Serums And Rapids And Falcons Oh My!!! (Avenger And Icarus)

[wagtunes]

I'm actually doing this because of a special request, though I know I am going to regret it dearly.

What follows is my own personal review and opinions of the following synths, in order of complexity.

Serum
Icarus
Rapid
Avenger
Falcon

And yes, because I am going to include my "opinion" I know there are going to be a lot of people who are going to strongly disagree with me. And that's fine, as long as we can stay away from the name calling. As soon as this thread gets ugly, it gets locked.

Having said that, let's begin

Serum

Serum is a wavetable synth. Some would arguably say that it is the "best" of all the wavetable synths. As I only own a handful of synths that can even do wavetable processing, I can't really comment on that. Some love it. Some hate it.

What do I think of it?

Serum CAN have a very hard and gritty sound but as Simon pointed out, can also sound quite lovely. Most people I find tend to gravitate towards the edgier sounds, as I do. I have plenty of synths that do "nice" but few that can just get plain dirty like this thing can.

Its wavetable creation section is excellent and easy to use. A big plus is that Serum WTs seem to work in the other synths that I own. I can't speak for all WT synths but the ones I have are totally compatible. So, you can create a WT in Serum and use it in another synth. That is cool, at least for me.

The filters in serum are okay. A couple are very good. Where Serum stands out though is not so much in the filters as in how the engine can mangle the hell out of sounds. You've got all kinds of syncs, bends, asyms, flips, mirrors, AMs and FMs that can turn a simple sine wave into, well, you have to just hear for yourself. And the WTs, provided their created intelligently, are smooth transitioning as silk unlike another synth that I will be reviewing in this thread.

The FX at the start were pretty weak, IMO. But they've improved a lot over time. I especially like the Hyper/Dimension and Delay. The Reverb, eh. It's not the best in the world.

Serum's sound is unmistakable. Well, at least to me it is. If you've never heard it or demo'd it, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a listen.

There is a reason it's my best selling library by almost 2 to 1 over everything else.

Rating: (1-10) 8

Icarus

Icarus is also a WT synth. In direct comparison to Serum, I find it has a more mellow tone. It doesn't quite have that plastic Tone 2 sound that their other synths have. This isn't to say that it can't also sound "dirty". It's just you have to work at it a little more than Serum.

Icarus too has tons of ways to mangle the sound. I just find them a little more tame compared to Serum. The WTs themselves are also smooth as silk, again depending on the source material. Naturally, with any WT synth, you can give it source material, like a sine followed by a pulse followed by a triangle followed by a saw and so on and so on that can make the result sound choppy as heck. That is going to be true of any WT synth, even with a smooth function.

The Icarus filters I personally think are slightly better than Serum's, but they don't exactly make me jump up and down in excitement either. Of course I compare everything to my Korg MS-20 as far as filters go, so that's probably not very fair. Still, I don't think the filters are going to make you go crazy.

The FX are probably the best FX of all the Tone 2 synths, IMO. Sounds like they really improved on them. Having said that, they are not the greatest FX in the world. In fact, Tone 2 synths in general, for me anyway, have some of the worst FX of any synth with built in FX. I find them thin and lifeless. Again, that's just me. YMMV.

I love Icarus. It's a lot of fun to program. Oddly, it is one of my worst selling libraries. That might be because of all the presets that it comes with to start with. Don't know. Doesn't matter. Still love the synth and glad I got it.

Rating: (1-10) 8

Rapid

Rapid is one of the newer synths. While it also does WT manipulation, you currently can't import your own WTs. That seems to be a big negative for some and a "who cares" for others.

Why?

Because the sound is warm and lush and beautiful. I'd say of the 3 synths so far, Rapid is probably the best sounding "out of the box" meaning with the least amount of effort.

The synth has 8 different layers so it can be used as a WS synth. In fact, you can create whole songs within one patch. For some, this is a big selling point.

