The "I don't get it" or your 3 overrated synths thread

[Tronam]

I know presets are really important, and give you a first impression of the synth, BUT, in someways, particularly with a new synth like Zebra2, it's like judging a book by its cover. That is a very flexible and powerful piece of software, and keep in mind its a work in progress, as are its presets, by a very talented
developer -- who does listen to his users! Modular synths are a different 'animal' if you pardon the expression, than preset-oriented synths and take a long time to get a handle on.

For more complex modular or semi-modular synths, your target user base is already narrowed a bit and I think their success with less experienced sound programmers depends greatly upon a large, familiar sounding bank of presets. Otherwise the time:reward ratio kills it for a lot of people; i.e. the amount of time invested doesn't feel worth it for the kinds of rudimentary sounds they are getting out of it. I would venture to guess that a large percentage of people either use presets flat out or use a preset as a foundation and alter it to taste. Without this, a modular can end up alienating a lot of potential users, no matter how quality of a product it might be. Take a look at 3 of the most popular virtual synthesizers on the market: Albino, z3ta+ and VirSyn Tera. All 3 of these are complex synths (especially z3ta+ and Tera), but they have vast banks of presets by experienced sound designers and I would be willing to bet that most of their users bought those instruments based upon the strength of those sounds.

[pendle]

great thread....

i largely concur with others dislike of zebra2, and cameleon 5000.

they just don't sound very good to me. I've got excited by the idea of zebra and tried demoing it several times, but it just seems to sound nasty and nasal and thin no matter what you do with it.

i love absynth though....had it since 2 and am greatly enjoying the new user friendly envolopes and lfo's.

not sure if hardware is a dirty word, but i have a mono evolver which is great fun and fantastic for sound design kinda stuff, but i've still yet to get a sound out of it that i can actually use in a tune.

it seems that in the mad quest for funny noises that maybe fuels the gear lust of many here ( myself included ) we forget that the sounds we actually need for most tunes are merely something simple, coherant and ear satisfying. You don't need a gazzilion time synced lfo's, envolopes and oscillators to achieve that. But sad f**ks that we are we still keep looking for that sound that will suddenly unlock the genius within.javascript:emoticon(':?')
Confused

[ianweb123]

Karnage - I could never figure out why the locals got so excited over this SE yawner.

Hype and a huge marketing machine!

[spritex]

Of the two, Zebra seems like it has many good qualities, but the presets are locked into the space and beyond theme, which says to me that the developer -- a really nice guy who works hard for his customers -- wanted to showcase these qualities in the presets

As far as I know, it has just about all the presets that were sent in by the beta team, and they were just grouped by their types by Tas (who did most of the presets). Personally, I think that there are lots of beautiful things in there.

I can see that if you like "normal" but powerful synth sounds it might seem a bit lacking, maybe because it's so complex that it invites experiment.

Also, the filters aren't the beefiest possible, but there will be new ones soon (and probably presets too).

[dreamkeeper]

3) The Absynth 3 and 4 updates, compared with Absynth 2 - I am a huge fan of Absynth's power and versatility (you can get a LOT of really different, appealing sounds if you roll up your sleeves), but I don't really hear anything in 3 and 4 that make me think, "Wow, that sounds great and couldn't have been done with 2".

Ok, let me help you out then...

with v3:

- unison with random detune (modulatable)

- realtime fractalizing

- resonators, friggin' amazing!

- frequency shifter

- multichannel out (can be useful even in stereo)


with v4:

- flexible routing !!!

- wave morph for ALL modules

- audio mod with module retrigger

- FX input mixer and filter

- comprehensive LFO destinations


Every single item above enables you to program sounds that are impossible to achieve with Absynth 2. Don't make the mistake to assume that there's not much more to Absynth than its envelopes.

werner

[JerGoertz]

it seems that in the mad quest for funny noises that maybe fuels the gear lust of many here ( myself included ) we forget that the sounds we actually need for most tunes are merely something simple, coherant and ear satisfying. You don't need a gazzilion time synced lfo's, envolopes and oscillators to achieve that. But sad f**ks that we are we still keep looking for that sound that will suddenly unlock the genius within.javascript:emoticon(':?')
Confused

Very true. I'd heard people talk about their experiences with stripping down their setup and becoming more creative with less choices.

Recently I dusted off my copy of Live 4 that I never got into, tried it out, and was immediately swept off my feet with the workflow. I made a challenge for myself to make a track with no external VST or VSTi, just the built-in Ableton ones, and I made progress in record time.

Although I ended up cheating and used Pro-53.

[ew]

3) The Absynth 3 and 4 updates, compared with Absynth 2 - I am a huge fan of Absynth's power and versatility (you can get a LOT of really different, appealing sounds if you roll up your sleeves), but I don't really hear anything in 3 and 4 that make me think, "Wow, that sounds great and couldn't have been done with 2".

