Cherry Audio Releases GX-80 Synthesizer

[TheMaestro]

You know, this synth does sound good. I think it's on the thin side, lacks some weight, but I understand this is purely a matter of personal taste.
However, such heavy CPU load can't be justified, especially when compared to OB-E.

Thin? Are you listening through your laptop's speakers?

[Reverend Rhythm]

I measured my CPU usage in Logic Pro with my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015). Im a bit over 25%. I'm good with freezing tracks to make the GX-80 work. And I think I'll be doing that.

I love the sound, and I love the edibility of the presets.

[abducted]

CPU usage is getting worse with every new cherry audio plugin. Simply not acceptable. I would not use these instruments even if they were given to me for free. Arturia is king.

[kelvyn]

Whilst I really like Cherry Audios Synths - and own almost all of them… GAS - and have been demoing this - which I like - there’s a very simple comparison video on YouTube - ME80, Arturia V and the GX-80 - which seems quite revealing. As someone already pointed out the GX-80 does seem a little thin and weightless when compared to the Arturia version. I do however really like some of the presets on the GX-80 so maybe it’s worth a punt.

[Erik_Lucas]

CPU usage is getting worse with every new cherry audio plugin. Simply not acceptable. I would not use these instruments even if they were given to me for free. Arturia is king.

I don't mind the sound quality now, but the CPU usage makes them unusable.

[trusampler]

I just layered this with Arturia's CS80v 4

I also learned how to mix to what I want my synths to sound like..

I also upgraded my cpu to handle whatever plugins I want to play.

Life can be simple.

[anttimaatteri]

i listened to a demo of the gx80 on youtube and compared it to the orginial main theme soundtrack also provided by a youtuber. no one of the commenters even reckognized that the dude played the theme half a tone lower than its original. add that to the other facts, that vangelis for sure didnt use the blank sound of his cs-80 without any preamping or analog mixer for the recordings PLUS the presets settings are for sure slightly other than the original ones.
i dont give an eff on most hecklers halfarsed opinions about a product like gx80, like "not as fat" "not even close" etc and the really 1 on 1 comparison between a gx80 and a cs80 or gx1 is still nowhere to find.
so waiting for starrsky carr to make one^^

and the cpu usage of cherry audio products is really not the lowest to say the least^^.

[martiu]

if you want low cpu and still good CS80 emulation i recommend - Memorymoon ME80

[Scotty]

CPU usage is getting worse with every new cherry audio plugin. Simply not acceptable. I would not use these instruments even if they were given to me for free. Arturia is king.

Arturia is getting very CPU hungry with their Augmented series. Otherwise I'd agree with you. Cherry did an exceptional job with the included presests for the GX-80. There are a lot of usable and inspiring presets from some talented sound designers in the collection. Cherry is also leverging their Galaxy verb (sounds like it at least as a verb option in the plugin) and that adds some efx magic which I enjoy. I find it tastefully applied which is not always the case.

[electro]

CS-80 Hardware is rare and pricey but we like to see raw A/B with all 3 emulators (Memorymoon, Arturia, Cherry)

[JoeCat]

CS-80 Hardware is rare and pricey but we like to see raw A/B with all 3 emulators (Memorymoon, Arturia, Cherry)

I'd love to see a raw A/B between two CS-80s!

Seriously - I believe there are 20 trimmers on each of the voice cards, along with various other trimmers, so I suspect every CS-80 sounds vastly different. Not to mention all the performance controls have to be set perfectly when comparing sounds, there are thermal issues, aging and tolerances of the original components.

(As an example, I worked on hardware in the 80s and I seem to remember precision resistors at that time had tolerances around 1% - I think they're closer to .1% now, but 5% was common for standard components. And you needed mil-spec with a lot of components to really achieve thermal stability. Not sure what was common in audio hardware at the time).

It's tough to find a definitive emulation of any synth (all the analogs sound a bit different even properly setup). But the CS-80 probably more so. I think it'll come down to whatever works in terms of price, features, UI, etc. From what I've heard I think maybe the Arturia sounds a bit "tamer", with Cherry on the other end and Memorymoon in the middle.

[zerocrossing]

CS-80 Hardware is rare and pricey but we like to see raw A/B with all 3 emulators (Memorymoon, Arturia, Cherry)

Here’s the rub. While the CS-80 is a legendary synth, it’s 50% the sound and 50% the physical synth. Unless you have a controller with a great keyboard that includes polyphonic aftertouch and a touch strip, you’ll only get half the experience, regardless as to your software.

