Vanguard2 by Refx out 25th of November!

[astralprojection]

This V2 synth looks like a blatant attempt by REFX to penetrate the low end synth market by:
- making a new synth from scratch
- making it load old V1 presets
- passing it off as some kind of legacy "legendary name synth" revived.

Phsshh

and what is bad with any of your points exactly?

[BJ]

This V2 synth looks like a blatant attempt by REFX to penetrate the low end synth market by:
- making a new synth from scratch
- making it load old V1 presets
- passing it off as some kind of legacy "legendary name synth" revived.

Phsshh

They didn’t make a new synth. It uses some of the original code of the first version.

[MJACau]

No demo?!

[Caine123]

did anyone test it yet with old projects/instances? i kinda doubt it is fully backwards compatible.

This V2 synth looks like a blatant attempt by REFX to penetrate the low end synth market by:
- making a new synth from scratch
- making it load old V1 presets
- passing it off as some kind of legacy "legendary name synth" revived.

Phsshh

and what is bad with any of your points exactly?

exactly, the GUI is not my cup of tea either, but im having an up to date 64 bit version of this vst which gets support again and is PURCHASABLE than nothing!

[Synthman2000]

I imagine a demo might come post Black Friday. In the mean time some may grab it for small discount. GUI not the best and not really cheap either. It is not jumping out as an insta buy with no demo. We have time and small increase in price to bear, to think it through a bit.

[db3]

Not cheap, but does come with a load of decent presets in this 'complete' version. I suspect refx may introduce a cheaper version with a few presets as soon as they have new packs available to sell. Frustrating there's no demo, but surely that will come? For me it was GAS based on nostalgia and it doesn't disappoint if you know what to expect. M1 native, nice crisp GUI, good preset management, very immediate.

[FigBug]

did anyone test it yet with old projects/instances? i kinda doubt it is fully backwards compatible.

exactly, the GUI is not my cup of tea either, but im having an up to date 64 bit version of this vst which gets support again and is PURCHASABLE than nothing!

Should be 95% compatible. The reverb is new, so it needs to map old params to new params, so that might sound a bit different. Everything else should sound the exact same.

The UI uses the same skinning system as Nexus, so if you own that, you can copy all the skins over and most of them work ok. Otherwise you can make your own skin, I'm sure somebody will do a classic skin soon.

This is a WIP:

[kyodeejay]

Well, I was expecting more features and changes for v2 (maybe a second filter) and I don't like invasive activation. So I will stick with Tone2 Warlock, which is cheaper and it fills the gap perfectly.

[MJACau]

For me it was GAS based on nostalgia and it doesn't disappoint if you know what to expect. M1 native, nice crisp GUI, good preset management, very immediate.

I hope Vanguard 2 is successful for ReFX, as they were originally known for their synths like Plasticz, Beast and Slayer. And maybe those old ReFX synths can return in some way or another, even for just GAS collection nostalgia.

I tried the old Vanguard many years ago it never really grabbed me being spoiled by the more modern wavetable synths we have now, to me are more user friendly and powerful.

It's reminds me of people morning over Imageline killing off the TS-404 their 303 clone, IL replaced it with Bass Transistor which I think is far superior in quality and usability.
Nostalgia is a very powerful thing, people seeking the things from their youth with rose tinted glasses.

[fisherKing]

For me it was GAS based on nostalgia and it doesn't disappoint if you know what to expect. M1 native, nice crisp GUI, good preset management, very immediate.

I hope Vanguard 2 is successful for ReFX, as they were originally known for their synths like Plasticz, Beast and Slayer. And maybe those old ReFX synths can return in some way or another, even for just GAS collection nostalgia.

I tried the old Vanguard many years ago it never really grabbed me being spoiled by the more modern wavetable synths we have now, to me are more user friendly and powerful.

It's reminds me of people morning over Imageline killing off the TS-404 their 303 clone, IL replaced it with Bass Transistor which I think is far superior in quality and usability.
Nostalgia is a very powerful thing, people seeking the things from their youth with rose tinted glasses.

for me, it's the opposite. i like diving into 'new' synths, and for me, vanguard2 is new (i never used the original). i'll explore it, use it a bit. and we'll see if it's still in my 'active' plugins in 3-4 months...

[kevvvvv]

It's interesting how people defend the need for this ancient softsynth.

The real inheritor of Vanguard is VPS Avenger, which afaik completed the project that Vanguard began, ie, be a Virus but be better.

btw the original Vanguard demo mp3 was one of the best demo tunes ever written, and in it's day was a game changer.

imo setting the new standard of demo tune was Vanguard's main real legacy.

Everything else was washed away by the new wavetable synths (spire, avenger, serum anyone) that blew it completely out of the water.

[JamminFool]

It's interesting how people defend the need for this ancient softsynth.

i seriously doubt anyone would argue this is a need.

more like a want.

and if you don't want it, then move on. nothing to see here.

[fisherKing]

It's interesting how people defend the need for this ancient softsynth.

The real inheritor of Vanguard is VPS Avenger, which afaik completed the project that Vanguard began, ie, be a Virus but be better.

btw the original Vanguard demo mp3 was one of the best demo tunes ever written, and in it's day was a game changer.

imo setting the new standard of demo tune was Vanguard's main real legacy.

Everything else was washed away by the new wavetable synths (spire, avenger, serum anyone) that blew it completely out of the water.

you mean, i can't use this and spire, etc? hmmm...

[kevvvvv]

No that's right. Each to their own.

Here's the old spec they're still selling at £70
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/vanguard-by-refx

It'll be interesting to see what the offer is when V2 comes out in a few days, but I'm not holding my breath for a new synth in a KVR world that already has a whopping 35 pages of softsynths to browse.

[JamminFool]

It'll be interesting to see what the offer is when V2 comes out in a few days,

it's out now.