I WANT to love it...

[Boy Wonder]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

[Smasha]

Sorry Boy Wonder.

Well Serum costs an arm and a leg also.

[Rabid]

GX-80. Way too much stuff on the screen. And those little short throw sliders across the middle. Uggg.

Right. Yamaha had a terrible idea when they released the CS-80 in 1977, a first of its kind synth. They should have realized that synths of the future would be a bit more ergonomic.

Where did I say that the original CS-80 hardware is bad is bad in any way? I never, but then, you know that. But the control panel is what, 4 feet wide? Plenty of space and size on the original hardware to make programming fun and easy. Take all of that, plus a bunch of controls from a second keyboard, and reduce it to fit on a laptop screen and it becomes a chore to program. You need a 40" screen for this thing. I normally love remakes of vintage equipment but this one does not translate well to the small screen.

[BONES]

Just give it a second chance. It does the trick sometimes. I was dismissing SurgeXT too. Then tried all those OSC modifiers (I'm not sure how many there in total, 40-60?) and found out that it's just an ultimate tool for very unique sounds and combinations. Cool for electronic music. I have even noticed, that I come back to Surge more often than to other synths even for quite ordinary sounds. At the first, the GUI looks strange. But then I realized, that everything is very logical and easy to access.

Why? I already have three or four times more synths than I need, there is simply no reason to bother with anything else unless it really impresses me in some way and Surge hasn't done that at all. A feature like 40-60 osc modifiers doesn't impress me, it puts me off.

If you're working in your bigass program (DAW, video, graphics, etc.) you really shouldn't have 20 other distractions open at the same time.

For a true professional it is often unavoidable. e.g. At work I will typically have After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator (sometimes) and Media Encoder open, as well as Outlook, which is how our work is assigned, and a browser, so I can download stock items for use in my work. Add in 3 or 4 Explorer windows showing large thumbnails and you need a lot of things running together, just to get through the day. 95GB of RAM is sometimes barely enough.

[syntonica]

.

If you're working in your bigass program (DAW, video, graphics, etc.) you really shouldn't have 20 other distractions open at the same time.

For a true professional it is often unavoidable. e.g. At work I will typically have After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator (sometimes) and Media Encoder open, as well as Outlook, which is how our work is assigned, and a browser, so I can download stock items for use in my work. Add in 3 or 4 Explorer windows showing large thumbnails and you need a lot of things running together, just to get through the day. 95GB of RAM is sometimes barely enough.

Those are work, not just distractions. Although my Outlook would mysteriously keep breaking.

And, yeah, you're definitely going to need a shedload of RAM to feed all that lot! When I have my DAW open, everything else gets shut down. Particularly my email, browser and database, which I do need for business. No just peeking to see if I've made any money. Fortunately, that CAN wait for a few hours while I exercise the other side of my brain.

Anyway, I know everyone works in different ways, but this was only a suggestion, both to save on computer resources and to disconnect from those things we're overly tied to that may be killing creativity.

[zerocrossing]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

It’s funny, when I think of some of the most magical times I’ve had with a synth, one always comes up. I had finally found a one bedroom apartment that my girlfriend and I could afford. We didn’t have a stitch of furniture, or even a bed, but someone had given me a Korg Poly-800 and I used to sit on the floor with it and run it into a boombox and have a blast.

[sQeetz]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

It’s funny, when I think of some of the most magical times I’ve had with a synth, one always comes up. I had finally found a one bedroom apartment that my girlfriend and I could afford. We didn’t have a stitch of furniture, or even a bed, but someone had given me a Korg Poly-800 and I used to sit on the floor with it and run it into a boombox and have a blast.

Same sitting on the floor situation, but with an Amiga 600 and a poor ass DJ mixer and headphones. Drugs... lots of them, too...

[Boy Wonder]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

It’s funny, when I think of some of the most magical times I’ve had with a synth, one always comes up. I had finally found a one bedroom apartment that my girlfriend and I could afford. We didn’t have a stitch of furniture, or even a bed, but someone had given me a Korg Poly-800 and I used to sit on the floor with it and run it into a boombox and have a blast.

Same sitting on the floor situation, but with an Amiga 600 and a poor ass DJ mixer and headphones. Drugs... lots of them, too...

