Wow Me! (Synth Suggestions...Dune 2 Winner Prize Ready...Update 5/5)

[wagtunes]

Fartmaker and 4STEPannoyer.

I can't find these so I'm going to assume that this is a joke.

Ha, ha.

[lnikj]

Regarding Aalto & Kavio's interfaces.

Personally, I would call these a triumph of interface design - Retina/HDPI ready and scaleable. I wish all plugins had interfaces that worked as well as this.

Each to their own!

[samsam]

Fartmaker and 4STEPannoyer.

I can't find these so I'm going to assume that this is a joke.

Ha, ha.

In fairness it's easy to assume that a thread stating that you own 100 synths but want recommendations for more is a joke.

[wagtunes]

Fartmaker and 4STEPannoyer.

I can't find these so I'm going to assume that this is a joke.

Ha, ha.

In fairness it's easy to assume that a thread stating that you own 100 synths but want recommendations for more is a joke.

I'm sorry you feel that way. So nobody owns many VSTs? We all use just one or two and that's it?

Regardless, I assure you that I am not in any way joking. But if you don't want to assist me, that's fine. There is nothing here for you to see.

[foosnark]

The interface on Kaivo didn't make me want to keep messing with it.

Just looking at the screenshot on their website (http://madronalabs.com/media/kaivo/images/Kaivo1.1.png):

- a ton of criscrossing red lines. Great. I'll just trace every one of those with my finger and try to figure out what the hell is going on... on second thought, not worth my time.
- why those color and font choices? Vague green on green. Little italic letters. Ugh.
- in the "Key" section those connecting nodes or whatever are so close together, that labels are staggered on two lines. That's not terribly intuitive to read. Yet elsewhere there seems to be plenty of space between them.
- there are little dials apparently controlling something to do with other bigger dials, but offhand I couldn't guess what.
- do the colors of the larger parameter dials mean anything? If it's just supposed to visiaully group sections together, why are some of the sequencer ones blue and some red?
- what's the big empty display for Envelope 1? Why is sustain not in line with attack/decay/release as everyone is used to?
- without reading a manual, the granulator is kind of baffling. "noise, pink to white" doesn't look anything like any granulator I've ever used, and there's not much of a clue as to how it relates to the physical model. Maybe it's less insane in practice.
- a 2D LFO looks like a clever thing, but working out how the individual X and Y values translate takes too much thought to be intuitive. (Maybe in practice it's not so bad.)

[wagtunes]

The interface on Kaivo didn't make me want to keep messing with it.

Just looking at the screenshot on their website (http://madronalabs.com/media/kaivo/images/Kaivo1.1.png):

- a ton of criscrossing red lines. Great. I'll just trace every one of those with my finger and try to figure out what the hell is going on... on second thought, not worth my time.
- why those color and font choices? Vague green on green. Little italic letters. Ugh.
- in the "Key" section those connecting nodes or whatever are so close together, that labels are staggered on two lines. That's not terribly intuitive to read. Yet elsewhere there seems to be plenty of space between them.
- there are little dials apparently controlling something to do with other bigger dials, but offhand I couldn't guess what.
- do the colors of the larger parameter dials mean anything? If it's just supposed to visiaully group sections together, why are some of the sequencer ones blue and some red?
- what's the big empty display for Envelope 1? Why is sustain not in line with attack/decay/release as everyone is used to?
- without reading a manual, the granulator is kind of baffling. "noise, pink to white" doesn't look anything like any granulator I've ever used, and there's not much of a clue as to how it relates to the physical model. Maybe it's less insane in practice.
- a 2D LFO looks like a clever thing, but working out how the individual X and Y values translate takes too much thought to be intuitive. (Maybe in practice it's not so bad.)

My biggest problems with the interface were...

1) The top/bottom design. Used to working left to right.

2) In trying to reverse engineer the presets in order to understand how this thing works, could not trace the wires with all the criss crossing. And I've worked on plenty of modulars. This one is simple a GUI nightmare.

And then, the sounds, what ones I managed to make and get off the presets, didn't wow me either.

Maybe it's just me but this is one synth I just don't like at all.

And that is rare.

[Lotuzia]

......

In fairness it's easy to assume that a thread stating that you own 100 synths but want recommendations for more is a joke.

