Fathom Synth Development Thread
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1579 posts since 25 Mar, 2017
zzz00m, Thanks, that is a good way to look at it.
I wrote the following response before seeing your post, but I'll post it anyway to explain some of the differences between Fathom and other synths.
It is very difficult to compare Fathom to other synths because it was developed from the ground up to be different than all other synths.
My best effort at a comparison is as follows.
Currently, in my humble opinion, the very best synths on the market are as follows.
Serum, Best super synth with the most features and highest sound quality.
VPS Avenger, Slightly more features than Serum but not as elegant GUI.
Omnisphere, Best preset and sample library with very high quality sound.
Dune, Best basic synth, very simple design with the best detune algorithm.
Thorn, Best new design and revolutionary approach to sound.
uHe Diva, Best analog emulator ever created.
SynthMaster, The original super synth and still continually updated.
Fathom is the most similar to Serum. However, I intentionally never used Serum while developing the first Fathom release because I did not want to copy it. The two synths are very different but Fathom is closer to Serum than the others because of the quality control in both cases.
The two are similar in the sense that in both cases a high emphasis was placed on creating a very elegant and easy to understand GUI. Also, in both cases the sound engines were designed to output the absolute highest quality sound.
Serum has far more filters and effects and generally more features.
Fathom has more control over some specific sound design parameters.
The two synths can also be used in conjunction because Fathom can load and save Serum wave tables. So it is possible to use Fathom’s wave draw to create original waveforms and wave tables and then load them into Serum.
The most important thing to understand however is that Fathom has features which no other synth has. So you simply can not get them anywhere else. These are as follows.
Full screen freehand wave draw.
Bezier curve wave draw.
Bezier curve envelopes.
Bezier curve spectrums. (3.0)
Fully modular signal flow.
Double wave table.
Wave table math.
Partial modulation.
Oscillator frequency distortion.
Oscillator realtime noise.
Advanced oscillator phasing. (3.0)
Multiple buffer interpolation methods.
Individual detune voice chorus and phasing.
Newtonian mechanical filter.
Polar morph filter.
In depth random modulation.
User configurable graph colors and backgrounds.
Sin oscillation envelopes and waveforms.
Skip cycle processing.
Fractal Reverb.
16 channel modulating digital delay. (3.0)
Metamorphic oscillator. (3.0)
The metamorphic oscillator when it comes out shortly will be by far the most advanced oscillator ever created in a software synthesizer.
It will be the only oscillator ever created with skip cycle processing on most parameters.
It includes the following parameters and more:
Double wave morphing.
Pulse width.
Wave time shift and crush.
Wave time expand and contract.
Waveform vertical overdrive.
Random frequency distortion.
Detune nonlinear modulation.
Detune chorus and phaser on each detune voice.
Three types of oscillator phasing with all dials modulated.
Skip cycle double partial control with modulation.
Harmonics odd and even.
128 partial spectrum with Bezier curve.
Double Impulse function.
Voltage ripple function with five algorithms.
Waveform chop function with depth, width, frequency, direction and shape.
Chop function compress and shift.
AM/FM with FM tonal cycle control.
Realtime noise generator
Double channel distortion
Built in Gaussian partial filter.
A total of 16 pages of controls for one oscillator with all parameters modulate-able and many of the parameters skip cycle capable.
Skip cycle allows you to apply the parameter to every second third or fourth waveform and can be used to create some profound low frequency content.
Fathom is most popular among serious sound designers who want control over every possible parameter. It is not so popular among casual users who want a very easy synth.
The 3.0 release is planned for Monday August 10.
I wrote the following response before seeing your post, but I'll post it anyway to explain some of the differences between Fathom and other synths.
It is very difficult to compare Fathom to other synths because it was developed from the ground up to be different than all other synths.
My best effort at a comparison is as follows.
Currently, in my humble opinion, the very best synths on the market are as follows.
Serum, Best super synth with the most features and highest sound quality.
VPS Avenger, Slightly more features than Serum but not as elegant GUI.
Omnisphere, Best preset and sample library with very high quality sound.
Dune, Best basic synth, very simple design with the best detune algorithm.
Thorn, Best new design and revolutionary approach to sound.
uHe Diva, Best analog emulator ever created.
SynthMaster, The original super synth and still continually updated.
Fathom is the most similar to Serum. However, I intentionally never used Serum while developing the first Fathom release because I did not want to copy it. The two synths are very different but Fathom is closer to Serum than the others because of the quality control in both cases.
The two are similar in the sense that in both cases a high emphasis was placed on creating a very elegant and easy to understand GUI. Also, in both cases the sound engines were designed to output the absolute highest quality sound.
Serum has far more filters and effects and generally more features.
Fathom has more control over some specific sound design parameters.
The two synths can also be used in conjunction because Fathom can load and save Serum wave tables. So it is possible to use Fathom’s wave draw to create original waveforms and wave tables and then load them into Serum.
