FXpansion D-CAM: Synth Squad for sale now!

[spaceman]

now THIS I am excited about
I hope the price won't give us a heart attack

will there be some sort of discount for FXP product owners?

[andy-cytomic]

The one big trend that irks me about VST's is that they often get caught up in having this or that feature, and seem to forget that being "musical" should be priority number one. Also, whilst good FX are nice, they're leaned on far too heavily by the majority of instruments out there, in terms of shaping the sound and making things sound good. So it's a breath of fresh air, to me, to see companies like FXPansion realizing this, and trying to do something about it. I'm really looking forward to these, and hope there's not too long to wait..

I can't tell you how many times people asked for features on the synths during testing and I said no, that isn't needed. I prefer to have limitations and let people explore what is possible within them than a million ill thought out features just for the heck of it which make the interface a mess. Every control had to justify it's position on the interface or be removed.

I was also very adamant not to allow any built in effects other than for Amber which has the chorus, since string machines had them built in and it's critical to the sound. The first thing I do when testing synths is switch off all the damn delay and reverb and phasers and chorus and other stuff you don't want so I can actually listen to the synth. Like Angus said, all preset design was done without effects so that you already start with a great sound and can do what you want with it.

PAK, I really appreciate that you appreciate this sort of thing

Andrew Simper

[Kriminal]

are they out yet?

[djanthonyw]

My wallet has been for months...

[SWAN808]

My wallet has been for months...

ha ha dude you are such a slut - I salute you

[bmanic]

The one big trend that irks me about VST's is that they often get caught up in having this or that feature, and seem to forget that being "musical" should be priority number one. Also, whilst good FX are nice, they're leaned on far too heavily by the majority of instruments out there, in terms of shaping the sound and making things sound good. So it's a breath of fresh air, to me, to see companies like FXPansion realizing this, and trying to do something about it. I'm really looking forward to these, and hope there's not too long to wait..

I can't tell you how many times people asked for features on the synths during testing and I said no, that isn't needed. I prefer to have limitations and let people explore what is possible within them than a million ill thought out features just for the heck of it which make the interface a mess. Every control had to justify it's position on the interface or be removed.

I was also very adamant not to allow any built in effects other than for Amber which has the chorus, since string machines had them built in and it's critical to the sound. The first thing I do when testing synths is switch off all the damn delay and reverb and phasers and chorus and other stuff you don't want so I can actually listen to the synth. Like Angus said, all preset design was done without effects so that you already start with a great sound and can do what you want with it.

PAK, I really appreciate that you appreciate this sort of thing

Andrew Simper

As a semi-serious synth programmer I both agree and disagree about effects. In simple "I am an analogue modelled synth" (simple = not too many features) I agree that this approach is cool but in more complex synths, the effects themselves become part of the synth. Especially if the synth allows you to modulate all the effects parameters just like the rest of the synth (aka Alchemy, Helix and Access synths to a degree, waldorf?). The point is creating sounds and the means to get there are unimportant.

However, covering up bad basic quality oscillators/filters with effects will never really work, just like you said earlier, and this has been done many times indeed.

Looks like FXpansion is one of the few companies together with FabFilter who have the "we don't add effects to our synths because we want them to sound good on their own" attitude. I respect that for sure but I would take high quality effects within the synth structure itself, because I'm a tweaker that wants total control of everything. I hate limits!

(you should see how many ridiculous feature requests I've made, during beta testing for various companies, just to satisfy my "need to control" urges).

Cheers!
bManic

[andy-cytomic]

As a semi-serious synth programmer I both agree and disagree about effects. In simple "I am an analogue modelled synth" (simple = not too many features) I agree that this approach is cool but in more complex synths, the effects themselves become part of the synth. Especially if the synth allows you to modulate all the effects parameters just like the rest of the synth (aka Alchemy, Helix and Access synths to a degree, waldorf?). The point is creating sounds and the means to get there are unimportant.

However, covering up bad basic quality oscillators/filters with effects will never really work, just like you said earlier, and this has been done many times indeed.

Looks like FXpansion is one of the few companies together with FabFilter who have the "we don't add effects to our synths because we want them to sound good on their own" attitude. I respect that for sure but I would take high quality effects within the synth structure itself, because I'm a tweaker that wants total control of everything. I hate limits!

(you should see how many ridiculous feature requests I've made, during beta testing for various companies, just to satisfy my "need to control" urges).

Cheers!
bManic

You can do mono effects in fusor and modulation them from the synths and or fusors own lfos / step sequencers etc. So comb filters / tuned decimation / reverb can call be modulated and become a part of the sound. You can also modulate polyphincally between the synths eg synth oness env to modulation synth twos filter. But, this is all in fusor, there is a clear distinction between layering and adding effects and the raw synths themselves. The point is If you don't want to deal with all that complexity just use the synths as is and they still sound good.

Andrew Simper

[koolkeys]

Andy, are you here at NAMM?

Brent

[andy-cytomic]

Andy, are you here at NAMM?
Brent

Hey Brent. No I'm back in the UK, but if you want to have a chat please feel free to grab my contact details off Angus and either email / phone / skype etc.

Andrew Simper

[koolkeys]

Ok, cool. Too bad you weren't here. I talked with Angus yesterday and a couple of others, but wanted to make sure I didn't miss you. I'll be in touch though at some point. Cheers!

Brent

[michu]

I can't tell you how many times people asked for features on the synths during testing and I said no, that isn't needed.

hi Andy

[andy-cytomic]

I can't tell you how many times people asked for features on the synths during testing and I said no, that isn't needed.

hi Andy

Aha! Speak of the devil! Michu of the had to be told no-ness Some of his suggestions did slip through and make it into the final synth, so thanks Michu

Andy

[SWAN808]

ah why could I have not been part of this exclusive test team?

[andy-cytomic]

ah why could I have not been part of this exclusive test team?

Hehe, well Michu has been a core alpha tester / patcher since before Synth Squad even existed, since before I could even do circuit analysis.

Andrew Simper

[ew]

They're pretty amazing

Ben from Camel and I were lucky enough to get a walkthrough from Angus yesterday; I especially like Cypher, but they're all wonderful.

ew