Is the Sylenth 1 still good?

[fluffy_little_something]

I have always loved this Sylenth track, actually it was what got me interested in it in the first place. Without that short track I would not even have demoed it.

[wagtunes]

Guys, let's argue about taste, ok?

Btw, it's perfectly fine if you guys don't think the difference to what other synths offer isn't big enough to justify a purchase. Each to its like. Thing is just that there's also a hell of a lot of people who think Sylenth1 has been ahead of other synths sonically for quite some time, and that's what created such a hype about it. Nowadays, i would agree that there's probably a few synth which superseded it now, but until like 2011 or so, i couldn't really think of many soft synths which could have get the job dones better than Sylenth1 did. It surely sounds better, IMO, than Z3TA, Audjoo Helix, or Dune 1. IMO, it also sounds better than Dune 2, but that's rather personal preference because there's just some character i sort of dislike about it since the beginning. Ok, a bit arguing about taste too now, but the mass appeal kinda speaks for itself i guess.

The thing is, is the mass appeal kind of a self perpetuating thing?

Since Sylenth1 was probably the first synth to sound this good considering how old it is (that in itself does impress me) has it simply gotten to a point where producers go "Everybody's been using Sylenth1, people know the sound and seem to like it so screw it, even though I have all these other choices, why mess with success" and ultimately just get Sylenth1 just because?

I mean seriously, if we took the sounds of Sylenth1 and Dune 2, just as an example, and ran them through some kind of analyzer, would we really see that big a difference if any at all?

I mean I know I'm not 18 anymore and I may have lost some of the high end of my hearing but I'm just not hearing anything out of Sylenth1 that makes me say "OMG, this just blows away everything else that makes these sounds."

I think Dune 2 and Electra 2, just off the top of my head, are perfectly fine substitutes for Sylenth1 and John Doe on the street wouldn't know the difference.

I think producers have just gotten complacent since the synth has worked so well in the past. Add to that the fact that it takes up almost no CPU and it's kind of a no brainer to use if you don't want to take risks because your next project depends on the sound selling. That I can see and understand. But this whole "Sylenth1 is the best supersaw whatever synth ever" just doesn't wash with me. It's good. And I'll even go as far as to say that maybe as far as the general sound goes it's as good as everything else. But the best? I'm not hearing that out of this world greatness.

Then again, I don't really hear that in any synth. I've heard synths that sound like pure crap (a lot of free synthedit ones) but for the most part, most quality high end synths sound good. But I wouldn't single out one synth that sounds so amazing that I'd sell all my other ones because of it. And certainly not Sylenth1.

It's just another good sounding synth.

[fluffy_little_something]

Sylenth is known for its brightness, so at age 58 your hearing might indeed play a role why they all sound the same to you.

[chk071]

Guys, let's argue about taste, ok?

Btw, it's perfectly fine if you guys don't think the difference to what other synths offer isn't big enough to justify a purchase. Each to its like. Thing is just that there's also a hell of a lot of people who think Sylenth1 has been ahead of other synths sonically for quite some time, and that's what created such a hype about it. Nowadays, i would agree that there's probably a few synth which superseded it now, but until like 2011 or so, i couldn't really think of many soft synths which could have get the job dones better than Sylenth1 did. It surely sounds better, IMO, than Z3TA, Audjoo Helix, or Dune 1. IMO, it also sounds better than Dune 2, but that's rather personal preference because there's just some character i sort of dislike about it since the beginning. Ok, a bit arguing about taste too now, but the mass appeal kinda speaks for itself i guess.

The thing is, is the mass appeal kind of a self perpetuating thing?

Since Sylenth1 was probably the first synth to sound this good considering how old it is (that in itself does impress me) has it simply gotten to a point where producers go "Everybody's been using Sylenth1, people know the sound and seem to like it so screw it, even though I have all these other choices, why mess with success" and ultimately just get Sylenth1 just because?

There's probably a point to that, yes. I don't fully trust hypes either, but found that there's usually at least a base for it, and Sylenth1 definitely sounds good, and for those supersaw trance sounds, it's nearly perfect, that's why they all use it. But as you said, there's surely the "go safe" factor of getting THAT sound immediately why it's being used also. But why would you want THAT sound if it was bad?

[Teksonik]

Guys, let's argue about taste, ok?

That's what we're doing.............

I own both Sylenth and DUNE 2 and they compliment each other very well. Sylenth has a nice raw edge while D2 is more smooth and polished so layering them together yields some awesome results.

If I had to choose one it would be DUNE 2 since it's range of sounds is much wider due to the Wavetables and 8 Layer architecture........

[fluffy_little_something]

I own both Sylenth and DUNE 2 and they compliment each other very well. Sylenth has a nice raw edge while D2 is more smooth and polished so layering them together yields some awesome results.

Isn't it complement?

I would not know what to do with 8 layers. I guess it was Quincy Jones that said that a good pad is a simple pad. And I share that view. Many sounds today are much too complex.

