a feeling i get about synths

[ugo]

FM7's an incredible sounding instrument and it's HOW old now?

quite true. i just started getting into FM synths (yes, im finally warming up to programming FM) so i decided to do a taste test between a whole bunch of the top ones, including FM7 (which i already have as part of komplete.) i was extremely impressed at how well FM7 hung in there with the newer ones. in fact, i like FM7's sound more than some of the more recent FM's. there's something really musical about it. (for lack of a better description.)

also, i noticed that it seemed (at least to me) like NI really dialed in the controls really well with FM7. there's a much greater useful range on the operator mods before the distortion gets too strong.

but this brings me back on topic and to a good example...

i really do like the sound and function of FM7. however im extremely tempted to get one of the newer FM's too, like sytrus or octopus. (though im leaning towards sytrus...and kicking myself for not having jumped on that group buy last year. ) sure, since they are both FM they can do similar stuff. however, they have different tones and i like them both. also, while FM7 seemed easier to program some sounds on, sytrus was easier different things. i like the option of doing additive tweaking on sytrus (and octopus) too.

so while both can obviously do very similar sounds, both have their strong points and are different enough to me to make me interested in having both.

-ugo

[BONES]

What I would want to avoid is just creating a "preset player" of a bigger synth (which is what I understand Ohmforce have done with Symptohm).

But there are plenty of people who only use presets, so I think its a perfectly valid concept.

An uber-synth is probably beyond my skill levels.

And for me its down to having limited time and seeing no return on spending too much of it trying to learn to leverage everything an instrument has to offer. It very quickly becomes unproductive.

[eduardo_b]

i get this feeling... most of them are more or less the same arent they? I mean you can get similar if not identical sounds out of all these things, right?

Given enough time with enough synths, it's not surprising that many sound similar. I think of it as the tyranny of the VSTi. The sheer number of available choices creates a distraction from composing and creating music. Less is absolutely more in this regard. It wouldn't be surprising to find that the number of synths used has a direct inverse relationship to the amount of music created and finished.

[funkadil]

When I first came here to find free vstis I had no electronic musical influences (keep in mind what I write after this is old naieve opoinion).

I downloaded all of the popular synths, and thier sounds were just so cheezy and commercial. I tried superwave p8, used it in one song maybe, it was just so generic sounding. I tried synth 1, didn't really get the hype. I tried cystal, nice sounds, I actually used to like this one (haven't found it efficiant enough to used these days). Same sort of thing with triangle 2. Then I decided to check out random synths, found some tweekbench which I really liked, and tons of other SE creations, which I favored more than the popular freebies. My mind was basically completely unbiased to sounds in dance music and pop music (which I didn't like at the time) but I found that the possibilites of synthesizweres were great! I wanted to express new sounds and I thought I found something great the world was holding back from me. I still like the SE synths like GTGs and Krakli's and BONES and ODO etc. but tend to go for the more hard coded like polyiblit and xhip and Asynth (and oatmeal) and various other 1 trick ponies and 1-off experimental synths like physix (does this have gui yet?) and scanned-synth and all the goodies. I did buy Wusikstation but havn't used it enough yet, sounds really professional but I don't think it fits in with my sound all the time, but I plan to work more out with it and create nice liquid bass presets and dirty shit. I like dirty shit, I have wierd taste, Ive been going through a phase of not using reverb or delay much, nor pads, or looped midi sequences, just melodic changing piano roll epic pieces. What was this thread about again, I forgot what my point was but Im sure it was somehow relevant. Some sort of joy was lost from having noone to impress, even though I still don't and Ive gone back to just the shittiest sounding music ever.

[The Chase]

Bottom of line is:

Take Cygnus, Synth1, Asynth, Swamp, Morpheus, one of the Killers, String Theory, Voyager, Hexter, and Crystal, and you've got 10 top notch synths with a HUGE palette of avaliable sounds. WHo cares if after trying 100's of them, they start to sound the same? Limit yourself to 10-20 best ones and go from there.

[crimsonwarlock]

Bottom of line is:

Take Cygnus, Synth1, Asynth, Swamp, Morpheus, one of the Killers, String Theory, Voyager, Hexter, and Crystal, and you've got 10 top notch synths with a HUGE palette of avaliable sounds. WHo cares if after trying 100's of them, they start to sound the same? Limit yourself to 10-20 best ones and go from there.

Thats about what I already said on the first page of this thread

[ew]

I really like the idea of having a well thought out yet minimal (ish) set of parametres that give the user a go at editing on a level that doesn't get them too bogged down, yet at the same time opening up interesting possibilities.

