The vst synths lame test.

[Jac459]

17 - Bleass Monolit
CPU: almost 0, not noticeable.
Usability: as a monophonic free synth, it was extremely easi to setup. All is as expected with immediate visual feedback. Excellent !.
Sound: very symple as the synth is very simple. That being said, the sound is clean and without alienasing or audible artefacts. Overall, excellent surprise and I'll certainly try more of Bleass products as they also have CLAP compatibility.

[Jac459]

Avenger
Spike or cpu depends whether you have mac or. pc. I have pc and maybe only 10 presets ( I don't even use SQ presets) have spikes and high cpu also considering lots of xps! So it's not a general issue.

It is general ... for mac .
But yes indeed, that has been discussed in the main avenger post and it seems than PC users are not impacted. But to be honest it isn't huge spikes... Generally I am using avenger very regularly and I am not keeping an eye on my cpu usage because I don't need to.

[Jac459]

18 - Apricot
CPU: Very low (not noticeable on Bitwig DSP meter.
Usabitily: top class. Very easy to setup on the main features, unison is directly on oscillators, ADSR and LFO are immediately available (I regret that there is not MSEG though). I could phase modulate also the oscillators in a very easy and intuitive way.
FX are ok but so-so.
Final Result:
Very very good overal, I would have preferred a bit richer effects but overall it is excellent and definitely top-tier.
This plugin is free and CLAP compatible and way overlooked. It deserve much more love.

[_leras]

You can also try Rapid, Viper, Omnisphere

Massive
Massive X

If we're going to add everything... But I think it's a great description of the sounds and process as is.

[Jac459]

You can also try Rapid, Viper, Omnisphere

Massive
Massive X

If we're going to add everything... But I think it's a great description of the sounds and process as is.

Thanks a lot

[_leras]

Final Result:

Thanks for sharing your experience here. I try to build the same patches in multiple synths from time to time. Apart from how different the process can be for each synth, I'm always surprised at how different the output ends up being (for me), given that for softsynths I'd expect a bit homogeneity.

Of the ones you listed your Bazille description resonates, I have found it to make great sounds when I've been after something specific, tricky to program, but as you say very good and characterful results.

Does the rest of Avenger 2 sound match up to your experience with this super saw test?

edit: phase plant, low CPU and second best sound after avenger. My issue with phase plant is it seems like half a synth that needs extra $$$ just to get FX...

[audiouser720]

Thanks for the tests. Can you please do Massive X, UA PolyMax and Opal?

[kraster]

I did Massive X.

CPU: Relatively intense. I used Oscillator 2 (aux) as PM source and was hitting about 24% in Ableton. Using the dedicated PM1 and PM2 oscillators dropped it to 20%.

Usability: Very easy. Apart from routing oscillator 2 to the PM Aux and switching on Unison everything was on one page. Drag and drop modulation.

Results: My favourite of the modern digital ones I've tried. Very lush and everything sounds very cohesive and musical with a good deal of character while still unashamedly digital. It's a really lovely sounding synth overall.

[kraster]

OG Massive.

CPU: 3%. Used the PM from the modulation oscillator.

Usability: Fine. Similar drag and drop to Massive X. The Unison option are cool. A little more clicking around than Massive X due to the modulators being on their own pages but still pretty easy.

Results: Pretty bad with lots of inharmonic content that effectively manifests as noise. Modulation became very indistinct. All over very messy sounding. Reverb sounds very dated. Filters seem super basic compared to newer synths.

[kraster]

Dawesome Kult.

Cpu: On Ultra setting I was hitting about 34% with long chords held. About 15% on ECO mode. Not a massive amount of difference in sound.

Usability: Very Easy. You can only FM with the dedicated Oscillator which I assume is a sine wave. But apart from that everything is very accessible. Modulation system is great. Add a modulator click on parameter you want to modulate and adjust the depth. Very simple.

Results: FM is quite tame but still pleasant. The oscillators themselves have things like spectral shift which add a lot of movement and character. FX are excellent. Filters sound really nice. Quite unique sounding overall. Underrated Synth, imho.

[kraster]

Waldorf Largo 2.

Cpu: Very Low in general. About 4-6% with held chords.

Usability: Okay The FM is directly under the Oscillator. A little fiddly with the modulation due to the interface being kind of crowded and small but overall not difficult or obtuse.

Results: Sounds weird. The FM seems to have a weird beating like something is cyclically resetting. Kind of disappears when you push the FM. The FM itself doesn't sound great, kind of noisy and a bit harsh. Sounds better at lower FM depths but you run into the weird beating thing. Filters sound decent but the FX are kind of meh. Not great not terrible.

[kraster]

Thanks for the tests. Can you please do Massive X, UA PolyMax and Opal?

Tried Polymax but it's too limited for this test. The FM sounds good but things like Unison can only be applied to monophonic synths and modulation options are pretty limited.

It is a very nice sounding synth though. Filters sound cool and the effects are very nice.

[YesYeah]

frick, looks like I should upgrade my OG Massive to X after all...

[Jac459]

Final Result:

Thanks for sharing your experience here. I try to build the same patches in multiple synths from time to time. Apart from how different the process can be for each synth, I'm always surprised at how different the output ends up being (for me), given that for softsynths I'd expect a bit homogeneity.

Of the ones you listed your Bazille description resonates, I have found it to make great sounds when I've been after something specific, tricky to program, but as you say very good and characterful results.

Does the rest of Avenger 2 sound match up to your experience with this super saw test?

edit: phase plant, low CPU and second best sound after avenger. My issue with phase plant is it seems like half a synth that needs extra $$$ just to get FX...

The Bazille test wasn't from me but I am sure Kraster will be happy to have helped .

One thing about phase plant. It is really really really awesome. I know people have their preferences and all. But phase plant (and clearly I am talking about the expansive full version) is a beast. It is my best soft synth without any doubt. Other synths may be better on some specific parts and at time funnier. But phase plant is overall the best, easy to use yet super super powerful.

For avenger 2, yes. It sounds great. I don't like particularly the UI and the ergonomic (it is really just my taste, it isn't bad as such, it is actually quite good, I just don't like it myself) but nevertheless at the end I tend to use a lot of sounds from avenger (most of the time, presets I have tweaked because to start from scratch I use either phase plant or fabfilter twin 3).

[audiouser720]

Thanks for the tests. Can you please do Massive X, UA PolyMax and Opal?

Tried Polymax but it's too limited for this test. The FM sounds good but things like Unison can only be applied to monophonic synths and modulation options are pretty limited.

It is a very nice sounding synth though. Filters sound cool and the effects are very nice.

What about Opal compared to Massive X?