RAPID Synthesizer | Rapid 1.8.0 released | Free "SP - Granular Elements"

[4damind]

Solid synth I see in the price range of 70-100€ (I definitely would not buy it for 200€).

Just out of curiosity, what other competitive synths in the price range 70-100 eur do you see on the market?

I can only say, that I don't see this synth in the same price range like Spire, Serum etc. Ok, maybe 70€ is a bit too low. A introductory offer for a limited time with 99€ and regular price of 120€ to 140€?

[wagtunes]

Solid synth I see in the price range of 70-100€ (I definitely would not buy it for 200€).

Just out of curiosity, what other competitive synths in the price range 70-100 eur do you see on the market?

There are none, thats why his reply is totally stupid...70€? Nonsense...Totally underestimates hard work and dedication!

I'm going to try to make this as positive a response as I can out of respect to the developer who as kind enough to allow me to be one of the lucky few to get this for $160, which, now that I've had a chance to work with it, comparing it to other synths that I have that cost $160, is an amazing deal.

Here is the problem.

In the usual price range of better than basic synths, or what I refer to as the $149 to $199 sweet spot, there i nothing in that range that, technically, does all the things that this synth does. Out of my almost 100 synths, I can't find one outside of maybe Reaktor but that's such a pain in the ass to make the ultimate synth with and I simply don't have the time nor the desire.

The synths that comes closest to Rapid, that don't cost more than Rapid, are the following:

Blue II - $149
KarmaFX Modular - $112
MUX Modular - $65

The two modulars are far from instant gratification machines as they require you to put in a lot of time and effort to make the kind of patches you could make with Rapid. Blue II falls short in the layers area though it is a relatively complex synth.

You'll notice that I didn't include Zebra 2 at $199 because, even though sound wise it can do just about anything because of all the modulation possibilities, it is a limited modular and can't do the complex splits that Rapid can do.

So the truth is, there is really nothing that compares to Rapid in the $149 to $199 range that the more complex synths fall into.

However, once you start getting into the over $200 range, which for some people is a lot of money, you then have the other synths that are over that range. Some way over. Some not so much.

Falcon and Omnisphere come to mind.

Omnisphere - $500
Falcon - $349

Now, Omnishpere also has 8 layers and a ton of samples. In fact, that's pretty much why the high price tag, all that content. Nobody can really compete with Omnisphere just on pure specs. Whether or not you like the sound is irrelevant. On pure specs, it blows away every synth made. And you pay for that kind of power. Not everybody has or wants to spend $500.

Falcon, well now that's coming a little bit nearer to Earth and Rapid's price, being only $114 more. The reason I say only is because when you get to that little bit of difference in dollars (around $100) I think many people will weigh features a lot more and possibly go with the slightly more expensive synth IF the features are vastly superior, on a purely specs level, to another synth.

In this case, there is no comparison between Falcon and Rapid. Falcon's specs, as far as what it can do, make it clearly the superior synth. Again, this has nothing to do with whether you like Falcon's sound or not. You can't compare Rapid's specs to Falcon's. Falcon just flat out wins.

However, unless you stick to just factory presets, Falcon is also not an instant gratification synth. It requires a ton of work to make decent patches with Falcon whereas with Rapid, it's very easy to make something that sounds really good.

And I think that's the developer's target market, people who don't want to wrap their heads around something so complicated, like MUX, KarmaFX and Falcon, and just want to make music with a synth that is pretty powerful in its own right and relatively easy to use.

And if that were the end of it, I'd say we have a real winner here.

Unfortunately, in about a month's time, a synth that is going to sell for 199 euro (about 10 euro less than Rapid) is going to hit the market. Having just been put on the beta team for it, I can honestly tell you that this thing is almost as powerful as Falcon, a lot easier to use and, relatively speaking, dirt cheap.

This is where I think Rapid is going to have its toughest competition because, to answer your question, we will finally have a synth that is in the same price range as Rapid that does all the things Rapid does and has all the things Rapid doesn't that people are asking for.

And it's actually about 10 euro less.

Again, none of this has anything to do with perception of sound quality because sound "quality" is subjective.

So, looking at the facts, I think it's going to be an interesting time for these two synths going head to head against each other. Maybe there is a market for each. Maybe not. I have no way of knowing nor, at this point, do I even care. But it is perfectly clear that in about a month's time there IS going to be a synth that measure's up to Rapid and doesn't cost hundreds of dollars more.

[SODDI]

It says 210 Euros on the advertising bumpf in OP's first post.

That's an awful lot of money for an unproven synth.