Back in the day when the DW-8000 first came out (yeah, I'm older than dirt), I bought one because I couldn't afford a DX-7. I went to work one day, and when I came back, the synth was gone from my apartment.

I asked my roommate about it. He said, "Yeah, the guy who lived in the room before you stole it because I didn't give him his deposit back." WTF? How is that MY problem?

Anyway, the ex-roommate brought the synth back. He could've kept it. I never did like it anyway, and the Full Bucket clone doesn't inspire me although it sounds exactly like it.

[sQeetz]

Back in the day when the DW-8000 first came out (yeah, I'm older than dirt), I bought one because I couldn't afford a DX-7. I went to work one day, and when I came back, the synth was gone from my apartment.

I asked my roommate about it. He said, "Yeah, the guy who lived in the room before you stole it because I didn't give him his deposit back." WTF? How is that MY problem?

Anyway, the ex-roommate brought the synth back. He could've kept it. I never did like it anyway, and the Full Bucket clone doesn't inspire me although it sounds exactly like it.

Now that's some f**ked up shit...

[Uncle E]

Back in the day when the DW-8000 first came out (yeah, I'm older than dirt), I bought one because I couldn't afford a DX-7. I went to work one day, and when I came back, the synth was gone from my apartment.

I asked my roommate about it. He said, "Yeah, the guy who lived in the room before you stole it because I didn't give him his deposit back." WTF? How is that MY problem?

Anyway, the ex-roommate brought the synth back. He could've kept it. I never did like it anyway, and the Full Bucket clone doesn't inspire me although it sounds exactly like it.

Stick to waveforms 1 (sawtooth) and 2 (sort of square) and you basically have a sound similar to a good DCO synth. Better pads than a Juno because the oscillators are independent. The excellent filters make that synth.

[zerocrossing]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

It’s funny, when I think of some of the most magical times I’ve had with a synth, one always comes up. I had finally found a one bedroom apartment that my girlfriend and I could afford. We didn’t have a stitch of furniture, or even a bed, but someone had given me a Korg Poly-800 and I used to sit on the floor with it and run it into a boombox and have a blast.

Same sitting on the floor situation, but with an Amiga 600 and a poor ass DJ mixer and headphones. Drugs... lots of them, too...

Back in the day when the DW-8000 first came out (yeah, I'm older than dirt), I bought one because I couldn't afford a DX-7. I went to work one day, and when I came back, the synth was gone from my apartment.

I asked my roommate about it. He said, "Yeah, the guy who lived in the room before you stole it because I didn't give him his deposit back." WTF? How is that MY problem?

Anyway, the ex-roommate brought the synth back. He could've kept it. I never did like it anyway, and the Full Bucket clone doesn't inspire me although it sounds exactly like it.

I actually ended up buying a used DW-8000 a few years after that story, and I actually loved it. I don’t think the Full Bucket emulation comes close. Actually, I don’t think any of their emulations are really decent. I think the DW-8000’s filter is one of Korg’s best.

My horrible roommate story happens a long time later. I went back to finish school and I was doing it on my own dime, so broke. I was renting a room from a guy who seemed OK. Bit of a lost trust fund baby who was too afraid to come out of the closet, but nice enough. His parents owned the house and he rented out the extra bedroom for extra spending money. One morning, I woke up to him and some dude who looked like a crack dealer sent from Central Casting coming into the apartment from the back door. Perhaps a bit of profiling on my part, but they proceeded to go to his bedroom and loudly argue over the price of a rock. I called a good friend and began packing up my gear. A short time after she got to me to help me move into her spare room, he came back with a new dealer and they hung around waiting for me to leave so they could take my stuff. When they saw me going to the attic for boxes, they packed up his TV and stereo gear and left.

[Boy Wonder]

Back in my homeless/roving/starving years, if I'd stumbled across a half-eaten container of shopping food mall noodles sitting on a park bench, that would've been like dining at Four Seasons as far as my stomach was concerned. Just saying.

It’s funny, when I think of some of the most magical times I’ve had with a synth, one always comes up. I had finally found a one bedroom apartment that my girlfriend and I could afford. We didn’t have a stitch of furniture, or even a bed, but someone had given me a Korg Poly-800 and I used to sit on the floor with it and run it into a boombox and have a blast.

Same sitting on the floor situation, but with an Amiga 600 and a poor ass DJ mixer and headphones. Drugs... lots of them, too...

