Martinic AX73 v1.4.0 dual-layer synth plugin (AAX/AU/CLAP/VST2/VST3)

[BONES]

I'm trying the demo as I do with all new plugins. Has some nice sounds and the two layers offer some interesting capabilities but speaking personally I have a folder full of nice sounding synths and speaking generally the market is full of nice sounding synths so it's hard to get a foot in the door.

I'll tell you what convinced me - the quality of Breathing Choir and Cathederal. For a pretty straight V/A, those are some seriously impressive patches. Deep Toms is also quite nice and, taken together, speak to a much more versatile synth than I was expecting. I quite like some of the arp and bass patches, too.

Sounds great! The issue for me is the extra image above the main UI (headphones, tape recorder, etc.). Couldn't that have been used for more useful functions? It is almost half the UI.

Think of it as a splash page and go to Settings to use the instrument.

Thanks. It's a bit confusing, to be honest. I'd have preferred a mod matrix.

I wouldn't, they annoy the shit out of me.

I demoed the synth briefly and I like the sounds, but the GUI is just too small and not really readable at all. It's sharp on my system, it's just too tiny. I used the zoom function on my Mac to enlarge it, and that is a work around, but of course it's not the ideal solution and a larger GUI would be a nice thing to have.

Are you talking about the Settings page? The front page is really just a splash screen, it's not actually usable.

I'm really impressed with this synth. As I said above, it has some unexpectedly good patches and the overall sound is really solid. I love the GUI on the Settings page, it's ultra usable - really quick and easy to work with. The Keys GUI is kinda cool but ultimately I can't see myself using it. One improvement I would like to suggest is Mute buttons for each of the layers and maybe for the effects, too. You also missed a trick with the synth's name - "AX73 would be near the top of my plugin list but "Martinic AX73" is lost in the middle of the list somewhere.

Something that confuses me is the preset selector versus the browser - the presets seem to be in a completely different order in each, which is equal parts annoying and confusing. But it didn't stop me buying the synth, it's definitely a keeper. Thanks.

[waltercruz]

when the intro price ends?

[martinic]

when the intro price ends?

October 31st

[Synth Master Jedi]

Are you talking about the Settings page? The front page is really just a splash screen, it's not actually usable.

I was talking about all of the pages, including the settings page. The look is fine, the only issue I had was with the size of the window.

[BONES]

If anything, it's probably slightly too big here, but I use a screen with appropriate resolution that doesn't require scaling. My last one had a stupid screen but I learned my lesson and from now on it is 1:1 or nothing for me.

[AnX]

A square screen?

[Synth Master Jedi]

If anything, it's probably slightly too big here, but I use a screen with appropriate resolution that doesn't require scaling. My last one had a stupid screen but I learned my lesson and from now on it is 1:1 or nothing for me.

I pretty much only buy plugins these days that look ok on 4k monitors, but I made an exception for this one, since I liked how it sounded and I wanted to get it at the intro price and I have hope that in the future there will be more size choices.

Everybody has their own unique set ups and systems that they work on. Some people are on desktop, some are on laptop, and different people will of course be using all different kinds of displays. That's why I think that re-sizable plugins are a must, because then everybody can be happy and choose what is best for their display.

[BONES]

Yeah, that's a recipe for great sound - a GUI that looks nice on a screen. If people are dumb enough that they'll buy a 4k screen without understanding the considerable pitfalls, I suppose there is nothing to be done about it. A nice looking GUI will absolutely get me interested in trying a synth, or looking into what it has to offer, but I would never base a purchasing decision on something so utterly irrelevant to the purpose of the product.

[Synth Master Jedi]

Yeah, that's a recipe for great sound - a GUI that looks nice on a screen. If people are dumb enough that they'll buy a 4k screen without understanding the considerable pitfalls, I suppose there is nothing to be done about it. A nice looking GUI will absolutely get me interested in trying a synth, or looking into what it has to offer, but I would never base a purchasing decision on something so utterly irrelevant to the purpose of the product.

Dumb enough to buy a 4k screen? I couldn't be happier with my 4k displays and I'm certainly not dumb.

This is 2021, I barely know anybody who doesn't use a 4k or higher display these days. But I guess others are happily living in the past if that's what they like. Some people probably still use a spinning drive for their main OS drive, but the world has moved on without those people a long time ago and they don't know what they're missing out on.

And the benefits far outweigh any so-called "pitfalls".

And what you find irrelevant to the purpose of the product, others may find to be highly relevant to the purpose of the product.

How somebody interacts with a plugin and the GUI of a plugin is obviously very important to the usage of that plugin.

If you had to read a book and you had two choices, either (a) regular sized book (2) postage stamp sized book, which would you choose?

