KVR Audio

Kenton · Post by **Kenton** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 2:58 am

I've tried duplicating Sylenth sounds on Alchemy - you can get very close.

However......

There are a couple of things that made me buy Sylenth as well as Alchemy.

Sylenth is really quick to work with.

It's quite CPU friendly.

It's filters self oscillate (Alchemy's will too if you dig deep enough to discover how to, but it's not quite as effective).

Sylenth's arpeggiator will do something that Alchemy's won't - that 303 type step sequence thing. (well, I can't get it to sound right in Alchemy.)

My writing partner will be able to understand and use Sylenth but I'm betting that Alchemy will be left for me to fiddle with.

To my ears, Sylenth sounds very 'forward' - but not quite as much as the ImpOscar, which has been my other goto synth. I'm still trying to get Alchemy to be as 'in your face'. (sorry, not a very easy thing to describe).

Alchemy is constantly surprising me with the depth and variety of sounds it can generate - how many of these sounds will be usable in the context of what we do remains to be seen....... Great fun though.

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:54 pm

Try creating your own oscillators with the additive section instead of the VA section. I noticed that this way you can mimic nearly any saw wave that you want. Make it edgier, duller, nasal or however you like it. It just takes 2 or 3 partials and shifting their relative amplitudes and phases.

Cheers!
bManic

PaulSC · Post by **PaulSC** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:04 pm

bmanic wrote:Here is a short clip of a preset I've been working on today. Sorry about the chaotic example, I am feeling lazy and thus did only a single pass of the sequence while tweaking the performance controls. It should show that Alchemy is far from "boring" when it comes to it's VA section. In fact, it is possible to create unique subtleties in the sounds due to the enormous flexibility of creating the oscillator. Here I've made a custom saw wave from scratch, using the additive section, combining 3 partials by manipulating their relative phase and amplitude. The results are a slightly nasal and phasey saw wave that sounds awesome in a cutting lead sound like this.

Alchemy Attitude

This is pure Alchemy. No external effects were used. It's a single (!!) oscillator preset. No detuning, no multiple oscs. I did not on purpose try to recreate yet another 303 sound, it just happened.

Cheers!
bManic

I have one thing to say about this, bManic. Alchemy: Patch share!

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:34 pm

Yes yes.. in due time. I want at least a bank of 12 sounds or more before I release them to the public. These are still in experimental stage. I need to create good performance knobs and the 8 performance slot presets. Due to the complexity of the thing, it takes some time.

Cheers!
bManic

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:53 pm

I am more impressed with the VA side of Alchemy every time I use it. I'd take Alchemy anytime over Sylenth. With Sylenth you get a hammer. With Alchemy you get a hammer plus an entire toolbox.

thespecialist · Post by **thespecialist** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:06 pm

bmanic wrote: Well then I guess it's perfectly possible to duplicate it within Alchemy as there is plenty of distortion available. I just assumed it was oscillator hard sync as the prodigy lead is created in this way. I think I have to give the mp3 a listen then eh?

How far are you with this ? I still don't believe it's possible to get it as good sounding as this on Alchemy, that's why I'm very interested to hear what you can come up with !

bmanic · Post by **bmanic** » Tue Jan 06, 2009 4:47 pm

I'm currently on vacation and will not attempt any serious copying of presets until I'm at the studio. This laptop with crappy in-ear headphones is hardly the ideal combination.

Any particular presets from the Sylenth1 demo that you like and think are unique to Sylenth? Or in general, what kind of presets do you guys like in the genre provided by the sylenth demo bank? As I don't have access to the full release I will of course only be able to work on the demo.

Cheers!
bManic

any1particular · Post by **any1particular** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:05 pm

I'm very much looking forward to getting my grubby little hands on Alchemy.

I did get caught up in the compulsive 'group buy' buying frenzy for Sylenth1.

I must say I'm quite surprised and happy with it.

I'm not a sound designer by any stretch of the imagination and so it suits me well.

I love the filters and arpegiater-SWEEEEET!!!

In case anyone's interested here's a track I created entirely with Sylenth1 minus the drums (cut up drum loops).

My DAW is Ableton's Live 7 (can't wait to get Live 8!!!!)

Feel Your Mortality

http://boxstr.com/files/4768371_ihpvs/Feel%20Your%

sureno · Post by **sureno** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:18 pm

i got both, sylenth1 is simply a must, it;s the staple to all my tracks and 3rd party banks are awesome, but to be fair they are to different beasts

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:32 pm

I didn't read all 8 pages or whatever, but I'll throw in my 2 cents even though it's probably already been stated ad nauseum. I've got both Sylenth1 and Alchemy and you're really comparing two very different beasts. I can't think of a good reason, aside from cost, that you wouldn't be happy with both in your VST folder. That said, I can name at least a dozen other synths that I would recommend over Sylenth1 if you decided to go for a more subtractive VA-type synth. One in particular is Tone2 Gladiator 2 - I highly recommend comparing the Sylenth1 and Gladiator demos before buying.

Alchemy or Sylenth??? Forgive me.