PLASMONIC - A new synth from Brian Clevinger

[pdxindy]

It could be a single toggle option in setup to make it work like 99.9999% of every other mouse controlled software. Simple as that. I'm pretty sure a lot of sales are lost because of the absolute shock you have when you install the synth and realize its controls are incredibly awkward to use.

I was thrown off at first, but it didn’t take long before I was using it comfortably.

I’m fine with it now.

[kvotchin]

Can you import wavetables with this synth?

[sqigls]

[Tj Shredder]

I'm pretty sure a lot of sales are lost because of the absolute shock you have when you install the synth…

I know a good trauma therapist to get you going again…

[bmanic]

The cheapest therapy was to simply delete the demo and forget about it. Feel fine now.

[kmonkey]

The cheapest therapy was to simply delete the demo and forget about it. Feel fine now.

I don't think anyone cares

[machinesworking]

The cheapest therapy was to simply delete the demo and forget about it. Feel fine now.

I don't think anyone cares

I think the thing that bothers me most about this sort of thing is Plasmonic is amazing. The recent walkthroughs posted here show how powerful it is with only a few of it's modules activated. Brian is a one man team, he's not NI, he can't move that fast even if he wanted to, and his vision isn't for everyone. Yet here we are with one poster whose ego is clearly in the way of his ability to admit how overreaction to his initial confusion with the interface is going to hinder sales of a product. KVR is in fact a huge reason for the initial push for smaller developers, U-He no doubt gained massive attention here. Our reactions or overreactions to products do in fact matter, far more than winning internet squabbles.

Plasmonic is in my top 5 used soft synths these days, it's amazing and a worthy successor to Absynth.

[nanostream]

I think the thing that bothers me most about this sort of thing is Plasmonic is amazing. The recent walkthroughs posted here show how powerful it is with only a few of it's modules activated. Brian is a one man team, he's not NI, he can't move that fast even if he wanted to, and his vision isn't for everyone. Yet here we are with one poster whose ego is clearly in the way of his ability to admit how overreaction to his initial confusion with the interface is going to hinder sales of a product. KVR is in fact a huge reason for the initial push for smaller developers, U-He no doubt gained massive attention here. Our reactions or overreactions to products do in fact matter, far more than winning internet squabbles.

Plasmonic is in my top 5 used soft synths these days, it's amazing and a worthy successor to Absynth.

I can speak only for myself, but my initial reaction to Plasmonic a while ago was „Whoa this thing is UGLY, just like Absynth“. And after watching a walkthrough video I wasn’t sure if I would want to use that thing. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one put off by the idiosyncratic UI and UX, and I didn’t need KVR to come to that conclusion. So far I haven’t bought it.

The only reason it’s still on my radar is because I nonetheless think it sounds interesting, and because I keep reading on KVR, among other places, that it’s worth it. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

As it happens I recently bought an MPE controller and I’m looking at MPE synths, Plasmonic being one of them. I’m about to demo it and I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I confess that I’m picky, too. There are just too many fantastic tools around, why waste time with something that’s confusing and not fun to use? I guess I’ll have to see for myself.

[gondii]

I think Plasmonic is great and refreshingly unique. I also don't have any issues with the UI... maybe takes a little getting used to, but then it's quite easy to work with.

[machinesworking]

I think the thing that bothers me most about this sort of thing is Plasmonic is amazing. The recent walkthroughs posted here show how powerful it is with only a few of it's modules activated. Brian is a one man team, he's not NI, he can't move that fast even if he wanted to, and his vision isn't for everyone. Yet here we are with one poster whose ego is clearly in the way of his ability to admit how overreaction to his initial confusion with the interface is going to hinder sales of a product. KVR is in fact a huge reason for the initial push for smaller developers, U-He no doubt gained massive attention here. Our reactions or overreactions to products do in fact matter, far more than winning internet squabbles.

Plasmonic is in my top 5 used soft synths these days, it's amazing and a worthy successor to Absynth.

I can speak only for myself, but my initial reaction to Plasmonic a while ago was „Whoa this thing is UGLY, just like Absynth“. And after watching a walkthrough video I wasn’t sure if I would want to use that thing. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one put off by the idiosyncratic UI and UX, and I didn’t need KVR to come to that conclusion. So far I haven’t bought it.

The only reason it’s still on my radar is because I nonetheless think it sounds interesting, and because I keep reading on KVR, among other places, that it’s worth it. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

As it happens I recently bought an MPE controller and I’m looking at MPE synths, Plasmonic being one of them. I’m about to demo it and I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I confess that I’m picky, too. There are just too many fantastic tools around, why waste time with something that’s confusing and not fun to use? I guess I’ll have to see for myself.

