What is it about Sylenth1 ?

[Examigan]

Nor did he say anything about it being possible to recreate Diva patches in Sylenth1 without people being able to tell which is which (which Tek admitted when he said he thought the order in my audio was the other way round).

Actually I think I was the one who couldn't figure out which was which.

[fluffy_little_something]

Oh, sorry, mea culpa

[BONES]

That's not how it works. In fact, in the example you made, I thought they both sounded awful, so being able to recreate something awful doesn't mean anything. If you want something to recreate, I'll find a really good DUNE or Thorn preset for you, something within the limited capabilities of S1, and we'll see how you go. In fact, I'll make it easy and find a nice Vacuum Pro sound, which is a synth I think is much more in line with what S1 is/does (both are two part, two oscillator synths).

Usability is excellent. You don't have to click and drag hardly anything or anywhere, the mouse over and mouse wheel are your best friends, even with on-off switches

Not very discoverable, which is poor GUI design. Orion does this for changing patterns and it's actually a nightmare because you do it unintentionally. That wouldn't happen here but I still tend to keep away from the scroll wheel when I'm working. But that's my problem, I actually like the click/drag thing better, it's more intuitive and works well enough. It was the inconsistency I was pointing out.

Resizing is as easy as it gets, just grab the lower right corner and set it to any size you want

I tried that, it didn't seem to want to work. It was killing my eyes after half-an-hour on my 12" screen so I was kind of desperate but couldn't do anything. Again, probably my fault but Arcade and others work in Orion.

The amp envelopes are part of the layers, thus they are at the top. The mod envelopes can be freely assigned, just like the LFO's, thus they are next to them further down.

I understand why it is the way it is, but understanding doesn't make it suddenly more usable.

Unlike you, I like the sound most with just 1 or 2 waves per oscillator, and set almost to mono.

When I did that it just sounded like the most bog-standard of SynthEdit set-ups - usable, nothing more. If you compare it to something like Wasp in Orion, it is actually extremely weak. I'll give you a Wasp patch to try and match (but you'll have to do it from an mp3, so I'll give you a screen-shot of the settings).

The resonance behavior was similar on hardware synths if I am not mistaken.

On ladder filters, yes, which is why I never understood why everyone loved the MiniMoog. I always liked Korg's filters myself and my ARP Axxe's filter was quite impressive, too.

While some people complain about that double cutoff system, I find it more flexible than the usual one. And in combination with two mod slots per filter env, you can go beyond what most synths can do, very snappy and punchy.

That's just rubbish because you need both slots just to get what you can from one slot in any other synth. And other synths with a mod matrix give you way more slots than S1, so you don't run out as quickly. And properly usable synths, like Thorn, only use the matrix as an extra, they also provide dedicated controls in the relevant sections so you don't have to jump all over the place.

You want to be spoon-fed as you are unwilling to familiarize yourself with the way Sylenth1 works. So you expect everything to work like on every other synth. And when it doesn't, you think it's wrong.

I'm just comparing it to other experiences with synths that are far more unfamiliar and strange, yet somehow easier to work with. I keep banging on about Thorn, because it's something I only bought last week, but if I think back to how easily I got my head around TRK-01, which is a completely weird, off the wall experience, or Substance, and compare it with all these little annoying quirks I had to work through last night, it's chalk and cheese. OK, it's not as bad as DUNE or Massive but neither is it in any way easy to work out. Maybe that's because it looks like it should be easy to use so the bumps are unexpected.

Also, ask yourself whether your complaint has any musical relevance.

I'm not doing music at the moment, I'm doing production and it is all extremely relevant to production. That said, buying Thorn last week has kind of thrown me back into music because every time I load it up, I end up writing a new riff or sequence or something that I have to force myself to put aside so I can get back to work.

BTW, don't feel under any pressure/duress to recreate that stuff, or to post it if you do. I am providing it purely for your own edification and I'm not going to call you out on it if you don't bother (because I don't know if I 'd bother if I was in your shoes). That said, I'll be very impressed if you can manage it, given the limited tool you'll be using and the fact I am not going to make it easy (because what would be the fun in that?).

[BONES]

User error, obviously.

You can say that but everyone is saying how easy it is to use, yet I found it more difficult than something like Thorn, which is far more complex overall and is full of concepts I'd not really encountered previously.

