KVR Audio

Halonmusic · Post by **Halonmusic** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:08 am

Thanks for the heads up. Didnt know W.A Production makes synths. What is the CPU usage?

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:34 am

Seawind wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 10:03 pmIs the GUI suitable for a 4k monitor?

That will entirely depend on how big your monitor is and how you have set it up, won't it? That it is even a question makes me think you haven't set it up correctly.

Doug1978 wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:50 pm ... take new microtonal melodies / chords audio from the rather mediocre sounding Babylon, 'Melodyne' the notes back into midi and put them into any better sounding synth you have.
For around £10, I can now get Sylenth etc playing microtonal passages of music by this method.

You had me going for a minute, then you said that you think Sylenth 1 is a better sounding synth than Babylon. My farts sound better than Sylenth 1 (they don't stink as bad, either).

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:40 am

I just watched the demo video and listened to some of the audio demos (I'm at work) and it sounds decent enough. For $13.80 it seems like a bargain. I like the layout and graphical look so I'll just buy it, I think.

plexuss · Post by **plexuss** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 3:13 am

BONES wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:40 am I just watched the demo video and listened to some of the audio demos (I'm at work) and it sounds decent enough. For $13.80 it seems like a bargain. I like the layout and graphical look so I'll just buy it, I think.

Roll the Bones...

reusenoise · Post by **reusenoise** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:05 am

A decent synth, many presets, cross-platform, no copy protection... At this price it's a bargain

Doug1978 · Post by **Doug1978** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:35 am

BONES wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:34 am
Doug1978 wrote: Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:50 pm ... take new microtonal melodies / chords audio from the rather mediocre sounding Babylon, 'Melodyne' the notes back into midi and put them into any better sounding synth you have.
For around £10, I can now get Sylenth etc playing microtonal passages of music by this method.
You had me going for a minute, then you said that you think Sylenth 1 is a better sounding synth than Babylon. My farts sound better than Sylenth 1...

I don't believe you. Prove it!

As put above, Babylon has an okay sound but for me it shines due to its unusual and well-thought out microtonal possibilities for individual notes.
I don't really care if someone's favourite synth is Sylenth or not (I prefer other synths, not least my hardware ones for sound)
The exciting point is that synths with no microtonal options can become microtonal synths if you have a combination of Babylon and Melodyne. (NB: my previous comment about Zebra and other microtonal synths plus Melodyne).

Babylon is well worth picking up on sale at approx £10. I would not pick it up for its non-sale price of about £90.
YMMV.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 12:00 pm

First impressions are that it isn't too bad. It has a big bottom end and the osc level unison means it can create rich, thick timbres with ease. There are lots of oscillator waveforms and they provide a reasonable amount of variety, although a lot of them are quite similar.

From the little I've used it, the filter is serviceable enough. The Low Pass model is OK and the High-Pass, Band-Pass, Notch and Peak modes are actually quite good. 2 and 4 pole options might be nice but what's there is good enough. The GUI and workflow are both good, too.

CPU usage is OK. It's not a CPU hog, nor is it amazingly frugal. With a simple two osc resonant bassline it sits smack-bang in the middle between DUNE 3 and Vacuum Pro (DUNE 3 1% - Babylon 4% - Vacuum Pro 7%).

If you are looking at it from the point of view that it comes with tons of presets, I have to warn that a lot of them sound pretty much the same. The preset names make it seem like the process of creating them might have been quite mechanical. i.e. A bunch of presets with the same settings except for the oscillator waveforms. They aren't very inspiring at all.

There are a lot of options for the GUI, most of which are a waste of space. The default look at 50% zoom works perfectly for me, it's about the same size as Vacuum Pro or DUNE's small skin. It lacks the outright character of either of those synths but it definitely has enough going for it that I'm sure it will get some use from us. At $13.80 it's a no-brainer so I'd get it before it goes up to full price.

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 2:18 pm

I quite like the saturation option in the filter section. Also, the filter options in the fx section is truly handy.

Vortifex · Post by **Vortifex** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 5:02 pm

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Oct 31, 2019 1:20 am

It's surprising how quickly things fall by the wayside. I was playing around with this again last night, having half forgotten I even had it, and I really like it. My initial impression that it has a big bottom end was confirmed last night when I was using it alongside Union (another new synth with a ridiculously low intro price). It really can get huge if you want it to. I made a handful of presets in very short order, creating new timbres from scratch is very straightforward and fast. It may lack the character and ultimate sound quality of synths like DUNE or Diva but for the everyday sounds we use to fill out our mixes it's quick, easy and more than good enough. It is definitely worth the crazy low intro price and it's worth having in your VSTi folder, too, I reckon.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:14 pm

How does this synth only get two pages while Union, which isn't as good, gets 10? Could it be that people only want to share their negative thoughts? Say it ain't so!

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 6:45 am

BONES wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:14 pm How does this synth only get two pages while Union, which isn't as good, gets 10? Could it be that people only want to share their negative thoughts? Say it ain't so!

Maybe because this synth hasn't got much going on? It just is a good synth, but kinda "standard/basic/boring/simple". Or, it could be because of the UI and brand that people aren't that interested?
I don't think so though. I like it.

FotoxBr · Post by **FotoxBr** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:31 am

BONES wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:14 pm How does this synth only get two pages while Union, which isn't as good, gets 10? Could it be that people only want to share their negative thoughts? Say it ain't so!

I bought both Union and Babylon. Just because I am curious. They are both fun to explore.
I do not understand why some people are so negative about these inexpensive synths. I also bought Sektor and Wiggle while these were dirt cheap. I think it is funny that some people are explaining here that these synths are not as good as Diva, Serum, Phaseplant or whatever. Only buying one of these synths cost you 4 to 5 times as much as the 4 synths, that I mentioned earlier, together. Not even talking about hardware synths. I also like the iOS synths for obvious reasons. Maybe I am just a collector. But why not ?

exmatproton · Post by **exmatproton** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 10:03 am

FotoxBr wrote: Sun Nov 03, 2019 9:31 am
BONES wrote: Sat Nov 02, 2019 11:14 pm How does this synth only get two pages while Union, which isn't as good, gets 10? Could it be that people only want to share their negative thoughts? Say it ain't so!
I bought both Union and Babylon. Just because I am curious. They are both fun to explore.
I do not understand why some people are so negative about these inexpensive synths. I also bought Sektor and Wiggle while these were dirt cheap. I think it is funny that some people are explaining here that these synths are not as good as Diva, Serum, Phaseplant or whatever. Only buying one of these synths cost you 4 to 5 times as much as the 4 synths, that I mentioned earlier, together. Not even talking about hardware synths. I also like the iOS synths for obvious reasons. Maybe I am just a collector. But why not ?

+1. Although, Union isn't that cheap. It is cheap now. But after the intro period it will be €136,- (according to Plugin Boutique).

BlackWinny · Post by **BlackWinny** » Sun Nov 03, 2019 4:04 pm

It's not a problem of cheap price.

At least for me, it's simply a problem of what it offers NOW (not promised for an hypothetical future).

There are many synths which are at these low prices (or even free) and which are awesome (or at least offering very original features to stand out from the common pack) as soon as their first release.

Babylon Synth by W.A Production