Phase Plant , OK Now what ?

[LeVzi]

…This is absurd. Hard pass….

I expect this falls on deaf ears. It is selling quite well, I hear. Alas. Carry on! Glad to see it's doing well despite the marketing, I guess. I hear it's a great synth? Wish I had the tolerance to find out.

I’m listening. I feel the exact same way. I absolutely don’t get why anyone would buy Phase Plant. I found nothing exceptional about it and the only way it gets “good” is if you buy the full deal which is ridiculously expensive… and then I’m not sure it’s that good. I watched a ton of demos and tutorials and each time I walked away scratching my head saying, “this emperor is clearly naked.”

This is exactly how I feel, but I think once you get your head around the fact you don't need to actually go in balls deep from the start, you can start to build slowly. THey would get more people using it if they had a quicker way to get stuck in, but they don't seem to care about that. Pushing the subscription method is definitely working against them.

But so far i've spent less than $199 and I have around 12 snap ins (ish, can't remember) and I am eyeing a couple more. It's enough to get really into the synth and that's what I was wanting from the get go. They need to look at the basic starting package again for the price of the synth. (Sales or not, they are sporadic)

Anyway, i'll be spending a little time with it today I kinda know already what I wanna use it for, so lets see how easy it is to get there.

[Synthack]

.......

[rj0]

I fall somewhere in the middle. I really like the synth, but not the sales model.

I compromised by getting PhasePlant back a couple of years ago on sale for $99 for the synth plus minimal snapins. Added just a very few snapins on sale (which had to stand on their own value as VSTs) the following year, and that's it (zero the last year or so, done). I'm good with that.

[rj0]

dup

[mdstudio]

I liked the idea of Phase Plant, but when I demoed it, the GUI was killing my cpu, over 100% for some patches unless I collapse the modulators. I got Falcon and MSoundFactory instead, and while graphically less flashy, both are super efficient and to be honest either one of them is more synth of that type than I'd ever need.

As for the sales model, I do think it's kinda lame. MSoundFactory and Falcon give you access to all effects internally, but if you want to use them externally you have to buy them separately. I like that better.

[gondii]

$499 includes stuff you can't use inside Phase Plant, like MultiPass and their big CarveEQ and SliceEQ effects. If you buy PP for $99 when it's on sale and then pick up extra bits and pieces as they go on sale, or spend another $99 on the Starter Toolbox, you'll have something very unique and powerful for under $200.

You can load all that into Phase Plant as well. Loading up (multiple instances) of MultiPass is one of the best features imo. Also loading and modulating SliceEQ is quite nice.

the basic and pro packages. ...but ... wait, what am I looking at? Are these ... just effects bundles? So, hang on: I have to buy the synth AND one of these bundles?

Their bundles do include Phase Plant + fx. I don't consider their base synth with no fx a complete product. The "full" version in my opinion is the Phase Plant Pro bundle, which includes most of the effects. During their sales, it can be had for around $170 (JRR), so that's the price I think of and I feel like the best point of entry. For another $100 (during a sale) you can just upgrade to the ultimate box or pick up individual effects on the way.

[Introspective]

I compromised by getting PhasePlant back a couple of years ago on sale for $99 for the synth plus minimal snapins. Added just a very few snapins on sale (which had to stand on their own value as VSTs) the following year, and that's it (zero the last year or so, done). I'm good with that.

...Is that worth it? I would go in on that, but all the buzz seems to be that the minimal version is effectively crippled. It's not clear to me what the truth is. Someone here was saying there's no control over the filter?

I REALLY don't give a flying fork about effects, so if that's all that's missing, so be it. ...but a synth without a filter is ... not a synth. And if it's a case of "we give you a lowpass, but you have to buy these 99 effects if you want a highpass, bandpass, and comb!" then I guess I save myself some money!

[PieBerger]

I completely agree with you. There are way better options out there and for much less.

Really, like what? What other VSTi out there can have 50 oscillators? 60? 100? or 40 filters? or 60? or 100? How about the three lane bus into the master output? That's pretty much unique, too, I think.

Polyphonic effects too, not many synths have this feature and when combined with Multipass and or the EQ Snapins, you can do advanced stuff that's just not possible with other synths, like fully customisable filters and multiband distortion per voice.

[SLiC]

With all the sales I don't think I paid any more for Kilohearts Toolbox Ultimate everything bundle than I did Flacon or Omnisphere or Keyscape etc...Is it worth it? That's up to the individual, but PhasePlant is certainly a great synth and MultiPass is great FX plugin.

