9 year old Sylenth1 just keeps kickin

[fluffy_little_something]

You are working on an upcoming top-40 project?! I am working on my upcoming #1 project

Seriously, if I got into commercial music making and were aiming at charts, I would not give a crap about those additional 60 dollars even if the synth is overpriced. If I thought it would help me reach my goal, I would simply get it.

Yes, the older Arturia GUI's suck, I remember the Yamaha emulation, I was like wtf is that, when I first opened it. I could simply not use it, no matter how hard I tried.

[2ZrgE]

Why would they add new presets when there are already hundreds included, not to mention all the sound sets out there?

As a friendly gesture to their customers? The 3rd party sound sets do not really count as they are not free.

AFAIK there are only four (five?) factory banks with 128 patches each, that's not really that much by today's standards.

What about a new filter? Skinning? A better patch browser? Must be really hard to progam those...

All I'm saying is that my money goes to companies where I can expect a bit of customer care, communication, frequent bug fixes, updates (and some nice gifts once in a while).

[fluffy_little_something]

Yes, 4 banks, most presets are not good, indeed. But they rarely are with any synth. There is a Jump pseudo-Oberheim patch, that really has little similarity to the original. Most brass patches with any synth have that ugly bump at the beginning, which should not be there. Sound designers should really spend some more time to get the envelopes right.
Most presets are also too loud. S1 is a terribly loud synth, insane output.

The existing ilters seem fine to me, especially the 24db one. A formant filter would be nice, though.

Skinning, well, I would not mind if the GUI were a bit bigger and the display controls more legible, but other than that I like it the way it is. I want to make music, not work as a designer.

Patch browser is good enough for me. What are you missing?

[wagtunes]

Yes, 4 banks, most presets are not good, indeed. But they rarely are with any synth. There is a Jump pseudo-Oberheim patch, that really has little similarity to the original. Most brass patches with any synth have that ugly bump at the beginning, which should not be there. Sound designers should really spend some more time to get the envelopes right.
Most presets are also too loud. S1 is a terribly loud synth, insane output.

The existing ilters seem fine to me, especially the 24db one. A formant filter would be nice, though.

Skinning, well, I would not mind if the GUI were a bit bigger and the display controls more legible, but other than that I like it the way it is. I want to make music, not work as a designer.

Patch browser is good enough for me. What are you missing?

If this wasn't so sad it would be comical. You have all this negative stuff to say about the synth and yet you don't understand why I don't feel it's worth $158.

Unbelievable.

[fluffy_little_something]

Huh? I do understand why it is too expensive for you, and I told you I only got it during the recent sale myself.

I am not naive, I know S1 is not perfect. But what I listed there are cons I can live with. I don't use factory presets anyway, I always make my own, so I don't care about those 512 mediocre and even useless factory presets.

[fluffy_little_something]

The problem is also that there is no real alternative to S1, everything else I know has too few or too many features, a problematic GUI or excessive CPU hunger.

[wagtunes]

Huh? I do understand why it is too expensive for you, and I told you I only got it during the recent sale myself.

I am not naive, I know S1 is not perfect. But what I listed there are cons I can live with. I don't use factory presets anyway, I always make my own, so I don't care about those 512 mediocre and even useless factory presets.

Well, then that makes Sylenth1 even less useful for me. I already have tons of synths that I would have to make my own presets for. Yes, I agree with you. Most synths have miserable presets. There are some exceptions though. Still, there are always too many that are just wasted space, on any synth...even Omnisphere.

For Sylenth1 to be of use to me, it would have to have ITB presets that are already established "big sounds" on songs and be a lot less than $158. Under those conditions, I would get it in a heartbeat.

[fluffy_little_something]

What is ITB?

[wagtunes]

What is ITB?

Factory presets. Just pull them up and play. If there is little in Sylenth1 that is good enough to go on a recording without having to program the thing from scratch then I've already got plenty of those synths.

In fact, one of the things I was personally disappointed in with Zebra 2 is that I didn't think the factory patches were all that great. Some of the free 3rd party users patches were okay, but ultimately this was a synth that I just had to dive into myself and program from scratch, which is why I made my own soundbank for it.

Trust me, too many synths have a lot of capability but give you very little immediate satisfaction. Blue II is a great exception. The presets on that thing are amazing. Value wise, nothing beats it. That is a synth I would have paid full price for. That I got it so cheap is gravy.