Back in the day when the DW-8000 first came out (yeah, I'm older than dirt), I bought one because I couldn't afford a DX-7. I went to work one day, and when I came back, the synth was gone from my apartment.

I asked my roommate about it. He said, "Yeah, the guy who lived in the room before you stole it because I didn't give him his deposit back." WTF? How is that MY problem?

Anyway, the ex-roommate brought the synth back. He could've kept it. I never did like it anyway, and the Full Bucket clone doesn't inspire me although it sounds exactly like it.

I actually ended up buying a used DW-8000 a few years after that story, and I actually loved it. I don’t think the Full Bucket emulation comes close. Actually, I don’t think any of their emulations are really decent. I think the DW-8000’s filter is one of Korg’s best.

My horrible roommate story happens a long time later. I went back to finish school and I was doing it on my own dime, so broke. I was renting a room from a guy who seemed OK. Bit of a lost trust fund baby who was too afraid to come out of the closet, but nice enough. His parents owned the house and he rented out the extra bedroom for extra spending money. One morning, I woke up to him and some dude who looked like a crack dealer sent from Central Casting coming into the apartment from the back door. Perhaps a bit of profiling on my part, but they proceeded to go to his bedroom and loudly argue over the price of a rock. I called a good friend and began packing up my gear. A short time after she got to me to help me move into her spare room, he came back with a new dealer and they hung around waiting for me to leave so they could take my stuff. When they saw me going to the attic for boxes, they packed up his TV and stereo gear and left.

Sadly, the few people making money off the drug epidemic are dealers and pawn brokers. Ur roomie prolly got $40 for his TV and stereo.

[Uncle E]

Sadly, the few people making money off the drug epidemic are dealers and pawn brokers. Ur roomie prolly got $40 for his TV and stereo.

Similar story with my stolen Strat. It was a one-of-a-kind instrument with $1,000 worth of parts on it but I'm sure a pawn broker just saw a worthless no-name guitar.

[whassup]

The drift is elsewhere in this thread right now but I thought anyway that it is the right thread for my rumble. So yeah...

For this year's BF I thoroughly checked quite some stuff.
Here's a brief overview of what I found during my personal comparisson of the synths I own and several synths that I demoed in this context. This is VERY subjective and just my opinions. For what it's worth to you. So relax and enjoy the food for thoughts. Or just stop reading if you can't stand the personal popcorn and the lenghty novel of my findings.

Rapid: Sounds VERY good. I bought it. It's sound has depth and substance that I miss in several other synths.
Clever interface with these +/- macro knobs.
Very usable and good sounding presets. The best I can describe them is as inspiring. Other synths often have presets that are somewhat good but sometimes I don't know what I would do with them musically. Like I would have to find or make a place for them where they would fit.
With most of the Rapid presets that I checked so far it's the other way round. They inspire me to do things with them.
The quality of the presets and the character of the synth have their fair share in this.
Rediculously low on CPU.
Bought 4 extensions: Cinematic, Electronic, House and Trance. Great stuff.
Overall: 9.8 out of 10
For certain sounds it's the best synth I know and own right now.

Zebra: Awesome synth, great deal with the Legacy content. It is the essence of a chameleon to me. It doesn't come with a big attitude and obvious sound. It is rather neutral. And can go into so many directions. This can be very cool and very annoying. Depending on the point of view and situation.
It can sound mega awesome and it can sound like dog vomit. Depending on the presets. Bought another pack of presets this BF. So yeah, I have tons of great presets for it being well prepared for many situations with it now.
Rather low on CPU
Overall: 9 out of 10

Diva: Still after all these years, for me this is THE analog mega synth collection in one synth. And this is foremost about quality. So many classic sounds in there. Big fat Moog, quirky MS20 (those filters!), elegant and polite Jupiters, adolescent Juno, and even the Obie filter which sound so ... pretty. So many details and features that are love crafted into it that makes this synth such a piece of modern tech art. It's not easy to make it sound bad. To me that is. So many obvious sweet spots. Fun to tweak for hours. Yeah.
Rather hungry for CPU
Overall: 9.8 out of 10

