DUNE 3 is now available!!

[Ghost Dog]

The VA saw in DUNE 3 is a bit different than the one in DUNE 2 and the pulse VA is better.

DUNE has its quirks, probably due to some optimizations that degrade the sound quality slightly but make it more CPU efficient, but overall, the sound is pretty clean and the overall engine is pretty good.

I do wish it had better and snappier ADSR envelopes. In terms of software synths, it's better than most, but somewhat worse than Sylenth1 and quite a bit worse than Spire.

I really wish they made the envelopes that do it justice.

[Teksonik]

But i wished Dune 3 would offer even a wider frequency. F.e. the OSC frequency goes not really as down as some others can

-36 Semitones isn't far enough down ?

I suppose if you're trying to use an Osc as a Modulator you'd need more. Haven't seen much call for it though.....

[AnX]

what quality settings are you using?

[Teksonik]

The VA saw in DUNE 3 is a bit different than the one in DUNE 2

Are you sure about that ? Would make a lot of Dune 2 patches sound different and I know backwards patch compatibility was a priority.

Can you point to a post or a change log where Synapse says the VA engine has changed since version 2 ?

[recursive one]

The VA saw in DUNE 3 is a bit different than the one in DUNE 2 and the pulse VA is better.

Did you catually compare then face to face?

I do wish it had better and snappier ADSR envelopes. In terms of software synths, it's better than most, but somewhat worse than Sylenth1 and quite a bit worse than Spire.

I really wish they made the envelopes that do it justice.

You can make more pronounced attack by admixing MSEGs to basic ADSR envelopes or just using MSEGs instead of them. Also don't forget that old trick of making a very fast pitch shift at the beginning of the attack phase by linking the global pitch to a MSEG having a shape of a very fast spike.

Btw, Dune CM has "spike hard/spike soft" as mod sources. I guess Richard decided that they were redundant in D2/3 because of MSEGs but they still were very handy.

Btw contrary to my previous claims I found that Dune (v.2 here) is absolutely amazing for psytrance bass, which means that its envelopes are totally ok

[chk071]

The VA saw in DUNE 3 is a bit different than the one in DUNE 2

Are you sure about that ? Would make a lot of Dune 2 patches sound different and I know backwards patch compatibility was a priority.

Can you point to a post or a change log where Synapse says the VA engine has changed since version 2 ?

From a stomach feeling, i also would say that, even the same waveforms, Dune 3 sounds a bit different to Dune 2. Emphasis on "stomach feeling", because i only briefly compared. The unison appears to be a bit wider as well. Could be wrong. Dunno.

[Teksonik]

I'm sure Synapse is aware of the "Snappy" comments and if I remember correctly added the Analog ADSR option in part to address those comments but a handful were still not content.

I suppose at this point if you don't find Dune's ADSR Envelopes "Snappy" enough (please define that term) then you'll just have to move on....or wait for future version of Dune.......

[Teksonik]

The VA saw in DUNE 3 is a bit different than the one in DUNE 2

Are you sure about that ? Would make a lot of Dune 2 patches sound different and I know backwards patch compatibility was a priority.

Can you point to a post or a change log where Synapse says the VA engine has changed since version 2 ?

From a stomach feeling, i also would say that, even the same waveforms, Dune 3 sounds a bit different to Dune 2. Emphasis on "stomach feeling", because i only briefly compared. The unison appears to be a bit wider as well. Could be wrong. Dunno.

But again point us to something official from Synapse that says the VA Engine has changed. I don't think "stomach feeling" counts..........

EDIT: Ok I'm trying the D2 and D3 INIT Patches side by side and I'm not hearing any difference. Granted the speakers on this system are pretty poor but even if they are not catching some subtle difference those differences would be so trivial as to not even be an issue.

I'll have to reinstall D2 on my studio computer to check there but I don't think the results would be any different.

All I know is all my old D2 patches sound just fine in D3 and many of them use the VA Osc......

[AnX]

the only diff to the VA osc is the addition of the "swarm mode"

[cytospur]

Here's an early Christmas present from me for DUNE3 users.

It's a wavetable with 256 different waveforms to showcase an equation that I'm working on that combines three different types of modulation plus feedback in to the one equation. It makes for some quite natural sounding waveforms often with interesting formants, i.e., good for acoustic type sounds, but also others. It won't sound great for morphing - run individual frames through a filter or use them as modulation sources when doing audio rate stuff.

They were generated using random values for each modulation section.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AqyauWxlz_jVgZm_Gsf5_OtKMqdkFKQ

Enjoy

[Ghost Dog]

At first, I tested the new D3 and try VA saw sounded better, but I didn't have D2 for comparison. After I've had the chance to A/B them properly, the similarities were much more apparent, since they're re almost identical, apart from the first two octaves. D3 sounds a bit "harder" (in a good way) and Reaper' oscilloscope confirms this.

The new VA pulse is also different and IMHO better.

I stopped carring about DUNE's on board oscillators as soon as made two WT banks while I still had the license. One with vintage style saw oscillator (which to my ears sounds better for most applications and compliments the filters in DUNE much better) and one with clean pulses of various widths.

I don't think we're gonna hear things about the audio engine from SA. They're a semi-transparent company at best (and that's a generous euphemism), so I don't think they'll talk about it.

[Ghost Dog]

the only diff to the VA osc is the addition of the "swarm mode"

Not true. Run the lowest octaves through an oscilloscope. See what happens.

[chk071]

I don't think "stomach feeling" counts..........

It doesn't. Maybe Richard will post whether there is a difference or not one day.

[Ghost Dog]

I don't think "stomach feeling" counts..........

It doesn't. Maybe Richard will post whether there is a difference or not one day.

Yeah, in 2074, when a ninety year old Richard mentions it in his memoirs.

[Cinebient]

But i wished Dune 3 would offer even a wider frequency. F.e. the OSC frequency goes not really as down as some others can

-36 Semitones isn't far enough down ?

I suppose if you're trying to use an Osc as a Modulator you'd need more. Haven't seen much call for it though.....

Sure, it´s really fine. You can even set the pitch wheel to -+64 now.
However, if you set it to -36 you only can go down to C01 while some synths can still go as slow as -C2 here and the same in the other direction if you set to +36 it just goes to +C5.
So here is a limited range (compared to a few other synths).
Of course it´s enough in Dune 3. Just sometimes i use use these extreme ranges, especially on the high end. Some synths just go from like one cycle per minute or so to the inaudible highs. In Dune there is a cut on both ranges. I guess to handle all the complex modulation if you use OSC as source.