Absynth lets you do this with it's quick-access sliders once you have your patch made.

Or, you can do the same thing with Reaktor by using different A and B panels. Kaleidon's an excellent example of this.

ew

[kuniklo]

The dirty little secret of the VST world is that something on the level of, say, Albino 2, with enough dedication and some decent effects can produce just about any sound your average listener will be able to distinguish. One decent general purpose VA and a good sampler is plenty.

It's fun to have a whole folder full of toys but it doesn't have a lot to do with making music.

[Notron User]

I really like the idea of having a well thought out yet minimal (ish) set of parametres that give the user a go at editing on a level that doesn't get them too bogged down, yet at the same time opening up interesting possibilities.

Absynth lets you do this with it's quick-access sliders once you have your patch made.

Or, you can do the same thing with Reaktor by using different A and B panels. Kaleidon's an excellent example of this.

ew

And then there's the XY page for Zebra with 4 assignable XY areas.

[ew]

I really like the idea of having a well thought out yet minimal (ish) set of parametres that give the user a go at editing on a level that doesn't get them too bogged down, yet at the same time opening up interesting possibilities.

Absynth lets you do this with it's quick-access sliders once you have your patch made.

Or, you can do the same thing with Reaktor by using different A and B panels. Kaleidon's an excellent example of this.

ew

And then there's the XY page for Zebra with 4 assignable XY areas.

Virsyn's Tera, Cantor and Cube have the same thing; it's a great idea.

ew

[dover666]

whoooo.... i'm still getting about 5 downloads an hour.... i don't mind.... i just wonder if people actually use them much... (free antihuman track in sig-maybe page up someday.)

[No name]

I think that when all is said and done, the sound is pretty much all the same, especially to the listeners. Once you get wrapped up in being too technical you lose sight of the fact that all these minor details, while sometimes may be worthwhile, are really just a waste of creative time. I personally haven't reached out to buy an expensive software synth because of the fact that I get the sounds I need out of freeware, my choice is polyiblit for my synth sounds because it has what I need and i've learned its sound and charachter well. To me, it sounded just the same as, say, vanguard does really. I suppose that it is different for different people, some are looking for those minor details, some just want to let the creativity flow and forget about the minute details. There is a phenomenon though, and i've never known about it until I joined KVR. People become "addidcted" and pursure just about any synthesizer they get their hands on; so much so that they tend to never get around to making music! I say pick the synths whose charachter and interface you like, and stop right there, you'll be better off not getting carried away. It never hurts to come back every so often and see whats new, but don't pop up every day looking for the holy grail that will make you the greatest music ever. That's the musicians job.

[M'Snah]

When you've heard Superwave, you've heard them all

Sorry, I did not intend to offend the serious developers. Indeed there are exceptions, like the things you do, and also Ugo, HG Fortune, Algomusic (I have and use all of these, e.g. Yava, Metallurgy, all of HGF's stuff, M42/M51). But that's only a very select set of SynthEdit vst's. I also have Superwave btw .

Not quite true. Many people think that Synhtedit synths have only one type of filter and one type of oscillator. This is not true. There are lots of different filters and oscillators ( mostly third party modules ). Besides that you can route and mix filters in many different ways to achieve certain peaks in resonance and the overall sound. You can mix several different oscillator types and many other tricks that make your synth sound different.
So in fact Synthedit synths CAN be just as different as any other. I agree that many sound the same, but that's basically the ones that are made in a hurry without too much knowledge and experimentation.

I agree completely. but 95% of the SynthEdit stuff is made that way.

[leonard]

The dirty little secret of the VST world is that something on the level of, say, Albino 2, with enough dedication and some decent effects can produce just about any sound your average listener will be able to distinguish. One decent general purpose VA and a good sampler is plenty.

It's fun to have a whole folder full of toys but it doesn't have a lot to do with making music.

Good point, I think you're onto something here.

[tahome]

i get this feeling... most of them are more or less the same arent they? I mean you can get similar if not identical sounds out of all these things, right?

I guess you could say the same about music... and it would be equally true. Truth is that it is very difficult to find someone or something that really stands out from the crowd, the more cluttered the market gets with freebies and such, the less differentiation is there (not that I am complaining).

Same with music: today, everybody and his/her mother produces music in his/her bedroom studio with roughly the same tools, so 90% of it sounds the same.

Sadly, this makes marketing so very important - if there's not a powerful label that pushes your music and puts you through their marketing machine you'll never get noticed (even if your music deserves it!). In other words: the downside of a cluttered market is that if Mozart were alive today nobody would notice him for his music alone...

--th