So what’s the big gorilla of additive synths now?

[Korg Supporter]

I'm actually surprised Madrona Labs gets mentioned relatively frequently on KVR. I would've thought their stuff was too esoteric and left field to be taken seriously. I guess not.

Madrona Labs makes some serious stuff. Some people like esoteric and left field.

on topic: i just played around with Loom II on my friends system. So far i really like it. I might buy it for dollars even though it's abandoned. What else is similar? I have Cube and Alchemy v1. I've also used Harmor on that same system, i didn't have a lot of time but i was majorly impressed. That was a few years ago... now i can't even buy it as a vst anyway...

You can use the 20 dollar voucher and a survey voucher to get DS Thorn on Plugin Alliance for cheap. You can get close to inharmonic stuff by detuning the oscillators. Thorn may not be as powerful as Serum, but ita sound and features rival ArcSyn, Synthmaster One, and Hive.

[aMUSEd]

FWIW, I just bought FL Fruity Edition + Harmor to use it on my mac with Live and Max. Least expensive way to add it to the toolbox if you’re on OSX (and don’t care about FL as a DAW). I’ve created a simple FL template that loads Harmor, so that it feels like another VSTi when using the FL wrapper in Live, and patched a simple M4L device to dial and send CCs to a dedicated Harmor IAC bus.

I’m kind of an additive junkie and Harmor has so many tricks up its sleeve I’d say it’s worth the hassle. Somehow it’s more versatile sounding than Razor IMO (I love Razor but I feel like a copycat whenever I use it) yet pretty intuitive to operate. The countless partials make a difference, but I suppose the magic is in the editors.

I’m super impatient to use and abuse Zebra 3’s additive rendering engine though, from what Urs shared that could be my dream synth.

Super impatient to jam the hell out of Sumu too.

In addition to Sumu, I can't wait for Martinic's upcoming RMI Harmonic Synthesizer emulation!

There's a nice emulation of that out as a Reason Rack Extension

If you want 'vintage' additives Audiodamage Phosphor is worth a mention - like the RMI not a lot of partials like the big guns, but it's fun to play with and you get very immediate control over partials and the sound.

[jules99]

Sine Machine is going to be an interesting beast, once it is out
https://melatonin.dev/

[aMUSEd]

Looks good

[Jac459]

Big question first: do you expect it to do resynthesis? Harmor and that other one that's now mac-only are the only ones I can think of that do resynthesis. But if you want additive without that feature, I'd highly recommend Rob Papen Blade 2. The additive engine in Pigments 3 isn't too shabby either. That's not to say there aren't other good candidates - those two are the ones that come to mind.

Review of Blade 2 here: https://soundbytesmag.net/review-blade- ... rob-papen/

I am curious about it. Blade 2 is so ugly I never really played with it, but I own it part of explorer. What kind of feature is it doing compare to Blue 3?

[Ah_Dziz]

Wolfgang Palm’s Infinite was an additive beast. I’m waiting for his synths to reappear under the Plugin Alliance offerings. Don’t know what’s taking so long.

Yes this is my biggest hope along with Sumo

They are both taking their time

indeed, we are waiting for wolfgang palm's stuff for a long time, ánd Sumu. i only read an article, which was quite extensive about Sumu, in a german magazine.

still no ATA for a beta, for Sumu, will be a great synth, that is for sure...

and still no ETA for a module for VM, that i myself am the only user, made a lot of tracks/recordings with it, that is quite an additive beast, i call it a Complex Additve Oscillator, well the term isn't precise i think.

64 partials, all can be modulated at audio rate, by other partials, or other modulation sources...
every partial has an envelop.... and PM, FM, AM, etc.... quite a beast....

and it has already been extended, and therefore, a rewrite is necessary, but once it is there, it will not attract a lot of users, but i believe, for additive synthesis, in soft modular enviromnent, and it is fully modular, even with breakout modules...

but that one, well....

EDIT: Harmor still works on windows.... for how long?

What the balls is the module you are talking about. Sounds cool. Complex Additive Oscillator? Tell me more.

[WasteLand]

Wolfgang Palm’s Infinite was an additive beast. I’m waiting for his synths to reappear under the Plugin Alliance offerings. Don’t know what’s taking so long.

Yes this is my biggest hope along with Sumo

They are both taking their time

indeed, we are waiting for wolfgang palm's stuff for a long time, ánd Sumu. i only read an article, which was quite extensive about Sumu, in a german magazine.

still no ATA for a beta, for Sumu, will be a great synth, that is for sure...

and still no ETA for a module for VM, that i myself am the only user, made a lot of tracks/recordings with it, that is quite an additive beast, i call it a Complex Additve Oscillator, well the term isn't precise i think.

64 partials, all can be modulated at audio rate, by other partials, or other modulation sources...
every partial has an envelop.... and PM, FM, AM, etc.... quite a beast....

and it has already been extended, and therefore, a rewrite is necessary, but once it is there, it will not attract a lot of users, but i believe, for additive synthesis, in soft modular enviromnent, and it is fully modular, even with breakout modules...

but that one, well....

EDIT: Harmor still works on windows.... for how long?

