LuSH-101

[Frantz]

I gave up.

I cannot test a synth with that kind of feature set in 900 seconds.

If you need more time, you could try thinking of it as 900,000,000,000 nanoseconds.

[Mushy Mushy]

@Ingo & JimmiG: Brilliant reviews. Thx.

[C-note]

Tried Lush - Gui is small but readable for me. Sound is ok like the demos. CS80 preset is my fav. Demo limitations not good. Discount ok.

Conclusion: uninstalled and not buying - doesn't give me anything missing from my current stable of synths - Massive/FM8/Reaktor/Sylenth/Gladiator/Electrax/Krishnasynth/Saurus/Diva/Zebra/Z3ta2/Alchemy/Omnisphere/TAL line/Xils/ultra analog/Dune/OPX Pro II/Rapture and I know I've forgotten a bunch more. The point is: The market is filled with synths that sound really good so to make me buy something it will have to be exemplary in sound and features.

A price point for me to buy this synth would be around $70-$90 in its current state.

[breakmixer]

CPU usage on this is a joke, headed straight for the brass patches, 3 note chords totally stutter and break up of sound even with higher latencies set(40% minimum and higher - Intel Athlon Core Duo W7), even single brass notes had slight stutters - without all that layering and polyphony.

Doesn't sound 100% analogue, sounds good but still digital sounding, If the CPU use was better(like a hell of a lot lower), I'd consider it, some of the multis/layered sounded cool.

The Browser was clunky-ish.

I cannot believe they held off so long and didn't get the CPU down,

Sorry D16, this will not be my 11th plugin....

Maybe in the future if I get a mega powerfull PC, but it seems these plugins are going beyond the average PC's resources - what's the point, these are meant to be usable instruments.

Nice UI though

[pdxindy]

Since there is only 1 Osc, what is the Sync doing exactly?

I have never used an SH101 but I assume various limitations are as they are to emulate it? For example, there is no re-trigger mono mode.

Modulating the filter with an env... the mod control is unipolar... there is no negative range to make the env close the filter

How would I setup a vibrato on aftertouch?

Seems like more gain would be good. I turn up the saw to full, and the layer volume to full and it is still quiet...

[pepelogu]

I really wanted to like this synth as i also like Drumazon and Phoscyon from D16 but after spending some time with it i have to say i am really disappointed.

Some things i found:
- GUI is almsost unreadable and crowded, in terms of ergonmics it totally fails IMO. This seems to be even worse in the mixer window.

- numerical value s are shown at the bottom of the GUI, not as a small pop-up window or in an extra display

- If you hover above a control no value is displayed. You have to move the slider to get the current value

- selection of a preset is also not really straightforward as usually you first have to open the browser window, choose a preset and then close the window again. With other synths this seems to be much easier (e.g. drop-down menus).

- CPU use is very high, i would say equal or worse to Diva

- the overall sound, especially in the lower frequencies does not really impres me so far

- a Ringmod is missing

- there does not seem to be a way to do Crossmodulation/FM

- the modulation matrix is very limited IMO. You don't even have the LFOs and envelopes as a mod source.

- why is the SH-101 mode not the default mode for both the filter and the envelopes?

- like others mentioned the 16' octave seems to be one octave too high.

- the Arpeggiator seems to be limited to simple modes and a gate sequencer but no programmable steps/patterns.

- the discounts for existing customers seem to be a joke too. People who mentioned that they got all other products got 20% off.
With other synths like e.g. Diva, Synthix or Oxium there was a bigger discount even for new customers.
Personally i got both Drumazon and Phoscyon and did not receive any discount a t all.

Conclusion:
I don't see by any means how this could be "The only synth you'll ever need".



Ingo

Wow, not a single good point? Not one?

Here are a few of mine:

+ Great, modern, high-quality sound.

+ Overall look of GUI is really nice. No problem reading any text on a standard 1080 HD monitor.

+ Superb amount of good usable presets.

+ Multi layer can be really useful.

+ Drum sounds included that sound good as well.

+ Top quality FX.

+ Comes really close to emulating the 101.

+ While not packing *everyting*, it's still a very generous featured synth.

+ Did I mention the great sound?

[Robmobius]

Yeah, I wasn't all that impressed with it either tbh.

Do I need yet another soft synth in my already bloated collection? Not really...

[Ingonator]

How would I setup a vibrato on aftertouch?

This is an essential feature for me, especially for lead sounds and first i thought it's missing. It seems to be done by assigning "channel pressure" to "VCO Modulation" in the mod matrix.


Ingo

[Aiynzahev]

Since there is only 1 Osc, what is the Sync doing exactly?

I have never used an SH101 but I assume various limitations are as they are to emulate it? For example, there is no re-trigger mono mode.

Modulating the filter with an env... the mod control is unipolar... there is no negative range to make the env close the filter

How would I setup a vibrato on aftertouch?

Seems like more gain would be good. I turn up the saw to full, and the layer volume to full and it is still quiet...

It's a hidden oscillator. So it does sync as you'd expect when activated.

[Crackbaby]

Wow, not a single good point? Not one?