I’ve never owned a CS-80, or even been in the same room as one, but I’ve heard all the same recordings that we all have. I never thought ME-80 did it, or the CS-80 V version before this one did it either, though both could do some cool sounds. The new Arturia version… I feel that gets it. Of course there are differences from unit to unit, but the basic character is there, and almost more importantly, the quality is very good. Regardless as to how close to the original it is, it sounds good, and that’s all I care about. I have a good polyphonic aftertouch keyboard (GEM S2) and another with a good touch strip and an XYZ axis pad (Arturia PolyBrute). I’ve not tried it yet, but I’m eager to see what it does with a Roli Rise controlling it. This is really the magic of the CS-80. I’d suggest definitely trying to get some sort of expressive controller.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Was using my Hydrasynth to play the GX-80 last night and it sounded epic, especially when I blended it with the hardware synth’s audio, but I found some weird default CC map in place that meant after touching the Hydra ribbon for the first time it affected the panning so when not touching the ribbon from then on all output was panned hard left.
Was late so I didn’t try remapping, but did anyone else have this?

[Grumbleweed]

CS-80 Hardware is rare and pricey but we like to see raw A/B with all 3 emulators (Memorymoon, Arturia, Cherry)

Here’s the rub. While the CS-80 is a legendary synth, it’s 50% the sound and 50% the physical synth. Unless you have a controller with a great keyboard that includes polyphonic aftertouch and a touch strip, you’ll only get half the experience, regardless as to your software.

I’ve never owned a CS-80, or even been in the same room as one, but I’ve heard all the same recordings that we all have. I never thought ME-80 did it, or the CS-80 V version before this one did it either, though both could do some cool sounds. The new Arturia version… I feel that gets it. Of course there are differences from unit to unit, but the basic character is there, and almost more importantly, the quality is very good. Regardless as to how close to the original it is, it sounds good, and that’s all I care about. I have a good polyphonic aftertouch keyboard (GEM S2) and another with a good touch strip and an XYZ axis pad (Arturia PolyBrute). I’ve not tried it yet, but I’m eager to see what it does with a Roli Rise controlling it. This is really the magic of the CS-80. I’d suggest definitely trying to get some sort of expressive controller.

I couldn't map the touch strip to my Kontakt midi controller as there is no midi learn for that feature (well I couldn't make it pop up).
I've also found in its default state using the buttons on the midi controller to turn things on and off (eg each Rank) requires 4 button presses rather than the expected 2.
I've been in contact to CA regarding this and they got back remarkably quickly with a possible solution but I know I fiddled with the latching behaviour of the Kontakt's buttons and I don't think it worked, but I will double check later. I do know that when I tried the buttons on a certain French version of a CS-80 they worked as expected (one push on, one push off).
I'll be back.....

Grum.

[Grumbleweed]

CS-80 Hardware is rare and pricey but we like to see raw A/B with all 3 emulators (Memorymoon, Arturia, Cherry)

Here’s the rub. While the CS-80 is a legendary synth, it’s 50% the sound and 50% the physical synth. Unless you have a controller with a great keyboard that includes polyphonic aftertouch and a touch strip, you’ll only get half the experience, regardless as to your software.

I’ve never owned a CS-80, or even been in the same room as one, but I’ve heard all the same recordings that we all have. I never thought ME-80 did it, or the CS-80 V version before this one did it either, though both could do some cool sounds. The new Arturia version… I feel that gets it. Of course there are differences from unit to unit, but the basic character is there, and almost more importantly, the quality is very good. Regardless as to how close to the original it is, it sounds good, and that’s all I care about. I have a good polyphonic aftertouch keyboard (GEM S2) and another with a good touch strip and an XYZ axis pad (Arturia PolyBrute). I’ve not tried it yet, but I’m eager to see what it does with a Roli Rise controlling it. This is really the magic of the CS-80. I’d suggest definitely trying to get some sort of expressive controller.

I couldn't map the touch strip to my Kontakt midi controller as there is no midi learn for that feature (well I couldn't make it pop up).
I've also found in its default state using the buttons on the midi controller to turn things on and off (eg each Rank) requires 4 button presses rather than the expected 2.
I've been in contact to CA regarding this and they got back remarkably quickly with a possible solution but I know I fiddled with the latching behaviour of the Kontakt's buttons and I don't think it worked, but I will double check later. I do know that when I tried the buttons on a certain French version of a CS-80 they worked as expected (one push on, one push off).
I'll be back.....

Grum.

So I got the touch strip working by using the global midi learn (at the top of the synth) rather than clicking on the strip itself but the button latching is not working as expected.
I'll get back to Cherry Audio.

Grum.

Edit: I've just found out that the Kontakt buttons will toggle one of the rocker switches (EFFECTS MODE) with the expected behaviour (one touch one, one touch off) but the VERB switch takes four touches (ON, nothing, OFF, nothing).
Weird.