KVR Audio

jbw · Post by **jbw** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 5:49 am

Videos, for the too lazy to demo crowd.

I would have checked if these have been posted before, but I was too lazy.

https://youtu.be/wNhWQ6g5MdY

https://youtu.be/bjwcDJ8JiNE

Gosh · Post by **Gosh** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:09 am

Since Dmitry asked for bug reports. I had some crashes in Ableton Live when I closed the GUI (latest version of Live, 64 bit on Win7 64 bit).
Otherwise a very fine synth, I love the clean sound and the glitch sequencer

lnikj · Post by **lnikj** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 6:55 am

If you are going to revisit the graphic sizes on Thorn Dmitry, I wonder if you would consider some larger versions of Diversion too?

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:50 am

Works fine in Bitwig Studio 2. I like the sound very much and will definitely be getting this. Regarding the GUI, the "normal" size is just perfect - on Surface Pro 4 - and even one down is workable, but one up just goes out of screen in all directions. If possible, it would be better to just have scaling in % like U-He does, so we could fit the size to our screens ...and eyes. However, the fonts in drop down menus are too small - I can work out what's there, but just barely.

Anyway, lovely synth and incredible value for money, just needs some spit & polish to be perfect

BTW, during installation it asks where to put the plugins, but not for the VST3. Why? I like to have things organised and generally try to keep all VSTs in one, meticulously labelled folder.

e@rs · Post by **e@rs** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 7:54 am

VST3 location is fixed. Not user definable.

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:00 am

e@rs wrote:VST3 location is fixed. Not user definable.

Yes, but why? I can copy the .vst3 file to other folder and it will work from there.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:01 am

e@rs wrote:VST3 location is fixed. Not user definable.

The workaround is to setup a symlink based virtual plugins folder

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:07 am

GUI looks fine. Dmitry definitely did a fine job here. What bothers me is the sound... those scratchy oscillators! Same as Zeta2 and Waves Element, like fingernails on a chalkboard.

Also, the audio demo could be much better produced. I'd hire someone like Aiyn Zahev to do the demos.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:08 am

That harmonic filter is a really powerfull thing. Maybe not so much for "creative" sound design, but it's very useful for adjusting the basic character of the oscillators. The default oscillators have way too much high frequency content - it may be good for very plucky plucks or stabbing EDM sounds but for may other tasks it's a bit over the top. This is where the harmonic filter comes into play, basically you can shape any sound character you want - darker, bandlimited, dark but with some "sizzling", etc.

For basic "Sylenth-like" VA soudns "bass contour 1" curve seems to work well as a starting point. It's also great that the harmonic filter has two quick controls which may be modulated, e.g. keytracked. I used to complain like a grumpy old lady about the core sound of various synths, now there is a powerfull and easy tool to shape the core sound - at least of the oscillators - on my own.

Btw, I take back what I've said about the supersaws. Thorn is not an instant gratification trance machine like Spire or Sylenth but convincing supersaws are pretty much possible - you just have to use harmonic filter to shape the sound of the single saw before stacking them.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:10 am

Looks interesting but I already have Spectral which looks very similar but more powerful

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:34 am

izonin wrote: What bothers me is the sound... those scratchy oscillators!

You may use the harmonic filter to tame them.

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 8:41 am

recursive one wrote:
izonin wrote: What bothers me is the sound... those scratchy oscillators!
You may use the harmonic filter to tame them.

OK I'm downloading the demo, then. At that price it looks very appealing.

greedy.mf · Post by **greedy.mf** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:57 am

Demoing it second day in a row. Mostly presets with some adjustment.

First impressions are good.

UI is very well thought. I could say one-page layout, with several elements tabbed. It's ok, I don't need to see arp when I'm tweaking FX.
Scaling needs to be improved, but otherwise it's very pleasing to the eye. Knobs, buttons, color scheme - well done.
"Normal" is ok for 13 inch pre-Retina MBP. "Large" is sort of ok on 24 inch 1920x1200.

Filters are impressive. Hard to remember another synth with Drive knob has so much impact on sound.
Harmonic filter is probably powerful, I didn't dive in yet. The sound reminds me of routing synths through Logic Amp Designer.

Modulation system is clever. There is drag'ndrop, right click assignment and mod matrix for those who like it. There is no immediate visual feedback with current parameter state, like Serum has, but you can always understand what's modulated by the look of it.

Glitch seq is cool. Probably it would be too easy to overuse it, but still valuable feature.

Soundwise it is somewhat similar to Serum, minus the WT thing. Serum is also spectral in a way.

I evaluate it for the position of go-to workhorse synth as I've got everything but that - analog emulation, wavetable, waveshaping, modular.

Quite surprised with introduction price and terms of it validity. Gives plenty of time.
On the other hand I want to make up my mind and carry on with making music.

woodsdenis · Post by **woodsdenis** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 9:57 am

For Dmitry

In Cubase 9 and Studio One 3.52 VST 3 is mono for some reason, pan control on osc one controls the BR in the Glitch module, didn’t go further as it seems borked. VST2 works as expected.

skyscape · Post by **skyscape** » Fri Oct 20, 2017 10:28 am

Superb synth. Will buy. Most of my concerns other people have addressed:

The polyphony really seems too low, especially if you're doing lots of pads/chords with long releases. This synth is already being marketed as an EDM machine, but obviously that's just marketing - it's versatile and so much more than that.

As someone else pointed out - the release on the envelope doesn't seem to be long enough.

More visual feedback on modulations would be really nice, but not ultra important.

The granular effect from Diversion would be really nice to have included.

I LOVE the glitch effect, but worry it might become too overused/obvious - but I'll have to dive into it deeper to see how versatile it is.

While CPU is lower than diversion, it can still bring my PC to its knees with 3 oscillators, a bunch of modulations and some effects. Often that's overkill, but I wouldn't say this thing is light on cpu by a long stretch and it is in fact my only worry, that I won't get as much out of it as I'd hoped due to it choking my cpu (I love Diversion but rarely use it because of this). Don't know how hard it is to implement lower quality modes, but they'd be a godsend.

Very nice indeed, will demo some more but probably buy this weekend.

Thorn: Dmitry Sches' new synth!