It has an ARP and a Sequencer that can do some very complex things because of the way they're designed. At first, i wasn't comfortable with it, but over time, I grew to love it. Yes, it takes some effort to get things the way you want it, but because of how flexible they are, you can do things with it that are hard, if not impossible, to do with other synths. I'm truly impressed.

The FX are very good. I won't call them great, but they're better than Serum's and on par with Icarus. They're more than serviceable.

If you're looking for a synth that you can just bring up in your DAW and start playing to make some great sounding tunes, Rapid is something you want to check out, especially while it's still on sale. The regular price seems to have put off some and not affected others. This is another library of mine that didn't sell in spite of it being like maybe 1 of 2 or 3 out there. I suspect this has to do with the high price and/or GUI that has also brought some criticism.

Not having WT creation or import has certainly hurt things. But it's been promised that these things will be added in the future. So you might want to wait until that day actually comes.

All in all, I like Rapid. You can't not with something that sounds this good.

Rating: (1-10) 7.5

Avenger

Avenger is another one of the newer synths.

This is another WS synth. What I love most about this synth is how everything is so tightly laid out. Everything is within a finger's grasp. In fact, it may be one of my favorite layouts of all the synths.

The sound is clean and lacking in the kind of character that something like Serum has. You have to work harder at this synth to make it sound fat, rich, whatever. But it is so flexible, with so many modulation options, that if you do take the time, you can come up with some amazing things.

What I don't like about Avenger is the Sequencer. It is extremely difficult to dial in exact tones with because everything is in percentages. It is not the friendliest interface in that regard. I honestly don't know what they were thinking. However, like Rapid, it is very flexible. It has a really cool stereo mode where you can get some neat effects out of it.

Speaking of FX, the FX in Avenger are top notch for a synth. No, they're not like buying dedicated FX or the ones that come with something like Omnisphere, but they're the best of the synths I've gone over so far.

The filters are okay. The talk filters are probably the best but the LP and HP filters are, well, just okay.

In fact, that may be the biggest problem with this synth overall. There is so much in it. In fact, nothing surpasses it in amount of stuff with the exception of the synth I'm going to review last. But while it does a lot of things okay or good, it doesn't really do anything great.

For example, the WT processing is steppy, even on smooth WTs. It's not anywhere near as smooth as Serum or Icarus or even Rapid. Yes, if you slave over it, you can get it to sound really good, provided the source material is very smooth to begin with. But it's not an instant gratification machine like Rapid is.

On the plus side, you can draw your own waves and import your own WTs. However, you cannot create a WT inside of Avenger itself. Again, it does things well but not great.

In spite of its flaws, I love Avenger. It's a joy to program. In fact, I'm up to close to 300 patches for my upcoming library and I don't see any end in sight. I haven't even scratched the surface with this thing.

Absolutely one of my favorite synths. If you haven't checked it out, you should.

Rating: (1-10) 9

Falcon

In short, Falcon is a beast. It is limited only by your imagination and how much CPU power you have.

There is no way I can do an in depth review of this synth because it has just about everything you could think of including a way to do granular synthesis.

The sound, like Avenger, is clean and sterile. You have to work at making this thing sound good. In fact, an init patch has nothing in it. Yes, it's a modular synth. You are starting from scratch. Of course if you are just a preset player, that won't matter. And of course you can always create an init patch to start from if you want.

I can't say anything bad about this synth other than it's not easy to program. The FX are excellent and there are tons of them. The filters are excellent, and there are tons of them. Anything can be modulated. It's just totally open ended. Plus, you can create multiple parts just like Rapid and Avenger.

If you're looking for a more "colorful" synth, Falcon may not excite you. If you're looking for a programmer's paradise, it doesn't get much better than this.

No, it's not cheap. I think the regular price is over $300. But it is more than worth it. I got it on sale right at the beginning for $229 last year and it was without a doubt my synth of the year. As far as functionality and quality, it blows away every other synth in this list. However, sound wise, your taste may find Falcon lacking in character and I can understand that. It isn't going to be for everybody. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that for many people, they will love Rapid infinitely more than Falcon because of its out of the box creamy goodness.