The two books are the same afterall, they contain the same amount of words and the same story in each. Saying that the size is irrelevant is a pretty dumb take.

[Saffran]

May i translate:
If you never play games on your Daw computer it is unnecessary to use a 4k monitor.

[Synth Master Jedi]

May i translate:
If you never play games on your Daw computer it is unnecessary to use a 4k monitor.

If I played games or not, I would still use a 4k display for my music production and DAW. Logic looks great on 4k and on 5k if somebody has an iMac I suppose.

I'm not claiming that everybody should use 4k, people can use whatever they like. They can use a monitor from 1998 and they can still use SCSI for all I care, but Bones claiming that 4k is dumb is not to be taken seriously.

[BONES]

It is to be taken very seriously, it's a very important part of my profession. I've forgotten more about this stuff than you are ever likely to know. I doubt you even know the difference between a TN panel and an IPS one. In fact, I bet you don't even know what the initials "TN" or "IPS" stand for.

Dumb enough to buy a 4k screen? I couldn't be happier with my 4k displays and I'm certainly not dumb.

Obviously you are not happy or you wouldn't be complaining about AX73's GUI, nor would you have to restrict your purchasing decisions to instruments that will work on your stupid screens. You're just making problems for yourself and pretending it's all wonderful.

This is 2021, I barely know anybody who doesn't use a 4k or higher display these days.

Good for you. I've been a broadcast designer for 25 years and I don't know anyone who does use a 4k screen. We had the option last year, when the network moved premises and they bought us all new equipment. After trialing 4k screens and 2.5k screens, our department unanimously chose the 2.5k screens because you can run them at native res. Only the office workers get 4k screens, for their spreadsheets. All the graphics professionals are on 2.5k screens. But what would we know, eh?

As I said yesterday, my experience with the Surface Pro's stupid screen res was all the confirmation I needed that the negatives far outweigh any positives and it's a mistake I won't make again. If you want to put up with it, be my guest but don't pretend it's anything like a good idea.

But I guess others are happily living in the past if that's what they like.

Actually, it's you guys who are living in the past. I used to run my old CRT at around 4k (3200 x whatever), back in the 1990s.

Some people probably still use a spinning drive for their main OS drive, but the world has moved on without those people a long time ago and they don't know what they're missing out on.

Yeah, and some people probably still use a laptop with only one screen or a phone that doesn't fold in half. We can't all live on the bleeding edge, can we?

And the benefits far outweigh any so-called "pitfalls".

Interesting, then, that you have so far managed to not mention even one, but you have managed to complain about the perfectly usable GUI of this plugin. If we were keeping score, that would be Pitfalls - 1, Benefits - 0.

And what you find irrelevant to the purpose of the product, others may find to be highly relevant to the purpose of the product.

Not in this case, as would be obvious to anyone with even half a brain.

How somebody interacts with a plugin and the GUI of a plugin is obviously very important to the usage of that plugin.

Only insofar as it affects usability/workflow which, in the case of AX73, is quite good.

If you had to read a book and you had two choices, either (a) regular sized book (2) postage stamp sized book, which would you choose?

What you're not seeing is that this is a choice I don't have to make because everything just works on my screen. It's a decision your choice of monitor forces upon you. Anyway, I have a Kobo, I haven't read a physical book in a decade or more.

[Synth Master Jedi]

It is to be taken very seriously, it's a very important part of my profession. I've forgotten more about this stuff than you are ever likely to know. I doubt you even know the difference between a TN panel and an IPS one. In fact, I bet you don't even know what the initials "TN" or "IPS" stand for.

Your Neanderthalean technological standards do not apply to everybody else, and your use case is just that, yours. I'm far from the only one that has mentioned the small plugin window size. And just about every assumption that you make about me is dead wrong, so I see that it's a waste of time in talking further to you.

You should get over yourself because you're obviously just here to argue with others. Have a nice day.

[BONES]

Simple question - who do you think knows better, the guy complaining that this instrument doesn't display properly on his screen, or the guy who has no problems displaying it on his? You can be a self-centred prick and say that it is someone else's job to fix YOUR problem or you can acknowledge the obvious, which is that it is YOUR problem and fix it yourself by buying a screen that doesn't create these issues. Or just put up with it and stop complaining.

[martinic]

We just released version 1.0.2 responding to what you’ve been saying about the AX73 and have updated it with a brand new voice allocation switch, as well as several bug fixes.

Downloads:
https://www.martinic.com/products/ax73-plus/downloads

Changes:

- Added optional round-robin voice allocation.
- Fixed arp delay when sync is on.
- Fixed clicks/pops when switching bypass on/off.
- Fixed reloading project in presets view.
- Fixed draw preset manager right-click menus on macOS.
- Fixed draw text edit boxes in Logic Pro X/GarageBand 10.