Toneboosters is making a synth

[Sinisterbr]

I'm sure he will. I found interesting he somehow made it clear it was just the first version, as implied in the link itself
(https://www.toneboosters.com/tb_flowtones_v1.html)

[Halonmusic]

well then there you go

[neverbeeninariot]

Overall, I think that it's a really great sounding synth, albeit with a few quirks, and some desktop usability issues

The tabbed interface - it's been mentioned several times already for good reason. If you're holding an iPad then you have nice easy access to everything, but on a desktop it's just awkward. The 2 osc for each layer are on separate tabs on the left hand side, while layers 1 & 2, mods/fx, seq, master, are on the opposite side. I can see how this would reduce development time, but it's at the expense of desktop workflow. Even having the tabs across the top would help a bit, the vertical orientation makes them fiddly to locate quickly with a mouse. The worst of it is; assign modulation, switch to mod tab to adjust, back to osc tab to adjust, lather rinse repeat - it gets tired really quickly. Also,there's no modulation feedback.

Double clicking to reset knob values also pops up the modulation matrix which needs another click on the same knob to close it again, but if you single click to get the mod matrix you can click anywhere to close it. Should be changed to right-click only for modulation pop-up, imo.

PWM for all waveforms is a nice touch, but while a sine or square wave is as you'd expect at 50% (default pwm value), a saw is not, it needs to be set to 100% for a regular saw shape. All the osc have subs, which is another nice little touch.

I really like the unison, it sounds great. The effects are good (taken from his VSTs I guess), formant filter is new and I like it a lot, but the VCF filters are a little tame for my liking (more resonance please). That said, there are a couple of unusual dual and quad peak lowpass modes (very vocal sounding) that are interesting and usable. Xmod between oscs feels like it needs to go to 200% but unfortunately tops out at 100%. The randomise button is nice to have, and has thown up some really interesting textures

Tooltips don't seem to work (win10/reaper/bitwig)

Preset volumes are all over the place, some are well into the red despite the limiter on the Out tab of the synth. I'd throw another limiter on the track until this is fixed.

Apologies if that was a bit rambly and all over the place, just getting my first impressions down while I remember

TLDR; Sounds great ! Needs work on the UI !

[Xbucket]

I like some of the presets in this synth but the envelopes are in no way snappy... sadly. the same with the dual vcf. if they would have got this working. i prefer some other synths in this aspect.
you got a punch control in flowtone but i´d prefer to be able to have a snappy envelope for the filter.
for the arp there should be something where you can change the tempo. if you have a figure and want it quicker you can retype everything - if i didn´t miss anything.
It would be great if we had mseg´s and could automate the eq points (frequency and gain) by lfos or envelopes. and i think there could be more waveforms.

[Xbucket]

i checked it in ableton with modulat and the envelope i can put into that, that works great, so if we could have better envelopes it should work very good.

[LeVzi]

I like some of the presets in this synth but the envelopes are in no way snappy... sadly. the same with the dual vcf. if they would have got this working. i prefer some other synths in this aspect.
you got a punch control in flowtone but i´d prefer to be able to have a snappy envelope for the filter.
for the arp there should be something where you can change the tempo. if you have a figure and want it quicker you can retype everything - if i didn´t miss anything.
It would be great if we had mseg´s and could automate the eq points (frequency and gain) by lfos or envelopes. and i think there could be more waveforms.

Anything with MSEGs gets my vote.

[Biome_Digital]

I think the comments about the UI and tabs are all spot on. I will be watching this synth develop. It's got great potential, but the UI needs to be improved. Please add a Mod Matrix, oscillator/layer linking. Can you reorder the FX? - the delay is after the reverb! No filter envelope. I don't want to go all the way to the sidewards tabs and then back over to the mod env. then back to the tab, then back over to the cutoff!!! crazy!

[Branis]

I think the comments about the UI and tabs are all spot on. I will be watching this synth develop. It's got great potential, but the UI needs to be improved. Please add a Mod Matrix, oscillator/layer linking. Can you reorder the FX? - the delay is after the reverb! No filter envelope. I don't want to go all the way to the sidewards tabs and then back over to the mod env. then back to the tab, then back over to the cutoff!!! crazy!

Regarding the mod matrix, right click any knob that has a dot at the bottom right and select a modulation source from the pop up dialog.

E. G. right click the filter cutoff and send it to envelope 1, then switch to the mod /fx tab and switch on the envelope 1.

[MattLeschuck]

Anyone else notice the release on the VCA amp envelope seems off? The tail based on MS seems much longer than the given value.

[Biome_Digital]

I think the comments about the UI and tabs are all spot on. I will be watching this synth develop. It's got great potential, but the UI needs to be improved. Please add a Mod Matrix, oscillator/layer linking. Can you reorder the FX? - the delay is after the reverb! No filter envelope. I don't want to go all the way to the sidewards tabs and then back over to the mod env. then back to the tab, then back over to the cutoff!!! crazy!

Regarding the mod matrix, right click any knob that has a dot at the bottom right and select a modulation source from the pop up dialog.

E. G. right click the filter cutoff and send it to envelope 1, then switch to the mod /fx tab and switch on the envelope 1.

Hey thanks for the tip. I did discover this already. However, that is not a mod matrix. It just shows you mod sources for each parameter.

So why is a proper mod matrix needed? Lets say you hit randomize and then want to remove velocity from everything. On a mod matrix you could see all the destinations velocity is modulating. But with the current system (showing mod sources) you have to click every mod destination on every tabbed page to find your modulations!!

I had this situation yesterday so it is going to happen a lot. Anyway, I think this synth really has some potential and has a big, punchy sound. But from a sound designers view it needs some important features adding.

I know it's been ported from mobile, but the GUI doesn't work on desktop. It all needs jigging around. We don't need sideways tabs. They should be at the top left. The keyboard should be optional. It takes up space where all the modulators (env./lfo) should go along the bottom.

The randomiser is really good though.

[Biome_Digital]

Anyone else notice the release on the VCA amp envelope seems off? The tail based on MS seems much longer than the given value.

There seems a problem with short release times affecting the attack. Try a 1ms attack and a 10ms or less release. The attack is affected (lost transient). Try it in mono-retrigger.

(edit: that might have been a bug actually)

[Branis]

The keyboard should be optional. It takes up space where all the modulators (env./lfo) should go along the bottom.

You can change the aspect ratio of the GUI by using the resize handle at the bottom right corner and the keyboard will auto hide.

[Biome_Digital]

The keyboard should be optional. It takes up space where all the modulators (env./lfo) should go along the bottom.

You can change the aspect ratio of the GUI by using the resize handle at the bottom right corner and the keyboard will auto hide.

Cool!