Hive: For years this was my go to synth. Was using a rather weak laptop so that I couldn't run Diva seriously without rendering every second little fart.
In this comparisson Hive didn't look as good as others. In comparisson to the better ones in my reach it sounds rather flat and bland. And this is not absolute. Hive is a great synth and has tons of cool presets. But the better is the enemy of the good says a German proverb. At least to me in this comparisson. I wanted to have better reasons and a more informed opinion to grab a certain synth in the future. And this I got.
Low on CPU
Overall: 7 out of 10

Repro-1: Lotsa 80ies attitude, aggressive analog, typical 80ies sounds, bully sounds, beauty and the beast, can sound very beautiful and very angry too, tons of character
Medium hungry for CPU
Overall: 9 out of 10

Repro-5: Not as unapologetical as Repro-1, lotsa character but less than R-1, can sound seriously massive analog, generally not obviously pretty sounding though some charmingly soft sounds are in there.
Medium to hungry for CPU
Overall: 8 out of 10

SynthMaster: This was one of the great surprises to me. Never tried this one before. Never liked the name and the company name, blablabla. Yeah. I got me the Synthmaster Player a few days ago when it was free for some time. Just in case. Tons of presets for free? I'm in! In this comparisson I finally found the time to listen to some sounds and after less than 20 presets into the session I bought Synthmaster. So much character that tickled several buttons inside of me. Bam, so cool. And for less than 50 Euros on BF.
It feels like a rock star or a super sports car. Crank the power carefully or stuff might blow up. Increased filter resonance can bring up the levels substantially. But yeah, awesome character, great sounding filters. Fun synth with a few rough edges.
Rediculously low hunger for CPU!
Overall: 9 out of 10
Note to self: Should have checked out that one many years ago... facepalm

PhasePlant: It's sound reminds me of Hive but it has more character more attitude, more aggressive, more depth, very versatile.
The quality of the factory presets varies irritatingly much. Some real gems are in there.
Medium hunger for CPU
Overall: 8 out of 10

Super8, Massive and MassiveX: Some good presets in these. Not so cool interfaces. Soundwise they didn't convince me in comparisson to the others in the field. This is the polite, public version of my opinion about them. Nuff said.
Rather low on CPU
5, 6 and 6.5 out of 10

Dune: I had high hopes for it. Audio demos sounded great, I wanted to like it! Demo presets are surprisingly uninspiring, rather one trick pony, basic character sounds same same, good modern super saw, that's it. Hard in the gabba sense, not appealing to me. And I like very hard sounds. Kinda crazy.
Very low on CPU
Overall: 7 out of 10

SurgeXT: Has character, some sounds have lotsa character, while overall it is not as super exciting as other synths in this field but still really good sounding. Has depth but not mega appealing. Doesn't sound all same same which comes in very handy when adding lotsa sounds to an arrangement. Maybe too much a team player to bully others or to heavily impress as the nice boy or the bad ass? Some presets argue against that but this is my overall impression after working with it quite some and listening to many of it's presets. It has close to 2800 presets. Some presets are real gems: E.g. the ones by DataBroth and Giana Brotherz. They make me grin. Bam!
Important: If a sound is good but could be better I recommend to check the different filters. The filters vary a lot in character. Gazillions of filters in there. Not obvious, check the manual. Just sayin.
Medium hungry for CPU
Overall: 9 out of 10

Bazille: aggro, cold and digital but mostly in the better sense, aggressive, massive. So much character that again and again it irritates me as I think that it is "only" a FM synth. Well, yeah...
My love synth for FM things with punch, aggression and attitude.
Medium hungry for CPU
Overall: 9.5 out of 10

There was another dozen or so that fell through the grid, soundwise. So I spare them serious meantioning here.
Only these ones rather briefly:
Serum: Finally I demoed it. Good sounding synth. Not what I am looking for right now. But I understand the hype now.
CS-80 somethings: Nice, polite, good sounding, boring. Next.
Saurus: Good sounding. But the sound didn't grab me by the balls or the heart to help me beyond the ... not so good looking GUI.
Avenger: Good sound. Nothing grabbed me. Too much instant taste and not enough beef. For lack of better words.
Pigments: Good sounding but nothing really stood out to me or moved me compared to the rest. Ommited because of redundancy and better options.

One last thought here: I experienced it often that when people demoed things in a video then it sounded awesome ... or just lousy. And when I checked it for myself, in my context, it was quite different. Had this with guitars, amp sims, synths, compressors, etc.
This is a huge grain of salt then.

Peace

[martiu]

nice breakdown