UAD PolyMAX - This thing is Sick

[_leras]

Did you get these vouchers because you own UAD hardware? Just asking out of curiosity (and GAS).

The sale is already pretty good, but yes I own the hardware, so still look to just buy the plug ins. Even without the extra £20 thanks, £95 with the xmas voucher and 2 plug in bundle would have been pretty good for this and the new reverb.

I've finally got to give this plug in a demo, with some Arpy things and then some chords. I found the arps to be nice and solid sounding, nice solid low mids, really some nice sweet spots to tweak it through, and the chords were generally really present nice range from rich saw type chords to clean gentler sounds.

My impression is that it does have it's own pretty clean sound, but it's also a very present sound. It can get a bit gnarly at times, but even still has quite a controlled present sound to it, not really fluffy (terrible description lol). The noise osc in this synth is really very nice, it can be blended in really nicely at lower levels and really feels just part of the sound and fattening it in a really nice way. To my ears it really gets towards a 'hardware sound', in the same way that the Arturia Buchla Easel does.

It is a fairly simple synth, takes 5 mins to get the main things figured out, but it has a pretty decent range and is really pretty tweakable with some great sweet spots. Overall I think it's a great sounding little synth. I didn't really try and dirty it up with post synth distortion or saturation, but I think as it's such a present sound it would handle that very well.

I wonder if a bit more analogness/drift could be added, as for some chords i.e. only just some G and Ds spread out, the sound seemed to lose a bit or richness collapse a bit where the notes were 'too cleanly similar in frequency'?

I didn't try the fx much yet, but they seem pretty decent, phasor seemed very nice.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Glad you got it. I did the 99 cent Spark sub. I think your review is spot on - though I think you like it more than I do. It's very clean and hi-fi but IMO, lacks the kind of character that would make it interesting. More slop would also be welcome here.

For my money, the UA instruments are a total let down so far. The ones I've used anyway (Minimoog, Poly Max, the B3). I'll harp on and on about the lack of MIDI Learn but even worse, the hardwired MIDI assignments (which is asinine) but the sound falls flat with me too. The Minimoog was a big let down in particular. The B3 is good, but not head and shoulders above the competition (Acoustic Samples, IK Multimedia, etc.). Poly Max sounds good, but I find it too clinical sounding for me. I get why they're branching out into instruments, but they're just not the same quality as their effects IMO. And even their FX have the occasional stinker (I hate the Studer) but overall, the quality of those is consistently among the best, particularly the newer ones.

[_leras]

Synths are definitely something different to fx, which generally have far fewer controls. I have a fair tolerance to a slightly poor workflow, but things like midi learn should be standard. UA maybe need to look again at what's expected these days. This gui is a very good size, but could be a bit bigger.

Yes, it is clean and clinical/hifi at times, and the filter is also clean rather than juicy. But... Adding some filter envelope, noise can definitely spice it up. It does have some really nice sweet spots, so.encourages tweaking and finding them. It's a bit like repro perhaps, in that it's its own instrument and you need to explore it's sound and take what's given. I do really like some of the sweet spots, which include some fat tones, but sometimes it is too clean. I expect it will handle distortion and saturation really nicely though. This weekend I should get more time.

I also picked up the Opal synth recently, and that I think sounded really nice. Dual filters with a drive section in between makes it more gnarly. It's also fairly simple, maybe too compact a GUI, but actually pretty quick to work with once you realise where everything is. I thought Opal sounds great, and approaching tones from modulars in some ways.

I applaud them for trying to use their skills and knowledge to make synths. Hopefully they continue. I quite like not overly complicated synths with their own character.

I havent tried the B3 but I quite like the moog and thought it sounded really nice. I tried it after watching this really interesting Tycho/Kaelin Ellis/Moog video, which is a great and fun overview of the minimoog. I only have Monark to compare it too and haven't A/B'd or anything.

https://youtu.be/G4rR5iwWTTw

[nusound mind]

Glad you got it. I did the 99 cent Spark sub. I think your review is spot on - though I think you like it more than I do. It's very clean and hi-fi but IMO, lacks the kind of character that would make it interesting. More slop would also be welcome here.

For my money, the UA instruments are a total let down so far. The ones I've used anyway (Minimoog, Poly Max, the B3). I'll harp on and on about the lack of MIDI Learn but even worse, the hardwired MIDI assignments (which is asinine) but the sound falls flat with me too. The Minimoog was a big let down in particular. The B3 is good, but not head and shoulders above the competition (Acoustic Samples, IK Multimedia, etc.). Poly Max sounds good, but I find it too clinical sounding for me. I get why they're branching out into instruments, but they're just not the same quality as their effects IMO. And even their FX have the occasional stinker (I hate the Studer) but overall, the quality of those is consistently among the best, particularly the newer ones.