What the balls is the module you are talking about. Sounds cool. Complex Additive Oscillator? Tell me more.

if it is really the right term i don't know, ,mostly you use the word Complex with Oscillator for 2 oscillators in one module that can FM etc. eachother.

Toybox Audio in the new Atomic Pack, has one.

but this is a different beast, i am the only user... i still call it a Complex Additive Oscillator, because well, you can make it yourself. you have more freedom, you can FM a partial with another partial, or partials, or from another source, outside the module.
it is not determined which partial can modulate another one, you can decide yourself.
so FM (real FM, but logaritmic), PM etc. AM of course.. you can make your own spaghetti connections...

i am not the coder, i am only involved as how does one call it? i had influence, and still how it works.

it seems that the coder, will finally make the module final, it is for a soft modular.... which one?? voltage modular.

https://soundcloud.com/sada-exposada/ey ... -of-a-fish

here you can hear it through the Nekomatic Oscillatorro (spectral/granular effect).

only a few, i don't remember partials are used, and mainly, PM, at audio rate.

when it will come out, i will add it to this thread...

in the mean time, i mentioned it Toybox Audio Atomic pack, the Atomic Oscillator seems to me a great oscillator. i own quite some Toybox stuff. i think i will get the pack also...

[Aiynzahev]

FWIW, I just bought FL Fruity Edition + Harmor to use it on my mac with Live and Max. Least expensive way to add it to the toolbox if you’re on OSX (and don’t care about FL as a DAW). I’ve created a simple FL template that loads Harmor, so that it feels like another VSTi when using the FL wrapper in Live, and patched a simple M4L device to dial and send CCs to a dedicated Harmor IAC bus.

Harmor is one of the best Synths ever. But having to load the entire FL as a plugin just to use Harmor is such a suckness I can't even....

100% agree. It it were a normal plug-in, it would be in constant use for me.

[eXode]

I guess most people view it as a FM synth primarily, but Sytrus does both partials and resampling (at least of single cycle waveforms).

I believe you did some patches for Blamsoft Zero (Rack Extension), which is quite similar to Sytrus in some ways (though Sytrus is arguably even deeper).

[discoDSP]

I like Vertigo

It’s one of the granddaddy’s of resynthesis

Great to hear you're enjoying Vertigo! It's indeed a pioneer in the resynthesis field. Vertigo's unique additive engine, spectral analysis, 2-layer architecture and features allow for unmatched creative sound design. We're proud of its standing among the "granddaddies" of resynthesis Happy Synthesizing!

[CrystalWizard]

I'm actually surprised Madrona Labs gets mentioned relatively frequently on KVR. I would've thought their stuff was too esoteric and left field to be taken seriously. I guess not.

Madrona Labs makes some serious stuff. Some people like esoteric and left field.

on topic: i just played around with Loom II on my ...
That was a few years ago... now i can't even buy it as a vst anyway...

You can use the 20 dollar voucher and a survey voucher to get DS Thorn on Plugin Alliance for cheap. You can get close to inharmonic stuff by detuning the oscillators. Thorn may not be as powerful as Serum, but ita sound and features rival ArcSyn, Synthmaster One, and Hive.

I missed this, thanks. Yeah Thorn is nice. I guess my friend is big on additive even if he doesn't realize because i have also tried Thorn on his system. So, he has Thorn, Loom, and Harmor. Of the three i am most interested in Harmor but i doubt i'll ever be able to use it. I have enough synths to keep busy for now.

[martiu]

Thorn and Vertigo are my favorite, i really like loom but no precise control over the particles
In terms of sound design capabilities, you can get real crazy with Thorn and Vertigo.
Vertigo GUI is dated though, it is a bit funny looking

[Eerievolver]

With Bitwig on mac is possible to use Harmor (and all the FLstudio plugins) like every other vst even if you open it with FLstudio plugin. Usually if you open Harmor inside the plugin you must automate his parameters inside FLstudio plugin and you can modulate them only inside FLstudio plugin which in my opinion is a pain in the ass, but with this method you can load Harmor inside FLstudio but modulate and automate his parameters like very other vst.
you need to use IAC drivers, patcher, midicc and hwinstrument

[GuyaGuy]

Pigments, Loom and Falcon: Nice but the focus is on user-friendly access to quick sounds, so the UI doesn't let you get your hands on on the individual harmonics. Reminds me more of spectral transfer filters and the kind of harmonic oscillators that have popped up in Eurorack. Each has its own advantages though. With Pigments, it's the UI, Loom the resynthesis, and Falcon the modularity.

MSoundFactory: More access to the individual harmonics, but the UI doesn't make it easy for you. You could spend some time building one out but that's a hassle. It is, however, pretty modular like Falcon and the morphing is neat.

Synclavier V: The clear winner, for me at least. You can draw wave forms, resynthesize a sample to additive sine harmonics and then edit them, morph between a whole series of "frames", and apply FM to all of that, including adjusting FM parameters per frame. It's deep but the UI makes it easy to go deep rather than being something you have to spend a lot of time learning. It has the original code of the original but goes far beyond a simple reboot, making it an additive powerhouse. It's surprising I didn't see it mentioned in the thread at all.