KVR Audio

Kinh · Post by **Kinh** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 11:08 am

Was wondering what the general consensus is on Rob Papen.
Been lookin' at Raw, Predator, blue etc.
How would you rate them in sound and program-ability? And what are they more ideal for?

jc_vt · Post by **jc_vt** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:48 pm

Blue II is really a gem, with lots of capabilities and tons of good presets

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:55 pm

Here's a Blue II demo I made. It's my favorite of his synths. Hope this helps you decide on which one you want to get.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... new-sounds

kmonkey · Post by **kmonkey** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:02 pm

I think Predator is very good synth with large amount of options and modulations. The fact that with this synth you are getting FX section to load it as FX processor makes it no brainer purchase IMHO.

Soundwise it is perfect. Just an example of perfectly balanced product. You really get a lot with it.

I never liked Blue though.

basslinemaster · Post by **basslinemaster** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:35 pm

I love Blue 2, Blue, and Predator. And you get thousands of presets with each one, and they're all Rob Papen quality (i.e. excellent). I think they're all excellent value for money.

SirKen · Post by **SirKen** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 2:40 pm

Is there a huge difference between Blue and Blue 2 soundwise? Is it worth to keep both installed?

I only got Blue as a second hand license to upgrade to the full bundle, so never had the chance to check it out.

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 3:00 pm

Blue/ Blue 2 have been among my favorite synths for years. Albino was RP's other best synth, but was discontinued. The other RP synths don't really appeal to me.

As for Blue vs Blue 2, the core sound is pretty much the same IMO, but the newer version offers much more. I have both installed because my old projects use the original version, but I've hardly touched it since installing Blue 2.

MachineClaw · Post by **MachineClaw** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 3:06 pm

I only own Blue II. it's good, probably my #2 synth.

Omnisphere 1/2 are better to me and I use it more than Blue II.

yemski · Post by **yemski** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 3:16 pm

Love all of Rob's synths, with Predator, Punch, Blue II, Blade and Subboom-Bass, getting regular use on tracks. Predator has been around a long time, but you can do a lot with it. Like all Rob's synths, it's actually pretty deep, with a lot you can can do with regards to synthesis.

Here's some examples of what you can do with Predator, from a soundset I created here :

https://soundcloud.com/yemski/sets/pred ... -excursion

Orbit-50 · Post by **Orbit-50** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 3:18 pm

It really pains me to say this but, I do not like them at all. I don't know what it is or why, but I just can't stand them. Sorry Rob.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 8:23 pm

Heh. Some people like, some do not.

Put me in the LIKE category. What I like is that there are enough presets so that I can really close to what I need...and then dial it straight in. It seems easy to get there. Some synths (FM8 for example) are not as intuitive and take me longer to get there. Since I am not a programmer this is something that can put a synth high on my list if it is easily tweak-able.

And I have them all.

fischkopf · Post by **fischkopf** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 8:45 pm

Orbit-50 wrote:It really pains me to say this but, I do not like them at all. I don't know what it is or why, but I just can't stand them. Sorry Rob.

I agree, I never understood the "hype" surrounding Rob Papen's synths, I think they mostly sound very generic.

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:02 pm

fischkopf wrote:
Orbit-50 wrote:It really pains me to say this but, I do not like them at all. I don't know what it is or why, but I just can't stand them. Sorry Rob.
I agree, I never understood the "hype" surrounding Rob Papen's synths, I think they mostly sound very generic.

The bigger problem is, a lot of synths sound very generic. In fact, the synths that truly have a unique character you can probably count on one hand. I tried to demonstrate this in another thread but had to close it.

Point I was trying to make was that out of 22 synths, I guarantee nobody could name them all and very few, if any, would even guess a significant number of them. And yes, I purposely picked out synths that sound so much alike along with some unique ones.

Most of the "This synth is great and better than this synth" stuff that you hear from people is pretty much built in bias and brainwashing because in real world tests, as proven by the Diva/Matrix test, most people can't really tell one from another.

Are there exceptions? Of course there are. There are a few synths that have a truly unique and/or superior sound. But they are few and far between.

Is Blue II one of the "unique" and "better" synths? No, not really. It does sound kind of like a lot of other synths. But the sound quality is still good. It's certainly better than a lot of Synthedit synths that sound downright awful. It certainly doesn't have the fullness and richness of a synth like Omnisphere. But then again it's also about $350 cheaper.

Some synths, like Serum, have a very harsh sound. Not saying that's good or bad. But if you're looking for something smooth and mellow, Serum may not be your first choice. Conversely, if you're looking for some really nasty sounding leads, you're probably not going to get it out of something like Korg's MonoPoly.

That's why we don't own just one synth unless that synth is something like Omnisphere which can do almost anything. I own over 100 synths and while I use them all, I probably don't have to. Many overlap.

That's the norm, not the exception.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:03 pm

Blue II is fantastic but I wish there was more interest in it from sound designers.

Robmobius · Post by **Robmobius** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 9:29 pm

Papen's synths are good. Predator and Blue II really stand out for me especially Blue... I do like RAW, but it's a bit limited.

But U-he make my favorite synths if I'm being honest.

What do you think of Rob Papen synths?