DUNE 2 is out now!!

[pdxindy]

Overall I would describe Dune as sounding very smooth and polite

Aggressive is what is 'cool' these days... in more ways than one.

I like polite. I never purchased Dune because I have Zebra and they are similar in terms of being on the polite side. I love the sound of Zebra. Same way I love acoustic guitar, flute, piano, violin etc. Acoustic instruments are polite as well. Some of the most beautiful music ever made has been made with such 'polite' instruments.

This is not directed at you recursive, just at the idea that polite is somehow lesser and that something has to be aggressive and rude to be good. I'm glad to have a variety of synths with different characters.

[EnGee]

The only 2 synths I'm buying blindly when released are Dune 3 and RePro~5. My money for the upgrades are ready
Otherwise I'm so covered with synths for 20 years (or till I die whichever first ).

[twal]

Something like Dune is one of few synths that can easily be applied to Hip Hop/Trap like other's have mentioned. This is because you don't want that cutting front line when your drums have to take a personal role in the swing/feel/etc. If you buy Dune for Hip Hop it's good to find a shinier, cutting synth to add to it to cover frequency ranges and add the cut you need tho. A secret is it's Arp, because since it is muffly, it can be used as a pad-like lower-mid frequency rhythm that isn't demanding. Dune is virtually limitless and if you bounce down and alter the audio you can create awesome backdrops. Dune 2 doesn't come with that many presets, and that may be someone's concern, but they are all good.

[Dasheesh]

I own and use 6 different pieces and four of them are character aggressive pieces. I got Dune to cover those bread and butter sounds at a higher audio rate and with a more modern flare then most others. That's what it's for. It does really spaced out pads to a high degree too.

[EnGee]

Well, about Dune 2, it seems I'm from the few that feels the opposite! I mean, I sold it because I didn't like a lot the workflow! But I loved the sound since the first time I heard it!

I don't know what flat or bland means really! I find Dune 2 sound more interesting than Spire, Serum or Icarus! I love the character of it and I immediately missed it when I sold it, so that I bought it again (the same about Diva!). If I want an aggressive and 'in your face' sound, I have Reaktor (with its hundreds ensembles!) or Bazille. If I want more analogue sound, I have Legend, Diva, RePro-1 ..etc.

Massive, Codex and Blofeld (or Largo) have different characters and IMO they don't cover Dune 2 exactly. Maybe if I have Virus, I might skip Dune 2, but I don't have. Anyway, I'm filled with hope that Dune 3 will surpass Virus and any other Wavetable/FM synth out there

For now, Dune 2 and Diva are the main synths and the most used ones by me. Actually, those two might be the only ones I will be using in the future

[AnX]

He's a troll

Sure he is. Everybody who doesn't like Dune is a troll.

Not really. Ppl who give piss poor reasons, and ultimately cant program synths... well...

There really isnt much you cant do with Zebra and Dune, but apparently they sound dull....

They can do a lot but it mostly sounds dull.

Ok...

[Synthman2000]

A little short on time for a detailed reply, just as well as a troll should just drop short sharp unpopular commentary and leave and revel in the twisted faces and disappointment of those who are in love .

Seriously enjoy your synth. You know better than me... for yourself, that is.

I like clarity, depth, a tangibility, solidity and an ability to do a variety of sounds that I personally enjoy l with a clear forward character, aggressive is not a necessity. Clarity is. I am not the worlds best synth programmer but I can make the sounds I need/want and sometimes even surprise myself. I don't like sound that overcooked the stereo image or leaves a hole in some frequency ranges or sounds overtly like low DSP going on under the hood or effects that sound disconnected from the synth engine itself... "A that'll have to do module" stuck on the end.

These things stand out to me for some they either like it subjectively or don't hear it. Neither of which are wrong or bad, enjoy what you like.

I think the perceived issues is overall engine quality a seemingly weak unnatural sensation (and I know unnatural sounds like an out of place word for a synth) imparted to every sound made rather than specific programming. A little like certain elements (width/effects/phasing between L and R) are over done to compensate for fundamentally weak source generation of sound.

I thnk I have said it all, more will be a waste of time for all, so I will try the v3 demo's and hope both synths sound better in v3 than they do now. If not I will hold my silence so not to offend. (And Hive for that matter, it is a bit crisper than Dune and Zebra but still had something about the sound that put me off, I won't be buying it)

Synths that I do like are... DiscoDSP Discovery Pro, Massive, Rapid, Lush-101, Diva, Serum (can be a little cold at times), Diversion. All of these have a sound quality that I enjoy using in my music.

[recursive one]

Overall I would describe Dune as sounding very smooth and polite

Aggressive is what is 'cool' these days... in more ways than one.

I like polite. I never purchased Dune because I have Zebra and they are similar in terms of being on the polite side. I love the sound of Zebra. Same way I love acoustic guitar, flute, piano, violin etc. Acoustic instruments are polite as well. Some of the most beautiful music ever made has been made with such 'polite' instruments.

This is not directed at you recursive, just at the idea that polite is somehow lesser and that something has to be aggressive and rude to be good. I'm glad to have a variety of synths with different characters.

I see your point but I think a really great synth engine should excel at both. Fat/edgy/agressive tones and gentle, smooth and detailed ones depending on the patch settings. Think Virus (sorry for bringing up my sacred cow again), Diva, Bazille, Spire to some extent. Serum surprizingly does that too.

Actually I believe there is not a lot that needs to be done to Dune's engine. More thick and alive VA oscillators, perhaps with more analoguish behaviour (the Legend?), better distortions and phaser. The current ones may be kept as legacy for compatibility (like the original Dune2 envelopes). Also if they are going to continue selling Dune as a "trance synth" it needs a better hypersaw implementation. I'd consider a distinct hypersaw oscillator like in Virus (just copy the Virus one and trance people will be happy).

