Phase Plant released

[plexuss]

There is some price relief at everyplugin.com http://everyplugin.com/phase-plant.html

Toolbox Free $140 (reg $169)
Starter $165 ($199)
Pro $288 ($349)

[morelia]

There is some price relief at everyplugin.com http://everyplugin.com/phase-plant.html

Toolbox Free $140 (reg $169)
Starter $165 ($199)
Pro $288 ($349)

Not so much for existing customers though.

[aMUSEd]

So how does this work if you have a patch created by someone else with certain snapins you don't have? Does it:

1) just refuse to load the patch
2) load the patch but tell you which snapins are not available
3) load the patch with the snapins not available running in demo mode (and tell you which ones you need)

The latter is how MXXX works for example and is the preferred version as it means I can potentially replace the demo version module with another and then resave the patch.

[perfumer]

Does it:

... say in the manual? In the FAQ? Yes? No? Hmmm.........

[morelia]

Does it:

1) just refuse to load the patch
2) load the patch but tell you which snapins are not available
3) load the patch with the snapins not available running in demo mode (and tell you which ones you need)

4) Load the patch with all effects but the ones you don't own cannot be tweaked.

[aMUSEd]

4) Load the patch with all effects but the ones you don't own cannot be tweaked.

So demo mode

That's best anyway

[yellowmix]

Been demoing it over the weekend. Excellent synth at a competitive price. I don't understand the fuss over it. This is $169, Dune 3 is $179, Serum and Spire are $189, Biotek 2 and Cypher 2 and Pigments are $199, Zebra 2 is €199. This is priced similarly to Hive 2 (149€) at current exchange rates.

The price comparisons with MSoundFactory are disingenuous. List price is €299 but it will go on sale for half that, putting it near the same street price point. If you got it for less than that like I did, I don't think it's fair to use one-off discount prices for beta testers as a comparison; that's not the street price. Also, Kilohearts has regular sales and I expect a discount on Phase Plant eventually.

Regarding the FX, I agree they should be available unfettered within Phase Plant; it doesn't feel right for any virtual synth to be crippled this way (and I say that as a The Works owner). However, the price would need to be adjusted upward. They are more plentiful and powerful FX than in any other synth in this tier besides MSoundFactory. But I don't think all the FX modules are necessary, so perhaps it is better to have it at this pricepoint and get whatever you think is necessary a la cart. Synths didn't always have so many FX built-in, and the ones it comes with are very useful. Do you need a tape stop in a synth (to be fair I just made a kick drum patch with it but it's a novelty)?

As for what this synth can do, the open-ended and CPU-efficient audio rate modulation is amazing. That everything in the generator section can modulate each other at audio rate is a technical marvel. For comparison you'd have to look at Cypher 2 and Bazille, which have fixed architectures. Linear and Exponential FM, PM, AM, and Filter Modulation, up to 30 modules routed arbitrarily audio rate modulating each other!

Modulation system is nice, visualized in many ways and space-efficient. Easy to switch polarity and limit range. LFO can be used to sequence 128 steps. The workflow is very fast and efficient. In fact, it's fun. From the generators to the modulators to the FX, every parameter is visible and within easy reach. It can get cumbersome when you have many modules but they can be grouped and collapsed, which is a most elegant solution. One thing I'd like because of that is a mod matrix, even if view-only, since mod sources and targets are not visible when collapsed. Clicking on an entry in the mod matrix should uncollapse and put the relevant modules into view.

This has perhaps the nicest visual wavetable editor. You can freehand draw, it'll decompose it into spectral view in realtime (and vice versa), plus you can be holding a note down as it changes. Linear and spectral morph, the spectral morph is great though not perfect (using u-He's 7 x 4th Harmonic test) so Hive is still king. It's not as powerful as Hive's UHM scripting, but it opens up wavetable creation to many more people and provides some powerful tools in an accessible way. And it'll import and export de facto-standard 2048 WAVs. This adds a tremendous value to the synth.

To me this is the current FM/PM monster to beat. Try audio rate modulating samples, it helps to loop samples that are very periodic like acoustic instruments. I made a nasty bass looping a harmonica section. If that is too difficult, then try with wavetables since they are inherently periodic.

