Tone2 Saurus2...The Great Underrated?

[Apostate]

I was all set to sell this synth (I felt I had the "analog" thing covered with XILS IV, Arturia, and Diva) when I opened it in a project just for last minute s#$#s and giggles.

Well geez, this is actually a really good synth, isn't it. I found all kinds of neo-Carpenter goodness (which is a HUGE plus in my book), not to mention the usual Tone 2 excellence when it comes to onboard effects (the latter I concede is a very subjective taste). I found and even made some staggeringly interesting presets, and immediately shut the sale down.

Well worth keeping, and not just for the fact that the fees involved in selling this monster meant I'd practically be giving it away. It could stand to have more (perhaps a lot more) modulation options, but hey, for under a hundred bucks new you're getting a deal imo.

Good Saurus, here, have a Bronto-bone.

[Ingonator]

Got it since around 4 to 5 years and is one of my all time favorite synths. Besides Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V which is comparable in that respect still the synth i made the most patches with yet (around 280-300) where a lot of those are included with multiple soundsets at the official Tone2 shop.

FWIW some of the analog filter models in Tone2 Icarus seem to be based on the Saurus filters.

[wagtunes]

As an owner of 3 Tone 2 synths (Electra 2, Rayblaster, Icarus) I never really gave Saurus 2 a listen. Why? Just didn't feel I needed yet another analog emulation having owned Diva, Arturia Mini V3, ACE, ARP 2600 V3, ImpOSCar 2, Korg MS-20, Oberheim SEM, Retrologue, Softube Modular and XILS 4. But out of curiosity, I just went to the site and hit the play button on the first demo. The "Jump" patch is frighteningly accurate, having grown up during the era. The sound was originally played on an Oberheim OB-X, played through a Marshall amplifier stack. The OB-Xa was taken on the road for performance because the OB-X was unstable for road performance. But I digress. The sound of Saurus is good enough that I can't tell the difference.

As for the rest of the Saurus "emulations" don't know, don't care. The synth sounds great. It doesn't sound like a Tone 2 synth to me. The sound is infinitely richer and fatter than Rayblaster and Electra 2. And while I haven't tried, I don't think Icarus can sound like an OB-X. But that's not its strength. It's a wavetable synth which Saurus 2 is not. So the two synths are not really comparable.

So it would seem like this would be a no brainer purchase, except, again, I have so many analogue emulations already. Do I really need another one, as good as this thing sounds? Also, $108 (US price after conversion) isn't exactly dirt cheap.

I'm not ruling it out (though for business reasons it makes little sense as I doubt there is any market for 3rd party libraries for this thing) but if I do purchase it, it will be down the road a ways and only for my personal use to add its sonic palette to my collection.

But there is no question, this is one fine sounding synth.

[himalaya]

Fond memories of Saurus 1.

Here are some Jurassic-era demos:

Have you Seen Skrillex?

Tangerine

(the above heavily inspired by Tangerine Dream)

Kraftvolt

TOTEMVOLT

[ENV1]

I think the reason that this one never really took off was mostly bad timing. If i remember correctly it kinda rode on the waves that Diva was making at the time, and since everyone was so enamored with that one Saurus kinda never gained enough uplift to really get off the ground. Pretty soon it was all but forgotten, i.e. not talked much about anymore.

At least thats my recollection.

[wagtunes]

I think the reason that this one never really took off was mostly bad timing. If i remember correctly it kinda rode on the waves that Diva was making at the time, and since everyone was so enamored with that one Saurus kinda never gained enough uplift to really get off the ground. Pretty soon it was all but forgotten, i.e. not talked much about anymore.

At least thats my recollection.

So what do you think of it, sound wise, compared to Diva?

[ENV1]

So what do you think of it, sound wise, compared to Diva?

I honestly dont remember. I think i had demoed it once, but that must have been years ago, and since i have no recollection of how it sounded it probably didnt impress me enough to remember.

(Maybe ill try it again, i see its up to v2 now.)


Diva was never my cup of tea. There certainly are some aspects that are really good and thats acknowledged, but all in all its just not my kind of 'flavor', thats all i can really say.

[wagtunes]

So what do you think of it, sound wise, compared to Diva?

I honestly dont remember. I think i had demoed it once, but that must have been years ago, and since i have no recollection of how it sounded it probably didnt impress me enough to remember.

(Maybe ill try it again, i see its up to v2 now.)


Diva was never my cup of tea. There certainly are some aspects that are really good and thats acknowledged, but all in all its just not my kind of 'flavor', thats all i can really say.

Ah, so not a big fan of either. Okay. LOL.

Anybody here own both?

[Apostate]

As an owner of 3 Tone 2 synths (Electra 2, Rayblaster, Icarus) I never really gave Saurus 2 a listen. Why? Just didn't feel I needed yet another analog emulation having owned Diva, Arturia Mini V3, ACE, ARP 2600 V3, ImpOSCar 2, Korg MS-20, Oberheim SEM, Retrologue, Softube Modular and XILS 4. But out of curiosity, I just went to the site and hit the play button on the first demo. The "Jump" patch is frighteningly accurate, having grown up during the era. The sound was originally played on an Oberheim OB-X, played through a Marshall amplifier stack. The OB-Xa was taken on the road for performance because the OB-X was unstable for road performance. But I digress. The sound of Saurus is good enough that I can't tell the difference.

As for the rest of the Saurus "emulations" don't know, don't care. The synth sounds great. It doesn't sound like a Tone 2 synth to me. The sound is infinitely richer and fatter than Rayblaster and Electra 2. And while I haven't tried, I don't think Icarus can sound like an OB-X. But that's not its strength. It's a wavetable synth which Saurus 2 is not. So the two synths are not really comparable.