Ok, let me help you out then...

with v3:

- unison with random detune (modulatable)

- realtime fractalizing

- resonators, friggin' amazing!

- frequency shifter

- multichannel out (can be useful even in stereo)


with v4:

- flexible routing !!!

- wave morph for ALL modules

- audio mod with module retrigger

- FX input mixer and filter

- comprehensive LFO destinations


Every single item above enables you to program sounds that are impossible to achieve with Absynth 2. Don't make the mistake to assume that there's not much more to Absynth than its envelopes.

werner

You beat me to it, Werner
However, you forgot sample jump envelopes. I think they came in with 3 as well...

ew

[ew]

stupid server

ew

[eduardo_b]

...This thread is to celebrate the truly bad , and I can't really put Z2 on the same negative level as Halion or some of the Arturia stuff, or god forbid, MX4. But the all time worst, which I want to give all 3 of my votes:

Dog of all time: Motu Symphonic Instrument

My impression was that overrated didn't mean truly bad...just overrated. What's MX4, and what do you really dislike about Motu Symphonic Instrument (never used it myself)?

[DavenH]

I was brutally underwhelmed with Reaktor. When a synth is purported to be able to make 'any sound imaginable', it's disappointing that you can't find a single decent tone in any of the included ensembles.

[ianweb123]

I think that this is an excellent thread, I esspecially like the fact that it is qualified as "I don't get it".

I'm not sure that purchased any synths that i would describe as disapointing, but i I have got one or two that I purchased, installed and have just never used.

.. and one of those was (believe it or not) z3ta+, I think that I had an allergic reaction to the interface or something, but it never really did anything for me. Another one was FLStudios Wasp, I bought it and have never really used it

Generally, I don't know if any of the rest of you experience this, but I have to connect with a synth on an emotional level. I can forgive a synth all kinds of foibles if it gives me goosebumps when I hit a fistful of notes

[JerGoertz]

3) The Absynth 3 and 4 updates, compared with Absynth 2 - I am a huge fan of Absynth's power and versatility (you can get a LOT of really different, appealing sounds if you roll up your sleeves), but I don't really hear anything in 3 and 4 that make me think, "Wow, that sounds great and couldn't have been done with 2".

Ok, let me help you out then...

with v3:

- unison with random detune (modulatable)

- realtime fractalizing

- resonators, friggin' amazing!

- frequency shifter

- multichannel out (can be useful even in stereo)


with v4:

- flexible routing !!!

- wave morph for ALL modules

- audio mod with module retrigger

- FX input mixer and filter

- comprehensive LFO destinations


Every single item above enables you to program sounds that are impossible to achieve with Absynth 2. Don't make the mistake to assume that there's not much more to Absynth than its envelopes.

werner

Thanks bud, I DID already know about the STATED features they added. That wasn't my point.

I just didn't really hear anything in the 3 or 4 factory banks that made me think, Wow, now it can make sounds of a different sonic character than it could before. Except for Unison. I forgot about that one, which can give you the massive trance sounds it couldn't before.

[luCiPHer]

cameleon 5000 - maybe it's complex, but to me it just sounds thin and lifeless, and the interface is utterly uninspiring...


the VAZ line of synths - bad bad BAD BAD B!A!D! interface design, i mean, really, they suck.... and they do not even sound special or anything, much too rubbery for my taste.

vanguard - that thing is simply disgusting, hard to find words....




now, that zebra2 presets thing: i happen to have made some of those, and most of them are not exactly spacey pads, not bread and butter either, but well, i just don't use bread and butter anyway and i created presets i'd use myself, but i'm no professional sounddesigner.
but seriously, what kinds of presets do you guys wish for in a synth?
trancy pads, 80s basses and fm-pianos? they ARE possible, but do you really still want those kinds of sounds?

[dreamkeeper]

You beat me to it, Werner

However, you forgot sample jump envelopes. I think they came in with 3 as well...

Nope , they came with 2 - just checked.

[pdxindy]

I would say in general, NI stuff is overrated. Their stuff is fine, doesn't suck, but is too expensive, often has bugs, and there is a hype around it that is not deserved.

I own Kontakt 2 and it is powerful and vast, but it never makes me like using it in a way that some software does. Reaktor I don't particularly like, Absynth didn't grab me. I try them and they look impressive, but... there is always that but.

The one NI product I have tried that I just started to like right off, is FM8, but I have hardly done more than browse some presets.

There are also some other synths I might add to the list. Stuff advertised in music magazines, like Steinberg synths, but that may not be overrated by users as much as me just not liking slick ad campaigns.