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

[wagtunes]

Now that AIR Loom is available for demo, I wanted to report back on it.

THIS is the synth I was looking for.

Looking at the specs I see i5 or i7 recommended. Not an issue anymore in your search, while it was for other good sounding synths in previous pages? Remarkable. At least.

I did eventually download Dune 2 and yes, it did work. So I've learned that you have to take "minimum" specs with a grain of salt. However, prior to that, you can't blame me for reading that a particular product will not work well on my machine if my specs aren't up to the minimum. With video games, which I have stopped playing, I learned that specs matter a lot and many games I tried out didn't work. And with games, you can't return them. So forgive me if I take a manufacturer of a product at his word that my PC won't be up to spec.

** EDIT ** Well, it looks like I'll be taking Loom off my list. As much as I love the sound and flexibility, it keeps blowing up Cubase from trivial operations such as importing a wave or even just moving from one preset to another. I've never had this problem with a 64 bit plugin that costs as much as Loom does.

Oh well, so it looks like I'm back to Spectral and possibly Sunrizer when the Windows version comes out.

That sucks that you are having Loom problems. I've never had any issues so far. Hopefully you'll give Loom another chance, because it really is something special.

Me neither, and I've used it a lot, but not updated to 1.0.5 yet as it seemed mainly aimed at ProTools users, maybe that is the problem?

As it's a brand new update, it's quite possible it does have bugs in it. But given that the 1.0.4 isn't available anymore (I looked) there's nothing I can do until they fix whatever it is. By that time, my demo license will be expired and I won't get a chance to demo it again.

So either way, it's unlikely I will be getting this amazing sounding synth.

[dwozzle]

If it's a question of the demo timing out before it's stable enough to run on your system, I hate to sound like a broken record, but ping Simon. He's really good at turning rules into more humanly-sensible decisions.

[wagtunes]

If it's a question of the demo timing out before it's stable enough to run on your system, I hate to sound like a broken record, but ping Simon. He's really good at turning rules into more humanly-sensible decisions.

And how exactly do I do that? Does he have an email, thread on this forum, support area?

[dwozzle]

There's an official AIR forum here, or you can PM him at sbangs_air. He's around these forums a lot too.

[wagtunes]

There's an official AIR forum here, or you can PM him at sbangs_air. He's around these forums a lot too.

Okay, I posted at the forum here. Hopefully, I'll get a response soon.

[dwozzle]

Not a bad idea, but really, PM sbangs_air. A veritable white knight he is, fixes all manner of sideways.

[wagtunes]

Not a bad idea, but really, PM sbangs_air. A veritable white knight he is, fixes all manner of sideways.

Well, his ultimate response was to upgrade my Cubase which, at the time, I am reluctant to do. I've had nothing but problems with Cubase since day 1 and almost regret picking it as my DAW, but at the time I knew nothing about DAWs, was told Cubase was the best so that's what I went with. Maybe today I would make a different decision. I don't know.

What I do know is that the few problems I have with Cubase now I can live with. At least I know what will work and what won't work. Upgrading, which I've already done once and did nothing but cause different problems, just isn't something I want to risk, not with so much work that I have to get done.

So I'll be passing on Loom for now.

In the meantime, since I did have some free time today, I finally downloaded the Symtohm demo. I have to say i was very disappointed with it.

I'm going to guess that this synth is very old. The GUI is so small I can't read it. There is no way I can program with it. But even without the small GUI, the sounds, by today's standards, is poor. Yes, you can get some quirky sounds out of it because of the architecture, but the sound quality itself is not up to today's standards at all and I can't see paying $104 for it.

But it's all moot anyway. The GUI is so small I don't know how anybody works with it.

So I can cross this synth off my list of possible purchases.

[EnGee]

Well, his ultimate response was to upgrade my Cubase which, at the time, I am reluctant to do. I've had nothing but problems with Cubase since day 1 and almost regret picking it as my DAW, but at the time I knew nothing about DAWs, was told Cubase was the best so that's what I went with. Maybe today I would make a different decision. I don't know.

What I do know is that the few problems I have with Cubase now I can live with. At least I know what will work and what won't work. Upgrading, which I've already done once and did nothing but cause different problems, just isn't something I want to risk, not with so much work that I have to get done.

So I'll be passing on Loom for now.

I tested all Air plugins with Cubase Elements 7.0.80 (the latest update) and I couldn't find any bugs. I didn't test every function of course, but I did try different approaches. I tried to crash Loom by pressing next and previous preset very fast while playing fast with the keyboard. But nothing! It is very stable with all my DAWs includes Cubase Elements which is the cut down version of Cubase.

There are no reports about Loom crashing Cubase in the beta forum. I thought I would be the first one to report but nothing. So, I find it very logical of him to ask you if you tried to update from 7.0.6 to 7.0.7 if he (or the others) can't reproduce what you have experienced.

Anyway, good luck with your search (or research). IMO there are many great synths out there. It makes my head dizzy trying to choose one!

