Absynth: why no love?

[swartzfeger]

All,

Pardon the hyperbole in the title, but it does seem a little hard to find fans of this synth.

I got back into songwriting last year and particularly ITB/VST/VI stuff. After gnashing my teeth for about 10 seconds, I went with the Omnisphere/Trilian duo over NI Komplete. Love the Spectrasonic stuff and pretty much drink the Persing purple kool aid, but after a nearly a year of really digging into Logic 9 and developing my own particular 'quirks' for composing and arranging, I'm finding the Spectrasonic duo to be lacking. Or more precisely, my needs aren't overlapping as much as what I would like for what Omnisphere + Trilian offers.

For whatever reason, I started reading up on Absynth and realized it aligns pretty damn close to what I'd love to use in my workflow. I primarily play bass (mostly fretless) and warr guitar (think chapman stick with a big ass bass body). From the demos I've listened to/watched, I'm pretty much sold on it and downloaded the demo.

Seems like a lot of comments I read here are mostly lukewarm -- the general sentiments seem to be it's too abstruse, mutations aren't nearly as good as the presets, and many of the presets sound too (fill in the blank). Again, my initial impressions don't seem to be aligned with a lot of the 'meh' reactions.

So... any Absynth fans out there that use it as a significant part of their workflow?

And before I go and blow $200 on Absynth 5, are there similar alternatives I should know about?

Is Alchemy by Camel even in the same ballpark? From the little exposure I've had to it (plus I just bought Alchemy Mobile), I like what I've heard so far but it sounds unusually 'cold' to my ears.

So there's my softball I'm tossing to the Absynth 5 fans out there.

Thanks...

[Big Tick]

I love Absynth. And there is a 20$ alternative at audioMIDI, right now Alchemy is also an awesome synth, so you can't go wrong there.

[kx.001]

...And before I go and blow $200 on Absynth 5...

Theres a second hand copy in the Market Place at the moment for $100 ono and I may be selling mine at some point (but it's still registered to me so may take a while)

[swartzfeger]

...And before I go and blow $200 on Absynth 5...

Theres a second hand copy in the Market Place at the moment for $100 ono and I may be selling mine at some point (but it's still registered to me so may take a while)

What's NI's stance on license transfers? Another reason I passed on Komplete last year was the spate of negative reviews I've read about NI support, so I'm not sure if I want to get into license issues. But if NI handles it seamlessly, i certainly don't mind saving a few bucks...

[Lunatic_Machinist]

Absynth has a very wide range of sounds possible, but it's just plain scary with its windows 3.1 looks. When I need atmospheric sounds, I usually go with more straightforward synths such as massive, fm8 or some reaktor ensemble.

if one invests the time, though, I'm sure that it's possible to get some crazy things out of it.
and another recommendation for looking for a second hand copy. NI stuff gets bought and sold pretty often in the marketplace.

[swartzfeger]

Absynth has a very wide range of sounds possible, but it's just plain scary with its windows 3.1 looks. When I need atmospheric sounds, I usually go with more straightforward synths such as massive, fm8 or some reaktor ensemble.

if one invests the time, though, I'm sure that it's possible to get some crazy things out of it.
and another recommendation for looking for a second hand copy. NI stuff gets bought and sold pretty often in the marketplace.

Another user here in thread was kind enough to turn me onto a used copy in the marketplace. I'm crossing my fingers it's still available. So it sounds like from the feedback that NI's main downloadable products are re-saleable, but their downloadable soundpacks are not.

Nobody go buy the Absynth listed in Market, I have first dibs.

[ryandfl]

I just loaded up Absynth for the first time in a while yesterday and was reminded that it sounds pretty sweet.

It can be very dynamic and fluid sounding, which I like a lot. It also sounds kind of 'contained' somehow, sort in the same way that a multiband compressor on the master channel will contain the mix into a reasonable range.

What I don't like about it is the workflow. It's kind of obscure and spread out across several screens. So I end up just using presets with very minimal tweaking, which is not as much fun as a more hands on approach and limiting.

[experimental.crow]

absynth was historically the bleeding edge of soft-synth design ...

multi-breakpoint envelopes ,
advanced architecture for modulation routing ,
sample based oscillators ,
granular oscillators ...

many here have been using it since v 1.0 ...

[hagever]

Windows 3.1 looks?

http://www.amazona.de/media/articles/ar ... hPatch.jpg

[DF2R]

Is Alchemy by Camel even in the same ballpark?

I've owned Absynth for a few years... was just tonight making some patches for it. I've spent a fair amount of time programming it. I recently demoed Alchemy - I would pick that over Absynth for sure. Way better IMO, in lots of ways. I plan on buying it when the budget allows. Give it a demo

[Lunatic_Machinist]

Windows 3.1 looks?

http://www.amazona.de/media/articles/ar ... hPatch.jpg

yes, that's what I meant. 'catchy' design from the times of windows 3.1 would be more appropriate probably. just look at the tuning knobs, wtf are those small hexagonal things? and the pile of numbers make it look like an excel spreadsheet, hehe. it's also very list-ish, there are lists everywhere and considering the multiple windows it's easy to get lost etc.

but yeah, not superbad, but I do consider absynth would benefit from a clearer and more streamlined design, as it is, it's unnecessary complicated.

[Panphobia]

Absynth is a great instrument. However many of the included presets have a wide frequency spectrum, making them difficult to place in the mix. To do so you need to use either high pass, low pass, or maybe both. After removing enough then the preset dounds less good.

I like more for a sound design tool, but there are some good musical sounds as well.

[dune_rave]

I've Owned Absynth from version 3, and had Cameleon5000, then Alchemy.
For me, Alchemy is the best hybrid synth, and I like the way Camel Audio developes things. They put all of their knowledge (camelphat, camelspace, cameleon5000) into Alchemy. It has dozens of filters, and effects, and its modulation system is gorgeous. Though it's not fair to compare these two synth, because theye are pretty different and Camel Audio Alchemy is a "new application".

[dreamkeeper]

In a nutshell:

If you're looking for a conventional feature set and instant gratification, then stay away from Absynth.

If you're willing to dedicate some quality time to learning its ins and outs, then you'll be rewarded with a whole new world of sounds and insights into unusual synthesis methods.

Your choice.

[Neon Breath]

Absynth is truly amazing and fascinating, sonically. But Absynth is hell in term of workflow, for me it kills all the fun of synthesis experimentation and exploration. Can't have everything!

No hate here, I still love Absynth but to me (I own both) Alchemy eclipses Absynth all the way in the workflow domain, like the routing, modulations, envelopes, pleasure to use, etc. I would trade Absynth for Alchemy without any hesitation if I had to.