UAD PolyMAX - This thing is Sick

[inlandempirestudio]

Hi all
I rarely discuss subjective stuff as it always end up in some sort of 'us and them' kind of debate where most assume a lot about how gear sounds or compare or assume what other people believe and why.

• I am a happy UAD owner.

• I am a happy XILS-Lab PolyKB III.

• I am a happy Prophet 5 rev. 4 owner.

• and... former happy Memorymoog, OB-8 owner

So I have a broad a 'objective' foundation to underscore my point of view – though it is of course the pure personal perception through my ears.

After a short demo of the PolyMAX this morning I decided to take the chance and freedom to give you my five cents on this. I may go into details in another post.

• I think the PolyMAX sound thick and very analog.

• But I don't think it sounds vintage at all – a lot of the presets are retro in the sound though.

• I think the PolyKB III (it has been mentioned a lot in the thread) sounds more vintage than the PolyMAX. I like the non l linear sounding waveforms which is the closest I've heard to old analog VCOs

I think to PolyMAX is a fairly expensive synth when it comes to function. Apart from the "on board" FX (which I assume most either have already in their UAD folder or will replace with other wet FX) it functions as the most basic synth you can imagine. 2 VCOs, 1 LFO two ENV a multimode filter (which does not sound like a Ladder (in the 4 pole setting) but very smooth and great sounding (for my taste). I am a sucker for 12db filters so I may not be the right to judge ) Well, it has FM mod which is cool, but again nothing esoteric.

• Would I recommend it for it's features? Naaah.

• But I definitely would for it's sound.

• Will I buy. Hmm...I don't know. Whether it is Arturia or UAD or any other developer €/$ 199 will last a long way.

• Will I buy a next UAD sale with 40-50% off. Maybe.

As a short and final note I'd like to point that I feel UADs marketing (copywriting) on the PolyMAX is poor and they use way too much BS aimed for consumers looking for a fast way to 'dial in a professional sound'. For me (with a +15 years background in branding and visual communication) there's a huge mismatch between the product and the way they want to sell it – or it just underscores the path of the 'NEW' Universal Audio.

Over and out – and one love.
Benjamin

[Robmobius]

U - you
A - are
D - d!xx

Indeed...
Or U Are Dongle.

[briefcasemanx]

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!

If the YouTube demo is anything to go by (I don't have UAD currently), nah.

And I'm a big fan of Super 8 and think it's very underrated.

[Robmobius]

And I'm a big fan of Super 8 and think it's very underrated.

Super 8 is a fantastic-sounding synth and as you say it's very underrated for some reason.

[EvilDragon]

Yes. You can upsample everything within Reaktor and all components of Massive X are 4x oversampled. Sounds like the plugin Super 8 got no internal oversampling at all?

No, plugin S8 runs at 2x oversampled rate.

[Erik_Lucas]

I think the PolyKB III (it has been mentioned a lot in the thread) sounds more vintage than the PolyMAX. I like the non l linear sounding waveforms which is the closest I've heard to old analog VCOs.

I agree with this.

[briefcasemanx]

Because it is a dongle, no matter how much you want to bend the truth.

Having available computing resources is also a dongle. My DAW itself takes up all the RAM and CPU on my old computer. I refuse to buy this synth or any other plugin until they offer it as a cloud-based Software As A Service. I won't replace my 19 year old laptop with a new machine (aka a dongle) just to add "effects" in my tracks.

[_leras]

That said... this is yet another very simplistic 2 osc 1 filter 1 LFO synth... yawn :/

Exactly! Super 8 easily tops this.

I really don't think it does. I quite like some sounds out of Super 8, but it's not as rich sounding as this to my ears.

Seems to me like the UAD crowd which I am part of - when it comes to synths - is living under a rock and then the company can sell them "revolution" when in fact same or better synths (not to mention U-he) can do same even better at a fraction of a price.

Well Uhe Repro, also a 2 osc one filter synth, is..... ta da... exactly the same price!

[_leras]

2 hours of wasted time of googling and looking for SIMPLE INFORMATION.
U - you
A - are
D - d!xx

Really... it's in a big box right at the top of their product page... under Ways To Buy

https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/luna ... synth.html

[carrieres]

That said... this is yet another very simplistic 2 osc 1 filter 1 LFO synth... yawn :/

Exactly! Super 8 easily tops this.

I really don't think it does. I quite like some sounds out of Super 8, but it's not as rich sounding as this to my ears.

Seems to me like the UAD crowd which I am part of - when it comes to synths - is living under a rock and then the company can sell them "revolution" when in fact same or better synths (not to mention U-he) can do same even better at a fraction of a price.

Well Uhe Repro, also a 2 osc one filter synth, is..... ta da... exactly the same price!

Repro is 149€ and PolyMAX is 199€ and you need a UAD hardware, it is not the same price at all

[kmonkey]

That said... this is yet another very simplistic 2 osc 1 filter 1 LFO synth... yawn :/

Exactly! Super 8 easily tops this.

I really don't think it does. I quite like some sounds out of Super 8, but it's not as rich sounding as this to my ears.

Seems to me like the UAD crowd which I am part of - when it comes to synths - is living under a rock and then the company can sell them "revolution" when in fact same or better synths (not to mention U-he) can do same even better at a fraction of a price.

Well Uhe Repro, also a 2 osc one filter synth, is..... ta da... exactly the same price!

Read again and then try again. If not then whatever.

[kmonkey]

Repro is 149€ and PolyMAX is 199€ and you need a UAD hardware, it is not the same price at all

PolyMax is native instrument. No hardware is needed.


Comparing Repro to PolyMax is the same as comparing Eagle to small chicken (no car analogy this time).

[kmonkey]

Anyway... When you ask someone to provide a sample of "better" to hear how UA synth is exactly better to 5-10 years old native releases and ask for a screenshot of a patch, MIDI sequence and patch file itself then you hear crickets. Same old story.

And we are back to "sounds better to me when I listen it on youtube" - even though on youtube it can be post-processed in DAW numerous times or altered in numerous ways.

Silly crowd.

[carrieres]

Repro is 149€ and PolyMAX is 199€ and you need a UAD hardware, it is not the same price at all

PolyMax is native instrument. No hardware is needed.

so you get it with a subscription
from UAD website :
Buy for your Apollo interface/UAD hardware or get with UAD Spark on subscription.

[Modular Manfred]

Anyway... When you ask someone to provide a sample of "better" to hear how UA synth is exactly better to 5-10 years old native releases and ask for a screenshot of a patch, MIDI sequence and patch file itself then you hear crickets. Same old story.

And we are back to "sounds better to me when I listen it on youtube" - even though on youtube it can be post-processed in DAW numerous times or altered in numerous ways.

Silly crowd.

When you ask someone to inform what real analogue polys they have for reference and they don’t answer you know that I have no more questions..