It's a good sounding synth, limited but good at what it does.

It's an OK sounding synth across a tiny spectrum of what any other synth in its price range is capable of and you can't rely on its very ordinary on-board effects because they definitely don't sound good. In fact, they are realistically no better than most freeware.

That's something I really dislike about Sylenth1's filter as well. I also think there are filters with a more pleasing character. The sound of the raw oscillators, and the supersaw I vastly prefer to Dune's, though. And I also think all of Dune 2's filters sound a bit harsh and cold.

Read that somewhere, did you? DUNE has something like 30 different filters to choose from and even the worst of those are better than anything S1 has to offer. If you can't hear that, you probably don't know what you're doing.

There are 8 skins under Menu/Skin (you can't move elements around, but most synths can't) and you can resize from Menu/Size.

Good to know but I couldn't see anything called "Menu" on the GUI anywhere. I've uninstalled it now so it doesn't matter, it's just another example of the poor GUI, I suppose.

[stvrsz]

After reading the entire thread, I thought I would add my 2 cents about Sylenth. This Black Friday, I went looking for deals on the plugs I really was interested in buying. Sylenth was one of the ones on my list. I was disappointed that they did not offer at least 30% off as they have in the past.

I loaded up the similar synths that I own: Spire, Synthmaster One, Dune CM, and Genesis CM alongside the old Sylenth1 demo I have on my computer. When I compared them, to my ear at least, Sylenth does have something special. The oscillators and filters are pretty impressive, especially for their age. It reminds me of that Lady Gaga "Fame Monster" Rihanna "Loud" period where the softies started to rival hardware.

I don't know why, but there is something special about the way Sylenth detunes. stacks, and screams. It is very musical and special. As has been noted, the feature set is really limited, but I really like the sound of it nevertheless. I think that it has a specific sound, and will purchase it eventually as I was put off that they only offered a miniscule discount this time around.

I would not give up Spire ever. I think that it is also very special for a soft synth as well. I bought it almost immediately after hearing it. Spire is amazing, but it does not necessarily replicate the "Sylenth" sound. It is much more delicate.

I respect anything that Bones says especially in regard to Thorn. I have ThornCM, but have not really felt a need to purchase the full version. Thorn is an excellent synth, but it sounds nothing like Sylenth. If he doesn't like Sylenth, so be it. I still do.

Truth be told, one of the reasons I did not choose to purchase Sylenth other than feeling that it is overpriced is the fact that I know Dune 3 is coming out soon and I am holding out hope that it is truly the ultimate soft synth. If Kevin Schroeder said that it is his favorite synth ever, I cannot wait to see and hear it.

Despite its shortcomings, Sylenth1 will always have a special place as one of the first software synths to actually replace hardware synths in many of the recordings in the circa 2010's. I still think that it sounds pretty amazing.

[wagtunes]

When I demo'd Sylenth1, I thought it sounded good. But it didn't give me anything that my other 100 plus VSTs didn't give me.

But the bigger problem is this.

Of the 100 plus VSTs that I own, only 7 cost me more than Sylenth1. And 3 of those (Omnisphere, Falcon and Avenger) are monster do almost everything synths. And Sylenth1 almost NEVER goes on sale.

The truth is, whether or not Sylenth1 fans want to admit it or not, compared to synths with comparable features, Sylenth1 is ridiculously overpriced. Otherwise, I would have bought it just to add it to my collection. But there is no value in it for me, not even towards my business as the number of soundsets out there make buying it for that purpose alone pointless.

I'm sure the dev has a full time job and doesn't need the money from Sylenth1 sales. Thus he can afford to do very little with it and keep the price as is. Most likely the sheer fact that so many people "supposedly" use it will keep new people buying it as well, regardless of what's out there that's better.

Maybe one day a new "king" will appear and Sylenth1 will become irrelevant. Maybe not. I don't know and I don't care. There is nothing here that's going to make me pull $158 (current Euro to Dollars exchange rate) out of my wallet to buy Sylenth1. Not that it's a bad sounding synth.

It just isn't special anymore.

[layzer]

its ok, but the filter doesnt have that pleasing character that tickles the ear to orgasm as chikn71 mentioned

[chk071]

Read that somewhere, did you? DUNE has something like 30 different filters to choose from and even the worst of those are better than anything S1 has to offer. If you can't hear that, you probably don't know what you're doing.

