Dune 3 vs. Hive 2

[PieBerger]

Doublepost, that's two today

[PieBerger]

https://soundcloud.com/hypometric/conjo ... 08/s-ctz8q

Now that sounds VERY cool

Love these metallic leads in the second half, hard to believe it was made with a synth not capable of FM.

Indeed. The engine is fantastic and the factory tables are quality too. There's a tonne of really gnarly/gritty/digital FM-like tables in the Complex folder, that are great for the cutting, metallic leads and grid sounds used in psytrance. Shoot, I've just remembered I made some of the crossmod sounds in RePro the squiggly lead in the opening section for example. Still it's mostly Hive.

[pdxindy]

Good topic. I'm trying hard to convinсe myself (with varied success) that I don't need Hive 2 because I own Dune3 and Massive X. There is something in the sound of Hive2 I quite like, especially the wavetable part.

Hive has a pleasing representation of wavetables. Hive's interpolation is very good. Also the Uhm scripts sound great and are diverse.

About vocal sounds... you can use the two filters to create some vowelish sounds. I also use Icarus to resynthesize vocal sounds into wavetables. Sometimes I import them to use in Hive because Hive's interpolation creates less artifacts. Icarus has the morph modes and specific vowel filters so sometimes I stay in Icarus... depends on what I am doing.

I've used Massive X a fair bit since it became available. So far I don't really use it as a wavetable synth as such... partly because it has no user wavetable import and also it is so flexible with the various tools, modules, audio rate modulations and feedback. Using just a single wavetable as a starting point there is already an endless amount of sounds possible. Quite a few of the sounds I have made with it would not sound all that different when switching wavetables because it is not the wavetable defining the sound.

Hive is more of a direct wavetable synth in that regard. The wavetable more defines the sound as you can set the number of unison voices and detune, but there are not a bunch of tools that can completely change the basic sound.

They are really different synths.

[pdxindy]

Love these metallic leads in the second half, hard to believe it was made with a synth not capable of FM.

Hive doesn't have any FM parameter... but it does have FM wavetables and they have an advantage for certain sounds as they can be modulated, even fast, and they don't get muddy or artifacted. The FM wavetables can sound so clear and distinct yet still be round and not brittle. IMO, Hive offers a unique tonal character in this regard. Not that I have never heard that before, but it is effortless in Hive.

Sounds like Urs might add some regular FM option(s) to dirty stuff up.

[recursive one]

Sounds like Urs might add some regular FM option(s) to dirty stuff up.

Probably that's what I actually want.

I somehow miss Virus posTri FM character in softsynths. Viper does it but still somehow too clean and weedy compared to the original.

I'll sure keep my eye on Hive, I love "character" synths and Hive is one of these.

[Urs]

I somehow miss Virus posTri FM character in softsynths.

I think that's more ACE/Repro/Diva territory. I think much of the Virus appeal comes from Sync + FM at the same time.

If we do FM in Hive, it would be DX-style, and it would mean that the main oscillator would act as modulator (with flexible waveform), its sub as carrier (classic cosine). The sub would be decoupled from the main oscillator's pitch modulation, and it would automatically inherit the same unison count as the main oscillator (which would set it apart from Zebra, for instance).

[recursive one]

I somehow miss Virus posTri FM character in softsynths.

I think that's more ACE/Repro/Diva territory. I think much of the Virus appeal comes from Sync + FM at the same time.

Pretty much yes, FM + sync. I do use sync and osc crossmodulation in Diva for some "angry" psy sounds, also I'm a big Bazille fan, probably not it's intended use, but sounds very cool (at 1:15)

If we do FM in Hive, it would be DX-style, and it would mean that the main oscillator would act as modulator (with flexible waveform), its sub as carrier (classic cosine). The sub would be decoupled from the main oscillator's pitch modulation, and it would automatically inherit the same unison count as the main oscillator (which would set it apart from Zebra, for instance).

Can't readily imagine what it may sound like, but probably also good for various metallic sounds, e.g. if a wavetable which already has some FM "embedded" is used as the modulator.

[recursive one]

Okay, Smashed FM wavetable is very good starting point for that psytrance stuff.

Smooth Vox also seems great for Cosmosis-style vocal leads.

Now there is another problem, using them will be pretty much cheating, like that Modern Talking wt in old Massive

[Urs]

Modern Talking wt

[Urs]

(I'm just glad no-one requested a Dieter Bohlen set for Repro-5 yet)

[recursive one]

Well, i finally gave the demo a proper go. Extremely inspirational synth, coming from Serum, Rapid and such it was a bit of mindf*ck tgat cool sounds can be made in such an easy way, just pick the wavetable, add some modulations and effects, select an engine that fits best and you are good to go

Also i really like the character, especially the dirty mode, it has that early 00's trance/psy vibe which current softsynths like Spire and such don't exactly deliver.

I have to admit I used to have completely wrong image of Hive in my mind, first i thought it was a sylenth clone, then dune's runner-up, and the abundance of synthwave-themed presets didn't exactly convince me. But it's a very cool instrument in its own right, seems to be on par with Massive X sound-wise but without much overlap. Probably going to be my next purchase.

Modern Talking used to be "the default brostep wavetable", "comic sans of dubstep sounds" according to Wikipedia

[medienhexer]

(I'm just glad no-one requested a Dieter Bohlen set for Repro-5 yet)

What? I thought you were working on that!

I mean: Cherry Cherry Lady looks to be covered by Voltage Modular and IK Multimedia is probably working on making guitar chords sound like electronic drums and bass lines...



But those all-important Bohlen-Leads... how can you deny us the pleasure of playing cover versions with all original presets? Admit it, that’s a Berlin v. Hamburg thing!

[PieBerger]

Probably going to be my next purchase.

You won't regret it, in fact you may even find it hard going back to your other synths once you've really developed a liking for it . I really miss the visibility and other niceties like dedicated vibrato lfo/knobs and being able to save/recall mod assignments, to name but a few, when using other synths.

[pdxindy]

Probably going to be my next purchase.

You won't regret it, in fact you may even find it hard going back to your other synths once you've really developed a liking for it . I really miss the visibility and other niceties like dedicated vibrato lfo/knobs and being able to save/recall mod assignments, to name but a few, when using other synths.

Hive is so fast to work with... it's great to have all the modulators visible at once, undo/redo, copy paste, quick ability to solo various modules, ability to link both sides, etc. etc.

There are so many nice touches... for example when using my Linnstrument, I can lock the pitchbend to +/-24 so I can try different presets

[nichttuntun]

So far my best argument is that I'm not going to buy a synth that doesn't have FM or audio rate modulation for the oscillators.

Paradoxically though, I find that some of the classic FM sounds sound a lot better in Hive than in dedicated FM synths. When creating wavetables based on FM, there simply are no inharmonic aliasing artifacts.

Isn't exactly that one of the coolest things about FM or wavetable based FM-ish sounds and the reason why most people adore the PPG and WALDORF MicroWave and Q, all the original console FM chips or the original DX7 and so on?