[wagtunes]

Sylenth is known for its brightness, so at age 58 your hearing might indeed play a role why they all sound the same to you.

And you really think some 18 year old kid walking down the street with a boom box is going to hear two songs, one with Sylenth1 and the other with Dune 2 and go "Damn, that Sylenth1 song kicks ass while that Dune 2 song sucks"?

Really?

Somehow I doubt they'll even know they were two different synths.

[fluffy_little_something]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

[wagtunes]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

I didn't say they sound the same. I said the kid couldn't tell the difference nor would he care. All he cares about is the song.

Do you deny that?

[chk071]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

I didn't say they sound the same. I said the kid couldn't tell the difference nor would he care. All he cares about is the song.

Do you deny that?

I don't think that's the sort of demanding attitude pro producers have. I think they would always go for the best sound, no matter which instrument, or fx plugin would deliver it for them. You could argue that the (common) kid listening to it won't hear a difference, but then, if it didn't matter you could just use Synth1, and freeware fx plugins. It might get you halfway where you want to be with a lot of work, but that surely won't be enough if quality is what you strive for.

No offense to the people using Synth1, damn good plugin, but i guess it's the general opinion that it's not quite as well sounding as most of the more expensive payware these days.

[wagtunes]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

I didn't say they sound the same. I said the kid couldn't tell the difference nor would he care. All he cares about is the song.

Do you deny that?

I don't think that's the sort of demanding attitude pro producers have. I think they would always go for the best sound, no matter which instrument, or fx plugin would deliver it for them. You could argue that the (common) kid listening to it won't hear a difference, but then, if it didn't matter you could just use Synth1, and freeware fx plugins. It might get you halfway where you want to be with a lot of work, but that surely won't be enough if quality is what you strive for.

No offense to the people using Synth1, damn good plugin, but i guess it's the general opinion that it's not quite as well sounding as most of the more expensive payware these days.

Except I'm not comparing Sylenth1 to a free VST. Believe me, I can hear the difference between a $200 VST and Synth1, which is a fine synth but it's no Dune 2, Zebra 2 or whatever.

I'm comparing it to another high end VST. And I contend that if you slipped in Dune 2 in to the mix in place of Sylenth1 for the same song, nobody who just casually listens to music would be able to tell the difference and their enjoyment of the song would be exactly the same.

[EnGee]

I own both Sylenth and DUNE 2 and they compliment each other very well. Sylenth has a nice raw edge while D2 is more smooth and polished so layering them together yields some awesome results.

Amen to that.

[talking in general]
No one is putting a sword on your neck and tell you "Just choose one"!

I like Dune 2, Spire, Hive and Sylenth1. If I can afford it, I would buy all of them! But for now I just have Dune 2 which is from the top synths in my setup together with others like Bazille, Blofeld, Element 2, Razor, Monark ...etc

Anyway, if you don't like the sound, don't buy it! It's as simple as that!

[Teksonik]

Isn't it complement?

Yes you're right, my bad..........

I guess it was Quincy Jones that said that a good pad is a simple pad. And I share that view. Many sounds today are much too complex.

Simple Pads are so 1980's. Simple things amuse simple minds...........

[fluffy_little_something]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

I didn't say they sound the same. I said the kid couldn't tell the difference nor would he care. All he cares about is the song.

Do you deny that?

The sound as such is also part of the song. Else artists might as well spare themselves the effort and simply record the same songs with a single acoustic guitar.

I have always listened very closely to the way instruments sounded, especially synths. Songs by early Kool and the Gang, the whole Quincy Jones stable, Marvin Gaye, Ivan Lins etc. have played a huge role in shaping my taste of synth sounds. When I hear the synths in Summer Madness it is magic, compared to that everything today is just utter crap.

[wagtunes]

Where or when do you live? I haven't seen people with boomboxes walking down the street in decades

Nor does it matter whether or not they have any idea of which synths are out there. All that matters is which sound they prefer. If they all sounded the same, it would indeed be irrelevant. But they don't really sound all the same.

And for me as a synth player other aspects such as GUI, workflow, etc. also play a big role.

I didn't say they sound the same. I said the kid couldn't tell the difference nor would he care. All he cares about is the song.

Do you deny that?

The sound as such is also part of the song. Else artists might as well spare themselves the effort and simply record the same songs with a single acoustic guitar.

I have always listened very closely to the way instruments sounded, especially synths. Songs by early Kool and the Gang, the whole Quincy Jones stable, Marvin Gaye, Ivan Lins etc. have played a huge role in shaping my taste of synth sounds. When I hear the synths in Summer Madness it is magic, compared to that everything today is just utter crap.

So if you took a song of today made with Sylenth1 and replaced it with Dune 2 or similar synth, a person listening to that song would be able to tell the difference and would not like the Dune 2 version as much because it's inferior.

Is that what you're suggesting? Because if so, I challenge you on that. I don't think many people, if any at all, would know the difference or care.