SPC ArcSyn

[hesnotthemessiah]

Thankyou Steve for the feedback on my, and other posters, thoughts. Really looking forward to future development.

I hope ArcSyn users understand that, like many of the developers out there, this is not a major money earner for a multi national corporation employing loads of staff. This is one person spending many, many hours, days, weeks and months (perhaps even years) for comparably small financial gain. So please be patient

ArcSyn needs it's 16 modulation slots. 8 modulation slots would be way too limiting for the modulation options this beauty possesses. That's the main reason for me loving ArcSyn - it doesn't limit itself to "the norm". If you want "the norm" then there is plenty of it out there. For those that feel limited by "the norm" get into ArcSyn and create some mad, beautiful, original sounds.

Could ArcSyn be the new moog?

[bmanic]

For those unhappy with the color scheme: try working with electra2 (all gray), and come back to arcsyn. It feels like fresh air!

Electra has the most spectacular visualizations of filters, oscs, and lfos on any synth. If it wasn't for the poor contrast on fonts and the huge complexity of having 4 layers for everything, it'd be a great learning synth.

Well, I have to strongly disagree with the above, just for some contrast in the discussion about UIs. ElectraX 2 is much easier on the eyes than ArcSynth in my opinion. ElectraX is also a much more logical layout for my brain and much easier to place on a smaller laptop screen as it spreads out the controls over a wide GUI rather than a high GUI like ArcSynth.

Also, the 4 layers is a very cool concept and anybody who has worked with a roland JV/XP type synth will have no issues with it. You don't have to use all the layers. You can stick to one if you want. Plenty of power right there.

[bmanic]

Anyhow, just had a few hours of play with ArcSynth and it is indeed superbly nice sounding in a peculiar way. It's almost as if some frequencies are missing.. it's sort of "thin" yet thick.. buzzy yet not "fizzy". Hard to put it down into words but it's definitely got it's very own sound.

I can imagine that it will be exceptionally easy to fit within a mix. This is a HUGE plus in my book.

There are issues and severe limitations though. First, the GUI is not nice to operate. It's way too vertical and the basic color scheme doesn't work all that well in a low light studio like environment, at least not for my eyes.

There are surprisingly few modulation destinations considering the amount of complexity that was put into the modulation sources and modifiers. Where are the various Envelope Attack, Decay, Sustain etc destinations? Where are the FX destinations? So many possibilities, so little realized.

Why doesn't panning of a filter work when you have FX routing in parallel mode? (EDIT: I got it now.. so it works as a mixer instead, choosing between 1st and 3rd fx slot when "hard panned". Would love a parallel routing where each effect is independent and not feeding into each other while still retaining the panning of the filters.)

Why does the mono chorus produce periodic clicks? Bugs probably.

Master output gain has too little range. If you want to internally gain stage some of the filter drive effects then you'll easily end up being too low in main output volume. Or the Slew Limiter FX.. why doesn't it have a post-limiting output gain control? If you use the slew limiter as a "blurring" fx and end up having quite a lot of it in the mix, you'll easily run into quite low audio levels. Master output needs at least +6dB more range.

So yeah, it's not at all perfect but I'm very tempted in purchasing this little synth due to it's peculiar sound quality alone. The low CPU hit is a massive bonus as well.

Cheers!
bManic

[shroom81]

Double clicking to reset knobs to default position would be nice


Well I should have RTFM first really, cntrl click resets to default.(alt for mac)
So on with the reading.

[Hez]

Been following this thread for a few days and had a chance to check it out tonight.

Agreed on feeling a little hampered by the modmatrix, both in design and in the number of available destinations. The genius of the modulation in this will be its selling point, but it needs to be made more user friendly - 5+ separate clicks in somewhat fiddly menus is too much IMO.

I don't think the GUI is terrible, but it's not hugely conducive to a fast workflow either. As mentioned earlier in the thread, something like Plugmons Zebra skin would probably make this an instant classic.

Over with the bad - I see some serious potential here. The concept behind the modulation is brilliant, and with a little more streamlining I could see myself reaching for this before a lot of other big-name synths for certain sounds, FX type stuff in particular. Haven't spent long enough with it to really know the sound yet, but it has already passed the psytrance Zenon-fart pitch squelch test with flying colours (phaser filters ftw)...

Microtuning support would also be rad.

Congratulations SPC!

[fceramic]

Some suggestions:
The mod matrix should be right by the modulation section for a better flow, especially with how it currently functions.
I would consider a faster way to assign modulation like right click options or a quick assign function like in DCAM. Modulation seems to be the biggest feature so it should be easy to access.
LFOs need to be faster to edit. Find ways to lessen the amount of steps for getting interesting sequences. Currently it seems like it was designed to require the most amount of clicks!
The LFO steps amount should be edited in the sequence and the default value of a step should be 127.

When it comes to looks I like the font and the differently size knobs, but I would make it a bit less contrasty and make those knobs look like actual knobs and not mahole covers.

Update: As a long time AD my advice for UI design is always: Copy then adapt. Find a reference you know works, copy it, then adapt it to your features.

Here's a quick edit with some adjustments to the layout and a suggestion for a minimal knob that goes with the rest of the theme which mostly seem to follow a flat design type.

[Touch The Universe]

there is an lp for distortion, any chance for a highpass? also not sure if you caught me last request for a right click menu to assign modulations, ie right click to assign lfo or env..

[Sampleconstruct]

For the records: on a Mac, dragging the AU component in the installer results in a wrong location, the component ends up in Library/Audio/Plug-Ins but it has to go to Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components - otherwise Logic won't be able to validate the plugin.

[Sampleconstruct]

First impression: Bravo, very good, intuitive, great sounding.
We do need more modulation slots (like 16+) and please give us at least some targets in the mod matrix for controlling FX, like balance would be a thing to start with. On a Retina screen the mod matrix is tiny, why not add the option to open a larger matrix in a new window, then 16 slots shouldn' t be a problem. Custom waveform import maybe? Pretty please...

Buying it now.

[Sampleconstruct]

I bought the AU version, if I also want the VST version, do I have to buy it again?

[Sampleconstruct]

First live on video test, I love this synth already, great modulation system/concept!

[Sampleconstruct]

Something more calm, using overtones/harmonics:

[Sampleconstruct]

When reloading a project, the preset name gets reset to “Init“, the sound is alright though.

[Sampleconstruct]

How do we set the combfilters to precise frequencies? I need 261,6 but it only lets me select 266 or 256 Hz and no key combination allows for fine-tuning the frequency. Could we have numeric keyboard entry please?

Ah, found it, shift+drag, the smallest interval seems to be 2 Hz though.

[Sampleconstruct]

Crystal Pad, combining a noise osc run through tuned combs with a warm pad - this synth so rocks!