Alchemy or Sylenth??? Forgive me.

[bmanic]

It's MY OPINION!

Of course, no need to get all upset Just thought you might be on bad hardware like an onboard soundcard and/or had everything connected to some standard stereo set. You'd miss out on all the rich, subtle details Sylenth1 brings to the table and why most people love it so much.

Just an example, if you listen to the 2nd demo song on Lennard's site ('Inner Emotions'), on some standard onboard soundcard, there's nothing that makes it special. However, on good audio equipment, it's pure ear candy. At least, to me

.. strange, in my opinion it is exactly opposite. On a crappy small boombox/laptop speakers, sylenth1 can be thought of as ok sounding compared to some of the hardware/software competition but on high end equipment (genelec monitoring, prism sound converters, acoustically treated studio room) it's flaws are evident.. in my opinion.

After my vacation I'll demo sylenth again and see if my opinion has changed. Heck, I'll duplicate some of the sylenth presets on Alchemy and we'll see.

I'm more convinced than ever that the charm of Sylenth is the "me too!" presets and a simple to use synthesizer. It's easy and charming to use for sure with the added bonus of a crowd chanting it's "sound quality" as amazing which, in my opinion, it is not.

Cheers!
bManic

[foosnark]

I'm not impressed by Sylenth, either. I wouldn't even necessarily call it a "sound quality" issue, just a lack of any excitement. It's probably an okay workhorse, but then so is Synth1...

Alchemy is hot stuff though.

[grymmjack]

sorry, i love alchemy, but i doubt that you can create exactly the same sound of sylenth1 on it. maybe arksun, or adam szabo, but not me for sure

the filters are great in alchemy, but sylenth1 has very distinct and good one too.

the va in alchemy is SIIIICK but it's a different type. the effects in alchemy also, very very good, yet sylenths are different.

i'd say this (and may regret it); if you want deep programming and massive modulations but a less intense/bleeding edge sound, alchemy is the one. but if you want that 'now' sound (and could also be as a result of sylenth1 having so many modern/great presets by the aforementioned designers) sylenth1 is king for doing newschool stuff as well as older genre stuff, as adam has proven by blowing our minds with his part2 bank for sylenth1.

if having the bladerunner lead, and the prodigy sound coming from one bank/one synth doesn't display diversity, nothing does

alchemy on the other hand can do soooo many tricks sylenth1 only could dream of.

so if you want newschool and want great sounds already for you; sylenth1 but otherwise on alchemy.

happy new year

[grymmjack]

With all the information you gave, and stuff you already have, I'd personally say buy none. I tend to disagree too to the opinion Kritikon has about Sylenth. Clearly you can do more with Alchemy, but whatever music you make, Sylenth is not just a dance-synthie. These things depend on you, the musician.

I resisted to buy both synths, as I already own Reaktor/Cameleon5000/Rhino2/KarmaFX/Xphraze and more. I once suffered from KVR-disease too (buy everything spontaneously, and don't miss any group buy. For sure Alchemy is a superb machine, but I personally make less good music if I buy too much. Of course for anyone who doesn't own Rhino2, that's another thing . Nobody besides mac-people should be without one . I bought it for 100 Euro, which was cheap for the outstanding quality, and now it is just 70E...this one with Daniel Maurer's presetbanks and you changing them and learning to build your own....well...great...

replace cam5k with alchemy! not adding, just updating..


resistance is futile.

you know you want to

[Echoes in the Attic]

.. strange, in my opinion it is exactly opposite. On a crappy small boombox/laptop speakers, sylenth1 can be thought of as ok sounding compared to some of the hardware/software competition but on high end equipment (genelec monitoring, prism sound converters, acoustically treated studio room) it's flaws are evident.. in my opinion.

After my vacation I'll demo sylenth again and see if my opinion has changed. Heck, I'll duplicate some of the sylenth presets on Alchemy and we'll see.

Cheers!
bManic

Well I am very fond of the sylenth1 sound. But I would be very interested to see how you did at trying to duplicate the sylenth1 presets in alchemy. I've got both, so it would be interesting to me.

I personally think there are many sounds in sylenth that you will not be able to get right with Alchemy. But I'm open to being proven wrong if you ever try.

[ew]

Alchemy is miles ahead of sylenth, which doesn't even have PWM.

Maybe not directly but you can use two square oscillators and modulate the phase of one them.

But that won't give you PWM. Having two saws and modulating the phase of one will...

ew

[ozmoz2008]

.. strange, in my opinion it is exactly opposite. On a crappy small boombox/laptop speakers, sylenth1 can be thought of as ok sounding compared to some of the hardware/software competition but on high end equipment (genelec monitoring, prism sound converters, acoustically treated studio room) it's flaws are evident.. in my opinion.

After my vacation I'll demo sylenth again and see if my opinion has changed. Heck, I'll duplicate some of the sylenth presets on Alchemy and we'll see.

Cheers!
bManic

Well I am very fond of the sylenth1 sound. But I would be very interested to see how you did at trying to duplicate the sylenth1 presets in alchemy. I've got both, so it would be interesting to me.

I personally think there are many sounds in sylenth that you will not be able to get right with Alchemy. But I'm open to being proven wrong if you ever try.

Why try to copy a sound with its own down sides??? Sylenth is not that great sounding...you could manage to do good things with it but it is not a reference in my ears in anyway

Happy new year everyone!

