Additive Synth VST/AU Thread

[Borbolactic]

Loom 2 is on sale for 10$ right now - https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/lo ... technology

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

[Korg Supporter]

Loom 2 is on sale for 10$ right now - https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/lo ... technology

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

Yes, if you want cool inharmonic sounds

[cron]

Loom 2 is on sale for 10$ right now - https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/lo ... technology

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

I personally feel like Loom gives you as much control over partials as your typical additive. Most additives tend to give lots of options for manipulating partial amplitudes but very few for manipulating partial frequencies, and Loom is no different there - tons of modules for amplitudes, just one 'hard-wired' module for frequencies. Razor is similar in that regard, but I find its module for messing with frequencies a lot more useful and (IIRC) modulatable. Harmor is the only additive I've used with deep and reasonably usable control over partial frequencies (particularly when you start getting into the copy/paste from image editor workflow) but I believe the VST version is discontinued.

NI Razor (320 partials)

Worth noting that extending Razor well beyond 320 partials is a trivial ensemble edit. It honestly sounds like a new synth toward the bottom end of the keyboard. You'll need the full version of Reaktor to do the edit, but it's still well worth picking up in Reaktor Player form. Harmor is my daily driver when it comes to additive though. Razor and Loom are excellent when you want a particular sound fast, but I usually find the pull of Harmor irresistible because, if I'm opening an additive synth at all, it means I'm probably not in a polite mood.

[Borbolactic]

Loom 2 is on sale for 10$ right now - https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/lo ... technology

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

Yes, if you want cool inharmonic sounds

Since you said that Loom doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials, though, what additive synth would you recommend that does?

[Borbolactic]

Loom 2 is on sale for 10$ right now - https://www.kvraudio.com/marketplace/lo ... technology

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

I personally feel like Loom gives you as much control over partials as your typical additive. Most additives tend to give lots of options for manipulating partial amplitudes but very few for manipulating partial frequencies, and Loom is no different there - tons of modules for amplitudes, just one 'hard-wired' module for frequencies. Razor is similar in that regard, but I find its module for messing with frequencies a lot more useful and (IIRC) modulatable. Harmor is the only additive I've used with deep and reasonably usable control over partial frequencies (particularly when you start getting into the copy/paste from image editor workflow) but I believe the VST version is discontinued.

NI Razor (320 partials)

Worth noting that extending Razor well beyond 320 partials is a trivial ensemble edit. It honestly sounds like a new synth toward the bottom end of the keyboard. You'll need the full version of Reaktor to do the edit, but it's still well worth picking up in Reaktor Player form. Harmor is my daily driver when it comes to additive though. Razor and Loom are excellent when you want a particular sound fast, but I usually find the pull of Harmor irresistible because, if I'm opening an additive synth at all, it means I'm probably not in a polite mood.

Would you suggest focusing on learning Harmor instead of Loom 2, Parsec or Razor if I had a choice?

What about Pigments' additive engine? Any thoughts/experience about/with it?

Or Virsyn's upgraded Cube 2 64 bit?

I have been taking a listen, incidentally, on You Tube to Sumu's (Madrona Labs) beta and am kind of less than impressed or less than crazy about its sounds. To be fair it's not quite out yet and due for sometime at the end of the month, although its release has been previously delayed.

[Korg Supporter]

I got it from Thomann a few years ago for 5 euro!

How do you like it? I just got it and, given that, was wondering if it's still worth bothering with Parsec/Reason Rack.

Loom is fun, but it's not as deep or doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials.

What would you recommend for additive in that regard?

Yes, if you want cool inharmonic sounds

Since you said that Loom doesn't give you as many options to manipulate the partials, though, what additive synth would you recommend that does?

Razor, which is one sale now, is probably your beat bet. However, Vertigo by DiscoDSP is probably the most advanced commercial additive synth out there.

[Borbolactic]

In bitwig, or a modular like reaktor, vcv, vm, you can create partials with midi notes and then send them to an mpe polysynth to use polyphony for the harmonics. Can make really cool sounds. By chaining multiple of these midi note generators you can add harmonics on to harmonics to multiply them. It also means you can use per voice modulation to control lots of partials at once. Can get really tough on cpu though

I might try to find an example of this maybe on You Tube. It's hard for me to understand just reading this.

[Borbolactic]

Thank you for the list. It's been hard finding these synths mentioned anywhere else.

I like DiscoDSP Vertigo a lot because it lets you customize each partial to whatever frequency ratio, amplitude, and phase you want.

Is there something else like this? A lot of synths that allow you to do inharmonic partials only do it through something like "detune" of the harmonics, which isn't what I want. These either apply changes to a large set of harmonics or only lets you fine tune the frequencies of the pre-established harmonics, but I want customizability of every single partial.

I too, am fascinated by the inharmonic-capable kind of additive synth. I crave for that full control like in DiscoDSP Vertigo.

While I like the features of Vertigo, I find its sound to be dated or cold compared to that of Harmor and Razor. PPG Infinite could let you edit the first 50 partials for the iPad version and all 214 on the desktop version. The synth had a main oscillator, a pair of sine resources for modulating the gain, and a pair for modulating the frequencies. Sadly, Infinite and Infinite Pro are abandoned.

