KVR Audio

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Sun Nov 13, 2022 5:43 pm

_leras wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 5:20 pm What sort of things do you think are missing, that say a Moog sub 37 or vermona 14 might have?

Isn't the linear FM essentially a kind of cross modulation?

A Jupiter-8 has more modulation, more bender assignments, and noise on Oscillator 2. When you combine those with the Cross Mod, it makes a big difference and is super expressive. PolyMAX's linear FM misses that completely. Also missing the dedicated HPF, envelope polarity, envelope key follow, etc.

Anyway, I know it's "inspired by" and not a strict emulation, and the OB-Xa style voice panning and dedicated noise are indeed nice add-ons. My "boring" comment is more about the actual sound than the features. It sounds a bit sterile to me.

_leras · Post by **_leras** » Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:10 pm

More sounds here

_leras · Post by **_leras** » Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:12 pm

Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 5:30 pm I'll be honest, I'm not sure I understand the difference between FM versus proper Cross Mod, but otherwise, yeah, no Prophet-esque PolyMod, no atertouch, they could've at least thrown in a "Vintage Knob" to slop things up! Not to mention the hardwired MIDI CC assignments and lack of Learn functionality. It might have a great base sound (I'm yet to demo) but there's just too much missing here for UA's only analog polysynth IMO.

Uncle E wrote: Sun Nov 13, 2022 5:43 pm A Jupiter-8 has more modulation, more bender assignments, and noise on Oscillator 2. When you combine those with the Cross Mod, it makes a big difference and is super expressive. PolyMAX's linear FM misses that completely. Also missing the dedicated HPF, envelope polarity, envelope key follow, etc.

Anyway, I know it's "inspired by" and not a strict emulation, and the OB-Xa style voice panning and dedicated noise are indeed nice add-ons. My "boring" comment is more about the actual sound than the features. It sounds a bit sterile to me.

I think all of those are pretty good ideas actually, for any simple synth.

That said, I still like the sound. Yes, pretty clean and modern - but very present.

Robmobius · Post by **Robmobius** » Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:23 pm

Dip200 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:17 pm By the way, if you tested UAD Spark for 14 days already, you need to sub for one month in order to demo this

That's insane...

Seems like they are losing a number of potential customers.

superscan · Post by **superscan** » Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:44 pm

Robmobius wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:23 pm
Dip200 wrote: Mon Nov 14, 2022 2:17 pm By the way, if you tested UAD Spark for 14 days already, you need to sub for one month in order to demo this
That's insane...

Seems like they are losing a number of potential customers.

Perhaps consider resetting the demo period for purchases like with the UAD Hardware specific plug-ins. Or a shorter 14 day demo for singles if you’re already a UAD hardware customer.

Vortifex · Post by **Vortifex** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:06 am

Edited

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:34 am

Vortifex wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 12:06 am Took the free Spark trial to sate my curiosity over this synth. The sound is good. Not better than Super 8 IMO, but that sounds great anyway.

And you can get Super 8 for $50... 1/4 the price of PolyMax

Kross2 · Post by **Kross2** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:34 am

EvilDragon wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 1:00 am
_leras wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 12:15 am 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!

Cherry Audio's Sines, Quadra & Elka-X...piss all over UAD and leaves it in the dust(for a fraction of the cost.) Alternatively...if I wanted to lay down bread in the $200 range and I wanted something that is plug & play and sounds insanely inspiring, I'd just buy UJAM's Usynth bundle for $249.
Usynth sounds every bit as good as Cherry Audio and you can achieve some very unique sounds AND it's CPU-friendly.
In some ways, I would have to say Usynth is my all-time favorite synth plugin, as the creativity & inspiration is instantaneous & 99% of the presets are radio-ready and when you start making some minor tweaks...there's a lot of magic that happens.
Also....their trials are fully functional for 30 days and they even released a completely free synth called Drive.
Hans Zimmer is the founder of UJAM....which explains why this company is off-the-charts, in terms of quality.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:23 am

Ohmygodimblindnow

Kross2 · Post by **Kross2** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:30 am

Uncle E wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:23 am Ohmygodimblindnow

Well....you live in southern California(so it stads to reason, that you own a pair of sunglasses...right?)
How's this yellow color working out for you?

Kross2 · Post by **Kross2** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:30 am

Kross2 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:30 am
Uncle E wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:23 am Ohmygodimblindnow
Well....you live in southern California(so it stands to reason, that you own a pair of sunglasses...right?)
How's this yellow color working out for you?

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:37 am

Wow, nothing like a new synth being released to piss off the synth-loving community.

Uncle E wrote: Wed Nov 09, 2022 6:02 pm I am a long time Apollo user, don't attack me.

I’m only a short time Apollo user, but I have two of them and will surely be chastised for that

But, seriously, I don’t hang out forums proclaiming that they’re god’s gift to the audio world, but they do work perfectly for my needs, so flame away - I can take it. As for this synth, it sounds good, but I’m in the camp that thinks it’s too simplistic for a $199 synth in today’s market. The good news for me is, I have plenty of hardware and soft synths, so I’m not dying to buy this, but UAD has pretty good sales on occasion so maybe I’ll pick it up someday.

On another note, I don’t think anybody mentioned the GUI. Normally, I wouldn’t like an interface with that much dead space, but I actually really like it on PolyMax.

Uncle E · Post by **Uncle E** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:10 am

Kross2 wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:30 am Well....you live in southern California(so it stads to reason, that you own a pair of sunglasses...right?)
How's this yellow color working out for you

It's better, thanks. The bold is also painful, though. And yes, I wear sunglasses literally every time I step out of the house during the day, even on cloudy days.

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:18 am

Edit. Better lol

_leras · Post by **_leras** » Tue Nov 15, 2022 7:51 am

cryophonik wrote: Tue Nov 15, 2022 5:37 am Wow, nothing like a new synth being released to piss off the synth-loving community.

I’m only a short time Apollo user, but I have two of them and will surely be chastised for that

On another note, I don’t think anybody mentioned the GUI. Normally, I wouldn’t like an interface with that much dead space, but I actually really like it on PolyMax.

Tbf, I think the response is mainly aimed at the inaccessibility. Even as a uad card owner I can't easily demo it, need to start a spark trial that I wouldn't need...

I also like GUI, it seems nicely laid out. Maybe on the small side, which I would say is the same for Opal. Neither GUI is perfect, but both do seem well laid out and usable.

And I think you're safe as a uad owner. People just question why you would spend 'extra' for uad. (It's not much extra overall though imo)

UAD PolyMAX - This thing is Sick