Fathom Synth Development Thread

[AnX]

OK, I understand, thanks for being part of the thread.

no problem, keep up the good work

[TrojakEW]

I think I will repeat myself again but it doesn't matter if you use the synth with the "best" sound in the world if you can not use it properly. It is always matter of operator. You can make anything sound like crap if you do not know what to do and you can make average or even bad sounding synth sounds excellent. People always judge anything based on their own skills and experience without taking taking in account that they are not definition of maxed out skills. Not sure if there is anything like max level of skill .

So why to compare Fathom to any other synth there. It is kind of like comparing apples with oranges. Some people like apples more and some like more oranges. There are people who likes both and they are people who do not like any of these two but they like someting else. Even two apples are dfifferent and unique.

I have first heard about Fathom when it was choosen for KVR OSC. I have downloaded and found it very interesting. After that Everett joined the discussion in OSC. I found he is very honest and open to any form of suggestion how to improve the synth. Then I found about the price at that time and 15$ was a steal. Then I bought some updates and even some presets pack (even I do not want or need them) just to support development because it is great synth and have alot of potential. So we will see the how avx will improve performance since for now it is my only "complain" so far.

So best advise (even for Everett ) if to stop comparing and and looking for holy grail. Make the synth you use the best one in the world by spending more time learning and improving you skills.

[SoulState]

D3 is by far the best sounding synth I've ever owned, software or hardware. But then I'm not into the sound of broken chainsaws.

"Best sounding" in what aspects? What do you mean? Clean?

Would you choose Dune instead of real Oberheim or Prophet for leads and basses? If you say it's better than hardware...

[Tj Shredder]

In terms of Fathom vs. other synths, I think the biggest competition is the Grid in Bitwig Studio. Its hands down the best modular soft synth I know. Though I was with Fathom from the very beginning, and I still look for it and hope it will florish, The Grid gives me all I ever wished in terms of inspiration and ease of use.
The overall concept is comparable, but the Grid does have objects with more than one input. Fathom does have wavetables, but for me wavetables are a bit overrated, and I can use Bitwigs sampler to a certain extend for that use case...
I suggest to look at the Grid also as source of inspiration. The Bitwig demo just can‘t save but is fully functional...
Bitwigs modulation system is far superior to any modmatrix I have seen in any synth. I even stop using modmatrices of synth in favor of modulating even parameters which had been overseen by the synth developer for modulation, at least for those which are not polyphonic...

[grandmasterbird]

D3 is by far the best sounding synth I've ever owned, software or hardware.

Have to agree with this. To my ears it sounds amazing

[FathomSynth]

TrojakEW, Perfectly stated. What he said.

It’s true. Improving one’s own skills and ears is always preferable to falling into the trap of buying the latest technology hoping it will improve your sound. As Trojak points out this rarely works.

The Grid looks very interesting. Looks very versatile.

I have noticed ever since Fathom came out there are more and more synths using open modular signal flow. Massive X being another good example.

I agree that comparing synths is so subjective that it is almost useless. A great synth is a waste of time if one’s own skills can’t make good use of it. However I have found the hard way that a bad synth can always hurt your sound.

The ones I listed are the ones that never let me down.

[Teksonik]

People, please relax, I didn't say anything bad about Dune 3. It has the best detune algorithm I've heard.
I just said it was simple. It has one main page and five mini pages in the middle.
It's a basic synth. That is accurate.

No it's not accurate. Dune has 3 Osc VA with Hard Sync and Ring Mod, a Wavetable Osc with WT Creation and Editing capabilities, and an FM Osc for each of it's 8 layers (pages if you must) it's like having 8 full synths, 2 FX modules with 9 FX per module with drag re-order, Dual Filters with 30 different Filters and 19 types of Filter FX, Two Arp/Seqs with Midi file import, 4 MSEG's etc. It has two forms of Unison,per Layer with up to 32 Density and 10 Types or by using the 8 Layers or both and so on.

That's not a simple synth. Is it more complicated than Fathom ? I didn't say that but I own both and I do use Dune 3 every day while the same can not be said about Fathom. Fathom may win the feature battle but it loses the sound quality war....in my opinion of course.

[Teksonik]

D3 is by far the best sounding synth I've ever owned, software or hardware. But then I'm not into the sound of broken chainsaws.

"Best sounding" in what aspects? What do you mean? Clean?

Would you choose Dune instead of real Oberheim or Prophet for leads and basses? If you say it's better than hardware...

Best sounding can't be defined. I can use words that have no real technical meaning like "sweet" "high definition", "high quality" "smooth", "silky"......and so on. They have no real meaning.

Best sounding is a matter of personal taste.

Would I choose it over an Oberheim or Prophet ? Well since you insist on a myopic definition of synthesis as a saw wave through a low pass filter yes I would choose Dune 3. It's the most undderrated VA on the market. But then the Oby and Pro don't have Wavetable capabilities so they fall short in range of sounds versus Dune 3.

[Teksonik]

I think I will repeat myself again but it doesn't matter if you use the synth with the "best" sound in ore time learning and improving you skills.

You know the two are not mutually exclusive right ? You can use the the best sounding synth while "learning and improving your skills".

[Teksonik]

D3 is by far the best sounding synth I've ever owned, software or hardware.

Have to agree with this. To my ears it sounds amazing

+1....I can't put it into words but it's just a step above everything else in quality. There are plenty of synths that have a much wider range of sounds than D3 but as far a core sound goes it can't be beaten.....in my opinion of course.

Anyway enough about D3. Fathom is a great synth and I'll keep an eye out as it's developed further.

[vurt]

D3 is by far the best sounding synth I've ever owned, software or hardware.

Have to agree with this. To my ears it sounds amazing

+1....I can't put it into words but it's just a step above everything else in quality. There are plenty of synths that have a much wider range of sounds than D3 but as far a core sound goes it can't be beaten.....in my opinion of course.

Anyway enough about D3. Fathom is a great synth and I'll keep an eye out as it's developed further.

you just plus 1ed someone who was agreeing with you in the first place.
are you high right now?

[FathomSynth]

i do agree Dune 3 sounds amazing.

[glokraw]

Dune3 is just an obese DuneCM, waddling around the hard drives of GAS victims, who lack both the
inclination and capability to use it as a powerhouse. TekSonik is probably high on the list of 'Top 17 Dune3 users', when not just high on music (cough, cough) in general

DuneCM sounds fine, so Fatso3 should be really fine.
But any synth is at the mercy of
1. user creativity
2. user artistic ear
3. user understanding of terminology
4. user understanding of sound design
5. user mixing skills
6. user mastering skills
7. marketing skills

I'm poorly armed at 3, 4, 5, 6, and , barely passable
on 1 and 2, so 7 is irrelevant, and the presets in a gui that doesn't insult me, or damage my eyes, are a big selling point.
More important than a feature list that makes me scramble off to a tech thesaurus.

But guys like Fathom, Urs, and Dimitri shape the future of
wallets -er, uhh, I mean future of 'music'
hey, time to lighten up, it's the weekend!!!
(not pronounced 'light one up'

[vurt]

light one up'

w00t!

[StardragonEX]

@FathomSynth, I read in your website forum that you are trying to upgrade the sound of Fathom to be with the best synths. That would be amazing. Have you found a way yet?