FWIW, Falcon is my 2nd best selling library. I think 605 patches might have had something to do with that. I don't know. And no, I barely scratched the surface even with that many. This thing is as deep as an ocean.

There is no demo. Like Omnisphere, you either decide to get it or you don't.

Rating: (1-10) 9.5

If there are any specific questions about any of these, I'll be more than happy to answer them. Again, the above is just my opinion. You can disagree. Just do it without name calling. That's all I ask.

I hope this was helpful to at least the one person here who asked me to do this.

[exmatproton]

You did it nice! (I don't agree completely, but yeah..subjective stuff..blah blah blah...)

[chk071]

Fair and diplomatic scores.

[starflakeprj]

Thanks for the detailed and unbiased reviews Wagtunes. I have them all myself and agree about most of your aspects, even if I don't agree about the "9" for Avenger. But this is probably only because I haven't really been able to master it myself

I guess Codex and Nave could be added to the list of similar (at least to Icarus and Serum) synths. Massive, Factory and Largo could be added as well I guess, even if they are pretty limited in comparison to the ones you rated. I know you have (or had?) Factory at least.

[Robmobius]

I think that's a pretty decent and detailed assessment. The only synth I can't really comment on is Rapid as I've not used it yet.

My own personal preferences would wiggle the scores a wee bit. I would have a really hard time picking between Avenger, Icarus and Serum.

[JoeCat]

Since I'm the "one person" who asked you to do this, a vigorous thank-you Wags!

It's great to have a starting point, especially since these synths are relatively new (except maybe Serum), complex, have a lot of overlapping features, and don't all have demos; always helpful to get someone's "lived-in" experience, which everyone should understand is subjective. And given the number of comparison threads, great to have it all in one place. Hopefully even the trolls will appreciate your taking the time and effort to do this.

In my world: I already own Falcon (took my chances based on reviews and the sales price), not so much for the wavetable capabilities, but for it's flexibility in letting me be Dr. Frankenstein, Sound Designer. Not disappointed and I haven't scratched the surface. But got a little in the budget for one more...

Avenger looks to be a monster but somewhat redundant with Falcon.

I demoed Serum briefly and it's sound wasn't quite my taste, but could have been an off day (s), though I like the interface. I lean more towards Icarus (don't own a Tone2 synth yet but do enjoy their "sound"). But Rapid at the sale price is enticing...

Can you modulate across layers at all in Rapid? That would be killer!

(unrelated - Cableguys latest ShaperBox offering is tugging at the wallet also; damn this lack of infinite time and money!)

Anyway - Thanks again Wags - good, hard work in the service of the community.

[wagtunes]

Since I'm the "one person" who asked you to do this, a vigorous thank-you Wags!

It's great to have a starting point, especially since these synths are relatively new (except maybe Serum), complex, have a lot of overlapping features, and don't all have demos; always helpful to get someone's "lived-in" experience, which everyone should understand is subjective. And given the number of comparison threads, great to have it all in one place. Hopefully even the trolls will appreciate your taking the time and effort to do this.

In my world: I already own Falcon (took my chances based on reviews and the sales price), not so much for the wavetable capabilities, but for it's flexibility in letting me be Dr. Frankenstein, Sound Designer. Not disappointed and I haven't scratched the surface. But got a little in the budget for one more...

Avenger looks to be a monster but somewhat redundant with Falcon.

I demoed Serum briefly and it's sound wasn't quite my taste, but could have been an off day (s), though I like the interface. I lean more towards Icarus (don't own a Tone2 synth yet but do enjoy their "sound"). But Rapid at the sale price is enticing...

Can you modulate across layers at all in Rapid? That would be killer!

(unrelated - Cableguys latest ShaperBox offering is tugging at the wallet also; damn this lack of infinite time and money!)

Anyway - Thanks again Wags - good, hard work in the service of the community.

