Unloved synths

[Forgotten]

Korg Legacy Collection - I’d use them more often if I could read them. I don’t want to think that Korg has abandoned them, but they have been totally silent for 2 years on what their plans for them are.

[Examigan]

I have a feeling they haven't. It just takes time.

[Forgotten]

I have a feeling they haven't. It just takes time.

For sure, and I'm not expecting that a significant update happens overnight - I just wish they would do something other than remain completely silent on all channels of communication.

[zerocrossing]

Arcsyn is my go-to synth. It just sounds good to me. I seriously start out with some quirky inspiring instrument and then decide that I want the sound quality I'd get with Arcsyn.

ArcSyn indeed sounds amazing but the provided skins are IMO horrible

It’s not going to win any beauty contests, but it’s clear and well laid out.

No interest in pretty graphics. If a synth sounds good and is user friendly that's all that matters to me.

It’s... not that great in that respect either. OK at best. Not particularly intuitive but learnable and the sound is there.

[Introspective]

Omnisphere.

(No, but seriously: I feel like a lot of people pass over it because it's cool to hate on the big guys. ...It's quite possibly the best synth ever made, hard or soft, but it gets a lot of grief for being on top.)

Strobe 2. At least in my circle, it gets a heaping pile of hate, and I can't really understand why: it sounds "good enough," the modulation matrix is really unique, and there are plenty of interesting corners of the synth to explore.

Roland Cloud. Honestly, I understand the hate, here. ...but: get over it. They sound great. It's a huge value-for-money.

Codex. I think I've only ever heard *one* other person say they liked this synth (but then they stopped using it within like a week). It's one of my most favorite wavetable synths. Sure: it's not "crisp" like Serum. ...but that's just the tone of it: it's dark. But IMO it's enriched by it's limited scope. ...and it has some insanely creative wavetables in it, that you can morph between. Really interesting synth, I'm always getting excellent old-school sounds out of it.

[Gone soft]

I loved Kubik, but couldn't get it to work on my current PC.

Me neither. Are there any secret tricks, some bit bridge that people know to work specifically with this synth or something? Reapers own bitbridge won't work for some reason, and Reaper after freezing up attempting to scan it now refuses to acknowledge its existence.

[BONES]

I don't believe in conspiracies, so when most people don't like a synth, there are probably good reasons for that.

Neither do I but I definitely understand that hype always beats reality these days, so it pays to find out exactly why something is so loved or unloved before you make your own decision about it.

ArcSyn indeed sounds amazing but the provided skins are IMO horrible

Agreed. Even the SatyaTunes one is very ordinary. I want to make one of my own but I am struggling to find the time. With a better GUI, ArcSyn would have a lot more appeal, I reckon.

Anyway, I don't think that logic applies here. It's not that people don't know plugins that are not very popular. They are always introduced here on KVR for instance. Many people will try the demos, but for some reasons most just won't buy them.

I disagree. I've already looked at half-a-dozen synths mentioned in this thread that I've never looked at before and I'm only half-way through. It's really easy to miss a thread around here. e.g. This one's been going for almost a week before I noticed it. If a thread is done and dusted in a few days, it's likely most people will never see it.

ArcSyn's dark skin is fine...

No, it's not. There is no differentiation between different sections which makes it hard to see what some of the controls belong to, especially around the oscillators. It needs to have different sections separated more, both spatially and with some kind of graphical boundary, so that you don't have to stop and think when you are trying to do something. And why is Unison below the preset window, not over on the left side like all the other global parameters? They seem like small things but they sometimes stop me dead in my tracks when I am working, which is not good.

These {cough} mature {cough} eyes can't handle dark themes at all - serious eye strain and headaches

I think my 61 year old eyes are probably older than yours and I find the opposite. It's all about the environment you work in. I work in a fairly dark space and always keep the blinds drawn and the hatch closed to minimise reflections on my screen, so dark interfaces work for me. Windows 10's dark theme has been a Dogsend for me, especially since they added it to Explorer.

[BONES]

I also will add Carbon Electra to the list. Very capable and very distinctive sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qruko7OG3TU

The fact he says "it's now good for all kinds of genres" makes me think he has no idea what he's talking about. I tried the demo once and was not impressed by it at all. It came across as just another synth with nothing special to make it worth owning.

Anyway, I'm thinking we need to start a proper ArcSyn appreciation thread so I'll go and do that now.

[Forgotten]

I think my 61 year old eyes are probably older than yours and I find the opposite. It's all about the environment you work in. I work in a fairly dark space and always keep the blinds drawn and the hatch closed to minimise reflections on my screen, so dark interfaces work for me. Windows 10's dark theme has been a Dogsend for me, especially since they added it to Explorer.

Not far behind you, and I would far rather have a dark theme than the retina burning interfaces that we’ve all had to get used to. Back in the day just about everything had a dark background, but the growth of personal computers dictated that we all needed to stare at something with a blinding white background.

Set up dark mode right and it’s a far better viewing experience than the standard blinding white view.

[Ploki]

I think my 61 year old eyes are probably older than yours and I find the opposite. It's all about the environment you work in. I work in a fairly dark space and always keep the blinds drawn and the hatch closed to minimise reflections on my screen, so dark interfaces work for me. Windows 10's dark theme has been a Dogsend for me, especially since they added it to Explorer.

Not far behind you, and I would far rather have a dark theme than the retina burning interfaces that we’ve all had to get used to. Back in the day just about everything had a dark background, but the growth of personal computers dictated that we all needed to stare at something with a blinding white background.

Set up dark mode right and it’s a far better viewing experience than the standard blinding white view.

Pretty far behind but i agree.
People actually complained about logic pro x dark scheme.
I personally preferred the little darker version pre 10.3 refresh, and would absolutely love a FCPX color scheme LPX.

[folderol]

@BONES I very much doubt your 61 year old eyes are older than my 71 year old ones (in one week) and 10 years at this point makes a lot of difference. Still, I consider myself lucky. I know people of a similar age who are now nearly blind. However, each to his or her own.

[LeVzi]

Wiggle. A real gem but rarely see any comments. And when I do, it's mostly whining and complaining.

Complete CPU hog wasn't it ?

I thought Helix would have been more popular. I don't think it's being developed anymore but is still for sale.

Had an awesome sound as I remember, when it was freeware, but then it went payware and the GUI was "improved" but still horrible to use.

[buzz1]

Bad GUI for sure, but possibly the best trade off ever in a synth for sound/ CPU use.

[BONES]

@BONES I very much doubt your 61 year old eyes are older than my 71 year old ones (in one week) and 10 years at this point makes a lot of difference. Still, I consider myself lucky. I know people of a similar age who are now nearly blind. However, each to his or her own.

You definitely win that one. I'm actually really lucky with my eyes - even though I've spent 10-12 hours a day in front of a computer screen for the last 25 years, I still don't need glasses.

[tony10000]

ArcSyn's dark skin is fine...

No, it's not. There is no differentiation between different sections which makes it hard to see what some of the controls belong to, especially around the oscillators. It needs to have different sections separated more, both spatially and with some kind of graphical boundary, so that you don't have to stop and think when you are trying to do something. And why is Unison below the preset window, not over on the left side like all the other global parameters? They seem like small things but they sometimes stop me dead in my tracks when I am working, which is not good.

Then contact the dev. He is very responsive and open to suggestions. I have had email conversations with David Cook (the dev) and he is open to improving the GUI:

https://www.spcplugins.com/support