Also my personal FR would be a second resonant filter per layer. And a vowel filter (that's a general feature request, any synth should have a vowel filter )

[EnGee]

I like clarity, depth, a tangibility, solidity and an ability to do a variety of sounds that I personally enjoy l with a clear forward character, aggressive is not a necessity. Clarity is. I am not the worlds best synth programmer but I can make the sounds I need/want and sometimes even surprise myself. I don't like sound that overcooked the stereo image or leaves a hole in some frequency ranges or sounds overtly like low DSP going on under the hood or effects that sound disconnected from the synth engine itself... "A that'll have to do module" stuck on the end.

These things stand out to me for some they either like it subjectively or don't hear it. Neither of which are wrong or bad, enjoy what you like.

I think the perceived issues is overall engine quality a seemingly weak unnatural sensation (and I know unnatural sounds like an out of place word for a synth) imparted to every sound made rather than specific programming. A little like certain elements (width/effects/phasing between L and R) are over done to compensate for fundamentally weak source generation of sound.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by "clarity"? Do you mean that Dune 2 has no clear sound? Can you give an example? Preset or audio or a link?

I also don't understand what this means: "overall engine quality a seemingly weak unnatural sensation ..." and what you mean by "weak source generation of sound"?! What is a strong source in your opinion? can you give examples (again, audio or links or presets)?

[Synthman2000]

Just enjoy your synths, this is pointless.

[Richard_Synapse]

Actually I believe there is not a lot that needs to be done to Dune's engine. More thick and alive VA oscillators, perhaps with more analoguish behaviour (the Legend?), better distortions and phaser. The current ones may be kept as legacy for compatibility (like the original Dune2 envelopes)

Pretty much all coming (in fact it looks like every single effect will get new programs, e.g. analog-modeled chorus, phaser, new/better EQ, etc.). And yes it will remain preset-compatible

Also if they are going to continue selling Dune as a "trance synth" it needs a better hypersaw implementation. I'd consider a distinct hypersaw oscillator like in Virus (just copy the Virus one and trance people will be happy).

In what way exactly? I do not see a difference here, except the way the hypersaw is tied to the sub osc (but this can be done in DUNE 2 too, there is the "Sub Osc" program in the oscillator drop-down menu, which gives you a stack of oscillators at 0 and -1 octaves simultaneously).

Richard

[fluffy_little_something]

I suppose the synth is named after its architecture for a reason. It sounds bombastic when you have lots of simultaneous waves sounding. But when I tried it like an old-skool analog synth using just 1 or 2 detuned saws, it didn't impress me at all.

[recursive one]

Actually I believe there is not a lot that needs to be done to Dune's engine. More thick and alive VA oscillators, perhaps with more analoguish behaviour (the Legend?), better distortions and phaser. The current ones may be kept as legacy for compatibility (like the original Dune2 envelopes)

Pretty much all coming (in fact it looks like every single effect will get new programs, e.g. analog-modeled chorus, phaser, new/better EQ, etc.). And yes it will remain preset-compatible

This makes me very excited It may seem that I'm bashing Dune in some of my posts but in fact I see a lot of potential in there for further development.

Also if they are going to continue selling Dune as a "trance synth" it needs a better hypersaw implementation. I'd consider a distinct hypersaw oscillator like in Virus (just copy the Virus one and trance people will be happy).

In what way exactly? I do not see a difference here, except the way the hypersaw is tied to the sub osc (but this can be done in DUNE 2 too, there is the "Sub Osc" program in the oscillator drop-down menu, which gives you a stack of oscillators at 0 and -1 octaves simultaneously).

I remember I did some direct comparisons. From my memory Dune's saw oscillator with 32x density, 100 amount and 50% detune, "linear" detune law sounded nearly identical to Virus hypersaw at maximum density and 64 spread but at any other settings they sounded different. Perhaps I need to figure out what settings in Dune correspond to what settings in Virus - the latter uses only 9 saws and I believe intermediate density settings mix these saws at different relative volumes, is this correct? Then Dune has different detune laws, Virus doesn't.

TL;DR because of different unison/detune settings I have hard time matching Virus hypersaw at most configurations by Dune.

[Richard_Synapse]

I suppose the synth is named after its architecture for a reason. It sounds bombastic when you have lots of simultaneous waves sounding. But when I tried it like an old-skool analog synth using just 1 or 2 detuned saws, it didn't impress me at all.

Sure, but this is largely because Dune 2 starts out completely neutral, i.e. oscillators/voices are perfectly in tune, oscillators won't drift unless you tell them too, there is no noise, the synth won't pull off unexpected shenanigans etc. So getting close to say a typical vintage-analog synth requires more work than e.g. in The Legend where those things are all happening right off the bat. I'm not sure this can be addressed in a general-purpose VA synth though, except we could provide additional Init Patches or Templates which set up stuff like this.

Now when you open or program a more complex "bombastic" patch those details are usually irrelevant, there is so much going on, the hearing doesn't care anymore if the individual oscillator or filter sounds dull or not (in fact a CPU-demanding filter is typically just wasting CPU cycles for such patches, in my view anyway).

Richard

[recursive one]

So getting close to say a typical vintage-analog synth requires more work than e.g. in The Legend where those things are all happening right off the bat. I'm not sure this can be addressed in a general-purpose VA synth though, except we could provide additional Init Patches or Templates which set up stuff like this.

Sounds like a plan actually