KVR Audio

greedy.mf · Post by **greedy.mf** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:52 pm

lnikj wrote:
wagtunes wrote:As much as I love Spectral, it can't do what Thorn can do. It's apples and oranges as far as functionality. I own both and I'm glad I own both.
I expect most people reading this thread have got a plethora of straightforward subtractives, a handful of FM synths, a few additives, several wavetable synths, a bunch of semi-modulars etc .. so it's not like having TWO spectral synths is totally decadent

I wonder if Serum and Zebra could be considered spectral...

However, I'm probably mixing it up with additive.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 4:58 pm

greedy.mf · Post by **greedy.mf** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:15 pm

This kind of comparison is fair, and I cannot comment on Thorn's supremacy over Spectral.
I see Thorn as a straightforward subtractive synth, with some extras like advanced oscillators and Harmonic Filter.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:22 pm

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:31 pm

I've also been trying to choose between these two and demoing both. The filter routing is really the biggest difference between them; Spectral has 4 oscillators each with its own filter while Thorn is the more traditional 3 oscillators (+ noise/sample) mixed between two filters. This makes Thorn way faster to work with for classic subtractive sounds: layering oscillators and filtering them together. The same approach is a bit clunky in Spectral, as you have to adjust one filter and then copy/paste the setting to other layers. In Spectral the spectral filters are the main event and there's a simple lowpass for cleaning up; in Thorn the spectral filter is powerful but shared and the ZDF filters are really inspiring to play with.

Thorn's oscillators have the whole wavetable thing going which Spectral doesn't. Spectral can do phase modulation and is a little more expressive for PM/FM stuff.

Both have pretty good modulation setups with useful default routings and "second-order" modulation (you can modulate the depth of a modulation). Both have a reasonable selection of effects which can be manipulated using the modulation matrix.

I was expecting to compare two super-powerful pad monsters; actually Thorn feels like a fast subtractive workhorse with character (and can go much further) while Spectral is set up well for more complicated patches.

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:32 pm

egbert101 wrote:
greedy.mf wrote:This kind of comparison is fair, and I cannot comment on Thorn's supremacy over Spectral.
I see Thorn as a straightforward subtractive synth, with some extras like advanced oscillators and Harmonic Filter.
That and Thorn has a big phat limiter on it. Take the limiter off, and things begin to sound sonically similar to Spectral. Thorn may have the edge in terms of bottom end (I don't really know for sure) but they seem pretty comparable.

Well, to me they can sound a bit similar. However, because of the way they are set-up, the results are completely different (ymmv). Workflow is a big one here.

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:34 pm

exmatproton wrote:Workflow is a big one here.

This. They both have really good workflows for different jobs.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:40 pm

Chandran · Post by **Chandran** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 5:50 pm

egbert101 wrote:
greedy.mf wrote:This kind of comparison is fair, and I cannot comment on Thorn's supremacy over Spectral.
I see Thorn as a straightforward subtractive synth, with some extras like advanced oscillators and Harmonic Filter.
That and Thorn has a big phat limiter on it. Take the limiter off, and things begin to sound sonically similar to Spectral. Thorn may have the edge in terms of bottom end (I don't really know for sure) but they seem pretty comparable.

What means comparing Spectral and Thorn? The way for programming them is realy different and the sonic differences are not dependent from the limiter...with limiter off Thorn is unique as Spectral is...Thorn is developped and now Spectral is over as all the linplug...To my self Thorn is straight forward and easy to programm,I prefer the GUI and I can get the sound I like. Concerning spectral I newer programmed a pleasing sound on it...Powerfull beast however not my cup ot tea! "Many synths for every taste!"

sqigls · Post by **sqigls** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:17 pm

I'm getting tiny clicks (ironically) from the Glitch Sequencer... little zero-crossing-like clicks, around 5k or so, but they don't seem to show up on my spectrum analyser. A high cut from a parametric EQ is a workaround for some patches, but it can't hold me for too long

cb8rwh · Post by **cb8rwh** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:22 pm

Is it with any particular glitch effect, e.g. is it a filter returning to max/min really quickly?

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:23 pm

sqigls wrote:I'm getting tiny clicks (ironically) from the Glitch Sequencer... little zero-crossing-like clicks, around 5k or so, but they don't seem to show up on my spectrum analyser. A high cut from a parametric EQ is a workaround for some patches, but it can't hold me for too long

There is a declick knob in the upper panel. Does it help?

wagtunes · Post by **wagtunes** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:45 pm

Well, if I had tons of time to kill (I don't) I'd get into a detail by detail comparison between Spectral and Thorn. But I'll hit the highlights.

1. Spectral's bottom end can't touch Thorn's. That's not its strong suit. For bass, I'd choose Thorn over Spectral in a heartbeat.

2. For complexity, Spectral has the potential to outclass Thorn but the amount of work needed to put into getting that complexity is mind boggling and exhausting. Thorn can get fairly close but is SO much easier to program to GET fairly close.

3. As a pure spectral synth, Spectral beats Thorn hands down. It's not even close. If that's your main criteria for choosing between the two, Spectral wins.

4. Thorns FX outclass Spectral's by miles. Not even close.

5. Thorn's Glitch Sequencer is a unique feature that Spectral simply can't duplicate.

6. While Thorn does have the Harmonic Filter, Spectral's 4 drawable filters simply allow it to come up with timbers that would be impossible to reproduce with Thorn. The downside is the amount of work needed to get that uniqueness.

As you can see, each has its pluses and minuses and I didn't even get into sound "quality" because that's subjective as all hell. Personally, I like Thorn's sound overall more than I like Spectral's. Spectral is more digital and less warm. Thorn, while not as warm as something like Diva or The Legend, has a mellow tone to it that I enjoy more for making pads than I do for making pads with Spectral unless I'm going for that metallic sounding pad thing. That's what Spectral is good at. Spectral's detune, to my ears, is more artificial for lack of a better term. Thorn's is more natural and melodic. And workflow, IMO, isn't even close. Thorn, much easier to work with by miles.

Of course all of the above paragraph is totally subjective and just my opinion. But if I was forced to keep only one synth, it would be Thorn over Spectral. Less work to do almost as much if not as much.

Do I still like Spectral? Yes. I have no intentions of ever getting rid of it. Because on those days when I want to get really creative, Spectral is a playground. There aren't a lot of synths that go beyond it.

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:18 pm

egbert101 · Post by **egbert101** » Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:22 pm

Thorn: Dmitry Sches' new synth!