RAPID Synthesizer | Rapid 1.8.0 released | Free "SP - Granular Elements"

[kokotte]

i agree with you DocSnyder,
the power of Rapid is not in this "one note complete song", it's more for demoing preset and it's not so usefull in a reel scenario, i don"t know one producer who will use it, perhaps for a quick mockup for a job with a little budget,
the power of rapid is in his superb sound, his workflow. for me, the osc env filter and fx are awesome, the Wt algo is brilliant, it's the most clean, in a good way, wt synth all around and the cpu is really low.

[gummo]

I got it.
Although there are many small requests,
This surely is a pretty good product.
Just by checking the full version of wavetable and multisamples,
You will feel it more.

I have a foresight.
Because it is a SONAR LTU user.

[fluffy_little_something]

While those expansions are expensive and NFR is not that common anymore (apart from being illegal in Europe), I understand that the developer needs to pay his bills. He seems to be a pretty active developer continuously working on and perfecting his product, unlike certain other companies. Making all that wavetable and sample content must be a lot of work.
And since there is a demo version, people can and should test the synth thoroughly before buying it. If I bought it, I would consider it a long-term investment.

I am pretty sure I would like it, but 2GB is too big for me to download

[nordickvr]

...Making all that wavetable and sample content must be a lot of work...

And must be said that content is of pretty high quality.

[sircuit]

I am pretty sure I would like it, but 2GB is too big for me to download

I know that internet is regulated AF in Portugal, but maybe McDonald's or Starbucks can save you Worth the trouble!

[kiezum]

The samples are good for making synth sounds. They didn't sample every note. And the ranges are limited. Most sample have simple waveforms.

Halion is great for quickly making sample content for Rapid. And importing samples in Rapid from the kontakt library (before kontakt 3 they didn't use copy-protection), Alchemy and other sample libraries is easy, because it's already prepared.

I'm putting all my most used sample libraries in Rapid (for example the KSHMR sounds).

Buy the way, it's also easy to create wavetables with Serum and import them in Rapid.

Mirko made a few tutorials about creating and importing samples and wavetable. Excellent stuff!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkPyz4RVI2k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7leWSpRMg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrCgZmBOETs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tty2Hwi8d2A

[fluffy_little_something]

Are all sounds based on wavetables or are simple waveforms such as saw or pulse created "live" like with normal subtractive synths?

[kiezum]

We once thought about this. But the longer you think about it, the more it seems unnecessary workflow wise. It could be a potential feature if there will emerge more reasons to do so, but not a thing that is currently planned.

If done right you have ready to go sounds with almost no external processing needed. Really. If you see yourself in need of Multi-Out, you probably don't use the layering to full extend. In this case just use a second instance.

I understand what you say. But multi-output is essential for drums in Rapid (layer 1 bassdrum, layer 2 snaredrum... etc). And multi-output will expand the creative possibilities. For example, when I have made a nice preset with multiple layers and a layer needs to be treated with a transient designer. Or maybe a layer could be treated with a granular effect.

With multi-output I don't have copy the preset to a new instance of Rapid and copy all the effects layers, etc.

In a few reviews of Rapid I read that multi-output was needed. I agree!

[kiezum]

Are all sounds based on wavetables or are simple waveforms such as saw or pulse created "live" like with normal subtractive synths?

No, they are wavetables. But I have to say, that they sound great. There are different flavours of basic waveforms, and also PWM- and FM-wavetables.

[kiezum]

Oeps, I pressed the wrong button.

[ckoe]

What's about a multi audio out option? It would be fine to use one instance as drumsynth but use the daw mixer and external plugins for fx.

The synth is awesome and the visual feedback is ja joy.

[sircuit]

Multi would make more sense together with the possibility to assign different midi channels for each layer, to make a truly multi-timbral instrument.

Rapid is a versatile synth but using is a drum synth is a no go for me personally as long as it does not support an easy drag & drop of samples and easy replacement - whout needing to add the samples into it's local library (this only creates duplicates of my sample collection).

It's good to have drum samples when shipping presets packs (to make the demos) but that's about it. In real production situations using it as a drum sampler is frustrating. (Same thing with Avenger - can't properly audition the included kits, if I like 2 claps from 2 separate kits I can't use them both because they need to fill the same exact note so the whole drum thingy is just a big source of sidechain for me).

So lack of multi-outputs is not a problem for me, a huge 8-layer multi will run and most likely kill a single core anyway (in most daws) so I prefer to work with smaller isntrument loads over multiple tracks.

I think it would be a good idea for everyone asking for various improvements to explain their own workflow, sometimes many things can be solved in a different way. For me it's an "all or nothing" deal multi-out and the ability to load samples (via drag & drop, browse prev-next from the OSC and not duplicate them in the local database - link them from hard drive) or rather the second one but a simple multi is "meh".

[ckoe]

Yep, that's true.

[fluffy_little_something]

I am pretty sure I would like it, but 2GB is too big for me to download

I know that internet is regulated AF in Portugal, but maybe McDonald's or Starbucks can save you Worth the trouble!

Not sure what you mean. It is not regulated, but I simply have one of those LTE plans with a monthly traffic limit. Well, maybe I will have a few GB left at the end of the month...

[parawave]

Multi would make more sense together with the possibility to assign different midi channels for each layer, to make a truly multi-timbral instrument.

You can assign different MIDI channels in the voicing tab.

In real production situations using it as a drum sampler is frustrating. (Same thing with Avenger - can't properly audition the included kits, if I like 2 claps from 2 separate kits I can't use them both because they need to fill the same exact note so the whole drum thingy is just a big source of sidechain for me).

I wouldn't use it as classic drum sampler to realize one channel drums or the basic beat patterns of your track. For this it's much easier to use the normal sampler channel of your DAW.

I recommend to use it for effected loops that you can put under your normal drum stuff. For example a HP/BP shaker or percussion loop.

Drumloops/Shake and Crush
Just change the semitone of OSC A or B and get a lot of variations for a simple shaker pattern.

Drumloops/Fill My Loop
Set Sidechain to 100%, Highpass ~40% and change the arpeggiator pattern a bit.

I often find it much more fun to play around with modulators, arpeggio patterns and/or sample selection via semitone, than to manually create a new drum pattern from scratch in a DAW with many automation tracks.
If you created your complicated filler loop in your DAW, it's often a pain to copy/paste and introduce new variations during the track.
In this case it's quicker to copy/paste a Rapid instance with your constructed filler and change up the modulation or FX chain. A filler loop can be completely shaped by Rapids onboard fx and master MB compressor. Do people really want to additionally mix every single drum of a filler loop? Don't waste your time. If you want to get quick results, embrace the workflow and don't complicate things by externalizing it. The fun thing is to play around with FX chains, sequence and LFOs.