The most important thing to understand however is that Fathom has features which no other synth has. So you simply can not get them anywhere else. These are as follows.
Full screen freehand wave draw.
Bezier curve wave draw.
Bezier curve envelopes.
Bezier curve spectrums. (3.0)
Fully modular signal flow.
Double wave table.
Wave table math.
Partial modulation.
Oscillator frequency distortion.
Oscillator realtime noise.
Advanced oscillator phasing. (3.0)
Multiple buffer interpolation methods.
Individual detune voice chorus and phasing.
Newtonian mechanical filter.
Polar morph filter.
In depth random modulation.
User configurable graph colors and backgrounds.
Sin oscillation envelopes and waveforms.
Skip cycle processing.
Fractal Reverb.
16 channel modulating digital delay. (3.0)
Metamorphic oscillator. (3.0)
The metamorphic oscillator when it comes out shortly will be by far the most advanced oscillator ever created in a software synthesizer.
It will be the only oscillator ever created with skip cycle processing on most parameters.
It includes the following parameters and more:
Double wave morphing.
Pulse width.
Wave time shift and crush.
Wave time expand and contract.
Waveform vertical overdrive.
Random frequency distortion.
Detune nonlinear modulation.
Detune chorus and phaser on each detune voice.
Three types of oscillator phasing with all dials modulated.
Skip cycle double partial control with modulation.
Harmonics odd and even.
128 partial spectrum with Bezier curve.
Double Impulse function.
Voltage ripple function with five algorithms.
Waveform chop function with depth, width, frequency, direction and shape.
Chop function compress and shift.
AM/FM with FM tonal cycle control.
Realtime noise generator
Double channel distortion
Built in Gaussian partial filter.
A total of 16 pages of controls for one oscillator with all parameters modulate-able and many of the parameters skip cycle capable.
Skip cycle allows you to apply the parameter to every second third or fourth waveform and can be used to create some profound low frequency content.
Fathom is most popular among serious sound designers who want control over every possible parameter. It is not so popular among casual users who want a very easy synth.
The 3.0 release is planned for Monday August 10.
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- KVRAF
- 3735 posts since 17 Sep, 2016
Starting with the next release Fathom 3.0,
Fathom Pro will cost around $45.00, possibly less, and will be the existing product.
Fathom Vector will cost $125
Last call to get Fathom Pro with existing user benefits!Existing customers, users who have purchased Fathom Pro before the release of Vector, will get Intel AVX Parallel Processing for free as promised. They will also have the option of applying all money ever spent on Fathom and apply it to Vector if they want to move up to Vector. This includes price of Fathom Pro, All software upgrades and all sound banks ever purchased.
Windows 10 and too many plugins
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 1 Jun, 2020
hey, thanks to all for answering me.
I will get Fathom Pro this week.
I will get Fathom Pro this week.
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- KVRian
- 751 posts since 29 Jun, 2009
Smart move.StardragonEX wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 4:38 pm hey, thanks to all for answering me.
I will get Fathom Pro this week.
Pigments - Diva - Tal U-No-LX - Tal Sampler
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 1 Jun, 2020
I got it like 2 hours ago
Edit:
By the way, what do you think of Rapid, Icarus 2, Falcon 2 and MSoundFactory, if you have tried them, compared to Fathom and the synths that you told me are the best synths in your opinion.
A question:
In Fathom, how can I make that the presets that only can make the sound for a single key at the same time can make the sounds for more than 1 key at the same time, like a Piano? (For example for the preset "Analog Distortion" in the folder "Trance")
Edit:
By the way, what do you think of Rapid, Icarus 2, Falcon 2 and MSoundFactory, if you have tried them, compared to Fathom and the synths that you told me are the best synths in your opinion.
A question:
In Fathom, how can I make that the presets that only can make the sound for a single key at the same time can make the sounds for more than 1 key at the same time, like a Piano? (For example for the preset "Analog Distortion" in the folder "Trance")
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- KVRist
- 202 posts since 14 Jun, 2020 from Adelaide, Australia
Interesting, at first I thought -- isn't that just polyphonic/monophonic? Set polyphony to a number bigger than 1 and you should be OK.StardragonEX wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:32 am In Fathom, how can I make that the presets that only can make the sound for a single key at the same time can make the sounds for more than 1 key at the same time, like a Piano? (For example for the preset "Analog Distortion" in the folder "Trance")
Actually there's more to the story. If glide (portamento) is turned on, it looks at though this overrides the polyphony. So you need to turn glide off. I can't see this mentioned in the manual, not sure if it's a bug or a feature :-)
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- KVRAF
- 3735 posts since 17 Sep, 2016
Glide is typically used as a mono mode in other synths.ahanysz wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:13 amInteresting, at first I thought -- isn't that just polyphonic/monophonic? Set polyphony to a number bigger than 1 and you should be OK.StardragonEX wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:32 am In Fathom, how can I make that the presets that only can make the sound for a single key at the same time can make the sounds for more than 1 key at the same time, like a Piano? (For example for the preset "Analog Distortion" in the folder "Trance")
Actually there's more to the story. If glide (portamento) is turned on, it looks at though this overrides the polyphony. So you need to turn glide off. I can't see this mentioned in the manual, not sure if it's a bug or a feature
Windows 10 and too many plugins
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 1579 posts since 25 Mar, 2017
I have not tried those synths so I can’t say if they are great or not. The ones I listed I have used and I know they are the best, in addition most other musicians as well claim thy are the best. Also, anything by uHe is going to be exceptional.
