Hive 2 vs Synthmaster One

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Video production is a very time consuming task. Part of why we don't have more vids by Dan Worral is because he simply had no time to do any (we do have some, and for MFM 2.5 IIRC we basically re-shot the one he did with the new UI).

We have a fantastic team now, as you can see for our hardware videos. Our next software synths will have equally as good videos, but they simply don't happen overnite.

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SamDi wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:31 pm To be honest, I ask myself, why U-He synths tend to need, making things complicated, where they wouldn't need to be. It seems like Bazille lasting inspired you, to implement all this trick-based stuff in all synths in your program.
I think that dumbing down things is often disgusting and possibly condescending to users (or people in general). People are not generally stupid, and quite a few love to take on a challenge. I believe that mastering a challenge is a key to happiness, and the challenges our software presents sit in a sweet spot for many.

Funny enough, I think there's an overlap between the challenges that playing and learning an instrument pose and that particular sweetspot of complexity that I see in our software.

I think that "more complex than u-he" is going to hurt creativity. Likewise, I think that "easier" is going to be dull quickly.

Of course there's a whole spectrum of needs and desires, and nobody can fit everyone's in every respect. I do however think we're doing fine on our part for a pretty broad spectrum of users.

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I'd much rather the time and money be spent by a company on the musical thing itself (in this case, synths) rather than explainer videos.

But I'm also not young anymore, and come from an analog time where I was just hoping there was a manual, let alone an electronic version of one. I'm used to figuring things out rather than watching someone else who's figured it out and learning from them. I only look for videos if I'm stuck or feel like I need to level up - so basics videos are almost worthless to me, vs. guru videos in the rare case I look for one.

At any rate, Synthmaster is a decent synth if you can get it super cheap and you like it. I'll stick with Hive 2 (though I did just add Opal and Twin3 alongside it - each has different strengths, and the trio is crazy powerful yet doesn't make me feel that feeling I get when opening SurgeXT, for example).

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We do love making those videos though. It doesn't take away form our other work. To the contrary, our video artist is also very good at testing things. Best of all, he can make a video of where things go wrong.

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Urs wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:09 pm We do love making those videos though. It doesn't take away form our other work. To the contrary, our video artist is also very good at testing things. Best of all, he can make a video of where things go wrong.
also, it does help sales, so brings back revenue to pay for itself and other development.
maybe not everyone needs to see a video, but these days it does seem you need to have the media presence as well as the goods.

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In regards to SM1 & 2, SM1 is pretty stable and I've had no issues, as opposed to SM2, which I've had to fight with to get to install and run properly. Repeatedly. However, in terms of features, SM2 is more on the level of Hive 2 whereas SM1 is only comparable to Hive 1.

Re SM1 vs Hive, SM1 is a great value, although it really is aimed more at dance/synth type sounds while Hive 2 has the new filter types which are a boon to sounds designers and greatly expand the available palette.

Both synths are well-laid out for a quick bop at designing a sound you need, but Hive has a ton of more advanced features lurking close by when you're ready too dig in.

I think it's Bazille that comes with a cookbook? Is there not something similar for Hive 2? I find cookbooks better for deep dives than any video.
I started on Logic 5 with a PowerBook G4 550Mhz. I now have a MacBook Air M1 and it's ~165x faster! So, why is my music not proportionally better? :(

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Trancit wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:12 pm It´s Dan Worral... who is a god of explaining complicated stuff... while it´s not him I would like for something like this... I think, he´s more of an Mixing and FX guy... he´s perfect for explaining what fx processes do to the signal but not so much a sound designer (or perhaps not at all...)
I think he's great for synths too. His Alchemy videos were great back in the day!

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xx JPRacer xx wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 11:53 pm I think he's great for synths too. His Alchemy videos were great back in the day!
If I am not mistaken he is also doing some uvi stuffs including falcon.