It begs the question that I’ve been asking for years to myself now, when does UX get in the way? Complexity has been compromised for convenience with every single thing recently, hardly anything comes with a complete manual because we’re all supposed to intuitively figure out how to use all hard and software, if it doesn’t immediately make sense to someone they throw a fit. This is about electronic music, that stuff that includes music theory, PD, Max/MSP, Reaktor, Metasynth, modular hardware etc. etc. yet all of it is now supposed to be as simple to get into as Garageband. I’m not OK with that, it’s absolutely fine to have products that are not absolutely 100% intuitive if the end result is added features, and honestly Plasmonic isn’t that hard.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I don't mind the fine and coarse adjustments on the sliders. I just hate that they are different ends of the slider depending on whether it is vertical or horizontal. Why on earth would he not keep it consistent. Like coarse at the top range of the slider and fine at the lower range.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Strangely though, it loads fine on my surface pro, just not on my main studio computer.

[nanostream]

It begs the question that I’ve been asking for years to myself now, when does UX get in the way? Complexity has been compromised for convenience with every single thing recently, hardly anything comes with a complete manual because we’re all supposed to intuitively figure out how to use all hard and software, if it doesn’t immediately make sense to someone they throw a fit. This is about electronic music, that stuff that includes music theory, PD, Max/MSP, Reaktor, Metasynth, modular hardware etc. etc. yet all of it is now supposed to be as simple to get into as Garageband. I’m not OK with that, it’s absolutely fine to have products that are not absolutely 100% intuitive if the end result is added features, and honestly Plasmonic isn’t that hard.

After a round of testing I can say, yes, the UI is easy enough to figure out and not a problem at all. It’s still ugly as hell, but I could live with that With MPE, 8 macros and a MW it’s an incredibly expressive instrument, that’s for sure.

But I’m still not sure if I really need it, because … I don’t know how often I’d need sounds Plasmonic tends to produce? After all, there’s a (apparently slightly buggy) Micro MPE Prism in the Reaktor UL, and there are wonderful modal/PM blocks in the Toybox Nano pack. This might be enough for the occasional weird string sound. Damnit, I’ll have to build something from scratch myself in Plasmonic to get a better feel for what’s really possible.

To partially answer your meta question, I don’t think everything has to be as simple as GarageBand. I’m an avid Reaktor user after all But I appreciate tools which are well designed and user friendly, yet still complex if they need to be. That’s really hard to do, and I admire developers who manage to do that. Fors devices would be a prime example of that, and something like Tranzistow the polar opposite. It might sound good, it might be logical and consistent, I don’t know, but no thanks.

Plasmonic is far from the worst offender in that regard, even if the UI is quite ugly and a bit inconsistent here and there. The sliders for example are indeed weird, but not a dealbreaker for me.

[machinesworking]

After a round of testing I can say, yes, the UI is easy enough to figure out and not a problem at all. It’s still ugly as hell, but I could live with that With MPE, 8 macros and a MW it’s an incredibly expressive instrument, that’s for sure.

But I’m still not sure if I really need it, because … I don’t know how often I’d need sounds Plasmonic tends to produce? After all, there’s a (apparently slightly buggy) Micro MPE Prism in the Reaktor UL, and there are wonderful modal/PM blocks in the Toybox Nano pack. This might be enough for the occasional weird string sound. Damnit, I’ll have to build something from scratch myself in Plasmonic to get a better feel for what’s really possible.

To partially answer your meta question, I don’t think everything has to be as simple as GarageBand. I’m an avid Reaktor user after all But I appreciate tools which are well designed and user friendly, yet still complex if they need to be. That’s really hard to do, and I admire developers who manage to do that. Fors devices would be a prime example of that, and something like Tranzistow the polar opposite. It might sound good, it might be logical and consistent, I don’t know, but no thanks.

Plasmonic is far from the worst offender in that regard, even if the UI is quite ugly and a bit inconsistent here and there. The sliders for example are indeed weird, but not a dealbreaker for me.

I like the UI, I guess I'm alone in that, but I like the dark green Max/MSP look of it. I'm also really into hybrid acoustic sounds, so to me more physical modeling inspired devices the better.

I agree that complex and great UX is extremely hard to pull off, it's why to a degree I give a big break if I like the sounds something produces, to the "wonk" in the UX. It seems these days that's an exception not the rule.

Dammit, Fors Opel looks great, hopefully it runs on the Push 3 stand alone version? I'm not buying any devices that don't, since Push 3 stand alone is my gateway drug back into Live.

[pdxindy]

As it happens I recently bought an MPE controller and I’m looking at MPE synths, Plasmonic being one of them. I’m about to demo it and I’ll try to keep an open mind, but I confess that I’m picky, too. There are just too many fantastic tools around, why waste time with something that’s confusing and not fun to use? I guess I’ll have to see for myself.

The thing about Plasmonic is that there isn’t much out there that is similar feature- wise. It’s not like it’s another fairly standard subtractive synth.

That was why I was willing to overlook its peculiarities initially and learn to work with it. At this point I’ve adjusted to it.