KarmaFX Synth Modular Sale - any reasons not to buy?

[chaosWyrM]

Do I need this synth? Never heard about it. Psytrance is my main genre, I have Spire, Sylenth, Discovery and stuff.

need? no. you dont need anything beyond what you already have. but i do think you would would find it useful and fun to play with, perhaps even a little inspiring.

its pretty good.

[topaz]

not even showing up in Live 9.7 or Bidule using OSX 10.12.2

[liquidsound]

not even showing up in Live 9.7 or Bidule using OSX 10.12.2

Maybe you need a Mac version?

[Omnivox]

It's a great synth. Not expensive, and yet capable of a wide range of sounds.
Here is the track I did for a demo of the synth with the presets included in the installation (and some minow tweaking of some presets; all sounds are done with KarmaFX, only eq and compression were done with other plugins):
http://www.karmafx.net/samples/Omnivox-KarmaFX-Demo.mp3
And it also has that kind of a dirt in the sound which I like
Also, quite a lot of usable presets are included for all us trance producers who are too lazy to create our own patches

[sqigls]

Some reasons not to buy?...
Hmmmm...

Just to break the douche barrier and take things right off the rectum scale I'll put them in point form:-

1. It has no cup holder.
2. It's not carbon neutral.
3. The developer is a crackhead who beats up on old ladies.

Look despite the word "modular" being appended to the respective company's name, I think it's best not to compare Karma FX Modular to Softube Modular.
It just silly.
Karma FX Modular is more like, say, the Novation Supernova to me... It has a liquid sound that is quite 'bubbly' and squelchy and despite its shortcomings - it's a sound that isn't really duplicatable with other synths.
Comparing it to Softube Modular is like comparing the sound of a Novation and a Doepfer synth... RETARDED. Very KVR.

As an owner and long time user, I would add - be aware if you at some time in the near future you change OS - you'll need to fork out for a new license. AND, should you find that after a few weeks you are frustrated with your above mentioned points, you are stuck with it. There's no license transfer allowed.

As previously mentioned, it's GREAT for Goa, but I'm not sure how it racks up to "modern psypants". I'd personally probably recommend Softube Modular, or if the CPU dent is too much, Zebra wipes the floor with the opinions of nail-breakers, it's just a pity about the shitty GUI... Urs really? Version 3 will be black and white? With nostrils and all?
Ok scratch that last part.

Don't buy it, cos Carbon Electra shits all over it with the same annoying lack of mouse wheel/trackpad support. Buy Carbon Electra.

[wickfut]

Buy Carbon Electra.

ha ha. No, don't! (unless you want something that feels like half a synth with a shed load of bits missing and having to work weird ways with modulation)

[sqigls]

yeah it could use some work, but it sounds pretty tight actually.
plugin boutique are hopeless with answering support emails in my experience too

[Winstontaneous]

But mostly VA kind of stuff, I assume a modular synth should be capable of more?

It also has very capable Additive, Sample, and Pad oscillators (as well as a morphing waveform osc). I really like KarmaFX though I don't find it as easy to use as VAZ which is my all-time favorite software modular.

[Lejurai]

Go for it. If you like the sound, seriously go for it. It's hellofa fun to play, it's skinnable, has nice support (at least for now), sounds gorgeus when you become familiar with it..
Just try some unison pad with a pad module. It's cream and sugar and honey and..

Some of the demosongs on the synth's page sound very psytrance-ish

Do I need this synth? Never heard about it. Psytrance is my main genre, I have Spire, Sylenth, Discovery and stuff.

I introduced it to Yaron Eshkar (faxi nadu). His latest album includes karmafx modular sounds quite a lot

[recursive one]

I think I've already missed the sale.

I liked some patches from the demo bank but programming it from scratch or even modifying the presets doesn't seem to be very intuitive, I found myself mostly doing random tweaks with not very predictable results.

Basically I have the impression that almost everything it can make can be done in Sylenth, Spire and Discovery Pro in more logical and less convoluted way.

[wagtunes]

I think I've already missed the sale.

I liked some patches from the demo bank but programming it from scratch or even modifying the presets doesn't seem to be very intuitive, I found myself mostly doing random tweaks with not very predictable results.

Basically I have the impression that almost everything it can make can be done in Sylenth, Spire and Discovery Pro in more logical and less convoluted way.

Actually, not quite. KarmaFX is capable of some things that Sylenth1 can't even dream of doing. Now, whether or not you'd have any use for that stuff is another story altogether. But KarmaFX can get incredibly deep if you want to go there whereas Sylenth1 is limited to s greater degree.

All depends on whether or not you need what KarmaFX can do.

You're probably the best judge of that provided you take the time to demo it fully.

[recursive one]

Sure, sylenth alone cant cover all these bases. I named it as the usual suspect for making squelchy acid lines which are more than a half of the karma presets. Spire is far more versatile synth, having fm, extensive modmatrix and stuff. I also have zebra and Dune2 to boot. I understand that none of them, maybe except for zebra, is really comparable as they have fixed architecture, but generally i prefer modmatrix to patching virtual cables.

So basically the question is what karma can do which none of the above synths can.

On the other hand, i think none of the above synths can sound exactly the same.

[wickfut]

what karma can do which none of the above synths can.

Why don't you just try the demo?

It's a modular synth. If you can't imagine anything it can do more than a regular synth then it's probably not for you.

[wagtunes]

what karma can do which none of the above synths can.

Why don't you just try the demo?

It's a modular synth. If you can't imagine anything it can do more than a regular synth then it's probably not for you.

Basically this. KarmaFX is limited only by your imagination whereas even something like Zebra 2, which I also own, has limitations to its architecture. While these two synths sound nothing alike, and yes, Zebra 2 can probably make sounds that would be difficult for KarmaFX to make without jumping through a ton of hoops, KarmaFX can make sounds that Zebra 2 simply can't make at all because of the limitations of the architecture itself. And that's going to be true for any totally open ended modular synth with other than just the "stock" or "basic" modules.

Having said that, KarmaFX is still not as flexible as something like MUX. But right now, given the limited number of modules that Softube Modular has at the moment, KarmaFX exceeds even that synth as far as capabilities go. Sound wise, two different animals and Softube Modular "sounds" more like your vintage modular synth. But it still can't do the things KarmaFX can do.

But as I've said countless times before, this is why we don't own just one synth. Each one has its own sound and character. It's why I will probably continue to get new synths in spite of all the ones I already own.

KarmaFX isn't for everybody, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the odd GUI and workflow. But I love it.

That's all that matters to me.

[recursive one]

it's probably not for you.

Yes, perhaps. I'm now focused on learning a small selection of fixed architecture synths inside out, I guess a modular synth would be too much for me.

Anyway I have almost a month left to dig the demo. I loved the filters, they have "rubbery" sound which I quite like.