Opal to me is the pick of the bunch. They're all nice imo but nothing i couldn't live w/out due to the synths I already have. The .99cent UAD sub is great so far, I think their eq's and levelers/compressors are great. I also think their organ vst is the best organ vst I've tried. That said idk that I'll re-up it after 3 months. It's the only sub I've tried b/c in principle I'm against subs. A lease / rent to own situation would be far more interesting to me.

[wangeroge]

The PolyMAX is so tiny and has no resize option, right? Should I play that with a magnifying glass? The plugin is only a month old! Or do I miss something?

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

You didn’t miss anything.

[_leras]

The PolyMAX is so tiny and has no resize option, right? Should I play that with a magnifying glass? The plugin is only a month old! Or do I miss something?

I thought it was just right on a 27" 2k monitor.

Would be too small on 27" 4k.

[wangeroge]

The PolyMAX is so tiny and has no resize option, right? Should I play that with a magnifying glass? The plugin is only a month old! Or do I miss something?

I thought it was just right on a 27" 2k monitor.

Would be too small on 27" 4k.

iMacs have 5K.

[sacer]

I guess I'm trying to convince myself to not demo it just yet...

If you demo, make sure you have time to demo the other two synths, as well, since you only get one chance (once you demo the Spark platform, you can’t demo again, even when something new is released). FWIW, I personally find the other two synths to be more impressive than PolyMAX.

I currently demo and was able to transfer all Minimoog presets to softube model 72. They sound identical. Only the presets that use Sample & Hold and Env2 as modulation, can't be replicated in model 72. On some presets UAD Minimoog is hissing a bit, but i like the cleaner sound of softube more.
I am also transferring the UAD Mix bundle prestes to Softube Iconic Compressor Bundle, Tube Tech EQ Collection and American Console. They sound very identical, but in most cases UAD uses much less CPU. Especially compared to Softube FET Compressor MK2, where i can only run 9 instances with an AMD Ryzen 5950X and the other 15 Cores have nothing to do, when Ableton hits the 100% CPU usage. When it comes to distortion, i prefer the softube sound and also without Sidechain, the UAD Comps are out of my interest.

For Polymax i am using Tal-mod to replicate presets, but I have problems to replicate the synth, especially the voice panning and arp. Has onyone a better synth to replicate Polymax patches. Haven't tried Super8 yet, but Polymax sounds very Roland like.
Wich Synth is best to replicate Opal morphing Synth and what is best alternative ? Serum, Pigments and Hive don't have this fat Analog Sound of Opal, the closest Synth could be Dune3, but i haven't compared yet.

[audiouser720]

I guess I'm trying to convince myself to not demo it just yet...

If you demo, make sure you have time to demo the other two synths, as well, since you only get one chance (once you demo the Spark platform, you can’t demo again, even when something new is released). FWIW, I personally find the other two synths to be more impressive than PolyMAX.

I currently demo and was able to transfer all Minimoog presets to softube model 72. They sound identical. Only the presets that use Sample & Hold and Env2 as modulation, can't be replicated in model 72. On some presets UAD Minimoog is hissing a bit, but i like the cleaner sound of softube more.
I am also transferring the UAD Mix bundle prestes to Softube Iconic Compressor Bundle, Tube Tech EQ Collection and American Console. They sound very identical, but in most cases UAD uses much less CPU. Especially compared to Softube FET Compressor MK2, where i can only run 9 instances with an AMD Ryzen 5950X and the other 15 Cores have nothing to do, when Ableton hits the 100% CPU usage. When it comes to distortion, i prefer the softube sound and also without Sidechain, the UAD Comps are out of my interest.

For Polymax i am using Tal-mod to replicate presets, but I have problems to replicate the synth, especially the voice panning and arp. Has onyone a better synth to replicate Polymax patches. Haven't tried Super8 yet, but Polymax sounds very Roland like.
Wich Synth is best to replicate Opal morphing Synth and what is best alternative ? Serum, Pigments and Hive don't have this fat Analog Sound of Opal, the closest Synth could be Dune3, but i haven't compared yet.

Believe it or not I have found Massive X to be the most capable for this. That synth can sound more analogue than actual analogue emulations, despite it being wavetable.

[sacer]

I guess I'm trying to convince myself to not demo it just yet...

If you demo, make sure you have time to demo the other two synths, as well, since you only get one chance (once you demo the Spark platform, you can’t demo again, even when something new is released). FWIW, I personally find the other two synths to be more impressive than PolyMAX.

I currently demo and was able to transfer all Minimoog presets to softube model 72. They sound identical. Only the presets that use Sample & Hold and Env2 as modulation, can't be replicated in model 72. On some presets UAD Minimoog is hissing a bit, but i like the cleaner sound of softube more.
I am also transferring the UAD Mix bundle prestes to Softube Iconic Compressor Bundle, Tube Tech EQ Collection and American Console. They sound very identical, but in most cases UAD uses much less CPU. Especially compared to Softube FET Compressor MK2, where i can only run 9 instances with an AMD Ryzen 5950X and the other 15 Cores have nothing to do, when Ableton hits the 100% CPU usage. When it comes to distortion, i prefer the softube sound and also without Sidechain, the UAD Comps are out of my interest.

