KVR Audio

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 7:59 pm

e@rs wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 6:29 pm So, in 2019 Spire's sound changed from plastic to metallic?

Haha! I would describe Largo's sound as metallic, and Spire's as plastic. It's all about how band limiting is implemented in the oscillators.

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:05 pm

dionenoid wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 7:59 pm
izonin wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:54 am One peculiarity I noticed about Spire is that it clips/compresses it's output. You have to be really careful with the gain, or you'll end up with a thin, distorted sound.
You can switch off the compressor/limiter (x-comp) on the output. Also watch what SHP is doing.

Spire has a lot of internal headroom, so it doesn't clip it's output by itself.

No, I did the test with x-comp and all other effects switched off. There are still some nonlinearities, if you push the signal above 0db.

izonin · Post by **izonin** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:14 pm

twal wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 7:52 pm I like Spire more and I have both of them (Well Dune 2). It is true that Dune sounds more expansive and less "tinny", but it depends on the sounds where I find Spire not really tinny, just in a way compared to Dune. Nobody can beat the pluck on Spire, I have not heard anything better than it when it comes to pluck. I overall believe Spire has the best sound out of any synth, it just has a quality or some clarity that no other synth has. I find myself loving Spire more than any other synth I have. It just has character I cannot describe. Dune on the other hand, I find to be the opposite- it sounds very unclear and muddyish to me, BUT it has a quality and expansiveness and a wide beauty that no other synth can compare to- must be all the oscillators. I also find Zebralette to be incredibly beautiful on the sound just itself, not being the full on Zebra. I think those three synths and you are good. Oh, and someone said that they wouldn't use Spire for the bass at all. I disagree, I think Spire's bass is unbelievably beautiful so do whatever you like lol.

Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's as if Spire has a Transient Shaper built in, that's always On. Btw you can get a similar effect with other synths like Sylenth1, using a transient shaper plug-in.

And the muddy, undefined sound seems to be almost gone in Dune 3. It's simply amazing!

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:46 pm

recursive one wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:04 amI like Dune3 and do use it quite a bit but I wouldn't call it my best sounding synth.

Although you are not confident enough to say what you think sounds better, in case anyone were to test them side-by-side.

It sounds good enough for most tasks but I can't say it oozes character like some other synths do (including Spire).

If digital and thin are "character", then OK but it's something I can live without. The problem with synths with "character" is that they lack flexibility. OTOH, I can imbue a DUNE patch with any character I like, to complement the character of the song in which I am using it.

Where Dune3 wins is GUI/workflow (except that layers thing).

If Spire's workflow is worse than DUNE's, then Spire must be dire to use. (See what I did there?)

v1o · Post by **v1o** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:48 pm

The true test is when you create multi tracks with a synth. How does it sound in the context of a full mix? That’s how you separate the men from the boys.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 10:57 pm

Spire's workflow is definitely worse than Dune 3's. That's about anything that is worse about it, though.

We could surely spend all night and day discussing this now, though. Or... we just use what we like better.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:10 pm

Yeah, for sure, but I was really surprised at how much I didn't like Spire's sound, given how popular it is.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:24 pm

You're by far not the only one... i read quite a few times here that people think Spire is "thin", "always on", or something else. I can't comprehend that, because, i think Spire sounds very warm and fat (even when you disable the "warm" algo in the master section, which is on by default), but, hey. If anything, Spire is a tad clean for me sometimes, but... that's easily "fixed" with the great sounding shaper/saturation.

To each his own.

Silencer86 · Post by **Silencer86** » Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:07 pm

Let me just say that I am in no way hating on Spire. As I said I really liked the character of its patches.

One thing I want to say that stood out with Spire for me was that the patches had very strong and clear transients, something that I find difficult to tweak myself on a lot of synths. For example I bought the OPX II (don't know why in retrospect). And one thing I found with that synth was that I just couldn't get a strong transient with most patches.

ricowave202 · Post by **ricowave202** » Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:21 pm

Don't own either but from demos I'd say Spire has the better and more unique raw sound. It's a desirable type of "thin", to my ears.

e-crooner · Post by **e-crooner** » Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:49 pm

If a synth sounds thin, it has too much high-frequency content.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Dec 04, 2019 12:31 am

More likely not enough low end as the filter will usually tame the high frequency content pretty easily.

Just bought Dune3 after considering it or Spire