An interesting point is made here. I think that Its precisely when your synth collection begins to become *respectable* that you should need the biggest help of the community to point you towards synthesizers that really stand out of the crowd.

If you only have one or two synths, then a lot of instruments will offer you something somewhat different, so a thread mentioning almost every synth under the sun might be relevant ( and it usually ends like this on Kvr anyway ) I have less synths than the OP, and amongst them, some I just dont even bother to reinstall. But I'm always hunting something different, unique, something that offers me pleasure to program, and joy to play. The more synths you have, the more picky about acquiring new ones you'll be, it sems natural to me, but it doesnt automatically means that you stop searching and expanding your sonic territories and knowledge

[wagtunes]

......

In fairness it's easy to assume that a thread stating that you own 100 synths but want recommendations for more is a joke.

An interesting point is made here. I think that Its precisely when your synth collection begins to become *respectable* that you should need the biggest help of the community to point you towards synthesizers that really stand out of the crowd.

If you only have one or two synths, then a lot of instruments will offer you something somewhat different, so a thread mentioning almost every synth under the sun might be relevant ( and it usually ends like this on Kvr anyway ) I have less synths than the OP, and amongst them, some I just dont even bother to reinstall. But I'm always hunting something different, unique, something that offers me pleasure to program, and joy to play. The more synths you have, the more picky about acquiring new ones you'll be, it sems natural to me, but it doesnt automatically means that you stop searching and expanding your sonic territories and knowledge

Thank you. That is exactly where I am right now. Very little does anything for me and I'm talking about some nice sounding synths. But nice sounding isn't enough anymore. I have plenty of them.

Maybe what I'm looking for doesn't exist, but I won't know unless I search. And i can't search for what I don't know exists. The people who have been kind enough to contribute to this thread have no idea how helpful they've been. Over the last couple of days I have listened to and/or demoed the following synths.

Symtohm *
Diva
Diversion
AIR Loom
Rhino
Syn'X
Oxium *
Synplant
Enzyme *
Dune 2
Spire
Razor
Spectral *
Lush 101
Roland SH2
CRX4
Helix
Surge
VirtualCZ
Sunrizer *

The * ones were the ones I liked the most. From those, due to a combination of bad GUIs, synths that won't play on my PC, sounds that were disappointing when demoed myself, and some odds and ends reasons, I am down to these three.

Oxium 104
Spectral 149
Sunrizer 50

The figures after the synth names are the prices. Sunrizer won't be available for PC for another 2 to 3 weeks according to the developer. I am really anxious to test that one before I make a decision. So I'm kind of on hold now until more suggestions come in. As my budget is $200 (I have to budget myself or I'll go broke) I may be able to get 2 synths should Sunrizer fall in 1st or 2nd place.

The Oxium/Spectral decision is going to be the hardest. They are two completely different synths that do two completely different things equally as well. The ultimate decision will come down to which one I feel I can get more out of for the music I make. In that respect I'm leaning towards Spectral but haven't decided definitely yet.

So again, my thanks to everybody who has contributed to this thread. And as I said, the winner gets a sound bank for that synth. Naturally, it will take me a while to put it together but it will be worth the wait. I promise.

[Lejurai]

Thanks but I'm not into hardware at all anymore.

Okay My situation is quite opposite Though I've made myself a holy promise that I'll only get waldorfs blofeld and pulse 2 and not a single more hardware synth until I make my living from music (which may be never).

Anyway, here is the list of synths I've listened to so far and these are my preliminary ratings on a scale of 1-5 (5 being best) for each one based just on sound demos.

Symtohm - 4.5
Diva - 4
Diversion - 3.5
AIR Loom - 5
Rhino - 4.5
Syn'X - 4
Oxium - 5
Synplant - 5
Enzyme - 5

Symptohm is awesome.. In my books Symptohm and Diversion would get 6

The Oxium/Spectral decision is going to be the hardest.

If I had to choose I'd maybe go for spectral. Oxium is better in being a characterful VA (IMO) but spectral is more versatile. But hey how about grabbing Oxium as second hand? That way you could get both

[Robmobius]

And then, the sounds, what ones I managed to make and get off the presets, didn't wow me either.

Maybe it's just me but this is one synth I just don't like at all.

And that is rare.

I wasn't wowed by the interface either or the presets. But the sound is pristine imo.

