u-he

QLNE · Post by **QLNE** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 9:20 pm

Congrats to Howard and Kevin for a great soundset which has me re-thinking my approach to Hive. Plenty of usable sounds and a great learning platform. I'm not sure how I missed HS1, so I'll add it to the future list.

I honestly didn't know Hive could pull off some of these patches.

AF

aaron aardvark · Post by **aaron aardvark** » Thu Apr 13, 2017 11:51 pm

I found it quite surprising that the Hive patch "Dream Suites" (in Science 2) sounds as close to the Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams" as I've ever heard (for a single patch). Wasn't the original done with a Prophet 5?.......or wait.....according to Future Music:

"There have been many different theories about the synths used on it, but the consensus seems to be that either an Oberheim OB-X was used for both the left and right riffs, or perhaps a Juno-6 and Roland SH-09 for the left and right channel riffs, probably sequenced using a Roland CSQ-100."

QLNE · Post by **QLNE** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 12:53 am

mevla · Post by **mevla** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:16 pm

Lots of patches have XC and BC attributes, making it nice to integrate with Bitwig 'MIDI CC' and any knob/slider on a keyboard controller.

Haven't found a way to simulate aftertouch data, though, while playing or on a recorded track, for a keyboard that does not send it.

hollo · Post by **hollo** » Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:04 pm

You can draw aftertouch in the midi editor in your DAW.
Same as Modwheel, Pitch wheel, Breath etc...

Cheers

Joseph

LPHovercraft · Post by **LPHovercraft** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 5:20 am

In hosts such as Cubase and Bitwig studio you can also re-route incoming MIDI data - played in as one control stream (say, CC1) and then convert it on record as channel aftertouch.

I actually built a plugin that does some of that mapping for me while using the ROLI RISE 25 - mapping CC67 (Brightness) to CC11 and CC2 - but that was on channels 2-15 which is a MPE thing... for standard channel afterpressure you can use a garden-variety MIDI control mapper.

Chris-S · Post by **Chris-S** » Sat Apr 15, 2017 7:41 am

aaron aardvark wrote:I found it quite surprising that the Hive patch "Dream Suites" (in Science 2) sounds as close to the Eurythmic's "Sweet Dreams" as I've ever heard (for a single patch). Wasn't the original done with a Prophet 5?......

Why should a modern VSTi with lots of modulations, filter types etc not be able to do the old sounds?
It's all about sound design skills.

Nice patch names BTW like "Music For Bus Stops".

Spirit2017 · Post by **Spirit2017** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:26 am

Everything sounds the same.Unusable digital boring plastic sounds IMO.

aaron aardvark · Post by **aaron aardvark** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 8:20 am

Chris-S,
It's just that if you want to get that classic old analog synth sound with u-he, most people would gravitate towards Diva or RePro-1. I'm glad Hive is capable of getting close to these old analog synths at times also. Hive is known to be a competitor to Sylenth1, not Prophet 5, Oberheim OBX, Juno 6, or Roland SH-09 clones. Repro-1 is close to a Prophet 5 voice, and Diva is known for Juno and Oberheim sounds (and ZebraHZ has a Oberheim type filter, I forget if regular Zebra has it now).

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 9:35 am

Spirit2017 wrote:Everything sounds the same.Unusable digital boring plastic sounds IMO.

Thank you for your enlightening words. Always a joy to read such carefully biased opinion.

Spirit2017 · Post by **Spirit2017** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 12:44 pm

Sorry Urs ,
maybe the style of the producers always the same it's just boring for me.
I hope you focus the additive more in the future.

surreal · Post by **surreal** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 1:45 pm

I just wish that I can actually buy Hive but I am currently unable to...

bmrzycki · Post by **bmrzycki** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 2:48 pm

Spirit2017 wrote: digital boring plastic sounds

Do you have any audio clips of synth sounds that you think aren't digital and plastic? I haven't watched all 40 mins of the Hive Science 2 but the 15 or so minutes I did watch had quite a diverse number of sounds.

Spirit2017 · Post by **Spirit2017** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 3:32 pm

The sounds tells me nothing.The presets of Howard are very similar in every synth as simple as that.My opinion.

mevla · Post by **mevla** » Sun Apr 16, 2017 4:04 pm

Spirit2017 wrote:The sounds tells me nothing.The presets of Howard are very similar in every synth as simple as that.My opinion.

There is a continuity with the previous Hive Science. It is thematically related. This said, I do find that Hive is very much on the 'synth' side of things and I took a while to get into it since I basically tend towards more subtle sounds to blend with acoustic guitar or to which an acoustic guitar can fit. Hive is certainly no Zebra. However, taking the time to explore the sounds of that soundset but in general of Hive's sounds and style, I started to like that synth for what it offers. A lot matters about how the sounds are blended in in a production, what part of the story they are telling. If the story has nothing to accomodate such sounds at any point in time then it's simply because they have no purpose in that story. I find that HS2 in the pads dept. have more attention to depth.

As you said, it is a question of opinion in the end. As I use the various synths I discover a personality for each independent of their soundsets which starts to make me go in a general manner for that synth or that other synth depending on the needs of the story. But first the 'personalities' must be discovered.