What do you think of Rob Papen synths?

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Back on topic I think that certainly since Blade, Rob and Jon have been building some really clever features as well as work-flow ideas into their products.

Check out the tutorial for RAW and you can see how much thought goes into these things, and just how powerful they are for a sound designer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yEeKTXBOqc

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H-man wrote:
Kinh wrote:
H-man wrote:
Kinh wrote:Anyone getting viruses when they try and download the demos?
Getting viruses or getting virus alerts? Not necessarily the same thing...
Technically they're alerts and when I scan them they seem to be OK. But yesterday I downloaded Raw and when it finished none of my folders could open. I didn't think much of it after a system restore which fixed it but today I downloaded Blade and my antivirus deletes it and tells me this...
Interesting. I decided to put it (the RAW demo installer) through one of those on-line services and the Symantec engine flagged this:

Rating: Suspicious.Insight

Suspicious.Insight is a detection for files that have not yet developed a strong reputation among Symantec’s community of users. Detections of this type are based on Symantec’s reputation-based security technology.

The reputation-based system uses “the wisdom of crowds” (Symantec’s tens of millions of end users) connected to cloud-based intelligence to compute a reputation score for an application blah blah blah-dy blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

I think you will be fine ....although the folder not opening thing sounds a little odd :scared: but somehow I don't think that it's Rob and Jon's business plan to get hold of your computer and steal all your nude selfies :hihi:
I'm sure the false alarm is based on the copy protection used.

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Predator: Nice layout without too much tabbing/switching, useful, authentic presets, nice overall sound. But needs a zoomable GUI.

Blue/Blue2: seems to have lot of potential, just cannot use those synths with that GUI. Maybe implement zoom next time?

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Papen has some of the best (=usable) presets in synth IMO. The synth are from ok to very good. Design and GUI are not the best and IMO sometimes a bit overloaded or dated (Predator) and missing also modern features like scaling/zoom.
There are not so many upgrades to fix stuff or implement missing features. Synth like Predator really need some improvements since years (hopefully they implement some stuff now with V2). Other companies are quicker and this is something I don't like with Rob Papen: they are more interested to release new stuff instead of improving existing stuff.

Btw.. it's the same with the FX.. If I tested this RP Delay I was surprised that it has no Ping Pong mode! This delay is very good but if such basic stuff is missing I have no usage for it... Maybe that's why I don't own a lot Rop Papen stuff (only Predator and the discontinued Linplug/Rob Papen Albino)

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2ZrgE wrote:Predator: Nice layout without too much tabbing/switching, useful, authentic presets, nice overall sound. But needs a zoomable GUI.

Blue/Blue2: seems to have lot of potential, just cannot use those synths with that GUI. Maybe implement zoom next time?
FWIW Blade, Punch, Raw and Predator all have a big screen version. Not vector scalable but big enough to block out the sun on my 27" monitor.

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RP synths sound wise are ok by todays standards. I would say they were good/very good a few years back.

However I find GUI elements such as switches, buttons to be too small so I abandoned buying/using their stuff some time ago.

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H-man wrote:
2ZrgE wrote:Predator: Nice layout without too much tabbing/switching, useful, authentic presets, nice overall sound. But needs a zoomable GUI.

Blue/Blue2: seems to have lot of potential, just cannot use those synths with that GUI. Maybe implement zoom next time?
FWIW Blade, Punch, Raw and Predator all have a big screen version. Not vector scalable but big enough to block out the sun on my 27" monitor.
Yes, totally forgot about that as I don't use Predator anymore, anyway it was a big for my liking, a third size would have been nice.

Maybe in P2 they will implement a U-he 10% zoom or the neat seamless Sylenth v3 zoom. :tu:

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Rob Papen in general is great. I have the Explorer bundle, so I got them all. All of them have a lot of presets.

My usage of their synth in this order:
- Albino (I count them to Rob Papen, though you have to buy them from Linplug (if still possible!?)), a great sounding synth, easy to program
- Sub Boom Bass: Love it for sub basses (duh! :D :D :D), easy to use and program, simple thus straight forward
- Blue II: absolutely great sound, but the use of it is not attracting me
- Predator: also great sound, but analog sounds I covered with other synths, easy to use
- These I hardly use because out of different reasons: Blade (never got into the GUI and usage), Punch & Co. (covered with other plugins already), RAW (not my cup of tea)

Additionally I'd like to add, that RP has a fantastic customer service. Very customer friendly license "handling/attitude" and an outstanding support. Plus I get all new plugins (synths and effects) for free as a Explorer-bundle-owner.
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I used blue and predator 8 years ago when I started making music nearly in every project, now I only use them to open old projects and sometimes I try them in new projects. Blue II is my favorite RP, I also like the new RAW and that it was a free update for explorer 3 users and that he upgrades old products. Predator is easy to use but can't compare to all my new synths. I hope Version two will take it any step further, but I don't expect it. Subboombass has a lot basses, sometimes i take preset out of it.

