U-he Hive

[clipnotic]

Factory presets won’t tell you what it can sound like for your music. Unless you make the type of music that a given preset is designed for, of course. Gotta at least do some heavy tweaking of presets or roll your own.

There are so many synths available today, that I don't spend time to search for "secrets", I did this for 20 years as a synth costs much money. If I try a new synth, I read the specs and listen to the factory presets and sometimes test the demo. I still have many synths and make music with them in several genres, so I don't need a new synth. But if I found one, which has sounds I like, mostly I buy it!

[audiot]

I see that mindset all over the forum, people are not feeling inspired by what they have, they are always looking for something better than already exist. Criticism replaces creativity.

...

I know a couple of very good and productive electronic musicians and they are never discussing GUIs of synthesizers because they are like kids, they are enjoying. Wish you the same.

I completly disagree! Good UI design boost creativity! There is nothing more anoying than having to think about the workflow while you have a concrete idea in your head

I know a couple of signed artists using Serum Did you ever wonder why Serum is the most popular softsynth? If you load up patches from other people, you can instantly see which modulator is affecting which parameter because of the visual feedback. The mod-depth rings around the knobs give an instant feedback about the modulation range! The envelopes and LFO's (MSEG's) are a joy to work with. THIS is good UI design that boost creativity!

[acYm]

wow. I have nothing against Hive2's default look and operation (perhaps cause it works great in Kore so I don't mouse it much) but Eclipse looks absolutely outstanding.
this must be one of the sleekest gui's I've ever seen, and fantastic colors - it's just like '94.

[Dombaeb]

I completly disagree! Good UI design boost creativity!

First of all, you do not agree with the statement that I did not state. But confirmed what I actually said about You're right but is it worth discussing? It's not hidden insight, developers do their best. If something doesn't suit my needs and I don't clearly realize how to make it better - I'm passing through without making noise.

"Noise" and "useful feedback" are extremely different things. KVR tend to make much noise about everything, and, unfortunately, a lot of people love to make and consume noise. These days, people come into conversation just for the sake of conversation, not ideas. People are chatting and relaxing here, like in hobby groups. It's okay if you realize it but if a person comes here for knowledge and absorbs a lot of "noise" it creates the feeling that he's doing something. But he's not.

The main reason why I'm talking about it here - KVR still unites a lot of useful information and interesting links hidden behind a wall of noise. So maybe next time one-two active writers will ask yourself before "Submit". It will be great for all active readers

At least, I learned English because of KVR so thank you all and good luck

[recursive one]

At least, I learned English because of KVR

Same here

I do agree that a bad GUI (illogical, unnecessarily complicated, poorly drawn) may be a real workflow killer but Hive's GUI is very far brom being really bad.

[chk071]

I never thought Hive's GUI is particularly bad. When it came out, in version 1, it was a bit all over the place, but, the v2 GUI is really nice.

[audiot]

KVR tend to make much noise about everything, and, unfortunately, a lot of people love to make and consume noise. These days, people come into conversation just for the sake of conversation, not ideas. People are chatting and relaxing here, like in hobby groups. It's okay if you realize it but if a person comes here for knowledge and absorbs a lot of "noise" it creates the feeling that he's doing something. But he's not.

Welcome to kvr But seriously ... you'll find a lot of constructive threads here. There are topics, especially in the instruments forum, that will always produce controversy, like oscillators or filters, because opinions are based on personal preferences. And you are right ... there are some people who love to argue. You just have to develop your own personal "noise"-filter for these kind of threads Nobody has the time to go through all threads and nobody will tell you if the thread contains useful information ... that's just the nature of forums and different people coming together

[PieBerger]

.... Does anyone here who bought Hive feel regret?

Not even one bit!

Probably the best software synth ever made.

I feel the same way. It's a thing of beauty especially in terms of workflow. Nothing else on the market has the same feature set to usability ratio imo. I only wish for PM between sub and primary OSC (analog waves only), level trims for each FX and a variable Q for each EQ band or even just the mid band, the current fixed value is a bit too broad for cuts imo.

[Ghost Dog]

.... Does anyone here who bought Hive feel regret?