[Lejurai]

...unfortunately it doesnt sound too great in reality. you would think it would...but really, everything it does sounds the same. i mean you can just sit there and hit the random button for an hour and not hear anything surprising or even really that interesting.

You're doing it wrong mr chaoswyrm

Sounds may need a bit filtering and fx and tweaking but it pays off.. Especially when trying to make some real instruments emulations. (plucking) Strings and piano type sounds are freaking awesome and off this world. Actually anything where you want some easy evolving (like pads) are super. But again fx and filters in this synths are quite.. Well you'll do better with DAWs own fx.

i dont want to hijack this thread too much...but...

it sounds like were talking about 2 very different synths here. im not doing it "wrong" im just not using it for those kinds of sounds, which i can get better from other synths, and for which its not really intended. i would never even think about going to enzyme for an evolving pad, thats what wusik or psygen is for, and plucks...well i have serum...enzyme cant even begin to compete with those for those kinds of sounds. it would be unfair to even fault it for that, thats how not for those sounds it is.

its intended for creating "different/new" sounds and ear splitting harshness and aggression (with is psycho and danger buttons, complete with gas mask and fall out symbols)...which it does achieve (well the ear splitting and aggression anyway). i mean just look at the factory presets, there are very few patches that dont fall under the "harsh" category, and the marketing is squarely in the industrial and dubstep areas.

thats all fine with me...thats why i got it. its just they all sound too alike. one of its main selling points was its ability to make sounds nothing else can...and unfortunately for me all those sounds are kinda the same.

i do agree with one thing though...it needs a lot of effects on it, as it has a tendency to come off a bit thin and tinny.

who knows...maybe ill give it another chance. maybe my initial disappointment in its (lack of) range and over all sound quality has jaded me against it.

sure...why not? ill spend some more time with it later and see if i can salvage it.

ok...sorry...back to our regularly scheduled program.

I meant that hitting just random is "doing it wrong" It's true that it may not be the most versatile synth on market.. Like I said the only useful area (for me) that I've found is guitar,piano and pad style sounds. Yea and harsh highbass wobbles and throttles, since the lacking bottom end.

I've never checked the presets so can't really say anything about them.

[Lejurai]

Btw discodsp corona is quite nice too.. Way underrated though. It's quite basic 3 osc 2 filters synth but there are several ways to combine oscillators that makes it unique. It also has great arp.

[2ZrgE]

My biggest problems with the interface were...

1) The top/bottom design. Used to working left to right.

2) In trying to reverse engineer the presets in order to understand how this thing works, could not trace the wires with all the criss crossing. And I've worked on plenty of modulars. This one is simple a GUI nightmare.

And then, the sounds, what ones I managed to make and get off the presets, didn't wow me either.

Maybe it's just me but this is one synth I just don't like at all.

And that is rare.

You wouldn't have fun with it on a i3 anyways - I tested it a while ago and really liked it - but I never used a synth which so completely bend down my CPU with some patches, including Diva or Spire...I'm on a mobile i3, and even Diva can be handled with draft mode...

[BBFG#]

So nobody owns many VSTs? We all use just one or two and that's it?

Ha! "own" and "use" are completely different things...

I "own" many. Mostly because they came in a bundle where the price was simply cheaper than the two or three I actually wanted. And even with those three, come to find out that one doesn't do for me as much as I thought it might.

Generally, it comes down to about 3-6 I actually use at one time. And generally, they get picked from a slightly larger selection of 10-15 of semi-regulars. The other 30-40 are simply looked for by the required updates.

But it is still nice to have them available, just in case .

[wagtunes]

So nobody owns many VSTs? We all use just one or two and that's it?

Ha! "own" and "use" are completely different things...

I "own" many. Mostly because they came in a bundle where the price was simply cheaper than the two or three I actually wanted. And even with those three, come to find out that one doesn't do for me as much as I thought it might.

Generally, it comes down to about 3-6 I actually use at one time. And generally, they get picked from a slightly larger selection of 10-15 of semi-regulars. The other 30-40 are simply looked for by the required updates.

But it is still nice to have them available, just in case .

Then I must be a very weird person. I use everything I have. Recently I did one track with 22 different synths. In fact, it's up on Soundcloud.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... ent-synths

This track would have never sounded like this with just one or two synths. You can hear the different characters and how unusual it all sounds together.

Somewhere I have a list of what synths are on this track if anybody is interested.