Here are a few of mine:

+ Great, modern, high-quality sound.

+ Overall look of GUI is really nice. No problem reading any text on a standard 1080 HD monitor.

+ Superb amount of good usable presets.

+ Multi layer can be really useful.

+ Drum sounds included that sound good as well.

+ Top quality FX.

+ Comes really close to emulating the 101.

+ While not packing *everyting*, it's still a very generous featured synth.

+ Did I mention the great sound?

I think those things were kind of expected and not even needed to mention.

I have a problem reading text on a "standard" 1080 HD monitor. You forgot to mention the size of the monitor of which you have no problems with. 24" here btw.

Multilayer .. .serioiusly?! Yes, it could be useful, sure. But do you really think the coding time spent on it couldn't have been use better elsewhere?

Define top quality FX please. It has FX, but top quality? I only tested the delay so i have no idea how "top" it is, but your definition would be interesting to hear. Since you brought it up as a "+".

But what i really want to know is how you measured how close it comes to the real 101. Side-by-side tests? Im not saying it's not close. I only played with one once in a store a very long time ago.

I think you just made a list to counter Ingo's with the purpose of countering it. It's like reading a review of a car where the writer complements them for adding wheels on it.

Edit: I agree on the FX. The reverb works well with my sweep fantasia and the chorus is beautiful.
With certain settings i find, it sounds just-about exactly like how i remember some old goa tracks. With more and more analog emulations i get to figure out what synths was used in certain tracks .. pretty cool .. for me at least!

[synthmagic]

I quite like it - I found the presets to be quite inspirational. It has a real dance vibe to it I think just going by some of the presets.
The GUI is lovely to look at, but the text is too small. They should have got rid of the big keyboard and used that space to lay things out bigger so things can be seen properly. I mean I can see all the dials and text, but it is too small I think.
I do like the sound of it though and from what I can remember of my old SH101(which I sold years ago like a complete idiot) it sounds similar.
It might have been good to have a switch that changes the GUI to just have the features of the original SH101 and removes all the extra's.

'The only synth you will ever need' - That is a bold statement to make and may have done them no favours.I think anyone who makes tracks with just one synth soon realises you need other synths and sounds to stop it sounding very similar.

My cpu gets eaten alive with some presets, so I can see having a few instances of this running is going to devour your cpu.

I'm still checking the demo out, I must admit I'm tempted to buy as I do miss my old SH101. I own their Drumazon and Phoscyon which are good.

[maurone dj]

How the hell can I remove this demo from my mac? :O

[trimph1]

I think the mono filter env trigger is bugged. It act as it was set always to gate. Trig mode is not working?

From the manual:

Trigger - This parameter decides when the Envelope is triggered. We have the following values to choose from:
• Trig - Each incoming to LuSH-101 note re-triggers an Envelope.
• Gate - The note re-triggers Envelope if any other note is not played at the moment. Therefore, the trigger is not
generated for overlapping notes.

Trig and Gate behave differently only in Mono mode, in Poly mode there is no difference between Trig or Gate.

Can anyone confirm this? If you put two notes side by side and don't leave any space between the filter ENV is not retriggered. Also the octave 16' and all above are one octave too high.

Edit: You need to set polyphony to 1. Mono button don't change how the trigger mode works at all.

Seems to work fine here.

Mind, I'm not as impressed by the CPU hogginess of this ...maybe I'm doing something worgn here but Studio One V2 seems to have an issue with this here as well.

[MFXxx]

Not sold on this yet.
Downloaded demo a lot of the presets appear not to emit sound.
The demo time is far too short per session.
GUI is very nice I think the multimode needs to be blown up when opened.
Its hard on the eyes to work with on a 24' 1600*1200 (i forget the ratio).
Sound seems ok not enough time spent yet to properly judge or compare.
Discount 10% dissapointing on price so saving my money for the Drop to expand some of the existing soft synths.

I think this is one for the future shopping list, I usually jump right in but the deal, price and demo use is a deal breaker personally for me, at this moment in time. I was hopping to see a launch price around £60-80as I have a lot of other of their plugins but 10% and the launch price kills it for me.

Peace

[BDeep]

Just finished my second 15 minutes
I started off with just a single osc, single layer, single everything. It doesn't sound particularly warm (or "analog" if you like) but warm never was a trademark of the 101 either. It does feel very much like a 101, there a definite rawness and punch to the sound. Low end is well present IMHO. Problem I found is that when you start using the super wave option, its sound breaks apart, or loses its character. It's much more run off the mill when used. It's a nice feature, and sounds okay, but not better than any other stacked saw.
CPU usage when using a single layer was ok on my aging (5yo MBP) pc. However, it completely brings it to a grinding hold when using some of the multilayered presets. In its current state, I found the layers to be rather pointless.
How you feel about this synth is likely based on how you approach it. If you fancy all the bells and whistles, then I believe there are more usable alternatives on the market. If however, you like to toy around in your DAW with a souped up 101, this is a great synth. It's really a 101 in terms of sound quality.

I would have been very happy with 1 layer and a reduced price tbh.

Word of warning, all of the above is based on first impressions obviously.