Have you settled (assuming you were looking) on any additive synth(s) since starting your list and if so, which, and have you changed your mind about the sound of Vertigo?

[Borbolactic]

Razor, which is one sale now, is probably your beat bet. However, Vertigo by DiscoDSP is probably the most advanced commercial additive synth out there.

What about Cube 2 64 bit? It also does resynthesis, inharmonics and is 512 partials if recalled:
https://virsyn.net/desktop/cube.html

[Korg Supporter]

Razor, which is one sale now, is probably your beat bet. However, Vertigo by DiscoDSP is probably the most advanced commercial additive synth out there.

What about Cube 2 64 bit? It also does resynthesis, inharmonics and is 512 partials if recalled:
https://virsyn.net/desktop/cube.html

I am just trying to help you. I don't care for the sound of Cube or Vertigo. However, they may be of use to you. There is no single perfect additive synth, but if I had to stick with one, it would be Harmor. The second choice would be Razor. I own PPG Infinite and can DM you the installer to try out.

[Borbolactic]

Razor, which is one sale now, is probably your beat bet. However, Vertigo by DiscoDSP is probably the most advanced commercial additive synth out there.

What about Cube 2 64 bit? It also does resynthesis, inharmonics and is 512 partials if recalled:
https://virsyn.net/desktop/cube.html

I am just trying to help you. I don't care for the sound of Cube or Vertigo. However, they may be of use to you. There is no single perfect additive synth, but if I had to stick with one, it would be Harmor. The second choice would be Razor. I own PPG Infinite and can DM you the installer to try out.

I understand and value your opinion, that's why I'm asking. We may also be on the same wave so to speak in terms of taste, because I'm unsure I care for the sound of both Cube or Vertigo either, although both do resynthesis, so it's hard to tell if one's sound depends in part on one's input. Same with Harmor of course.

[j wazza]

In bitwig, or a modular like reaktor, vcv, vm, you can create partials with midi notes and then send them to an mpe polysynth to use polyphony for the harmonics. Can make really cool sounds. By chaining multiple of these midi note generators you can add harmonics on to harmonics to multiply them. It also means you can use per voice modulation to control lots of partials at once. Can get really tough on cpu though

I might try to find an example of this maybe on You Tube. It's hard for me to understand just reading this.

Im not sure there will be a video of doing exactly this, but you could look into the harmonic series and additive synthesis to understand it. I was just using midi notes to do it but thats not how additive synths usually work.

Usually sounds contain lots of frequencies (pitches). Eg with a guitar, or a guitar sample on a speaker, if you play the note A, a frequency of 440 hertz, the string or speaker moves 440 times a second, which makes the air move 440 times a second, which our ears hear as the note A.

With a guitar playing A, you'll also hear frequencies that are multiples of 440 (x2, x3, x4 etc) like 880 hertz. This is because the string is also moving at those frequencies. We hear 880 hertz as an octave above 440. We call these harmonics or partials.

Additive synths work by layering lots of harmonics. You can also use midi notes to layer harmonics. You can use the note grid in bitwig, or another modular, and multiply the frequency control of an oscillator to make harmonics.

[aMUSEd]

It seems to be a sad fact that many Additive/Spectral synths get neglected or abandoned, even some really powerful reasonably current ones like Thorn, Harmor and Vertigo do not seem to have had significant updates for quite a while. One of the few that does get regular updates is Pigments, which actually has a really powerful, and rather unique, additive module.

[Borbolactic]

In bitwig, or a modular like reaktor, vcv, vm, you can create partials with midi notes and then send them to an mpe polysynth to use polyphony for the harmonics. Can make really cool sounds. By chaining multiple of these midi note generators you can add harmonics on to harmonics to multiply them. It also means you can use per voice modulation to control lots of partials at once. Can get really tough on cpu though

I might try to find an example of this maybe on You Tube. It's hard for me to understand just reading this.

Im not sure there will be a video of doing exactly this, but you could look into the harmonic series and additive synthesis to understand it. I was just using midi notes to do it but thats not how additive synths usually work.

Usually sounds contain lots of frequencies (pitches). Eg with a guitar, or a guitar sample on a speaker, if you play the note A, a frequency of 440 hertz, the string or speaker moves 440 times a second, which makes the air move 440 times a second, which our ears hear as the note A.

With a guitar playing A, you'll also hear frequencies that are multiples of 440 (x2, x3, x4 etc) like 880 hertz. This is because the string is also moving at those frequencies. We hear 880 hertz as an octave above 440. We call these harmonics or partials.

Additive synths work by layering lots of harmonics. You can also use midi notes to layer harmonics. You can use the note grid in bitwig, or another modular, and multiply the frequency control of an oscillator to make harmonics.

That's interesting, thanks for the explanation and insight. Still hard to wrap my head around both midi notes and the Bitwig Grid, since I don't use it, and how they would sound, and how much flexibility one would have, compared to a an additive synth built for the purpose. I knew a little bit about additive, but certainly not that much. I might revisit your conccept once I get properly set up.

[Dongledekadopolis]

Are there any additive synths that let you do resynthesis on iOS? I see stuff like AddStation and Cube in the App Store but I can't tell if they let you import WAVs.