Define "better". If you mean better in terms of analog behavior, then, yes, I agree (except for the included Dune 1 filters, if say those are on par, at best). Better in terms of character? Arguable. I'd definitely say no.

[BONES]

If you don't realise by now how little I care about analogue behaviour, then you haven't been paying attention. By "better" I simply mean they sound better and they work better. The resonance in most of DUNE's filter types is full and rich and sounds like an extension of the main timbre, not something screeching above it. You can keep turning it up and the sound hangs together instead of separating into two components. It might be that the Q around the resonant frequency is wider or it might be something else. I don't know what it is but it makes the results more musical and far more useful in a mix. They enhance the instrument's character. It's not that they sound like this or that, it's that they feel right and do a better job.

Lots of instruments have what I feel are poor filters. I don't think any of Thorn's filters are all that good, for example, but that doesn't stop it being my favourite synth (at least for the moment), and most synths that try to emulate some ancient piece of hardware end up having poor filters, too. But Sylenth 1's filters are particularly characterless and seem to emulate my least favourite type of filter, the dreaded ladder filter, which makes them very limited. However Massive takes the cake for the worst filters around, it's really horrible. I can post some examples of what I think is good and bad if you are interested.

[Teksonik]

Tek admitted when he said he thought the order in my audio was the other way round).

If by Tek you mean me I don't remember hearing any audio from you let alone "admitting" your audio "was the other way around" whatever that means.

[Teksonik]

And I also think all of Dune 2's filters sound a bit harsh and cold.

Yet people who know what they are talking about will rightfully disagree.

Dune has been one of my goto's since Dune CM.

Love the thick warm sound.

Dune's filters are anything but harsh and cold (if you know what you're doing). That would be Spire you're thinking about being harsh and cold.....

[Synthman2000]

I really like Sylenth 1 it is in every track I make, so solid, so reliable, so clear and punchy, so working in a mix-y. Not that many synths get there even some of the more recent "do it alls". The filters are good IMO, they suit what I do and need.

And I love the low CPU use.

It is actually a legend synth IMO. It is there with the Virus and Massive, as a choice capable of serious results.

One man's warm is another man's hazy.

[Russell Grand]

That's something I really dislike about Sylenth1's filter as well. I also think there are filters with a more pleasing character. The sound of the raw oscillators, and the supersaw I vastly prefer to Dune's, though. And I also think all of Dune 2's filters sound a bit harsh and cold.

Read that somewhere, did you? DUNE has something like 30 different filters to choose from and even the worst of those are better than anything S1 has to offer. If you can't hear that, you probably don't know what you're doing.

Lol, I didn't have to read it anywhere to know that I agree with chk071. In fact I'll take it even further: I think DUNE is an extremely overrated synth; it's one of the most difficult to get to sit in the mix. It tends to overpower everything else I try to put with it; all of the Synapse synths are the same. Go ahead and attack me over my opinion, tell me that I don't know what I'm doing, etc etc etc. I could use a good laugh this morning.

[toonertik]

That's something I really dislike about Sylenth1's filter as well. I also think there are filters with a more pleasing character. The sound of the raw oscillators, and the supersaw I vastly prefer to Dune's, though. And I also think all of Dune 2's filters sound a bit harsh and cold.

Read that somewhere, did you? DUNE has something like 30 different filters to choose from and even the worst of those are better than anything S1 has to offer. If you can't hear that, you probably don't know what you're doing.

Lol, I didn't have to read it anywhere to know that I agree with chk071. In fact I'll take it even further: I think DUNE is an extremely overrated synth; it's one of the most difficult to get to sit in the mix. It tends to overpower everything else I try to put with it; all of the Synapse synths are the same. Go ahead and attack me over my opinion, tell me that I don't know what I'm doing, etc etc etc. I could use a good laugh this morning.

I am the DUNE Russel.. how dare you try to sit me IN the mix... I sit ON the mix.. I am the dominant synth..
Like a domatrix, I sit on you and slather you in my (hmmm... imagination ) you obey my sounds... mere musician/producer!
Sit me IN the mix>>> pfffffff.
Good day... having a coffee?

[vurt]

pervert.