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RP Punch is my favourite drum synth. So many modules. So many sounds you can squeeze of out. But the GUI could be better.

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Their GUI put me off, Blade, RAW, blue:

1.- Seem trapped in the early 2000's
2.- Small knobs
3.- Blingy
4.- Kind of ugly for me.

Given the huge amount of options at our disposal these days I don't think I am missing anything.
dedication to flying

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Excellent synth, i love Predator. I'm just gonna repeat what others already said, it's not a character synth which makes it easy to fit in the mix. I use it all the time for layer, bass, and fx.

And the presets are top notch, good for people like who don't like those EDM sound.

The GUI is a bit tacky though, lol. :lol:
musisikamar.com

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Kinh wrote: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?

no duds anywhere.. all rocking for various reasons.. Only one i have some doubts about so far is the EQ, but i am sure it will be improved as time goes on.

Predator is great for pads, blue is fat and punchy and rich, haven't used raw yet, blade for never ending ambience, subboom is great for creating full rnb/hip hop basslines within the plugin itself, punch is my favourite overall drum synth for edm ever, RP verb is spectacularly underrated and has quite a wild variety of sound, RP distort ditto, Delay i need to spend more time with as i don't know it well yet, RG is absolutely fantastic for electric guitar funky sequences (can suit pop/hip hop/tarnce/edm in general) - to me the explorer bundle is more desert island than komplete, because it's so small in size and well, i love supporting the independents. Plus, the presets are just second to none.. i first became aware how amazing a preset designer Rob was when i demoed then instantly bought ALbino 3 back in the day.. the guy has a magic touch, especially with pads.. just surreal. Everything is usable, real world usable sounds in a mix, which is what I love.

If i HAD to have a dessert island of native ONLY.. and could pick 3 bundles/products..(in addition to whatever daw one was using).
i would pick - Rob Papen explorer iii bundle/kontakt 5/vengeance fx bundles. That's it.

I can't praise RP high enough, especially blue2 (perhaps one of the "nicest" overall sounding virtual synth of all time) and Punch.

PLUS, BOTH the guys running the show are awesome. Rob and Jon are just incredibly good people.

:)

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BTW i prefer blue for bass to predator. It's punchier and fatter. If i were to pick just one SYNTH from the bundle, would be Blue II i think. But i really need to test raw properly before i can make a definite final judgement. Also their unique RE synths also rock.. Quad and Vecto.

The distortion does so much in one plugin. Resonant filters, parallel compression as well as parallel saturation, crude distortion, wild distortion, warm distortion, digital distortion, and some of the algos have a multiband mode too :) The RP verb can produce some wild sounds but it's very very good at doing normal reverb duties too. You can make it really metal tank like or like endless butter smooth.

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There was a sale on the Explorer III bundle and because I already owned 3 of the effects plugins, the upgrade price was very silly cheap, so I got it (I wanted Punch, SubBoombass and RG). There was no reason for me to want any of the other stuff. I have a gazillion top quality synths that I am very happy with (Subtractive, FM, additive).

1) Predator just clicked with me from the get go. One of my top 3 favorite subtractive synths. I feel at home with it, if that makes any sense. Comes with a ton of great presets as well. This one caught me totally off guard. I had heard/read about it for years on KVR but never had a reason to really look into it or want it (was happy using Z3ta, VStation, Ultra Analog, Twin2, Rapture, etc...). I just saw it as "more of the same". And while that is certainly true to a certain extent, I love it. I get pleasure in using it. I find the GUI and sound inspiring.

2) Blue II sounds..... beautiful, for lack of a better term. Close your eyes, play one note or a chord. Take a breath. Imagine you are on a mountain in the... I like to use it for pads, atmospheric type sounds, twinkly bells..

Predator is a rebelious teenager, Blue II is a meditating maestro (in my setup).

Also comes with a ton of great presets.

I have not used RAW (spent probably a grand total of 10 minutes with it. I am not into distorted dub step stuff though I know it is also capable of more bread and butter sounds).

Blade sounds nice (presets), but I haven't used it much. Using Harmor and Razor (too many toys, too little time).

Punch and Punch BD are gems.

SubBoombass does great subs and bass stabs. For melodic synthesized bass I prefer Monark and other things.

General notes: Tons of great presets/starting points with all synths. Nice big preset browser with each one.
RP-verb is really nice. Wasn't expecting much but ended up in favorite reverbs folder. You get free plugins as they are released if you own the explorer III bundle. Not sure if a synth is next...
Play it by ear

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