Now, my modulars (MUX, KarmaFX, Sonigen) are amazing. I can do more with those synths than anything I own. But they don't come with a lot of presets, let alone good ones. Those synths you buy for their versatility, NOT for their patches. Maybe that explains why Sonigen is free (at least it was when I got it) and MUX and KarmaFX are both under $75.

I've been using synths long enough to know what's a good value and what isn't. Yes, compared to the old, old days when there WERE no presets and you made everything yourself (Moog, ARP, Oberheim) you were paying solely for the sound. Today, I expect more because designers have the ability to give more. This isn't 1979 anymore.

Had I been doing PC recording 9 years ago (I still was working in a hardware studio) I might have gotten Sylenth1. Heck, it probably was the best thing out there 9 years ago. I don't doubt it. Because it still sounds decent today.

But today? It's just terribly outclassed.

[fluffy_little_something]

I meant, what does ITB stand for?

I have Mux as well, more precisely Mulab including Mux. But since the DAW seemed a bit incompatible with my computer, I no longer use the included synth, either, because it can't be used in another DAW.

I know that I like S1 because seldom before have I made so many new patches within so little time. That is a good indicator, I suppose

If its user interface were not so horrible, Poly-Ana might have been an alternative for me, it seems to have a pleasant sound. And it has a full parallel/stereo architecture, which I insist on. But that guy seems a bit choleric and rude anyway, judging from some threads. So Poly-Ana is off my list as well.

[wagtunes]

I meant, what does ITB stand for?

I have Mux as well, more precisely Mulab including Mux. But since the DAW seemed a bit incompatible with my computer, I no longer use the included synth, either, because it can't be used in another DAW.

I know that I like S1 because seldom before have I made so many new patches within so little time. That is a good indicator, I suppose

If its user interface were not so horrible, Poly-Ana might have been an alternative for me, it seems to have a pleasant sound. And it has a full parallel/stereo architecture, which I insist on. But that guy seems a bit choleric and rude anyway, judging from some threads. So Poly-Ana is off my list as well.

ITB - In The Box. Usually reserved for recording totally within the confines of your DAW. No external hardware synths, etc.

PolyAna sounds nice but the GUI makes my eyes hurt. It's just too much on the screen at one time. Without the big dials (there is an option to replace then with drop downs) it's a little better, but it's still difficult for my 57 year old eyes.

Yes, if you can make patches quickly with Sylenth1 and they serve your purpose then I guess that's all that matters. Like I said, if they ever have a half off sale (provided it actually works on Windows 7 64 bit) I'll definitely pick it up. It has a decent sound and, as a friend of mine who will be working on a song with me said, it's the industry standard for the sound. He even told me to get it but I told him flat out, not for $158. Unless of course he wants to buy it for me.

[fluffy_little_something]

Oh, I thought ITB was some sub-genre of EDM
Here in Europe it's even more, 168 euros, that's more than 190 dollars

[Nightpolymath]

Oh, I thought ITB was some sub-genre of EDM
Here in Europe it's even more, 168 euros, that's more than 190 dollars

It's the new India Trance Bollywood genre hitting the clubs in Mumbai right now.

[wagtunes]

Oh, I thought ITB was some sub-genre of EDM
Here in Europe it's even more, 168 euros, that's more than 190 dollars

See, here's a synth that I love. Bazille. It's $129. So why don't I have it yet?

Well, it's very niche. I'd use it mostly for old school electronic like Tangerine Dream. It's not something I'd use for doing top 40 pop tracks, at least not exclusively.

I will probably get it someday because what it does it does so well. It is a truly unique synth and I'm a sucker for modulars.

Were Sylenth1 something like that (niche with a really great sound) I might have gotten it. But it's actually a basic bread and butter synth, which is great if that's what you need. For somebody with no synths at all, it may still be a good choice if you're into the genres that synth specializes in. But as a 2nd or 3rd synth, if you've already got a bread and butter one that was more recently made, like Blue II, it's just outclassed.

I really do hope that one day the developer will realize that if he lowered the price he'd probably make more sales. Or maybe he doesn't care. That it's been so long since he's made any kind of update to the synth, maybe he simply has other things to do.

[fluffy_little_something]

Tell me a song of the kind you make and for which S1 is not appropriate. Just so I know what you are talking about...

Yes, S1 is a bread-and-butter synth, that is what I was looking for While it is 9 years old now (same as Poly-Ana by the way), I think it feels much younger because the developer was years ahead of his time when he programmed it.

I think if one gave it a completely new user interface and name, hardly anyone would guess its age in a blind test.