Vital vs Current

[morphex]

I love both but I did my own comparison by using the exact same wavetables in both synths and without any other processing. I think that Current 2 sounded a little brighter with slightly more detail when scanning through the wavetables. But it’s probably not something that a casual listener would notice.

I really like the sound and functionality of Current 2. When Minimal Audio came onto the scene with Rift and then other effects, I kept thinking in the back of my mind that they were an ideal developer for a modern synth. But I didn’t expect to be able to use their cool effects inside of that synth. I think it’s one of the reasons that Current can sound so hefty and beefy when making high-impact sounds.

So if I had to pick between the two, I would pick Current 2. That being said, I still reach for Vital quite a bit. It has such a quick workflow and I’m still learning different tips and tricks that can lead to extremely complex patches. Matt designed a powerful synth that is easy to learn, so I’m going to continue to use it for as long as it’s compatible with my system. It’s one of the first plug-ins that I turn to, along with Pigments 5, for evolving, ambient/cinematic sounds.

[Touch The Universe]

I have to think morphex for his recommendation to check out current. Defineteley spot on rec and glad I tried it out.

However, what impressed me most over current was vitals' wavetable modifiers. I remember often being blown away by the results when I was designing my banks for them. Both have excellent wave to wavetable implementation for the most part, but the key difference is the modifier, it's quality. Ill see if I can find a video to showcase what I mean.

The modifiers might be similar in name but the results MIGHT be a different matter. Maybe I'll do a more thorough test at some point and share the results.

I'd encourage a 1 to 1 test for morphex to test out the modifiers if he's so inclined. I too came to the same conclusion on current on the quality of wavetable import but the modifiers...

[Razzia]

And Vital is very similar to Serum in terms of layout.

Current has more synthesis engines, less wavetable oscillators, different filters, similar but different wavetable modifiers, different/better FX, less modulation sources, cannot do audio rate modulation besides FM/AM, no true random, has an arp and chord sequencer, and XY pad and probably more..it's actually pretty different to Vital, but built according to similar blueprint that Serum seemed to introduce to synths. I like the speculation but I think they are different beasts.

Come to think of it, they're sublayer engine is quite a bit different from anything that's in vital. It itself is quite powerful and capable of very interesting sounds. I also kind of agree that current has a lot more features and a lot more going on in it, it is overall probably a more capable and powerful and elegant synth.

Yet, at the same time somehow vital is still equal. I'm trying to understand why but at the end of the day it's probably just the results and vital are just that good and that easy to come to. I would import the same wave table inside of vital and current and the results and vital are just a little bit better or maybe a lot better. It just might just have to do with the modifiers themselves, I think they're higher quality and vital but I'd have to do a better double check on that. I just remember being blown away and vital but amazed and current, lol both totally excellent synthesizers.

When Vital came out I downloaded the free version, used it for a few hours and basically forgot about it. Not that I didn't like it but I already had what I needed for wavetable synths.
Yesterday I decided to pick it back up and what really stood out about it was the lack of a learning curve. Everything was right where I first looked for it. Everything worked pretty much like I expected it to. Everything is logically laid out and either visible or no more than one click away. Vital is a good synth, but the real triumph of it is the UI/UX.

I use Current all the time and I prefer it over Vital, but it took me a lot longer to get a feel for it. The UI is beautiful and thoughtfully designed but it's very dense and requires a little bit more acclimation. Vital almost feels like the UI was made specifically for my own expectations.

[Hanz Meyzer]

I don't think that Current is based on Vital's engine, because there seem to be fundamental differences in the engine, as I described above. But who knows...

[MorpherX]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.
U-He, tone2, Tal synths and others have simple license-keys, that's future proof.

[plexuss]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.

yawn

[BBFG#]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.
U-He, tone2, Tal synths and others have simple license-keys, that's future proof.

Thanks for posting this. It got me to check their site, but I'm not finding anything about a "dongle" (which generally triggers my own "no-iLok" rule). We're you referring to C/R as an Internet connection being the same thing? Or is a "dongle" stated somewhere you can link to?
I don't have as much of a problem with C/R (but understand why others do).
Please clarify.

[Razzia]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.
U-He, tone2, Tal synths and others have simple license-keys, that's future proof.

Thanks for posting this. It got me to check their site, but I'm not finding anything about a "dongle" (which generally triggers my own "no-iLok" rule). We're you referring to C/R as an Internet connection being the same thing? Or is a "dongle" stated somewhere you can link to?
I don't have as much of a problem with C/R (but understand why others do).
Please clarify.

Minimal Audio doesn't have anything that uses a dongle. It uses online auth and/or challenge-response, so might be referring to that as a sort of figurative dongle, since activation goes through their website and you may eventually have to worry about their servers being disabled.

I find Minimal quite fair, in terms of pricing, support and free upgrades, but their licensing system does allow only two simultaneous machines. No worse than many ilok licenses but still a nuisance. Considering activations go through their website and they have the means to detect abuse, you'd think they'd lift the arbitrary restriction

[swilow11]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.
U-He, tone2, Tal synths and others have simple license-keys, that's future proof.

MA don't use a dongle. This is inane silliness. They do use CR but this is surely about 80% less onerous than using a dongle.

[vertibration]

The most important difference between this "Current"-Synth and Vital is, that
Current is Dongle-/ CR-Ware.
Therfore I would would never buy it, because I have complete Dongle-/CR-Ware free system and many others also don't like this way licensing.
U-He, tone2, Tal synths and others have simple license-keys, that's future proof.

You have to sign into Vital the same way as Current. What are you even talking about?

[Touch The Universe]

For a second I thought that was morphex saying it needed a dongle, I was like what

[morphex]

For a second I thought that was morphex saying it needed a dongle, I was like what

Hee-hee, for a second there even I had to give their post a second glance due to the spelling of their username. I guess it was a good thing that I intentionally used lower case letters for my name when I signed up. It makes it a little less likely for my posts to be confused with a doppelgänger.

And you’re correct, I wasn’t necessarily taking the modifiers into consideration. I’ll take another look tonight to see what you mean. I admit that I do lean towards more full-featured synths with multiple synthesis types.

Or if there’s one thing that a VST does really well, I don’t have a problem with buying it for that singular purpose as long as I have fun working with it. Being able to experience joy is of the utmost importance as long as I can cover my bills every month.

That’s why I still use Vital a lot because it’s fun, and I have a couple of skins for it that I enjoy looking at for hours on end. Having a lot of plug-ins to pick from can cause option paralysis for some people. For me, it keeps the creativity flowing instead of becoming stagnant.

By the way, during the holiday sales I picked up your bundle for Current. You sent out an email to let people know that you were taking a year end break and I had time to spend on getting to know the additions to Current 2.0.

I like the new x/y player mode for relaxing after a long session. And I really dig some of your patches. The plucks and pads are especially nice with MA’s onboard effects rack. Nice work Tim!!

[swilow11]

The spectral stuff in Vital is better imo. In Current, you get huge gain reduction from the phaser/nerve/whatever modifiers which makes them harder to mix. Fuse Compressor comes in handy but not a fan of squashing stuff like that. Hoping MA do something to fix those up a bit.

[music3tone]

Objectively Vital sounds much less qualitative in my opinion

[Alexander_D]

Bottom line: $199 for Current, $0 for Vital.

That's true!