Cherry Audio Releases Elka-X Synthesizer

[vurt]

They've had two (out of 7 total) female sound designers and it was said that they made better/different sounding presets.

ah i see, not the actual presets had genders
figured it was something like the french le and la

nice to see some female sound designers getting in to the business
may they inspire many more to come

[BBFG#]

I’ve got the Xils Syn’X and it’s a tricky beast to program with all the hiding and showing of multilayers. The Cherry Audio one looks a lot easier to use.

That's what I was wondering - I like the Syn'x sound but rarely use it as the interface is so awkward to use

I believe that's why they have miniSyn'X too, which is just one layer. Still not the prettiest GUI though. On the other hand, the multiple layers make it much more powerful, and it's also quite CPU friendly so you can actually use all the layers.

Don't see much reason to get this if you already own one of the Xils products but if you don't have either, the CA version has some advantages like lower cost and no dongle for copy protection.

Also, the iLok protection allows authorizing your computer (meaning no dongle needed), up to two per license.

Required iLok software to use Xils makes Cherry Audio the superior buy.

[machinesworking]

Required iLok software to use Xils makes Cherry Audio the superior buy.

Yes iLok software protection changes the sound...

[BBFG#]

Required iLok software to use Xils makes Cherry Audio the superior buy.

Yes iLok software protection changes the sound...

It does for many, since an iLok plug-in can't make a sound on a system it will never be installed on. And spamming a thread discussing their competition's products doesn't help either.

[ELEX]

Fwiw, MiniSyn'X doesn't require iLok. And is more comparable to Elka-X.

[BBFG#]

Fwiw, MiniSyn'X doesn't require iLok. And is more comparable to Elka-X.

BJFYI, I have some interest in and scan the Cherry Audio threads but purposely ignore Xils and every other plugin that I know that requires iLok. Have nothing against those that submit to it, but the insistence of it in other threads that don't is a constant derailment of them.
Cherry Audio is at least worth a follow.
Maybe take the Xils/iLok justification back to a Xils thread where we can continue to ignore them wholesale.

[BlackWinny]

Fwiw, MiniSyn'X doesn't require iLok. And is more comparable to Elka-X.

Yes. For me there is no comparison between Syn'X and Elka-X. They are two totally different things. If you have to compare Elka-X with a Xavier synth, you have to do it with miniSyn'X. Because among Xavier's synths, miniSyn'X is really THE emulation of Synthex. Syn'X is more of a synth that allows you to imagine what could have been a major evolution of Synthex ten or fifteen years later, because Syn'X goes much, much further than a simple emulation. Comparing Elka-X with Syn'X is like trying to compare a road car with a Ferrari when you should be comparing a road car with another road car.

Hence the big difference in price between Elka-X and Syn'X... and the big difference in their protection systems.

If we have to compare Elka-X with a Xavier synth, it is with miniSyn'X that we have to do it. The "pure" emulation of Xavier's Synthex is miniSyn'X, not Syn'X.

Same thing, by the way, between the EMS VCS 3 and Xavier's synths. The real emulation of the EMS VCS 3 without additives is the XILS-3 LE, which costs a pittance and has no protection other than a banal serial number... like miniSyn'X. XILS-3 and XILS-4 are infinitely more than emulations, they are synthesizers that imagine what could have been the evolutions of the VCS3 ten or fifteen years later.

Same thing with the PolyKB 2 (and 3) which are infinitely more evolved than simple "emulations" of PolyKobol. They are not really emulations anymore, they are completely different synths, based on a PolyKobol at the core, certainly... but a PolyKobol lost in the middle of a plethora of new incredibly advanced features. So they are synths that show what the RSF company could have produced ten or fifteen years later if it had survived.

Conclusion: I happily use all these synths, and what I do with them is different according to whether it is one or another. When I want just a VCS3 or Synthex emulation, I put XILS-3 LE or miniSyn'X (or now also Elka-X) on a DAW track, but if I want something much richer in sound possibilities, I put XILS-3 or XILS-4 or Syn'X on the track. So the usage is different, including simplicity of programming, CPU load, etc. Reason why I prefer to have all these versions. And reason why I adopted Elka-X while keeping the same love for miniSyn'x and for Syn'X which I will continue to use as much as before.

[sQeetz]

I'm not willing to buy another Cherry Synth just for the sake that it's affordable. I have a bunch of those which after first inspection are nice and after that never get used.

[plexuss]

I'm not willing to buy another Cherry Synth just for the sake that it's affordable. I have a bunch of those which after first inspection are nice and after that never get used.

Agreed. If you are buying things you won't use then you definitely need to reconsider because you might have a spending problem. Glad you identified this for yourself before spending more than you really want to.

[sQeetz]

Agreed. If you are buying things you won't use then you definitely need to reconsider because you might have a spending problem. Glad you identified this for yourself before spending more than you really want to.

Thank you for helping me out identifying the root of the problem.
You not interested in buying some plugin licenses by any chance, are you? I have plenty I don't use... Cherry ones.

[BBFG#]

I'm not willing to buy another Cherry Synth just for the sake that it's affordable. I have a bunch of those which after first inspection are nice and after that never get used.

Same here. TBT, I found both companies currently being discussed here as "good, but nothing spectacular". But I do continue to read CA threads and maybe more once they debuted their "Dream Synth", since for me, the emulation synths show more of a development leading to it. And maybe I've reach that point where those emulations by themselves mean little if it doesn't eventually result in their own unique line of plugins. "Based on, but progressing forward."

And without requiring iLok/PACE-EDEN.

[wwjd]

does it "sound ANYTHING like it" [the original] ? yup.

is it "even close"? yup.

[machinesworking]

Required iLok software to use Xils makes Cherry Audio the superior buy.

Yes iLok software protection changes the sound...

It does for many, since an iLok plug-in can't make a sound on a system it will never be installed on. And spamming a thread discussing their competition's products doesn't help either.

I was interested in a discussion about the products themselves, it's 100% natural to compare two Elka emulations. I guess it's predictable that with ANY mention of any product using even the software iLok, which is 100% the same in every way to any other copy protection at this point, at least here on my system, we have people like you raising your battle flag. Anyway I'm prolonging what I consider to be the actual spamming, since it has nothing at all to do with how the emulations sound, it has to do with personal bias.

[Tj Shredder]

The other poly synths of Cherry support MPE. In this I can’t find a setting for it.
On the other hand, even on the lowest sample rate very little aliasing, I have to go to 3 octaves up to get to hear it and even there its far from annoying. With 2x oversampling its gone…

[WasteLand]

The other poly synths of Cherry support MPE. In this I can’t find a setting for it.
On the other hand, even on the lowest sample rate very little aliasing, I have to go to 3 octaves up to get to hear it and even there its far from annoying. With 2x oversampling its gone…

this one has no MPE, which you could expect that it had... perhaps because it is already quite cpu intensive? or? i don't know the reason. because of the two layers?
well i don't, i repeat, but still, will work with it the coming time, only did some first 'drafts', fun to program, like the results, i.e. sounds...