Hive 2 has the West Coast style stuff and visualization, Cypher 2 has a ton of sources and targets plus strong MPE support, Serum has very fast workflow, Pigments is very visual. The modulation here is excellent and ranks among them.

Random Tip: If you want to scale velocity or aftertouch or whatever with an exponential concave curve, use the multiplier to multiply itself.

[yellowmix]

Oh yeah, if you want to test wavetable interpolation, this is the brutal wavetable to use: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=516346&p=7252493#p7252493

[morelia]

4) Load the patch with all effects but the ones you don't own cannot be tweaked.

So demo mode

That's best anyway

Not really. Demo mode is full functionality for 10 days.

[PieBerger]

Been demoing it over the weekend. Excellent synth at a competitive price. I don't understand the fuss over it. This is $169, Dune 3 is $179, Serum and Spire are $189, Biotek 2 and Cypher 2 and Pigments are $199, Zebra 2 is €199. This is priced similarly to Hive 2 (149€) at current exchange rates.

Your mixing and matching prices all over the shop here In the UK the prices including VAT are more like:

PP I £150
PP II £176
PP III £310

Dune 3 £139
Serum £146
Spire £173
Pigments £177
Cypher2 £160
Biotek 2 £157
Zebra2 £180
Hive2 £136

I'll let people decide for themselves if PP is priced competitively against other synths on the market

[SLiC]

The price comparisons with MSoundFactory are disingenuous. List price is €299 but it will go on sale for half that, putting it near the same street price point. If you got it for less than that like I did, I don't think it's fair to use one-off discount prices for beta testers as a comparison; that's not the street price. Also, Kilohearts has regular sales and I expect a discount on Phase Plant eventually.

I bought MSoundFactory yesterday for 89E, so that is the current street price and is a perfectly fair comparison of bang for the buck for a modular type synth. When Kilohearts has a sales and discount Phase Plant I will evaluate it at that price- the modules are still fairly basic/limited, I would have expected an intro (hook you in) price until the eco-system grows, but I would also be somewhat concerned about having to 'buy' additional fx modules ...Kilohearts seem to have created a new model/ecosystem for charging additionally for adding fx a VST!

MSoundFactory may be called a Beta (as it is still evolving) but it is very stable and you will get all future M modules/fx and updates for free. This is probably the best value synth at the moment, so it is a tough comparison for any synth, but I would not want PP witout the 30 fx (that is still not a great deal of fx compared to modern VSTs) so I see the cost as 349E which in my opinion is not good value against the current crop which have more options/variety for oscillators, modulation and fx (for example, Avenger at 199E has vey similar Fx (30+) but has far more to offer in terms of drum machine integration, more powerful arp, granular, step sequencer etc.)

Nothing I have said stops PP being a realy good and desirable Synth, as I said earlier, I realy like it, just cant justify 350E when I already have Falcon and Avenger (but found a way to justify 89E with free lifetime updates for MSoundFactory as a 'no brainer' like I found a way to justify Pigments for 69E launch price when I realy didn't need it! )

[cowby]

Forget about $$, both synths (MSF & PP) sounds great to my ears. I d/l MSF a week ago and I dislike the UI and I didn't know where to start to make patches. So I pretended I am a good student to sit down and went thru some of the youtube videos of these 2 bad boys. And now the demo resumed & I found MSF has so so much potential and the semi-modular architecture similar to my be-loved Zebra (which is NICE!). The effects are sick and I have no doubt regarding the quality and tweaking parameters. They are all A class (not A++) to my ears. I re-demoed again these 2 days and felt this is a very good work horse plus a designer paradise!

For PP, well... allow me to say that the FX are weak compares to MSF and most of the ppl focus on the WT synth department. I don't think it is ground breaking but it will make users who love to use the modular approach. For modulation, yeah... it has a lot but Pigment suit my work flow better.

Both bad boys came out just in time and if Zebra 3 and Massive X came out before them.... The other thing that I would like to know is why members here chose PP over MSF. Respect ! but I'd like to know your decision making process.