Control of polyphony number of voices and glide is on the main global panel.
That is correct, currently glide forces it mono, but I am planning at some point to program it so it can do glide-able chords.
Control of polyphony number of voices and glide is on the main global panel.
That is correct, currently glide forces it mono, but I am planning at some point to program it so it can do glide-able chords.
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- KVRAF
- 3735 posts since 17 Sep, 2016
I haven't used any of those either, but it appears that they are all well regarded synths. The first 2 are in a crowd of hybrid synths in the $150+ price range. I went with Pigments 2 in this category.StardragonEX wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:32 am
By the way, what do you think of Rapid, Icarus 2, Falcon 2 and MSoundFactory, if you have tried them, compared to Fathom and the synths that you told me are the best synths in your opinion.
Falcon 2 is probably the most complex hybrid synth with a steep learning curve, with extensive sampling capability, and price tag to match at $350.
MSoundFactory is probably the only modular synth in the bunch, so a bit closer to Fathom in that regard, but has a much higher price tag as well.
Windows 10 and too many plugins
- Banned
- 10732 posts since 17 Nov, 2015
your descriptions are way off....FathomSynth wrote: ↑Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:51 pm My best effort at a comparison is as follows.
Currently, in my humble opinion, the very best synths on the market are as follows.
Serum, Best super synth with the most features and highest sound quality.
VPS Avenger, Slightly more features than Serum but not as elegant GUI.
Omnisphere, Best preset and sample library with very high quality sound.
Dune, Best basic synth, very simple design with the best detune algorithm.
Thorn, Best new design and revolutionary approach to sound.
uHe Diva, Best analog emulator ever created.
SynthMaster, The original super synth and still continually updated.
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- KVRAF
- 3735 posts since 17 Sep, 2016
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 1 Jun, 2020
FathomSynth said those were in his humble opinion the best. Everyone can have a different opinion, you don't have to be like that, moreover he must be searching for a different thing because he is a developer too, not just an user, he has the technical knowledge to judge too.
I think it could help us better if you told us what are the best synths in your opinion too.
Last edited by StardragonEX on Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 1 Jun, 2020
@ahanysz and @FathomSynth
thx, it worked with polyphony up and glide off.
thx, it worked with polyphony up and glide off.
Last edited by StardragonEX on Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- 75 posts since 1 Jun, 2020
The bad thing is that Falcon 2 doesn't have a demo to try.zzz00m wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 1:54 pmI haven't used any of those either, but it appears that they are all well regarded synths. The first 2 are in a crowd of hybrid synths in the $150+ price range. I went with Pigments 2 in this category.StardragonEX wrote: ↑Thu Aug 06, 2020 3:32 am
By the way, what do you think of Rapid, Icarus 2, Falcon 2 and MSoundFactory, if you have tried them, compared to Fathom and the synths that you told me are the best synths in your opinion.
Falcon 2 is probably the most complex hybrid synth with a steep learning curve, with extensive sampling capability, and price tag to match at $350.
MSoundFactory is probably the only modular synth in the bunch, so a bit closer to Fathom in that regard, but has a much higher price tag as well.
I tried MSoundFactory demo, it had some decent factory presets and some really bad factory presets. I liked that it seem like you can build your own synths inside of it for what I experienced (maybe I'm totally wrong).
Rapid sounds good, maybe a bit to crisp, but I liked some of the expansions in the demo videos like the Synthwave expansion.
Icarus 2, I didn't find it sounded as good as the best sounding synths but it have an enormous amount of presets and it seem like it has a lot of features.
Last edited by StardragonEX on Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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- KVRAF
- 3735 posts since 17 Sep, 2016
The best synth is the best one for YOU. We all have different requirements and workflows. There is no objective 'best'.
The only way to determine that is to try as many as you can. Many have trial versions that you can test drive before buying.
Otherwise it is only opinions about 'best' for others. And you should really google them for 3rd party reviews online to give you some more in-depth insight beyond the product marketing websites. It's still their opinions, but many have a lot of experience with different synths.
The only way to determine that is to try as many as you can. Many have trial versions that you can test drive before buying.
Otherwise it is only opinions about 'best' for others. And you should really google them for 3rd party reviews online to give you some more in-depth insight beyond the product marketing websites. It's still their opinions, but many have a lot of experience with different synths.
Windows 10 and too many plugins