i miss the days when vstis were fun to program and all one page
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AstralExistence AstralExistence https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=265049
- KVRAF
- 2276 posts since 19 Sep, 2011
you know the days of the simple va where everything was on one page (tabs aren't one page) its getting harder and harder to find new one page vstis anyone remember the days of synths like junglist, scorpion, pentagon ect where you could just get in and get out?
to me those were the days of fun. nowadays i find myself overwhelmed the sheer amount of features on today's synths and they lost there programming fun factor. i find i do my best work with just a very simple synth in reason it was subtractor, in vst it was junglist and scorpion. i was so appreciative when junglist was released by cm. because that's one synth that im sure many of us used in out shall we say days of not so legit. discuss and maybe we can do a list of all the vstis using one page.
of my head, junglist, scorpion, hydra, pentagon. ill probably be buying hydra this month.
to me those were the days of fun. nowadays i find myself overwhelmed the sheer amount of features on today's synths and they lost there programming fun factor. i find i do my best work with just a very simple synth in reason it was subtractor, in vst it was junglist and scorpion. i was so appreciative when junglist was released by cm. because that's one synth that im sure many of us used in out shall we say days of not so legit. discuss and maybe we can do a list of all the vstis using one page.
of my head, junglist, scorpion, hydra, pentagon. ill probably be buying hydra this month.
- KVRAF
- 2930 posts since 29 May, 2009 from New Zealand
- KVRAF
- 12615 posts since 7 Dec, 2004
xhip is all one page.
not everything fits on that though, so you're stuck with the features that do and simply can't access the rest
actually i'll be adding some type of page system for a mod-matrix, wave editor, custom graphics configuration (color schemes, skins, etc), more advanced bank/preset management and so on.
would you really complain about that though? the whole core of the synth is one page which isn't that bad, although the size and complexity of it bugs me at times.
it would be better in my opinion to at least have A/B options where you have more than one of a thing. for example if you have four lfos, why show four completely identical sections? just A/B/C/D page buttons and you suddenly can use 4x as much space to display one lfo instead.
you have issues of course - let's say you want to have a rate LED and a waveform icon. well, put those in the page button!
it would be really nice to be able to limit the number of basic controls on that "one page" to a bare minimum - but then you have the problem that to get anything done you're stuck paging into the "back panel" sections to actually create presets.
i think you just want a very simple, feature-limited synthesizer. that's what you want.
so do i, but to be honest they suck. i've built lots of those. can't stand them.
not everything fits on that though, so you're stuck with the features that do and simply can't access the rest
actually i'll be adding some type of page system for a mod-matrix, wave editor, custom graphics configuration (color schemes, skins, etc), more advanced bank/preset management and so on.
would you really complain about that though? the whole core of the synth is one page which isn't that bad, although the size and complexity of it bugs me at times.
it would be better in my opinion to at least have A/B options where you have more than one of a thing. for example if you have four lfos, why show four completely identical sections? just A/B/C/D page buttons and you suddenly can use 4x as much space to display one lfo instead.
you have issues of course - let's say you want to have a rate LED and a waveform icon. well, put those in the page button!
it would be really nice to be able to limit the number of basic controls on that "one page" to a bare minimum - but then you have the problem that to get anything done you're stuck paging into the "back panel" sections to actually create presets.
i think you just want a very simple, feature-limited synthesizer. that's what you want.
so do i, but to be honest they suck. i've built lots of those. can't stand them.
Free plug-ins for Windows, MacOS and Linux. Xhip Synthesizer v8.0 and Xhip Effects Bundle v6.7.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.
The coder's credo: We believe our work is neither clever nor difficult; it is done because we thought it would be easy.
Work less; get more done.
- KVRian
- 909 posts since 26 Nov, 2005
Also, don't forget that there are plenty of new synths where you can do almost everything from the front page and you only need to drill down farther for advanced tasks. I have been playing with Blade for the last couple of hours (and having a blast). Most of the controls are on a single page. Only one small section has multiple pages for specific tasks.
That said, I don't mind the added complexity. Sure it can seem overwhelming at times, but I start out by learning the basic functions first, and then slowly figure out the additional controls as I get used to the plugin. The depth of the new synths give us capabilities we never could have had with the single pane synths. You may not ever want to modulate a parameter of a modulator modulating still another parameter, but it makes for some interesting possibilities.
That said, I don't mind the added complexity. Sure it can seem overwhelming at times, but I start out by learning the basic functions first, and then slowly figure out the additional controls as I get used to the plugin. The depth of the new synths give us capabilities we never could have had with the single pane synths. You may not ever want to modulate a parameter of a modulator modulating still another parameter, but it makes for some interesting possibilities.
This space has been unintentionally left blank.
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- Banned
- 18651 posts since 2 Oct, 2001 from England
Dune is the same, but the MM is there is you want to go deeper for more complex stuff, but all the 'basics' are there in the one page GUI.AstralExistence wrote:you know the days of the simple va where everything was on one page (tabs aren't one page) its getting harder and harder to find new one page vstis anyone remember the days of synths like junglist, scorpion, pentagon ect where you could just get in and get out?
of my head, junglist, scorpion, hydra, pentagon. ill probably be buying hydra this month.
- KVRAF
- 43942 posts since 11 Aug, 2008 from clown world
Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
- KVRAF
- 2930 posts since 29 May, 2009 from New Zealand
- KVRAF
- 2248 posts since 10 Apr, 2002 from Saint Germain en Laye, France
- KVRAF
- 2841 posts since 23 Feb, 2004 from Planet Earth...for now
Any number of pages of software synth beats a tiny LCD screen & a bunch of buttons
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/sy77.php
Spoiled Kid these days
http://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/sy77.php
Spoiled Kid these days
Last edited by 1-2-Many on Tue Apr 24, 2012 2:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- KVRAF
- 26944 posts since 3 Feb, 2005 from in the wilds
TyrellN6 is one page... So is the new Saurus. Diva is mainly one page and you can ignore the modulation and trimmer tabs and then it is one page. Imposcar is one page too. So is Bazille. Others as well. There are lots of options!!
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- KVRist
- 95 posts since 25 Jul, 2007 from Finland
I agree. And the best sounds are always very simple, the magic is usually in melody/automation and raw sound quality (high quality filter, oscillator and modulation). So there's no point adding huge amounts of stuff to a VSTi - except that's what people are looking for when they're buying a synth...AstralExistence wrote:you know the days of the simple va where everything was on one page (tabs aren't one page) its getting harder and harder to find new one page vstis anyone remember the days of synths like junglist, scorpion, pentagon ect where you could just get in and get out?
to me those were the days of fun. nowadays i find myself overwhelmed the sheer amount of features on today's synths and they lost there programming fun factor. i find i do my best work with just a very simple synth in reason it was subtractor, in vst it was junglist and scorpion. i was so appreciative when junglist was released by cm. because that's one synth that im sure many of us used in out shall we say days of not so legit. discuss and maybe we can do a list of all the vstis using one page.
of my head, junglist, scorpion, hydra, pentagon. ill probably be buying hydra this month.
I created MauSynth because last VST I've really enjoyed using was NI:s Pro-53. I even omitted the third envelope, which was probably the toughest design choice.
Another freebie synth with great fun UI is Charlatan, and a good example of a well-designed feature-packed synth is Diva.


