UAD PolyMAX - This thing is Sick

[pierb]

Sounds great. Shame about the subscription or the dongle though.

I agree with Mario it's a bit simplistic. Seems UAD is trying to quickly fill the subscription catalog. Hopefully they will add more features in the future or add a more complex synth.

[mholloway]

Sounds great. Shame about the subscription or the dongle though.

I agree with Mario it's a bit simplistic. Seems UAD is trying to quickly fill the subscription catalog. Hopefully they will add more features in the future or add a more complex synth.

They already have Opal, a wavetable of synth with plenty of depth.

[christian f.]

I think all 3 UAD synths sound fantastic. All the basics in very good quality.

[musicproducerdee]

u-he Diva is still king, queen, prince, princess, whatever you want to call it, for the analog synth sound. This does sound very good though. I really like the Hitsville reverb as well. Might have to test the 30 day Spark trial. Although, I do have the IK Multimedia T-Racks stuff, which is good, so I'm not sure if it's worth paying $20 every month.

[Modular Manfred]

And the other ones that sound as good as this?

Sure. NI Super 8 sounds every bit as good and throws in an extra LFO and way more flexible modulation system, for example. And isn't subscription!

I would argue the fact that Super 8 sounds as good as this. It depends.

It’s interesting that Super 8 got the prophet filter modelled, not sure about PolyMax, but I’m comparing both to my Prophet 5 rev4 and can conclude that if I compare Super 8 and PolyMax to the analogue synth, it’s night and day. PolyMax sounds much closer in terms of VCA action and overall character. It sounds for lack of better word more alive, more 3D. It is on Massive X level. I use Massive X extensively when on the road because that has been the only plugin synth to me (in conjunction with Reaktor Blocks), that can hold a candle with my hardware, and I don’t use presets ever, so I know it’s a sound design monster, but sometimes all you need is something simple. Just one LFO no more. Instant gratification of THAT SOUND. I think PolyMax delivers, I’m in, and love the GUI. Looks creamy, sounds creamy.

[Robmobius]

OK, no need to be dramatic and call it a “dongle.” It’s an audio processor inside an audio interface. Yeah, you need it to run the synth, but as Evil said, there are plenty of great sounding analog synth emulations that are native.

1) It sounds like one exceedingly expensive dongle to me.

2) I'm aware that there are other native synths out there as I do have 'one or two' in my vast collection.

[Vortifex]

Edited

[Modular Manfred]

OK, no need to be dramatic and call it a “dongle.” It’s an audio processor inside an audio interface. Yeah, you need it to run the synth, but as Evil said, there are plenty of great sounding analog synth emulations that are native.

1) It sounds like one exceedingly expensive dongle to me.

2) I'm aware that there are other native synths out there as I do have 'one or two' in my vast collection.

Sorry mate but if you think that UAD hardware is just a dongle then I don’t know what to say really…

If you spend that money on an UAD interface and don’t use it for what it is, then what?

Even if you take the cheapest Twin as an example, show me one audio interface that has better converters in that price category. How do you record your synths?

[Robmobius]

Shame about the hardware cost of entry. It seems I'd have to spend about 600 quid before I even paid for the plugin.

Indeed! I get that they want a sub-model and that's cool. But I hate the way they are intentionally freezing out people who like to buy and own their plugins. Shame they can't just do both...

[Robmobius]

Sorry mate but if you think that UAD hardware is just a dongle then I don’t know what to say really…

If you spend that money on an UAD interface and don’t use it for what it is, then what?

Even if you take the cheapest Twin as an example, show me one audio interface that has better converters in that price category. How do you record your synths?

What are you jabbering about?
My dongle reference is me taking the piss out of the company a little bit. Are you wounded on their behalf? LOL

The interface I use is just fine... I'm happy with the results. So I'm not going to buy a UAD dongle for a $199 synth. Especially when I have an excellent audio interface already + a plethora of native synths.

[Modular Manfred]

Sorry mate but if you think that UAD hardware is just a dongle then I don’t know what to say really…

If you spend that money on an UAD interface and don’t use it for what it is, then what?

Even if you take the cheapest Twin as an example, show me one audio interface that has better converters in that price category. How do you record your synths?

What are you jabbering about?
My dongle reference is me taking the piss out of the company a little bit. Are you wounded on their behalf? LOL

The interface I use is just fine... I'm happy with the results. So I'm not going to buy a UAD dongle for a $199 synth. Especially when I have an excellent audio interface already + a plethora of native synths.

For starters I didn’t disagree with the fact that it would be nice from UAD if they gave an option to buy the plugin natively without the hardware or subscription. I disagreed with you calling the UAD interfaces a dongle (or even taking the piss out of the company, like how old are we?) I have no connection to the company, couldn’t give a toss a about them, I just can’t stand when someone is openly incompetent. It’s like when people call Mac a dongle for Logic

I’m glad you have better options natively in fact I would be interested in your findings. I only use hardware synths for actual production and I have been in quest of finding software substitute for when I am travelling. Only for inspiration because once back in the studio everything will be recorded with hardware but the sound properties are very important to me even for inspiration. So please help me, what native options sound better than PolyMax as a prophet 5 (or just a decent analogue poly) substitute, I’m really interested. Might have overlooked at something.

[Sinisterbr]

Frankly, one could make a list of synths at least as good as Polymax, and WAY cheaper.

Btw, XILS PolyKB III costs 60$ right now. Absolutely amazing deal.

[perpetual3]

Repro-5

Sorry mate but if you think that UAD hardware is just a dongle then I don’t know what to say really…

If you spend that money on an UAD interface and don’t use it for what it is, then what?

Even if you take the cheapest Twin as an example, show me one audio interface that has better converters in that price category. How do you record your synths?

What are you jabbering about?
My dongle reference is me taking the piss out of the company a little bit. Are you wounded on their behalf? LOL

The interface I use is just fine... I'm happy with the results. So I'm not going to buy a UAD dongle for a $199 synth. Especially when I have an excellent audio interface already + a plethora of native synths.

For starters I didn’t disagree with the fact that it would be nice from UAD if they gave an option to buy the plugin natively without the hardware or subscription. I disagreed with you calling the UAD interfaces a dongle (or even taking the piss out of the company, like how old are we?) I have no connection to the company, couldn’t give a toss a about them, I just can’t stand when someone is openly incompetent. It’s like when people call Mac a dongle for Logic

I’m glad you have better options natively in fact I would be interested in your findings. I only use hardware synths for actual production and I have been in quest of finding software substitute for when I am travelling. Only for inspiration because once back in the studio everything will be recorded with hardware but the sound properties are very important to me even for inspiration. So please help me, what native options sound better than PolyMax as a prophet 5 (or just a decent analogue poly) substitute, I’m really interested. Might have overlooked at something.

[EvilDragon]

Repro-5, for sure.

[v1o]

Frankly, one could make a list of synths at least as good as Polymax, and WAY cheaper.

Btw, XILS PolyKB III costs 60$ right now. Absolutely amazing deal.

The XILS labs products sound like the old Arturia synths. They're good but they wouldn't fool anyone.