[starflakeprj]

Solid synth I see in the price range of 70-100€ (I definitely would not buy it for 200€).

Just out of curiosity, what other competitive synths in the price range 70-100 eur do you see on the market?

I can only say, that I don't see this synth in the same price range like Spire, Serum etc. Ok, maybe 70€ is a bit too low. A introductory offer for a limited time with 99€ and regular price of 120€ to 140€?

I was one of the first mentioning a price in this thread when this discussion came up. I said 99 eur, with an introduction price of 79 eur (or similar). But I think this was more out of what I, myself, was hoping it to be priced.

120-140 eur seems more fair, as you mention, but I have to give my thought here as well, since you are comparing it with Spire and Serum. For me, as much as I love Spire, I don't think you can compare Rapid with Spire. In Spire you have a very limited amount of waveforms to choose from. Also, you only have one layer with four oscillators and a pretty limited arp and step sequencer. But it's rather easy to design the sound you want, and the GUI is really satisfying for your eyes.

Serum has fantastic modulation possibilities, but lacks both a step sequencer and an arpeggiator, even though i can be worked around. It also sound really good, but "not out of the box", you have to put some effort into the sound design to get some good result.

When it comes to Rapid, I don't think there is any synth on the market where you can get such powerful sound with as little effort, as you can get with Rapid. Maybe Serum and Icarus go beyond, at the moment as they both can import samples and wavetables, this is coming also to Rapid (as promised by Parawave). Then I would say Rapid is definitely on par with Serum, Icarus and other similar wavetable synths. Maybe even beyond.

Based on the features and sound now, I would definitely pay between 139-169 eur. Probably up to at least 199 eur when importing of wavetable and other wavefiles has been added.

[Muziksculp]

By the way, LUSH-101 is 149 Euros, it offers 8 layers. But is not a wavetable synth, I really like using Lush 101, very nice GUI as well.

You can also get it at Plugin Boutique for $169.
http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1 ... 3-LuSH-101

I think I will get RAPID once it gets a few more updates, and features. So, I'm not going to rush to get RAPID.

[4damind]

Based on the features and sound now, I would definitely pay between 139-169 eur. Probably up to at least 199 eur when importing of wavetable and other wavefiles has been added.

149€ (as an example) is something where I would think about buying this synth and keep in mind to see some skins and more features in next free updates. But not over 200€!
There is also "Avanger" which comes close to the release and judging only because of the specs and videos Manuel posted, we have a synth with a lot more features, better GUI etc. (eLicenser could be the only downside for some users if Avanger will use eLicenser).
There is also Predator2 for 149€ /$149 also announced for the next month but there is no info available about the new features. If they include wavetables and/or support for loading of samples/wavetables we speak about another synth in this department.

[starflakeprj]

Based on the features and sound now, I would definitely pay between 139-169 eur. Probably up to at least 199 eur when importing of wavetable and other wavefiles has been added.

149€ (as an example) is something where I would think about buying this synth and keep in mind to see some skins and more features in next free updates. But not over 200€!
There is also "Avanger" which comes close to the release and judging only because of the specs and videos Manuel posted, we have a synth with a lot more features, better GUI etc. (eLicenser could be the only downside for some users if Avanger will use eLicenser).
There is also Predator2 for 149€ /$149 also announced for the next month but there is no info available about the new features. If they include wavetables and/or support for loading of samples/wavetables we speak about another synth in this department.

I think we are closer than it first seemed 149 eur would be be spot on, even though I could pay a little bit more. Regarding the GUI, I agree it's not the prettiest around. I don't remember if skinning is on the to-do list, but I think so, or was it just a resizable GUI?

Regarding Avenger, it's not only the synth to rule them all, it's the synth to end them all, judging the videos released so far. And it has one of the most beautiful GUI's out there. I don't mind eLicenser, as long as it doesn't require a hw dongle.

Haven't seen anything from Predator2 yet, but if it evolves the same way as Blue did, I will not wait one day before purchasing it. As I have eXplorer III already, I think my upgrade price is 49 eur (79 eur if I want to upgrade to eXplorer IV, which will include RP-Verb 2 as well.

[parawave]

Seems like 1.0.1 is up. Wondering was has changed?

Ok, just saw it was announced a few pages back.
Can customers get an email about the updates? I can't lurk on Kvr non stop.

Yes you're right. Should have posted a newsletter notification. Will do it for the next update.
The Version History gives a more detailed description about the changes. It was a very minor update to fix a few issues. The next update (after MacOS X release) will probably be a bigger one with some requested features.