For Polymax i am using Tal-mod to replicate presets, but I have problems to replicate the synth, especially the voice panning and arp. Has onyone a better synth to replicate Polymax patches. Haven't tried Super8 yet, but Polymax sounds very Roland like.
Wich Synth is best to replicate Opal morphing Synth and what is best alternative ? Serum, Pigments and Hive don't have this fat Analog Sound of Opal, the closest Synth could be Dune3, but i haven't compared yet.

Believe it or not I have found Massive X to be the most capable for this. That synth can sound more analogue than actual analogue emulations, despite it being wavetable.

I'll give it a try. From factory presets, there was nothing special, but I'll try it out. Opal Morphing Synth is very pollished with UAD Comps, Reverbs and Tape saturation....

[audiouser720]

I guess I'm trying to convince myself to not demo it just yet...

If you demo, make sure you have time to demo the other two synths, as well, since you only get one chance (once you demo the Spark platform, you can’t demo again, even when something new is released). FWIW, I personally find the other two synths to be more impressive than PolyMAX.

I currently demo and was able to transfer all Minimoog presets to softube model 72. They sound identical. Only the presets that use Sample & Hold and Env2 as modulation, can't be replicated in model 72. On some presets UAD Minimoog is hissing a bit, but i like the cleaner sound of softube more.
I am also transferring the UAD Mix bundle prestes to Softube Iconic Compressor Bundle, Tube Tech EQ Collection and American Console. They sound very identical, but in most cases UAD uses much less CPU. Especially compared to Softube FET Compressor MK2, where i can only run 9 instances with an AMD Ryzen 5950X and the other 15 Cores have nothing to do, when Ableton hits the 100% CPU usage. When it comes to distortion, i prefer the softube sound and also without Sidechain, the UAD Comps are out of my interest.

For Polymax i am using Tal-mod to replicate presets, but I have problems to replicate the synth, especially the voice panning and arp. Has onyone a better synth to replicate Polymax patches. Haven't tried Super8 yet, but Polymax sounds very Roland like.
Wich Synth is best to replicate Opal morphing Synth and what is best alternative ? Serum, Pigments and Hive don't have this fat Analog Sound of Opal, the closest Synth could be Dune3, but i haven't compared yet.

Believe it or not I have found Massive X to be the most capable for this. That synth can sound more analogue than actual analogue emulations, despite it being wavetable.

I'll give it a try. From factory presets, there was nothing special, but I'll try it out. Opal Morphing Synth is very pollished with UAD Comps, Reverbs and Tape saturation....

Ahh no. Don’t make that mistake. It isn’t a preset machine and the presets are shite. I know people are moaning about the browser all the time but it has been designed to be tweaked. Treat it like a pure analogue synth. There is nothing you cannot do with the modulation. The envelopes and the LFOs sound and behave absolutely phenomenal. You can get so creative with the voice randomisation, it will sound beautiful. Audio rate modulation is as close as to analogue as it can be, at the moment. It’s on Cytomic The Drop level, if not better.

I’ve managed to model Oberheim and Prophet more authentically than with dedicated emulations of those. Using the SVF and Blue Monark filters.

The only thing it’s lacking is a proper Roland filter. It’s really worth the effort not giving up on it.
It was the reason to me not getting PolyMax. I was really into it first but then considering the sound and the GUI, there was no contest.

Did I say the onboard fx is top notch? I mean, really. And I absolutely hated the original Massive. This is not it. I know people are always slagging NI but boy they fckn know their DSP. Massive X is like this secret gem that nobody shouts about due to bad reputation. They don’t get it. It’s not a preset machine. It’s all about the sound

[sacer]

I bought some nice presets from Audiotent and Zahev. They sound much better than the factory presets, but i haven't tweaked my own presets yet. I have to many synths. Thats why I want to compensate the UAD synths, but if Massive can replicate the opal synth, than i'll dive deeper into Massive X. Dune3 can also sound very analog.

Have you compared Massive X against U-He Repro-5 and Gforce OB-E ?

https://www.audiotent.com/presets/elusive/

[Lbdunequest]

I personaly find PolyMax very roland sounding, particulary Jupiter and Juno. It has that round/plasticy/clean sound (not sure how else to describe). From alternatives Super 8 by NI is somewhat similar.

Also you can do Jupiter/Juno very well with Massive X.

[sacer]

Yeah thats why I have used Tal-Mod which can reproduce most patches, but the ARP behaves very different and I can't figure out how to pan the voices from OSC1 and 2 alternately with each keystroke. Tal Mod offers all modulators for Panning, but I can't reproduce it. A trigger as Mod Source is missing in TAL-Mod. Also the envelopes behaves a bit different in TAL but i can come very close to Polymax.
Recreating the UAD Minimoog with Model 72 was much easier and faster