place in my heart. Layer up four instances, select complementary patches and enjoy having a good play....and watch the cpu meter barely move.

Chris-S · Post by **Chris-S** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:42 pm

Synth1' GUI is functional and re-sizable (many commercial plugs are not).

With the right colors it does not look to bad IMHO.

Teksonik · Post by **Teksonik** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:55 pm

Chris-S wrote:Synth1' GUI is functional and re-sizable (many commercial plugs are not).

With the right colors it does not look to bad IMHO.

Yes that's my opinion as well. I just chose a nice neutral gray for the panel #909095 and near black for the text #252525. 180% works well here for the size. It's not the prettiest GUI in all of VST land but it's far from the worst in my opinion and it's perfectly functional.