Surprising, I own lots of both UVI and Fabfilter products... . I see a pattern here. 😂

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Urs wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 5:48 pm mastering a challenge is a key to happiness
That should be on billboards at the border crossing and entrance of every nation, state, city, school, and business. And on the exit gates of prisons.

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syntonica wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:59 pm In regards to SM1 & 2, SM1 is pretty stable and I've had no issues, as opposed to SM2, which I've had to fight with to get to install and run properly. Repeatedly. However, in terms of features, SM2 is more on the level of Hive 2 whereas SM1 is only comparable to Hive 1.

Re SM1 vs Hive, SM1 is a great value, although it really is aimed more at dance/synth type sounds while Hive 2 has the new filter types which are a boon to sounds designers and greatly expand the available palette.

Both synths are well-laid out for a quick bop at designing a sound you need, but Hive has a ton of more advanced features lurking close by when you're ready too dig in.

I think it's Bazille that comes with a cookbook? Is there not something similar for Hive 2? I find cookbooks better for deep dives than any video.
I've the same experience. SM1 is fine but SM2 has been buggy. At first, third party libraries weren't loading so I gave up. I decided to make a patch, and after I saved it, they appeared. Then, SM2 was freezing when I was trying to make adjustments to wavetable functions, so I started just browsing sounds and it was still freezing. I hope that SM3 has a fantastic update and clears out these problems, because I really like Synthmaster 2.

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syntonica wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:59 pm
Both synths are well-laid out for a quick bop at designing a sound you need, but Hive has a ton of more advanced features lurking close by when you're ready too dig in.
Plus Hive (and u-he plugins in general) is so well rounded. Great browser and solid support for midi, MPE, MTS-EPS and now CLAP. Excellent GUI and user-skinning. Plus long term confidence.

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glokraw wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 4:23 am
Urs wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 5:48 pm mastering a challenge is a key to happiness
That should be on billboards at the border crossing and entrance of every nation, state, city, school, and business. And on the exit gates of prisons.
Hahaha, it's nothing I came up with on my own though - it's something that was "a thing" during my studies of industrial design. I't been almost 25 years since I left university though, so I have no idea if it's still something design people worry about or live by.

The one theory that stuck in my memory is the Flow principle as formulated by Csíkszentmihályi way back: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

In the field of design it - and similar concepts - forms (formed?) a counterpoint to the paradigm of, hmmm, words elude me, let's call it "ergonomics at any cost", where - at the time I learned about this - the highest goal of design was to achieve utter simplicity. The criticism of that was that it strives to take human skills out of the equation, making the individual pointless and that it creates routine rather than tasks that are, hmmm, fun.

I have no idea if people still talk about this, I'm sure nowadays there's more focus on sustainability, digital appliances and social economics.

Anyhow, those topics and their clash were an important discussion for me back then, and it still resonates in the way my team and I design things. I guess in terms of these topics I feel that quirkiness, depth and character of synths are good for flow, whereas UIs that are visually panicking are maybe not so much. Again, that's me and how I feel about those things today, and how I feel that I haven't been too wrong over the years - even if many people have other priorities/views/experience.

That said, there are so many factors that may play a role in the design of a synth, this is just one single aspect out of many (like, some people don't design sounds, so we give them presets...).

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Most great music has been relatively simple, just flowed into, from the heart and memorable; and with simplicity inside originality. I've always felt that U-He synths were a work of art with much care taken into account for all of their aspects. Pointed, and simplified in their complexity.

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xx JPRacer xx wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 11:53 pm
Trancit wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 4:12 pm It´s Dan Worral... who is a god of explaining complicated stuff... while it´s not him I would like for something like this... I think, he´s more of an Mixing and FX guy... he´s perfect for explaining what fx processes do to the signal but not so much a sound designer (or perhaps not at all...)
I think he's great for synths too. His Alchemy videos were great back in the day!
Didn´t know that... I have never seen them... just the FX vids...
In this case my apologies to Dan... :tu:

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I have both use both but Hive2 is the one I tend to use more.

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