SynthMaster, is it worth it?

[zvenx]

One of the recommendations for me for beginner synthesizer was Synthmaster one. My question is how it compares to synthesizers like Serum and Hive because the reviews are not the best (Crashes, hard to tune envelopes).

What reviews are you reading? All the ones I can find give it a glowing report.

Reviews in KVR and Gearslutz.

Links please. I am still not seeing what you are seeing, even after searching Gearslutz and KVR.

Not sure about seeing stuff about envelopes etc. But the honest truth is myself and quite a few others found issues with SM1 and 2, including crashing etc. It somehow for some of us, seemed "almost there" but not quite. Bulent in the last few months for me and I think many others has remedied that and I think the crashes and niggles are for the most part a thing of the past. I haven't experienced or seen any new ones of late.
I would definitely recommend them, SM1 more than 2. Two added on features as it went along and some of them for me dont' seem quite congruous with the original design, they seem like add ons (sort of like Zebra HZ if you are familiar with it). That will all be fixed in SM3 I am sure.

I therefore now have no hesitation in recommending them.
rsp

[SamDi]

I would definitely recommend them, SM1 more than 2.

I would recommend SM2 more than 1. SM2 can do all what SM1 can and more. At a first look SM1 seems to be easier in tearms of handling and SM2 GUI may look odd first, but workflow in SM2 is pretty good and after you get used to it, it is pretty fast and convenient. If there would not be the bugs, I mentioned before, the modulation assigment and matrix would be the best on the market IMO. I would say for a beginner SM2 (and 1 of course) is bomb and best price-value-ratio you can get.

[atya]

I would definitely recommend them, SM1 more than 2.

I would recommend SM2 more than 1. SM2 can do all what SM1 can and more. At a first look SM1 seems to be easier in tearms of handling and SM2 GUI may look odd first, but workflow in SM2 is pretty good and after you get used to it, it is pretty fast and convenient. If there would not be the bugs, I mentioned before, the modulation assigment and matrix would be the best on the market IMO. I would say for a beginner SM2 (and 1 of course) is bomb and best price-value-ratio you can get.

Amen to that.
For some reason I've used SM1 more than my trusty SM2 lately, but anyway ... either one makes me smile whenever I pull them up.
BTW, the latest updates run rock stable on my system (Win 8.1, reaper 5.9../ Ableton 10) ... can't remember the last crash - great job, Bülent.

[classic]

Just because we are assembled here to talk about this beauty, I have a question.
Longer time ago, I asked the question, if it would be possibel, to assign the two layers of SM, to a
specific range of key, or just to have some split points or on split point.
So the first layer could play a base line and the second something different.
Would open a whole universe of new presets for it.

Or is it already possible and I just missed it?

All the best
classic

[cthonophonic]

Just because we are assembled here to talk about this beauty, I have a question.
Longer time ago, I asked the question, if it would be possibel, to assign the two layers of SM, to a
specific range of key, or just to have some split points or on split point.
So the first layer could play a base line and the second something different.
Would open a whole universe of new presets for it.

Or is it already possible and I just missed it?

All the best
classic

You can use key scalers to modify the oscillator volumes in each layer. Just have a key scaler for layer 1 that looks like a step down (max for all notes below your split key and zero for all notes above) and a key scaler for layer 2 that looks like a step up.

[SamDi]

Just because we are assembled here to talk about this beauty, I have a question.
Longer time ago, I asked the question, if it would be possibel, to assign the two layers of SM, to a
specific range of key, or just to have some split points or on split point.
So the first layer could play a base line and the second something different.
Would open a whole universe of new presets for it.

Or is it already possible and I just missed it?

All the best
classic

SM2 does not support it in a straight way, but you could mess around with the keyscalers (it has 4!) and control with them the layer or OSC volumes.

[SamDi]

Oops, just missed the last post from cthonophonic!

[Cooker]

Demoed both, at first I didn't even think of checking SM one as I'm just a preset guy and thought the "daddy" would give the whole idea. Then tried SM One, surprised I liked it more...

-Main reason is likely it has to do with me not being into EDM type sounds. Synthmaster definitely isn't limited to that (highlight to me is it has the best Pad's in the market, among giving a real synth. vibe while working), but when surfing presets I bump into such sounds more often. SM One felt more neutral about the genre thing.

-Preset menu is 90% identical, but the naming of "inst. type" (the first section you click) appealed more to me.

-I didn't get an impression the sounds were lacking in anyway just because its a 1 layer synth compared to SM. The real bonus is if I want to tweak a preset with my very limited knowledge, I can find (and learn) what I need much faster. The GUI is pretty cool too.

SM 3 is to be expected soon (a lot is planned from what I read), my guess is these 2 will complement each other much better then, instead of feeling one is an altervative to the other.

[kv331]

Just because we are assembled here to talk about this beauty, I have a question.
Longer time ago, I asked the question, if it would be possibel, to assign the two layers of SM, to a
specific range of key, or just to have some split points or on split point.
So the first layer could play a base line and the second something different.
Would open a whole universe of new presets for it.

Hi,

Right now this can only be implemented using keyscalers, however I don't think that's efficient CPU wise. We'll have lokey/hikey lovel/hivel + midi channel filters (1-16, omni, MPE) for layers in SM3.

[kv331]

-I didn't get an impression the sounds were lacking in anyway just because its a 1 layer synth compared to SM. The real bonus is if I want to tweak a preset with my very limited knowledge, I can find (and learn) what I need much faster. The GUI is pretty cool too.

SM 3 is to be expected soon (a lot is planned from what I read), my guess is these 2 will complement each other much better then, instead of feeling one is an altervative to the other.

We will start releasing preset expansion banks for SynthMaster One. I've been talking to sound designers in the past days for planning this. Hopefuly around 5-10 genre specific preset banks will be released this year for SynthMaster One.

I will also release a new update for SM1 (bug fix release) 3rd week of February. After that, my entire concentration will be

1. First SynthMaster 2.9.9: which will be a merge of architectural changes in SynthMaster One to SynthMaster 2.9: Dialog support, real-time visual modulation feedback, cloud sync. Those will be brought to SM2 in version 2.9.9. This will happen in March.

2. Then, as I wrote in our facebook users group, we won't release anything -unless we have some showstopper bugs-, for 6+ months. and hopefuly in fall we'll see the light at the end of the tunnel.

SynthMaster 3 will be able to load SynthMaster One presets as layers by the way, as long as the user has a license for SynthMaster One.

[Cooker]

SynthMaster 3 will be able to load SynthMaster One presets as layers by the way, as long as the user has a license for SynthMaster One.

[atya]

...
1. First SynthMaster 2.9.9: which will be a merge of architectural changes in SynthMaster One to SynthMaster 2.9: Dialog support, real-time visual modulation feedback, cloud sync. Those will be brought to SM2 in version 2.9.9. This will happen in March.

This is great news, especially the visual mod feedback , can't wait to try it out.