Sonic Academy ANA 2

[twal]

ANA 2 is a joy to use. I also like Dune's interface, and don't feel the sound clashes. Most synth interfaces I don't like at all. If you are a tweaker, then it's always nice to have another synth. ANA 2 combines power and character. Very fast to use. Nice abilities, and hidden qualities.

[martiu]

dude this synth is writers block destroyer, i keep forgetting i have it and when i pull it out i always come up with some amazing sounds, i consider it better than most synths because of the workflow and quality of sound, the more i spend time with synths the more i realize how important is the workflow and to feel joy programing them

[Echoes in the Attic]

Ana2 is probably my favorite synth in terms of sound character. Does vintage analog to modern VA, plus the sound of it's wavetables are much more appealing to me than most for some reason.

If it had granular and mpe it would be a desert island synth.

[twal]

Yes, it's baffling that more sound designers don't create presets for ANA 2. So much time spent on other synths when one can create in this masterpiece. Slate Digital has that wonderful Bundle but has the gosh awful subscription plan that has been actually tempting. I've made about 30 presets of my own but want a Pro to make a lot, anyone get the bundle and then cancel- what do you lose...

[Doggo]

ANA2 is a producers Synth, the guys at Sonic Academy created an industry standard Synth, with a huge cache of wavetables and waveforms from many a classis Synth.
Hope they expand the Synth further.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

Yes, it's baffling that more sound designers don't create presets for ANA 2. So much time spent on other synths when one can create in this masterpiece. Slate Digital has that wonderful Bundle but has the gosh awful subscription plan that has been actually tempting. I've made about 30 presets of my own but want a Pro to make a lot, anyone get the bundle and then cancel- what do you lose...

Ya know.......I used to design and sell preset banks for various synths. I agree that more should develop for Ana 2. For me it is the most fun to work with. I would be happy to send a bank to ya. Just send me a PM.

[BONES]

dude this synth is writers block destroyer, i keep forgetting i have it and when i pull it out i always come up with some amazing sounds, i consider it better than most synths because of the workflow and quality of sound, the more i spend time with synths the more i realize how important is the workflow and to feel joy programing them

Definitely one of the most underrated synths around for exactly the reasons you mention - workflow and its high quality sound. That said, I'm a bit like you are - I never think to grab it, which is stupid when you think about it because it's always up the top of my VSTi list.

I use it on almost every 80s cover I do and it's mostly the same patch, A Beautiful Dread Lead. That is such an awesome sound and you can use it in in so many places, although I use a version I saved with half the effects turned off so that it's easier to fit into a mix.

Yes, it's baffling that more sound designers don't create presets for ANA 2. So much time spent on other synths when one can create in this masterpiece.

That probably comes down to the fact that it's not so popular, so fewer users, which means fewer sales.

[martiu]

the other thing i really like is that when you drop a sample into the sampler it saves it in user folder to recall it if you save the preset with the sample, Pigments for example is not doing that, it tries to recall it from the place you drop it

[Synthman2000]

I concur, whenever I have made a sound in ANA2 it always stays in the track. Sonic Academy are doing good things, Kick3 is also pretty much a standard for what it does. It's a good time for people who have not checked their tools out to check them out being BF and all.

[twal]

Yes, it's baffling that more sound designers don't create presets for ANA 2. So much time spent on other synths when one can create in this masterpiece. Slate Digital has that wonderful Bundle but has the gosh awful subscription plan that has been actually tempting. I've made about 30 presets of my own but want a Pro to make a lot, anyone get the bundle and then cancel- what do you lose...

Ya know.......I used to design and sell preset banks for various synths. I agree that more should develop for Ana 2. For me it is the most fun to work with. I would be happy to send a bank to ya. Just send me a PM.

Oh, that would be awesome, will do. Thanks so much

dude this synth is writers block destroyer, i keep forgetting i have it and when i pull it out i always come up with some amazing sounds, i consider it better than most synths because of the workflow and quality of sound, the more i spend time with synths the more i realize how important is the workflow and to feel joy programing them

Definitely one of the most underrated synths around for exactly the reasons you mention - workflow and its high quality sound. That said, I'm a bit like you are - I never think to grab it, which is stupid when you think about it because it's always up the top of my VSTi list.