Looking forward to Phase Plant (and MultiPass) 2...free update and due any time now!!

[PieBerger]

I compromised by getting PhasePlant back a couple of years ago on sale for $99 for the synth plus minimal snapins. Added just a very few snapins on sale (which had to stand on their own value as VSTs) the following year, and that's it (zero the last year or so, done). I'm good with that.

...Is that worth it? I would go in on that, but all the buzz seems to be that the minimal version is effectively crippled. It's not clear to me what the truth is. Someone here was saying there's no control over the filter?

I REALLY don't give a flying fork about effects, so if that's all that's missing, so be it. ...but a synth without a filter is ... not a synth. And if it's a case of "we give you a lowpass, but you have to buy these 99 effects if you want a highpass, bandpass, and comb!" then I guess I save myself some money!

There is a multimode, variable slope, resonant filter module available as a generator, with LP, HP, BP, Notch, Bell and shelf types. It's a generator so it's polyphonic and you can call as many as your CPU can handle. Cutoff, Resonance and Gain (bell/shelf) can all be modulated at audio rate. The Output, Mix and Aux generators allow any kind of routing your can think of.

Personally, it's a little bit too clean for my tastes and I usually go for the Nonlinear Filter Snapin in my patches, but "I don't like the filter" isn't the same as "It doesn't have a filter"

[Introspective]

There is a multimode, variable slope, resonant filter module available as a generator, with LP, HP, BP, Notch, Bell and shelf types. It's a generator so it's polyphonic and you can call as many as your CPU can handle. Cutoff, Resonance and Gain (bell/shelf) can all be modulated at audio rate. The Output, Mix and Aux generators allow any kind of routing your can think of.

Personally, it's a little bit too clean for my tastes and I usually go for the Nonlinear Filter Snapin in my patches, but "I don't like the filter" isn't the same as "It doesn't have a filter"

Agreed. I'm not afraid of a clean filter (though I also prefer a meaty one).

Thanks, that was helpful! I wish it were as clear on the site, but it's too busy trying to sell you on the Full Monty.

[PieBerger]

There is a multimode, variable slope, resonant filter module available as a generator, with LP, HP, BP, Notch, Bell and shelf types. It's a generator so it's polyphonic and you can call as many as your CPU can handle. Cutoff, Resonance and Gain (bell/shelf) can all be modulated at audio rate. The Output, Mix and Aux generators allow any kind of routing your can think of.

Personally, it's a little bit too clean for my tastes and I usually go for the Nonlinear Filter Snapin in my patches, but "I don't like the filter" isn't the same as "It doesn't have a filter"

Agreed. I'm not afraid of a clean filter (though I also prefer a meaty one).

Thanks, that was helpful! I wish it were as clear on the site, but it's too busy trying to sell you on the Full Monty.

It's not clear unfortunately, I had to lookup the online manual to remind myself of all of the details!

[Introspective]

I completely agree with you. There are way better options out there and for much less.

Really, like what? What other VSTi out there can have [absurd fencepost stuff removed] ... How about the three lane bus into the master output? That's pretty much unique, too, I think.

*cough* Zebra *cough* Falcon *cough* BitWig *cough*

Wow, I guess I need a COVID test!

[Introspective]

I got notified i was quoted by BONES but i got him blocked
I've seen his quotes and insults directed at others, and honestly I don't have a lot of time or patience for people like him.

Yeah, I do have a bit of a beef about the ignore system on phpBB. Why do I get notifications and why do I see people quoting them? ...I guess the latter would be trickier to implement, but the former seems quite simple and even the latter seems doable, as long as the source of the quote is included in the BBCode. Alas.

...As for BONES, I can understand the urge to block, though I don't have the same problem with him. People "like that" are at least consistently agressive and offensive, so as long as you learn to take it in stride and realize that while he might be barking at you today, he could be agreeing with you tomorrow ... I think it's possible to get on with such folks. ...plus they kind of implicitly give you permission to be assholes to them, too. As long as underneath it all, one reminds oneself that it's not to be taken too seriously...

...Maybe I'm one of those people myself. I dunno. [shrug] I can be an asshole now and then, especially online!

[pixel85]

I completely agree with you. There are way better options out there and for much less.

Really, like what? What other VSTi out there can have [absurd fencepost stuff removed] ... How about the three lane bus into the master output? That's pretty much unique, too, I think.

*cough* Zebra *cough* Falcon *cough* BitWig *cough*

Wow, I guess I need a COVID test!

+ Reaktor *cough*
I have 'unhealthy' aqi>160 air quality *cough* it's not covid *cough*