The requests for wavetable import increased in frequency. So it will probably be the first major update. I'm a bit torn in which way it should be implemented. A more advanced import needs a month of work. A simple cylce import maybe only a week (e.g. a .wav import with multiple 2048 sample cycles). So what's the general need here? Would you be satisfied with a simple wave drag, to import your existing Serum tables. Or is there a really urgent need for further editing?
Multi-Samples are another topic, but lets adress the wavetables first.

[andrewbrewer]

This is a really good synth. Great sound, awesome on the CPU!

When I tried the demo, the presets turned me off a little bit (the "full song on one note" type presets). However, the presets in the official version are great and pretty diverse. Lots of sounds are smothered in reverb, but it sounds great here--I wouldn't change anything.

It will be interesting to see how this grows as expansions are added.

[babbgr]

The requests for wavetable import increased in frequency. So it will probably be the first major update. I'm a bit torn in which way it should be implemented. A more advanced import needs a month of work. A simple cylce import maybe only a week (e.g. a .wav import with multiple 2048 sample cycles). So what's the general need here? Would you be satisfied with a simple wave drag, to import your existing Serum tables. Or is there a really urgent need for further editing?
Multi-Samples are another topic, but lets adress the wavetables first.

A simple cycle import is more than enough imho for the time being. There are like a bazillion other tools to edit waveforms. You can always implement more advanced features later on.
Payday today at last.... Rapid here I come

[recursive one]

I have no idea what I would want to import into Rapid and why would I need that considering that it has 260 WTs of very high quality, but probably importing premade wavetables in a popular format (Serum?) should be a good start.

Probably sample import (oneshots) will also make sence, I can see myself using Rapid as a drum machine taking advantage of its internal sequencer, layers and effects.

[babbgr]

I got to say, even if I was a bit skeptical about the price, after having bought it and spend some time browsing the included content, I got to admit that the extra few bucks do really worth it. The quality of the factory library is really good. Definitely this synth is targeted to people that want to have rapid fast access to making sounds, and do not want to turn a gazillion knobs to make one, and for that crowd i think the price seems ok imho. On top of that CPU hit is really really low even on presets where all layers are being used.

[trusampler]

I've tried Lush, and I don't find it nearly as inspiring as this synth. Something about the sound in this one is a bit more special imo, I also own serum, and personally find Rapid a better fit for me. I doubt he's dropping the price, start saving a few extra bucks a week, and in no time you will own it. ymmv

[recursive one]

[*]Good sound

VERY good sound comparable to high quality digital hardware imo

[*]Wavetable features are a bit limited compared to Serum (I don't see the option to load custom waves/wavetables)

WT import is planned/discussed, as for now there are about 260 high quality WTs in the full version to choose from

[*]Filters are ok but nothing special

Agree, hope there will be more "juicy"/characterful filters added in future updates. But those which already are in the synth work well for most tasks and dont fall apart at high resonances and fast modulations.

[*]GUI is horrible, sorry I cannot work with it

Not the prettiest but very easy to get used to. Hope for alternative colour schemes tho.

[*]Good Unison implementation

Sure

[*]Some features are disabled with the demo eg. the layering, why?

You may use two layers in the demo

[*]Some (20?) showroom presets, not so much stuff I would use in a track but it shows what sounds the synth can create

The full version comes with some much better presets

[*]FX are OK

Some are really great (distortions, bitcrusher, talker), some are not so good (phaser, flanger, reverb) but as a whole the effect section is very flexible and sounds good mostly eliminating the need for external processing.

There is no option to select the needed platform (x32/x64) both are installed, which is not the expected behavior if running this synth on a 64 Bit OS.

Agree, a minor issue but I'd love to have an option to disable the 32 bit installer in order not to populate my machine with unnecessary junk.

Solid synth I see in the price range of 70-100€ (I definitely would not buy it for 200€).

I was lucky enough to get the synth with huge discount, but generally I don't see why it should cost less than Spire judging from the sound quality and the fetaure set

[quantum7]

They should be able price the thing any price they want. If it's too expensive for you, don't bitch about it, just don't buy it! That said though, I tried the demo and thought it was nice, but nothing to write home about in comparison to the competition. If I wrote mostly EDM and owned nothing else, I might...might pick it up, but since I write little EDM and already own a million other synths, 200 Euros is much too rich for my blood considering. I cannot lie though, for the price I was expecting something a little nicer....but that is my opinion, someone else might think it's the second coming. Obviously they will lower the price if not enough people buy it. If you want to make a living from what you sell, you'll always follow the market.