Cheers!
Cowby

[Aloysius]

Page Plant having a good laugh.

[zerocrossing]

Don’t miss the “Poly” toggle at the top of each lane. It allows you to apply all the effects in a lane to each voice individually, even giving each voice unique random values from the Random modulator etc. <--- this is just so awesome! Per voice fx is truly underrated. I know Falcon can do it and i love it

That's pretty impressive. Per voice effects is pretty rare. I can do that with Omnisphere when using multi-mode and having each one respond to a different midi channel and using an mpe type setup. Problem is that after every tweak you have to copy across the layers again. Repro has per voice distortion which is nice and Falcon I remember had a few effects per voice, but not all. Definitely an excellent feature.

FYI, Eric mentioned on Facebook that they are working on putting MPE compatibility into Omnisphere.

[perfumer]

Been demoing it over the weekend. Excellent synth at a competitive price. I don't understand the fuss over it. This is $169, Dune 3 is $179, Serum and Spire are $189, Biotek 2 and Cypher 2 and Pigments are $199, Zebra 2 is €199. This is priced similarly to Hive 2 (149€) at current exchange rates.

The price comparisons with MSoundFactory are disingenuous. List price is €299 but it will go on sale for half that, putting it near the same street price point. If you got it for less than that like I did, I don't think it's fair to use one-off discount prices for beta testers as a comparison; that's not the street price. Also, Kilohearts has regular sales and I expect a discount on Phase Plant eventually.

Regarding the FX, I agree they should be available unfettered within Phase Plant; it doesn't feel right for any virtual synth to be crippled this way (and I say that as a The Works owner). However, the price would need to be adjusted upward. They are more plentiful and powerful FX than in any other synth in this tier besides MSoundFactory. But I don't think all the FX modules are necessary, so perhaps it is better to have it at this pricepoint and get whatever you think is necessary a la cart. Synths didn't always have so many FX built-in, and the ones it comes with are very useful. Do you need a tape stop in a synth (to be fair I just made a kick drum patch with it but it's a novelty)?

As for what this synth can do, the open-ended and CPU-efficient audio rate modulation is amazing. That everything in the generator section can modulate each other at audio rate is a technical marvel. For comparison you'd have to look at Cypher 2 and Bazille, which have fixed architectures. Linear and Exponential FM, PM, AM, and Filter Modulation, up to 30 modules routed arbitrarily audio rate modulating each other!

Modulation system is nice, visualized in many ways and space-efficient. Easy to switch polarity and limit range. LFO can be used to sequence 128 steps. The workflow is very fast and efficient. In fact, it's fun. From the generators to the modulators to the FX, every parameter is visible and within easy reach. It can get cumbersome when you have many modules but they can be grouped and collapsed, which is a most elegant solution. One thing I'd like because of that is a mod matrix, even if view-only, since mod sources and targets are not visible when collapsed. Clicking on an entry in the mod matrix should uncollapse and put the relevant modules into view.

This has perhaps the nicest visual wavetable editor. You can freehand draw, it'll decompose it into spectral view in realtime (and vice versa), plus you can be holding a note down as it changes. Linear and spectral morph, the spectral morph is great though not perfect (using u-He's 7 x 4th Harmonic test) so Hive is still king. It's not as powerful as Hive's UHM scripting, but it opens up wavetable creation to many more people and provides some powerful tools in an accessible way. And it'll import and export de facto-standard 2048 WAVs. This adds a tremendous value to the synth.

To me this is the current FM/PM monster to beat. Try audio rate modulating samples, it helps to loop samples that are very periodic like acoustic instruments. I made a nasty bass looping a harmonica section. If that is too difficult, then try with wavetables since they are inherently periodic.

Hive 2 has the West Coast style stuff and visualization, Cypher 2 has a ton of sources and targets plus strong MPE support, Serum has very fast workflow, Pigments is very visual. The modulation here is excellent and ranks among them.

Random Tip: If you want to scale velocity or aftertouch or whatever with an exponential concave curve, use the multiplier to multiply itself.

Please post example of 32 oscillators FMing each other and producing a sound that can be called 'musical'. (Not buried in fx or extreme filtering though.)

Thanks!