KVR Audio

tony10000 · Post by **tony10000** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:57 am

It seems like everything is on sale more often than not. Sounds like demand for virtual instruments and effects is at an all time low.

Urs · Post by **Urs** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:16 am

July is a weak month, every year. People do sales to compensate.

lelderkin · Post by **lelderkin** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:18 am

I don't think demand is low, I think supply of high quality VSTs available for low price (Valhalla, Klanghelm, TDR, etc) have forced everyone else to bring down their prices to stay competitive. Also it seems like it has affected fx plugins more than Virtual Instruments. Synths and Kontakt libraries haven't gone down much in price, have they?

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:23 am

its all about shoving sound libraries down peoples throats now....

tony10000 · Post by **tony10000** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:29 am

lelderkin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:18 am I don't think demand is low, I think supply of high quality VSTs available for low price (Valhalla, Klanghelm, TDR, etc) have forced everyone else to bring down their prices to stay competitive. Also it seems like it has affected fx plugins more than Virtual Instruments. Synths and Kontakt libraries haven't gone down much in price, have they?

There have been quite a few top-tier synths with pretty deep discounts recently such as VPS Avenger, Spire, Rapid, ANA2, Styrus, Zone, Sektor, etc. And some of the new stuff like Massive X doesn't seem to be getting much traction.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:31 am

I can think of one thing off the top of my head that no-one has even thought about doing - the synthesis method KORG used in their 01/W synths. The 01/W could modulate the carrier wave with a second waveform, which they called the Waveshaper, at a right-angle to it. It had such a unique sound but in later iterations they removed that feature in favour of a more straightforward ROMpler set-up. I made many of my best sounding basslines using it and it sounded great. I'd be all over a VSTi that could do the same kinds of sounds.

Urs wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 6:16 amJuly is a weak month, every year. People do sales to compensate.

Yeah, I have a friend who works in advertising and they call it "dry July", which is a public health/charity thing they do here, where other people (not me) get sponsored not to drink in July.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:04 am

I guess there is some saturation point - there's no need for any new synths if the old ones are doing their job well. Probably the market itself isn't growing anymore, the population of music producers is stable and limited as well.

HcDoom · Post by **HcDoom** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:34 am

All synths that came out in past few years offered almost nothing new, they are all 95% same. So, if you take a look at the market, yes, its saturated synth wise. There is actually lack of inovation, but I believe if NI decides to update Absynth and when Zebra 3 comes out, we might see something fresh and different!

anomandaris1 · Post by **anomandaris1** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:51 am

I am still waiting for a good modern Phase or Frequency modulation synth (with a matrix, so the modulation routing is clear unlike what is going on in Phase Plant, or Reaktor etc) or even better additive/resynthesis synth than Harmor (and more control over harmonics).
And microtuning support is a must (even simplistic 3/4 chords pop/edm songs can sound more clearer in just intonation, idk why people aren't using microtuning way more).
(Wouldn't mind, if PP gets microtuning or IL fixes Harmor's implementation of this feature - it gives wrong results with different reference pitches).

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:03 am

anomandaris1 wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:51 am I am still waiting for a good modern Phase or Frequency modulation synth (with a matrix, so the modulation routing is clear unlike what is going on in Phase Plant, or Reaktor etc) or even better additive/resynthesis synth than Harmor (and more control over harmonics).
And microtuning support is a must (even simplistic 3/4 chords pop/edm songs can sound more clearer in just intonation, idk why people aren't using microtuning way more).
(Wouldn't mind, if PP gets microtuning or IL fixes Harmor's implementation of this feature - it gives wrong results with different reference pitches).

Sytrus?

anomandaris1 · Post by **anomandaris1** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:27 am

exmatproton wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:03 am Sytrus?

If they add more operators, better sounding unison mode, better effects section, realtime oscillator waveshaping (it cannot be automated right now) and microtuning, I would have liked it more.
Still, in Reaktor or PP you can do more types of "FM" modulation, not just PM. There is an audible difference between different types of modulation synthesis - check the free Reaktor blocks modules (Bento Box oscillator).

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:39 am

I think there is still a room for "characterful" modern synths, I mean something that sounds great and has wide range of sweet spots while being reasonably flexible. Synths that have nice fat and rich "analog" sound but aren't restricted to basic waveforms and fixed archeticture.

Massive X is a good example of that and I hope there will be more of such synths.

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:46 am

Recent success of Pigments, Phaseplant and Massive-X shows that synths can still be improved in features and GUI, without venturing into completely weird areas.

The question is: who buys new synths and how often? Who needs and has time for all the new synths?

ramseysounds · Post by **ramseysounds** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:20 am

DJ Warmonger wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:46 am Recent success of... Massive-X...

Has it been a success? The hype seems to have died down. I read as many negative as positive reviews on here

DJ Warmonger · Post by **DJ Warmonger** » Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:26 am

ramseysounds wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 9:20 am
DJ Warmonger wrote: ↑Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:46 am Recent success of... Massive-X...
Has it been a success? The hype seems to have died down. I read as many negative as positive reviews on here

Many people are using it, and event want me to start doing so (which I didn't yet). Like it or not, but as a part of Komplete it instantly became a major player in VST ecosystem.

Is the Market Finally Saturated?