Not even one bit!

Probably the best software synth ever made.

I feel the same way. It's a thing of beauty especially in terms of workflow. Nothing else on the market has the same feature set to usability ratio imo. I only wish for PM between sub and primary OSC (analog waves only), level trims for each FX and a variable Q for each EQ band or even just the mid band, the current fixed value is a bit too broad for cuts imo.

IMHO, the only one with enough power to make me feel I'm using a real synth and that is pretty special to me.

[exmatproton]

.... Does anyone here who bought Hive feel regret?

Not even one bit!

Probably the best software synth ever made.

I feel the same way. It's a thing of beauty especially in terms of workflow. Nothing else on the market has the same feature set to usability ratio imo. I only wish for PM between sub and primary OSC (analog waves only), level trims for each FX and a variable Q for each EQ band or even just the mid band, the current fixed value is a bit too broad for cuts imo.

Well, actually, synthmaster one (which is almost a direct copy) has the same feature set-usability ratio. But again, that is a (almost direct) copy to Hive(2).

Never had any regrets buying Hive as well. Awesome synth. Love it and use it on a daily basis

[Urs]

I opened Serum, and it makes sense in a split second. Europa in Reason, I got it right away. Massive X, it took a minute but it’s all easy to figure out.

Hive 2, I have no idea what’s going on, let alone in Zebra.

Here's why. They *look* like they are easy to figure out (and they probably are). That look is achieved by tucking away things in tabs. When you tuck things away, you have a lot of space on the UI and you can act generously with large knobs and stuff. But this kind fo tidy comes with a price.

They *hide* a lot of information from you at any time. Try modulating an LFO with another in this synth or sweep an LFO with an envelope in that one. You have to switch back and forth between two tabs. Tedious shit.

You never need to do that in any of our synths, not even in Zebra. Tabbing in our stuff is "task aware". It's almost difficult to find combinations of modulation or routing where you need to flip back and forth more than once or twice (Zebra has a few, but there are alternatives).

In my opinion, tabbing that isn't "task aware" promotes redundancies and limits the size of the canvas that sound design should have (e.g. you need more modules to achieve the same). Hive in particular is based on the concept of maximizing this canvas by not limiting the access to path ways buried in tediousness. More clutter? Yes, maybe. But still twice the mileage with half the parameter set.

[zvenx]

I think that is part of what makes Omnisphere 2 GUI so really good..... it hides stuff away but you can 'enlarge' a section', right click to modulate and once you do that another window pops up to allow you to fine tune that modulation.
Whereas I do know of a few synths that have even more stuff on their front panel than u-he (looking at you cypher 2), I do think all that information all at once, for many, including me can be at times intimidating/counter productive, especially when you are working quickly as I often have to do.
rsp

[exmatproton]

I think that is part of what makes Omnisphere 2 GUI so really good..... it hides stuff away but you can 'enlarge' a section', right click to modulate and once you do that another window pops up to allow you to fine tune that modulation.
Whereas I do know of a few synths that have even more stuff on their front panel than u-he (looking at you cypher 2), I do think all that information all at once, for many, including me can be at times intimidating/counter productive, especially when you are working quickly as I often have to do.
rsp

Hmmm...i do like it the other way around. I don't like tab-browsing to get to basic functionality of a synth. In some cases it is a lot to take in, but that is just part of the learning proces. In the end it results in WAY less click actions

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Yeah, Omnisphere might be great if you just want to tweak or are a newbie. But the GUI hiding so many features almost acts dissuade me from wanting to program it. I also can't stand how much empty space the GUI uses.

Hive on the other hand, has a great workflow. I just wish it had a row of effects down at the bottom like RePro.

But think of it: want to create a modulation? Just drag and drop. Boom! Added to the X/Y panel at the bottom, and if you don't have that open, don't worry, it instantly appears. Just set the depth. Try that in Pigments. Try that in other synths and count the clicks or measure the time needed. If you don't know how to use the Shape Sequencer or Function Generators just don't.

[zvenx]

And the last two responses after mine highlights the issue.
Different people want and like different things
rsp