Well, back to Transfuser. I've just discovered now that there are synth and bass modules and with just a little of playing around I could put a nice bassline with drums. Damn! Transfuser/Hybrid 3 is eating my time with disco beats

[wagtunes]

Well, his ultimate response was to upgrade my Cubase which, at the time, I am reluctant to do. I've had nothing but problems with Cubase since day 1 and almost regret picking it as my DAW, but at the time I knew nothing about DAWs, was told Cubase was the best so that's what I went with. Maybe today I would make a different decision. I don't know.

What I do know is that the few problems I have with Cubase now I can live with. At least I know what will work and what won't work. Upgrading, which I've already done once and did nothing but cause different problems, just isn't something I want to risk, not with so much work that I have to get done.

So I'll be passing on Loom for now.

I tested all Air plugins with Cubase Elements 7.0.80 (the latest update) and I couldn't find any bugs. I didn't test every function of course, but I did try different approaches. I tried to crash Loom by pressing next and previous preset very fast while playing fast with the keyboard. But nothing! It is very stable with all my DAWs includes Cubase Elements which is the cut down version of Cubase.

There are no reports about Loom crashing Cubase in the beta forum. I thought I would be the first one to report but nothing. So, I find it very logical of him to ask you if you tried to update from 7.0.6 to 7.0.7 if he (or the others) can't reproduce what you have experienced.

Anyway, good luck with your search (or research). IMO there are many great synths out there. It makes my head dizzy trying to choose one!

Well, back to Transfuser. I've just discovered now that there are synth and bass modules and with just a little of playing around I could put a nice bassline with drums. Damn! Transfuser/Hybrid 3 is eating my time with disco beats

Believe me, I am very sad that I can't get Loom to work in Cubase 7.0.6. I'd update to 7.0.7 if my business didn't depend on this thing working at least as well as it does. As I said, if I had to do it over again, I might have gone with a different DAW as I've never been completely happy with Cubase from day 1. But it's too late to switch over to anything else now. The learning curve alone would slow me up too much.

In the meantime, since somebody said that recommended system specs don't really mean anything, I decided to try out Lush 101. Well to make a long story shot, it too blew up my DAW and the GUI, while big itself, has so much stuff on one screen that I can't read the details of each section.

Why do manufacturers do this? Can't they make a GUI that is readable on a PC that isn't even at the highest resolution by today's standards? I'm only running 1280 wide. That is not that big.

I can't tell you how many synths I have had to pass on over the last 2 years because the GUIs were impossible to read. It's very frustrating.

As for the sound of Lush, it's really nice. But it's moot if I can't read it to program it and it blows up my DAW.

[EnGee]

If I were you, I would save some money and maybe sell few synths and invest in upgrading the monitor (to 27" or 32") and the processor to i5 or i7.

[wagtunes]

If I were you, I would save some money and maybe sell few synths and invest in upgrading the monitor (to 27" or 32") and the processor to i5 or i7.

Won't a bigger monitor just make these small GUIs worse?

As for upgrading the processor that's not an option. I'm not going to go into the reasons why because then that's just going to start another back and forth between a bunch of people that I don't want to get into. Suffice it to say, I'm stuck with an I3 until this PC dies. And I'm fine with an I3. Everything that needs to run on it runs fine.

[EnGee]

Won't a bigger monitor just make these small GUIs worse?

It depends. If you can find 32" with FHD resolution (1920x1080) that would be great for all.
27" is fine for most plugins and was the available option when I bought it more than a year ago.
The more expensive 4k monitors would make it tiny due to the big resolution.

[2ZrgE]

If I were you, I would save some money and maybe sell few synths and invest in upgrading the monitor (to 27" or 32") and the processor to i5 or i7.

The GUI designers just should do their homework and programming zoomable GUIs instead of useless 'good looking' eye candy which only works at a specific resolution.

It's possible, there are companies capable of that (not mentioning names here...)

[wagtunes]

Won't a bigger monitor just make these small GUIs worse?

It depends. If you can find 32" with FHD resolution (1920x1080) that would be great for all.
27" is fine for most plugins and was the available option when I bought it more than a year ago.
The more expensive 4k monitors would make it tiny due to the big resolution.

Well, I just measured the area where my PC is and the largest monitor I have room for is about 21 inches. I currently have a 17 inch so I doubt that extra 4 inches is going to make much difference at all.

In the meantime, I have reevaluated my list and have decided to put Dune 2 on it. I thought about what somebody said and they're right. What Dune 2 adds to what I already have should make it a candidate for inclusion.

So here is my list of possibles as it stands right now.

Spectral
Sunrizer
Syn'X
Dune 2

I took Oxium off after demoing it again last night for quite some time and it's just too narrow a synth compared to the 4 on this list. I removed it pretty much for the same reason I discounted Diva. In fact, the only reason it was still on was because of the low price ($104). But I have decided that I still want to go with a synth that has broader applications.

Anyway once Sunrizer is available for PC, I'll test it and at that time I should be able to make my final decision.

I am still very disappointed at some great sounding synths with horrible GUIs. Not that it matters because I realize that they are never going to change.

[1wob2many]

I doubt that extra 4 inches is going to make much difference at all.

Tell that to the ladies.