Thanks Joe. To answer your question, without looking because I haven't tried, given Rapid's modulation matrix and how it's setup, I doubt you can modulate, say, layer 8 from layer 1. I can check for certain, cause as I said, I never tried, but I'd bet against it. I simply didn't see anything in the mod matrix that said layer 1, 2, etc. Of course I wasn't looking for it either. So let me check and confirm for certain.

** EDIT ** Yeah, it's as I suspected. All modulation is that layer only.

[JoeCat]

Thanks Joe. To answer your question, without looking because I haven't tried, given Rapid's modulation matrix and how it's setup, I doubt you can modulate, say, layer 8 from layer 1. I can check for certain, cause as I said, I never tried, but I'd bet against it. I simply didn't see anything in the mod matrix that said layer 1, 2, etc. Of course I wasn't looking for it either. So let me check and confirm for certain.

** EDIT ** Yeah, it's as I suspected. All modulation is that layer only.

Thanks Wags - I demoed Rapid briefly but replaced my 'puter and haven't re-downloaded the demo yet, but that was one of the first things I tried to do and couldn't find it. To be fair, that would probably be a ridiculously complex feature, but so cool.

[KeithAdv]

Thanks, Wagtunes. I appreciate the comparative analysis. Very informative. I've only just begun to dig into Avenger and I'm glad I bought it. I agree that Rapid sounds lovely, but--oh, that GUI. It was a showstopper for me. (I'm shallow like that.)

[wagtunes]

Thanks, Wagtunes. I appreciate the comparative analysis. Very informative. I've only just begun to dig into Avenger and I'm glad I bought it. I agree that Rapid sounds lovely, but--oh, that GUI. It was a showstopper for me. (I'm shallow like that.)

While I won't say the yellow grew on me, I did get to a point where I was able to ignore it and just concentrate on the controls. For me, as long as I can see the controls, I'm content. Some synths, the GUIs are so small, you can't even see the knobs.

[Robmobius]

I've only just begun to dig into Avenger and I'm glad I bought it.

IMO, Avenger is one of the easiest and most fun synths to program that I've ever come across. So much functionality crammed into a very slick and intuitive user interface.

Serum and Icarus are great (and easy) to use as well, but Avenger really nailed it here I think.

[wagtunes]

I've only just begun to dig into Avenger and I'm glad I bought it.

IMO, Avenger is one of the easiest and most fun synths to program that I've ever come across. So much functionality crammed into a very slick and intuitive user interface.

Serum and Icarus are great (and easy) to use as well, but Avenger really nailed it here I think.

As far as ease of programming and options, yeah. It's almost too easy.

Still, that sequencer. Ouch!

[elassi]

Thanks. But you know what? I don't give a crap anymore. I've accepted this place for what it is, finally. Maybe if I laugh along with them they'll get bored and go find somebody else to rag on.

Just for the record: I've spent hours to help you.

Today I learned that only three of them would have been enough to make me successful in 2017.

[wagtunes]

Thanks. But you know what? I don't give a crap anymore. I've accepted this place for what it is, finally. Maybe if I laugh along with them they'll get bored and go find somebody else to rag on.

Just for the record: I've spent hours to help you.

Today I learned that only three of them would have been enough to me successful in 2017.

So I guess that kind of gives you the right to throw insults at me. Yeah, you're right. What was I thinking?

I am sooooo sorry.

Please accept my apology.

[elassi]

Thanks. But you know what? I don't give a crap anymore. I've accepted this place for what it is, finally. Maybe if I laugh along with them they'll get bored and go find somebody else to rag on.

Just for the record: I've spent hours to help you.

Today I learned that only three of them would have been enough to me make successful in 2017.

So I guess that kind of gives you the right to throw insults at me. Yeah, you're right. What was I thinking?

I am sooooo sorry.

Please accept my apology.

You have no clue what it feels like once I start to insult you.

So don't misunderstand my friendly(!) comments which are always aiming to support you (in this or another way).