KVR Audio

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:17 pm

This is going to sound strange coming from me, but there is one big qualification, it's not a blanket statement, so don't go quoting the tiny bit that suits your purposes. Anyway, here it goes -

I'm pretty sure my Uno Pro sounds better than any equivalent softsynth in my arsenal. The important qualifier here is "equivalent", which means a monosynth without any unison capability. But it includes two of my favourite VSTi, GForce's SEM and FBM's MonoFury, so it's no faint praise.

To be clear, this doesn't mean I am going to stop using those VSTi and start recording Uno Pro parts left, right and centre because hardware is still a right royal PITA in so many ways. e.g. The primary reason it has taken me the best part of two years to have this epiphany is that, for most of that time, I had so much trouble eliminating noise from it that it was impossible to know if it sounded good or not. I still only have one I/O device that I can use it with. Fortunately, it's my primary device and the one that works best with my computer, but it still gives me trouble in every other device I own, which is hugely limiting.

It's also buggier than any of my VSTi (except maybe Battery). There are patches it cannot recall correctly and sometimes the pitch bend and mod sliders have minds of their own. But when everything is working, it sounds unbelievably HUGE and brutal. It can even sound passably fat in paraphonic mode, with a bit of Drive to push it.

So there, I've said it. It's out there now and there can be no backsies. I've owned a lot of them over the years but I'm also pretty sure it is my all-time favourite hardware synth. I like its tiny size, I like its tiny keys, I like the editing interface and working with it through its VSTi editor/librarian but, most of all, I love the way it sounds and I can't wait for a chance to play it on stage.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:23 pm

BONES has "an Uncomfortable Admission to Make"?

TELL ME MORE

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:59 pm

TBH I've never played on one of them as the size is what puts me off, though I've heard good things about them and some demos make good aggressive sounds. The noise aspect sounds pretty bad though - I thought that was mostly a thing of the past with hw synths. Or is it just your interfaces that are crappy?

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:00 pm

BONES wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:17 pm This is going to sound strange coming from me, but (...)
I like its tiny size

Fair play to you.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:03 am

That's what Mrs. krit says to me...

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:00 am

kritikon wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:59 pmThe noise aspect sounds pretty bad though - I thought that was mostly a thing of the past with hw synths. Or is it just your interfaces that are crappy?

It was a problem with the original Uno that they have tried to fix by adding balanced outputs but it hasn't been totally successful. Without the balanced outputs it's twice as noisy as the original one was.

Constructed Identity · Post by **Constructed Identity** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 7:06 pm

BONES wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:00 am
kritikon wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 7:59 pmThe noise aspect sounds pretty bad though - I thought that was mostly a thing of the past with hw synths. Or is it just your interfaces that are crappy?
It was a problem with the original Uno that they have tried to fix by adding balanced outputs but it hasn't been totally successful. Without the balanced outputs it's twice as noisy as the original one was.

Yea, not surprised small hw synth has noise, they gotta cut costs somewhere. People aren't going to pay as much for a dainty little synth. I still refuse to buy anything with an 1/8" out as the main audio out and more and more are putting them in.
Personally, I will put up with a lot for better sound quality, so more hardware is in my future.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 8:43 pm

Yeah, but it's only better for what it is - a three oscillator monosynth. It still can't compete with three-quarters of the softsynths I use for 90% of the parts we need. It can't compete with GR-8, which is free, and spending thousands on a much better hardware synth wouldn't change that, either.

BTW, UNO Synth Pro has two full-size, 1/4" TRS jacks.

Constructed Identity · Post by **Constructed Identity** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:43 pm

You know what, I pity you. You can't get the fun of configuring new stuff. You have to have a contest between all your music stuff and rate it all the time. For me I can just enjoy the building up process, sure I value the finished product, but it will never pay for all the work I put in to it and that is fine because I built something from nothing.
How is one piece of hardware being good uncomfortable for you? That baffles me! I am happy you like the Uno Pro and value your opinion. But I wonder if we can really compare hardware to software. I used exclusively software for years and liked it. It is the most portable way to make music but I grew up with an association of physical instruments with music like my grandmother's piano or the keyboards in the store I would play whenever I got the chance. I would drum on anything I could with my hands. Sound is physical motion. All the people that watch a video to rate some software or hardware are missing the point. The tools don't even matter.

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:21 pm

Welcome to the human race Bones. Preferences and impressions change. The good thing is it doesn’t make you stupid or pathetic to have an opinion or to have one that changes.

I’ve been tempted by the UNO Pro, I’ve got the original UNO and was using it a lot until I got a deal on the Bass Station II. It might be just the novelty of it but for now it has replaced my subphatty and pro one as well … subject to change until my next distraction of course.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:37 pm

Constructed Identity wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 6:43 pm You know what, I pity you. You can't get the fun of configuring new stuff. You have to have a contest between all your music stuff and rate it all the time.

What a strange way of interpreting what I've said. I don't "constantly rate" stuff at all. If I did, I doubt it would have taken me two years to work out how good Uno Pro sounds. That said, when I bought it I was working on a cover of Underpass, so it was one of the first things I used Uno Pro in. That I ended up using bx_oberhausen with 8 voices of unison to replace it in the recorded version should have given me a clue.

For me I can just enjoy the building up process, sure I value the finished product, but it will never pay for all the work I put in to it and that is fine because I built something from nothing.

Yeah, you make it all about you, I'm not like that. The only thing that I care about is having a good song to perform and listen to when it's done. Of course, that's also all about me but in a different context. The amount of time and effort that goes into doesn't matter in the slightest, as long as the result is good, because I'll spend a lot more time listening to it than I spent making it.

How is one piece of hardware being good uncomfortable for you? That baffles me!

Then you're not keeping up because I'm always the first person to step into a discussion and shitcan hardware as not being as good as softsynths. Of course, overall, that's still very much the case but this admission feels uncomfortably like the thin edge of the wedge.

But I wonder if we can really compare hardware to software.

Of course we can, they are ultimately the same thing, particularly as most hardware is jsut software running in a dedicated box.

I used exclusively software for years and liked it. It is the most portable way to make music but I grew up with an association of physical instruments with music like my grandmother's piano or the keyboards in the store I would play whenever I got the chance.

OTOH, I spent 20 years making music with hardware and the experience and the results were mostly awful compared to working ITB. I'm not a musician, I get no pleasure at all from just playing an instrument. I find it boring, if I'm honest.

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:44 pm

BONES wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:37 pm
Yeah, you make it all about you, I'm not like that.

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:54 pm

Without my hardware synths I would have released f**k-all over the last 30 years ... no gigs either.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:23 pm

revvy wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:44 pm
BONES wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:37 pm
Yeah, you make it all about you, I'm not like that.

No BONES about it.

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 4:38 pm

I pressed Submit too quickly.

I wanted to add: If I didn’t actually play any instruments, like bones, then maybe I wouldn’t put any value on HW either. I love my bass but if I couldn’t play it, I wouldn’t own it.

If using a mouse or tapping in notes via a one octave controller is the limit of your physical musicianship, no need for a HW synth.

I Have an Uncomfortable Admission to Make