[aquar]

But that won't give you PWM. Having two saws and modulating the phase of one will...

ew

Indeed.
Note to me: Don't post after consuming copious amounts of mind bending substances

[Howard]

But that won't give you PWM. Having two saws and modulating the phase of one will...
ew

Indeed. Note to me: Don't post after consuming copious amounts of mind bending substances

If you're a PC-user, try Robin Schmidt's neat little oscilloscope:
http://rs-met.com/software/freebies/SignalAnalyzer.zip

One of the saws must be a "ramp", and you can slightly modulate pitch instead of phase. Simply mixing two squares and detuning one of them DOES give you a PWM effect (of sorts).

[bmanic]

.. strange, in my opinion it is exactly opposite. On a crappy small boombox/laptop speakers, sylenth1 can be thought of as ok sounding compared to some of the hardware/software competition but on high end equipment (genelec monitoring, prism sound converters, acoustically treated studio room) it's flaws are evident.. in my opinion.

After my vacation I'll demo sylenth again and see if my opinion has changed. Heck, I'll duplicate some of the sylenth presets on Alchemy and we'll see.

Cheers!
bManic

Well I am very fond of the sylenth1 sound. But I would be very interested to see how you did at trying to duplicate the sylenth1 presets in alchemy. I've got both, so it would be interesting to me.

I personally think there are many sounds in sylenth that you will not be able to get right with Alchemy. But I'm open to being proven wrong if you ever try.

Why try to copy a sound with its own down sides??? Sylenth is not that great sounding...you could manage to do good things with it but it is not a reference in my ears in anyway

Happy new year everyone!

Why not try to copy some sounds? It's great programming practise and forces one to think outside the box a bit. Especially as the filters are bound to sound/behave differently. I'll most likely need the EQ in Alchemy to "mimic" some aspects of Sylenth, and as all the knobs on the EQ are modulation targets, I can have it follow the keyboard range to get some interesting results.

I'm sure it wont be possible to get the sounds 100%, not even 90% there but close enough should be possible, at least to fool some in a blind test.

Cheers!
bManic

[thespecialist]

Heck, I'll duplicate some of the sylenth presets on Alchemy and we'll see.

Now you're talking ! This should be fun.

Why try to copy a sound with its own down sides??? Sylenth is not that great sounding...you could manage to do good things with it but it is not a reference in my ears in anyway

Hehe. Ok if Sylenth is not that 'great sounding', let's make it easier/better for both you guys: try to reproduce an original sound with Alchemy that was reproduced with Sylenth1 as well. For starters it would be a nice test to hear that lead from 'The prodigy' in their track 'Voodoo people'. Adam just released it as well in his latest soundbank: http://www.adamszabo.com/mp3/Adam_Van_B ... 2_Demo.mp3 (starting 2:20). Let's see if Alchemy's VA engine can come any closer/sound better than this, I'd be highly, higly surprised

[SolarRainUK]

I own both, and love both of them, and after reading this post I did have a little go at creating some Sylenth presets in Alchemy, got them as close as possible..but they still sound very different. My opinion is, Sylenth sounds much better for the the type of sound it was made for..Alchemy's VA is really nice too, but not as warm..and just..different.. and will never replace Sylenth for analogue sounds.

[zvenx]

When Alchemy demo becomes available I would strongly recommend downloading it and A/Bing it.....Sound is always a personal taste.
Ironically my last two synth purchases are alchemy and sylenth and I am stil trying to figure out which one I like less.
Features does not equate to sound quality and the more I play alchemy the more I am remembering this. of cousre many like how it sounds, but at this stage I don't....I will keep it and I am sure one day I will find use for it, plus the special $199 price I paid for it, it will pay for itself if I use it in two projects....
Sylenth I bought because of the GB price and because I heard an arkshun bank I like, and there are a few sounds that comes with it that I will use... but I can honeslty say I don't particuliarly like either and certainly not in love with either.....I will keep both and I am sure they will pay for themselves, but unlike many I am not particuliarly impressed by the sound of either......
play them and see if they tickle your creative bone......sound is always a personal thing...
If I had to choose one based on their current versions for my ears I would choose sylenth if I had to choose one based on potential (which is unfair because I have no idea what the plans are for sylenth) I would choose alchemy.
rsp

[filterfilter]

I own DSI Mopho, complete analog signal path.

Sylenth was the first plugin that did sound "alive", it can produce so wonderful basses. Few other plugins do so. Terratec Komplexer is also very good. Nowadays we see a feature-war, new synths with high modulation capabilities and so on, but I don't need this. Ok, when i listen to it I think: sounds interesting, but I don't need it for making a good song! Sylenth delivers good lead and bass sounds in superior quality, it is simple and fast, and this is what I need!

cheers

I'd like to hear the two synths, Mopho and Sylenth, together in a track if you're up to posting one, that would be very interesting! And a description of how you went about mixing it.

If it works for you, it's good for you of course.

i'm not in my homestudio at the moment, so i can't, sorry.

by the way: if someone wants to check out some really nice fx:


http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... highlight=

[4damind]

Would be nice if Alchemy can create the same analogue sound like Sylenth1 (I remember some of the CS80 sounds eg. from Adam Szabo for Sylenth1 ). But after listening to the audio demo's of Alchemy I tend to say "no".

However, I think it's not the deal to have plug-ins that can produce similar sounds. We need plug-ins that sound different!
I see the most important part of Alchemy not in the VA engine but in the sample engine. This can give us in combination with VA some new and other sounds Sylenth1 cannot generate.

Sylenth1 has its own quality of sounds, not easy to replicate with another plug-in. And that's why we need much different plug-ins and Alchemy and Sylenth1 could play nice together