So it would seem like this would be a no brainer purchase, except, again, I have so many analogue emulations already. Do I really need another one, as good as this thing sounds? Also, $108 (US price after conversion) isn't exactly dirt cheap.

I'm not ruling it out (though for business reasons it makes little sense as I doubt there is any market for 3rd party libraries for this thing) but if I do purchase it, it will be down the road a ways and only for my personal use to add its sonic palette to my collection.

But there is no question, this is one fine sounding synth.

I mentioned having one heck of a lot of "analogue" synths (plus Nexus, not a synth but with a ton of great analogue expansions), and I was offered a nifty deal (and I could use the money, with Black Friday coming up). The fact that I cancelled the sale says something.

I think the reason that this one never really took off was mostly bad timing. If i remember correctly it kinda rode on the waves that Diva was making at the time, and since everyone was so enamored with that one Saurus kinda never gained enough uplift to really get off the ground. Pretty soon it was all but forgotten, i.e. not talked much about anymore.

At least thats my recollection.

Anybody here own both?

So what do you think of it, sound wise, compared to Diva?

I disagree that Saurus doesn't have that Tone 2 sound, it does, especially in the effects. And that's one of the major differences...I also venture to say that the arpeggios are just plain way more striking than Diva. And this is coming from a retardedly huge u-he enthusiast.

Got it since around 4 to 5 years and is one of my all time favorite synths. Besides Waldorf PPG Wave 3.V which is comparable in that respect still the synth i made the most patches with yet (around 280-300) where a lot of those are included with multiple soundsets at the official Tone2 shop.

FWIW some of the analog filter models in Tone2 Icarus seem to be based on the Saurus filters.

To be forthright, that last variable is just one of the reasons I didn't feel as though Icarus essential to buy. I really like the sound (just apply that to ALL the Tone2 synths, actually, and the Waldorf too btw). And there's some great features...but I have all I need in that area. And I demo'd that thing for quite awhile.

[JonSolo]

Ah, so not a big fan of either. Okay. LOL.

Anybody here own both?

I own both. Both sound great. I think Diva can cover a ton of bases. But this thing has a special tone about it (see what I did there) that makes it different. I am not a programmer per se but I love the warmth of Saurus as well as the lighter CPU than Diva. I have used it in several projects where I could not quite get the sound right in Diva.

[ATS]

one of my favorite synths for sure. I don't even care that it is supposed to be analog, I just like it the way it is.

[Kindred]

I agree with the comment re: timing. If Saurus had been released 2 years earlier, it might have had a different reception.

For some unknown reason I bought V1 based solely on Tone2's "enthusiastic" marketing (I was young and naive!). My first thought was "which analogue synth sounds like this??" And I should point out that I am generally someone who groans every time I read one of those classic "this plugin doesn't sound analogue" type posts.

To me, it sounded like Gladiator - way too bright and shiny to sound analogue - fine when it's Gladiator, as you know what you are getting, but not when you claim to be analogue-modelled or whatever the terminology was. I thought the init/default patch was evidence that they did not understand the target market for "analogue" type plugins. I uninstalled this a long time ago so can't remember, but I recall it being a truly awful default patch, dripping in a harsh digital reverb. This may have been addressed in S2 by removing all the gurn-inducing power chord/super saw/DJ doing god pose stuff-type patches - not sure as I never got around to demoing the second one.

I remember the patches were also sorely lacking for someone who wants to use nice patches as a kick off point. So it always left a bad taste when emails would arrive trumpeting new patches and they were always for sale. Meanwhile the other synths I owned (like Diva) had a rapidly expanding number of free banks available from the dev or community.

On the other hand, their most recent stuff has been really cool and innovative, with no pretensions to being analogue-anything. Just good, usable soft synths.

[sacer]

on my oppinion diva sounds much betther and isn't comparable to saurus.
I bought v1 of saurus second hand some years ago, it was bundled with electraX.
At first i didn't want to pay the expensive update for 70€, but half year later i demoed v2 again and found a lot of usefull presets very easy to tweak, so i payd the update and have sometimes the right sound in this plugin, which i can't realize in Diva.
The quality was in saurus v2 definetly improved and sounds much betther than v1.
On the other hand - Diva is nearly in every projekt and i often run more than 8 instances of Diva.

[Ingonator]

on my oppinion diva sounds much betther and isn't comparable to saurus.
I bought v1 of saurus second hand some years ago, it was bundled with electraX.

For me Saurus and Diva are quite differnt both sound and feature wise and not really comparable. I also got oters like e.g. Xils Lab Oxium, Xils Lab Syn'X 2, Waves Element 2.0 etc. and those are not really comparble too in terms of basic sound and features. Those, Diva and Saurus are each great on their own. Not to forget the free OBXD that i used since the first versions.

Anyway while i own both (Saurus since almost 4 and a half years and Diva since the first public beta) i have used Saurus more often than Diva. As already mentioned i craeated close to 300 patches with it so far.

FWIW with Saurus 2 there were some updates including a built-in saturation and other stuff.

In cases where i miss some low end in Saurus i simply use an EQ or a Bass enhancement plugin like e.g. Waves OneKnob Phatter.

The "Tone" knobs in the Saurus Oscs could be quite helpful too to change the basic sound. Usually for a more "vintage" sound the value should be below the center.

If you need more patches for Saurus there are more than enough at the Tone2 shop and the well known sound designer Himalaya made a soundset too:
http://www.electric-himalaya.com/tone2_ ... _bank.html

f you did not buy Saurus yet you also buy the bundle that includes all sooficial soundsets available at the shop. There is als a bundle with all Tone2 synths and all soundsets which is a lot cheaper than buying the single products.

[Robmobius]

I always liked Saurus, criminally underrated imo.