I use it on almost every 80s cover I do and it's mostly the same patch, A Beautiful Dread Lead. That is such an awesome sound and you can use it in in so many places, although I use a version I saved with half the effects turned off so that it's easier to fit into a mix.

Yes, it's baffling that more sound designers don't create presets for ANA 2. So much time spent on other synths when one can create in this masterpiece.

That probably comes down to the fact that it's not so popular, so fewer users, which means fewer sales.

The Beautiful Dread patch is a sweet spot, it's never the annoying starting patch that a lot of other synths start with when you fire 'em up- quite the contrary, it always invokes excitement.

Yeah, it's not so popular. A drag really. Especially with lots of users on this forum who brandish their ability to discern fine wine from boxed but it's the odd man out (even though that's not conducive to sales).

I donno how many synths I've obtained over time and released back on here, but ANA will always be my little gem (love spire too). It will be interesting to see if they ever make a 3rd...

[Geomystery]

I use ANA2 since 2020 in many of my tracks. I love UI and sound. Sometimes I hate it's thickness. I mean it's not easy to make it sound transparent.

[Phil Sonic Academy]

I use ANA2 since 2020 in many of my tracks. I love UI and sound. Sometimes I hate it's thickness. I mean it's not easy to make it sound transparent.

Try the 4pole filter in the other filter menu… some less upfront filters in there… the modelled ones have a bit of natural drive. So the fill a mix out more.

[Gam456]

I use ANA2 since 2020 in many of my tracks. I love UI and sound. Sometimes I hate it's thickness. I mean it's not easy to make it sound transparent.

transparent ?

[BONES]

I donno how many synths I've obtained over time and released back on here, but ANA will always be my little gem (love spire too). It will be interesting to see if they ever make a 3rd...

I only bought Spire a year or so ago but it is definitely another one I'd put up there with Ana. The third would be DS-Thorn.

I really want to put DUNE in there, too, but I find it much harder to really love than the other three. It sounds at least as good, probably better, but the workflow just isn't up there.

Another one that comes close is Hive, but only since I discovered Ploki's excellent skin for it. To me it proves, once and for all, that the GUI is such an important part of what makes a synth special. e.g. Where DUNE has that tiny screen in the middle, crammed with functionality, in Ana it becomes an overlaid panel that expands to whatever size it needs to be to make it easy to use. Similarly, Ploki's Hive skin liberates a lot of controls from the stupid hexagon panel in the middle of its default GUI and those relatively simple things make all the difference.

Thinking about it now, I've got so much more to say on the topic of GUI, I am going to start a separate thread about it.

[twal]

I donno how many synths I've obtained over time and released back on here, but ANA will always be my little gem (love spire too). It will be interesting to see if they ever make a 3rd...

I only bought Spire a year or so ago but it is definitely another one I'd put up there with Ana. The third would be DS-Thorn.

I really want to put DUNE in there, too, but I find it much harder to really love than the other three. It sounds at least as good, probably better, but the workflow just isn't up there.

Another one that comes close is Hive, but only since I discovered Ploki's excellent skin for it. To me it proves, once and for all, that the GUI is such an important part of what makes a synth special. e.g. Where DUNE has that tiny screen in the middle, crammed with functionality, in Ana it becomes an overlaid panel that expands to whatever size it needs to be to make it easy to use. Similarly, Ploki's Hive skin liberates a lot of controls from the stupid hexagon panel in the middle of its default GUI and those relatively simple things make all the difference.

Thinking about it now, I've got so much more to say on the topic of GUI, I am going to start a separate thread about it.

Pretty interesting, I always thought that ANA, Spire, and Diversion --also a DS synth-- were the best sounding synths. Along with Dune.

Said that here:

ANA 2, Spire, Nemesis, Dune 3, Diversion are the most MEMORABLE synths when I think of what sounds the best to me....

I also would throw in Massive X. And Halion is actually pretty freaking impressive in fact; its very "clean" and "strong". Would also like to say that I think Pigments is pretty wild after it grew on me with it's modulation ability changing the sounds in interesting ways.