Hive 2 or Vital?, that is the question.

[databroth]

Vital hands down
Hive is cool, but lacks oscillator fx
vital has 3 oscs, better fx, 8 custom lfos, mod remapping, 4 random mods
and audio rate modulation

synths aren't just a list of features though, they are also sound, and I think vital just sounds incredible
hive is cool and all, but it's just far too simple sounding, and simple can be useful, is often times more useful
but I can also do simple in vital

It's funny how subjective it is... I like the FX in Hive much more than Vital FX. The FX in Vital have more parameters and I often spend time tweaking them and still not being satisfied whereas in Hive, the FX are simpler and sound good with no effort.

I don't love the sound quality of Vital. The synth is flexible enough to get sounds I am happy with but Vital tends towards a fuzzy tone so it takes some wrestling to get what I want from it . I like the fundamental tone of Hive better. Hive is clean, clear and strong.

it's funny how many people think vital is "fuzzy"
this is actually less subjective, to be completely fair I haven't compared it directly with hive
so I'm not sure exactly how the 2 compare with similar wavetables
but Vital is one of, if not the cleanest wavetable oscs out there

I'll do a side by side with hive soon, and figure out a way to compare the two in that regard, but it's very possible that the opinion that "vital is fuzzy" could be more of a perceptual bias, or even a preference towards noisier wavetables

I'm not going to say it's wrong to prefer one over the other, just that it's possible that people can't hear "clean" as well as they might believe

[Artie Fichelle]

I have all of them. All powerfull. But the one I like most is Pigments by Arturia. It is so intuitive and easy to make unique sounds. Maybe I should upload a few sounds or share some presets.

Basically I do not buy a tone generator, if I cannot use microtuning. This world is frequencies and tunings. I am not saying 432 Hz for everything, but everything in its own tuning universe.

If DX7 from Arturia had microtuning it would be the best FM in my opinion.But as it is, unusable.

Does GUI matter? Yes, because it can help you to get things done or it can turn you off.

[mixyguy2]

I was just extending the lame Shakespeare joke subject line.

And it flew right by me. And I like Shakespeare. :facepalm:

Anyway, generally speaking and to no one in particular, if you can't get great sounds out of either of these, FYI it's not a problem with the synth.

[gondii]

I'd go with Dune3!

[PieBerger]

you can pry hive out of my cold dead hands

Likewise and let's leave it at that, even I'm growing tired on my fanboying over Hive

[PieBerger]

Vital hands down
Hive is cool, but lacks oscillator fx
vital has 3 oscs, better fx, 8 custom lfos, mod remapping, 4 random mods
and audio rate modulation

synths aren't just a list of features though, they are also sound, and I think vital just sounds incredible
hive is cool and all, but it's just far too simple sounding, and simple can be useful, is often times more useful
but I can also do simple in vital

It's funny how subjective it is... I like the FX in Hive much more than Vital FX. The FX in Vital have more parameters and I often spend time tweaking them and still not being satisfied whereas in Hive, the FX are simpler and sound good with no effort.

I don't love the sound quality of Vital. The synth is flexible enough to get sounds I am happy with but Vital tends towards a fuzzy tone so it takes some wrestling to get what I want from it . I like the fundamental tone of Hive better. Hive is clean, clear and strong.

it's funny how many people think vital is "fuzzy"
this is actually less subjective, to be completely fair I haven't compared it directly with hive
so I'm not sure exactly how the 2 compare with similar wavetables
but Vital is one of, if not the cleanest wavetable oscs out there

I'll do a side by side with hive soon, and figure out a way to compare the two in that regard, but it's very possible that the opinion that "vital is fuzzy" could be more of a perceptual bias, or even a preference towards noisier wavetables

I'm not going to say it's wrong to prefer one over the other, just that it's possible that people can't hear "clean" as well as they might believe

I agree with pdxindy on this. I like Vital for certain sounds, mostly FM and or to use the phaser filter and it's lovely chorus effect, but for pure wavetable stuff Hive is the better choice imo. I don't know if it's a bug, but manually scanning through tables in Vital has this really unpleasant steppy/scratchy sound to it. I bought the FM Anthem bank by Plugmon which includes wavetables in uhm and wav format and the wav versions do sound a little "off" in Vital by comparison. The Spectral interpolation mode in Hive is one of the best on the market, I mean it's so good you can fake DX/CZ style oscillators.

[Dasheesh]

totally depends on your cpu requirements.

[twal]

totally depends on your cpu requirements.

Vital no bueno in Windows 7

[chk071]

totally depends on your cpu requirements.

How? Does one take so much more than the other?

[mtytel]

Just want to chime in here before there's a bunch of misinformation about Vital's wavetables.

Unlike in filters where the sound and quality is very subjective, there is a *correct* way to play wavetables. I've put a lot of work into creating extremely clean and full spectrum oscillators but if you still don't think Vital plays wavetables in the correct way I'd appreciate an example with some spectrum analyzer or other analyzer along with the audio showing the issue.

[cryophonik]

Which is nobler? Money is not the issue.

There's no such thing as a noble synth, but there is such a thing as noble GAS. So, the answer is clear:

buy ALL the synths.

[Dasheesh]

totally depends on your cpu requirements.

How? Does one take so much more than the other?

well, i only played with the early version of hive, and the free version of vital (the original version). so, i'm probably not qualified to say at this point, but i can tell you that anyone that is comparing the two is going to come down to cpu.

[Teksonik]

Vital and Hive 2 are sufficiently different in character that preference to one or the other's sound may well be a deciding factor before CPU demand.

I own both and they're both in my starting lineup. I've owned Hive longer and hence have done more patches for it so I do reach for it more frequently but I'm really starting to get comfortable with Vital and it will continue to get more and more work.

So for me it's not Hive or Vital it's Hive and Vital. They really do complement each other quite well.

[twal]

I love Hive. In fact I sold it for Dune 2 because I was super geeked out about it, but now I in a sense regret selling Hive. Hive sounds so much better than Dune 2 or 3 to me. I will want it later again. Vital can't be on windows 7 so I had to pass it up recently because it looked interesting. Never listen to ANYBODY that says "you can get X synth to sound like Y synth by doing A, B, and C". Not saying it is entirely impossible, but maybe it is on a subtle level if you have a master's ears. My experience as a chef as taught me that subtlety is key with everything, and in cooking it separates the men from the boys (or girls from the women) so I guess it depends how many versions of ingredients you want in your repertoire.

[Halonmusic]

Dont' own Hive, but.. Hive. Vital was .. erh.. ok. I hate the GUI of Vital plus seems like Hive, or atleast Zebra/Zebralette already can do what Vital can do. Also the workflow of Vital is terrible! Yes, yes, it might just be me and all, but i don't care what other people think. I hate it, and that is just the way it is. Deal with it! Best of luck to the dev i suppose.