KVR Audio

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sun Nov 24, 2019 11:46 pm

yellowmix wrote: ↑Sun Nov 24, 2019 12:20 amUnion is all about quick workflow to get good results. Babylon's got more power and flexibility at the cost of complexity, so I don't think they can be compared.

I find the reverse. Because Babylon has everything on one page it is super-quick and not at all complex. OTOH, in Union you are forever opening and closing windows/panels and you can't see what else is going on while you work in one panel or another. After spending a bit more time with it, I don't like Union's workflow at all. If I had to choose, I'd take Babylon every time. I can see a use for it as a quick and easy way to make some generic patches to fill out arrangements, whereas Union is too much effort for that kind of work and lacks the ultimate sound quality to make it worth putting in the extra effort it requires.

One thing about the Union update, though, is that CPU usage seems to have fallen.

nevis · Post by **nevis** » Fri Feb 14, 2020 10:53 am

Newsletter from yesterday: "Get the new Union 1.0.3 update from your SoundSpot account now."
Account: gives you 1.0.2

nevis · Post by **nevis** » Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:13 pm

...and download fixed.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Feb 15, 2020 5:14 am

Thanks for the heads up!

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:19 am

I installed the update but I can't see what's new or changed. I haven't fired it up for a while so it might be staring me in the face and I wouldn't see it. One thing I have noticed is how nice some of the presets are. That said, I am also remembering what a CPU hog it is and how annoying it gets constantly opening and closing little windows. Still, for the price there isn't much to complain about and the new price seems to be 24 quid.

tonedef71 · Post by **tonedef71** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:43 am

BONES wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 12:19 amI installed the update but I can't see what's new or changed.

DJErmac · Post by **DJErmac** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:19 am

I've read so many bad reviews about this synth that I still haven't downloaded the demo.

As a modern and complex sounds lover (think Rapid, Avenger, Thorn, Icarus, Dune 3) and a person who doesn't know what to do with 80's sounding synth or emulations (such as uHe stuff -don't quote me on this, I know they're pristine sounding, I'm just not using this !-), do you please think I should try Union ? Thanks a lot for my time !

focusrite · Post by **focusrite** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 2:15 am

Has this ever been sold at "full" price?

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 4:54 am

I think the current price is the new "full" price, as it no longer shows as a discount. In its current state, I think Union is competitive with synths in the $79-$99 bracket and the sound quality is as good as you'd get in a $200 synth, I think. It just lacks a bit of the versatility of your DUNEs or Thorns but is otherwise very good value.

DJErmac wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:19 amI've read so many bad reviews about this synth that I still haven't downloaded the demo.

As a modern and complex sounds lover (think Rapid, Avenger, Thorn, Icarus, Dune 3) and a person who doesn't know what to do with 80's sounding synth or emulations (such as uHe stuff -don't quote me on this, I know they're pristine sounding, I'm just not using this !-), do you please think I should try Union ? Thanks a lot for my time !

I think it is way better at modern than classic sounds so, yes, I think it's worth your time. The sound quality is quite good and it can hold its own against most of the synths you mentioned. Just go through some of the bass and lead presets and you'll get a good idea of what it can do.

DJErmac · Post by **DJErmac** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:56 pm

BONES wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 4:54 am I think the current price is the new "full" price, as it no longer shows as a discount. In its current state, I think Union is competitive with synths in the $79-$99 bracket and the sound quality is as good as you'd get in a $200 synth, I think. It just lacks a bit of the versatility of your DUNEs or Thorns but is otherwise very good value.
DJErmac wrote: ↑Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:19 amI've read so many bad reviews about this synth that I still haven't downloaded the demo.

As a modern and complex sounds lover (think Rapid, Avenger, Thorn, Icarus, Dune 3) and a person who doesn't know what to do with 80's sounding synth or emulations (such as uHe stuff -don't quote me on this, I know they're pristine sounding, I'm just not using this !-), do you please think I should try Union ? Thanks a lot for my time !
I think it is way better at modern than classic sounds so, yes, I think it's worth your time. The sound quality is quite good and it can hold its own against most of the synths you mentioned. Just go through some of the bass and lead presets and you'll get a good idea of what it can do.

Thanks a million times !

DJErmac · Post by **DJErmac** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 10:14 pm

Hey, a couple of VERY nice presets here ! Such a nice surprise ! I expected a very low standard, which is obviously not ! At this price I'm going to purchase it.

The very bad point being : that CRAZY CPU usage for what it delivers (there are no 45 layers involved !!), clearly an optimization problem somewhere here...

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sun Feb 16, 2020 11:00 pm

Interestingly, it doesn't seem to matter how much unison you use, so at least you can crank it up to justify the CPU usage. I'm hoping that some optimisation will come but for now it is still usable enough if you aren't placing too many instances into a project.

Anyway, last night I went through a lot of the presets and found some really, really good sounds in Union. It's got a grittiness to it that I really like. I am less convinced by the architecture, which ultimately means you get a stack of three single osc synths, rather than a more integrated 3 osc synth sound, but it does some great things. I am definitely going to start using it a lot more.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 11:50 pm

End of the week and I am still finding some great uses for Union. For some reason it is so easy to slot into a mix that it seems to work much better than a lot of my other "go to" synths. It's got a really clean bottom end that can play a bass pad part and manage to sit alongside and beneath basslines without drowning them out, so I don't have to spend ages EQing everything to make it all fit. It's really quite amazing. It's replaced Vacuum Pro, Korg's Odyssey VSTi, Phase Plant (which had replaced Go2) and Hive in projects I've been trying to polish up for ages, and done a better job with bugger-all effort. I am really digging it.

billnineo · Post by **billnineo** » Fri Apr 24, 2020 8:53 pm

There are a number of folks complaining about cpu usage. I’ve bought this synth and it’s a nice addition to serum etc. Please don’t compromise on sound quality by over optimisation, as the guy from SSL says there is a point where quality suffers. Most DAWs have freeze functions and committing tracks saves time later.

inkwarp · Post by **inkwarp** » Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:02 pm

If ever there was a product that deserves the title 'vanilla', this is it.
really uninspiring. I can only assume that it will shift units as it's relatively cheap...

Soundspot Union Wavetable Synth out today