Suggestions for a CPU friendly alternative to Pigments?

[AsgardBS]

Pigments is the worst cpu optimized synth, maybe it was developed in a hurry. It is good for preset creators and sound designers who do not need more than one instance at a time. But for producers, this synth is a nightmare.

Pigments is the most overrated synth considering the practicality. I can use 3 Dune and create much better sound with lower cpu usage than 1 Pigments.

Coding cpu efficient plugins require very good team of computer programmers and mathematicians. u-he, Synapse Audio, Cytomic etc are a few great examples.

I disagree, on my side, Pigment is damn efficient, averaging at <15% of one cpu core, very few preset goes above that.

Way lower than vital, similar to phaseplant

[Boy Wonder]

Pigments is the worst cpu optimized synth, maybe it was developed in a hurry. It is good for preset creators and sound designers who do not need more than one instance at a time. But for producers, this synth is a nightmare.

Pigments is the most overrated synth considering the practicality. I can use 3 Dune and create much better sound with lower cpu usage than 1 Pigments.

Coding cpu efficient plugins require very good team of computer programmers and mathematicians. u-he, Synapse Audio, Cytomic etc are a few great examples.

I disagree, on my side, Pigment is damn efficient, averaging at <15% of one cpu core, very few preset goes above that.

Way lower than vital, similar to phaseplant

Interesting. My Ryzen 5 has no issues with Vital or PhasePlant. Pigments, however, makes the key bed bleed.

[QuietSheep]

I have a Ryzen 5 3600 6 core 3.6 (4.3 boosted) ghz, 32 RAM, and I have it installed on SSD. Figured it would be good enough as it meets spec requirements given on their site but I guess not.

Its a shame apparently there isnt much similar quality UI synths (gonna miss the visual feedback for modulation ). Think id have to make comprimises with something new cause I cant justify the upgrade atm for just one vst. Having to bounce every Pigments track gets kinda bothersome, usually a last resort I want to avoid.

From what people posted I think I'll check out Surge XT first as its free and demo Zebra since I love Diva so much.
Falcon seems like a best alternative and the perfect fill in for the swiss army knife role (except UI) but it seems it lacks a demo.

[Boy Wonder]

Papen's Blue III comes close, I think. It has a sequencer and arp. In terms of synthesis, there's FM synthesis, Wave & Phase distortion, Virtual Analog, Spectrum Waveforms, Karplus String Model, and Samples.

There's also this - Granular for the single samples. Prolly not as fully-featured as Pigments, though, and prolly why Pigments is such a CPU beast.

At least Blue III has vector mode which Pigments lacks, so there's that.

[vata44]

Synthmaster 2

[Korg Supporter]

Icarus 3 comes to mind.

There's an Icarus 3? I think there's just Icarus 2, but yeah very powerful and very cpu efficient.

Sorry, I did mean Icarus 2.

[Cyforce]

Probably u-he Hive would be the best fit - since it`s kinda focused on being efficient on CPU. And got over time many good updates and features improvements, not to mention the always superb sound quality of all u-he plugins.

Maybe just get the demos of some matching options (Hive, Serum, Vital) and test if the CPU load is more gentle on your system.

[syntonica]

Parawave Rapid does all the same, but is probably not the modulation playground that Pigments is.

[a9k1tp]

I disagree, on my side, Pigment is damn efficient, averaging at <15% of one cpu core, very few preset goes above that.

Way lower than vital, similar to phaseplant

What machine? What cpu and gpu? Did you compare by creating same patch in all these synths?

Vital's GUI is the reason of high cpu. CPU usage reduces significantly once you close the interface. Sound engine is well optimized.

It is well known that Pigments uses more cpu than Diva.

[Atlatnesiti]

I love Pigments, its so easy to use and I get ideas quick, but pressing one note raises 75% of CPU on my DAW (slight exaggeration of course but pads can get to the 70%+ mark)

I need a synth that fits the swiss army knife role Pigments has so I can fit it nicely alongside the synths I use for specific uses like DUNE, Legend, and Diva.

Upgrade your computer

[Lbdunequest]

Rapid is a good alternative

[D-Fusion]

Coding cpu efficient plugins require very good team of computer programmers and mathematicians. u-he, Synapse Audio, Cytomic etc are a few great examples.

I wouldn't Put U-he on that list.
Try to add some Amp Release on a init Diva preset and play some Chords.

[Grodada]

for you.

[a9k1tp]

Coding cpu efficient plugins require very good team of computer programmers and mathematicians. u-he, Synapse Audio, Cytomic etc are a few great examples.

I wouldn't Put U-he on that list.
Try to add some Amp Release on a init Diva preset and play some Chords.

u-he also developed Hive and Zebra.

[chk071]

It is well known that Pigments uses more cpu than Diva.

Maybe, but, on my new machine which has a 11th gen mid tier Intel i5, it takes about 3 to 4% CPU with a simple patch.

It is CPU heavy, no doubt, but, I'm nowhere near 70 or 80%