Underrated/overlooked synths

[swilow11]

Thorn has been mentioned a few times in this topic. I don't think it's especially overlooked but doesn't have the same enthusiasm you see for stuff like Serum or Phase Plant. Which is weird because it is super unique and can do everything from simple analoguish poly to bizarre shimmery atmospheric pad stuff.

I"d say Reaktor Kontour or Skanner appears to be overlooked around here,
Both are very dangerous beasts, if you enjoy things happening you didn't, or really couldn't plan on. Maybe a super-genius could know some things like that from a deep AF understanding of deep AF design.

Never used Scanner but Kontour is very interesting. I've used it on and off for a few years and never got comfortable with it- hard to really know what does what- but it does sound pretty cool when you twiddle the correct knobs. Its overlooked because, like many of the NI Reaktor synths, it's unconventional and has a pretty steep learning curve.

Another simply brilliant but confusing Reaktor synth is Prism. Again, it's hard to understand and unpredictable as a result, but using the template presets, one can get somewhere even if that somewhere wasn't the intended destination.

Also Laserbass for a simplied Razor-esque additive synth..just tweak the dispersion knob to make bubbly weirdness, it's great for sampling out into wavetable synth.

Super 8 is another little gem. Such a clean and lush tone.

[BONES]

Does Phaseplant get the same enthusiasm as Serum? I've not noticed that it does. I'd agree that DS-Thorn doesn't have the hype around it that something like Serum has but I'd suggest it is more that other synths are highly over-rated, rather than DS-Thorn being under-rated. But I am definitely surprised that it is not a lot more popular, given how good it is. And because it is not as popular, it probably is a bit overlooked. It would absolutely be in my "desert island five". There are a lot of more fancied synths that I'd give up ahead of it.

Super 8 doesn't stand out for me at all. It's sound is quite anodyne to my ears and, consequently, I haven't bothered installing for several years now. I wouldn't rate it anywhere near as highly as Invader 2, for example.

[cryophonik]

I just upgraded my Rob Papen Explorer bundle from v8 to v10 and have been spending a bit of time with RAW-2 this evening. I never really gave RAW v1 much attention and I don't think I've seen it discussed very often, but if RAW-2 is anything to go by, it seems like a pretty underrated synth to me.

[eLawnMust]

Decent sounding VOID Modular from 2004... Has also vocoder, TTS, formant filters, SEQ, More...

8+ Minute Demo Reel-

https://web.archive.org/web/20060520082 ... reel_s.zip

[bmanic]

https://www.ohmforce.com/symptohm

Was always severely underrated. I don't think a lot of people understood how it worked and how powerful and unique it was.


Speaking of which.. anybody know how or where I can get hold of a Mac version that has the much easier to read and operate GUI? The one provided on OhmForce's website is the horrible "artistic" black & white monster.

[bmanic]

.. and to back up my words, here's a quick audio example of just how powerful Symptohm was/is. I just made this sound in about 20 minutes of tinkering from the basic init preset.

Symptohm, 2025 example of the capabilities of this beast (Google Drive, mp3 1.5mb)

First you'll hear the two factory samples that were used. They are short and dry. Then you hear my preset. Pure Symptohm output at 192kHz oversampled (it just sounds a little bit cleaner at this rate). Not bad for a synth plugin released back in 2003.

EDIT: Another example, this time a throwback to an old preset from 2004.

2004 preset example of Symptohm (Google Drive, mp3 8mb)

A longer mashup example of a single preset, a demonstration of just how far you can push things in Symptohm. At the very start of the clip you hear basic filtered super saw that I sampled somewhere. It's a simple mono unison sample that I load up into both oscillator slots to create the typical boring wide super saw like thing and then used the Symptohm filters.

..but things get quite a bit more interesting from there. You can hear almost all the variations of the preset, morphing through them at random intervals. At the very end of the clip you can hear my THX sound that OhmForce used in one of their old videos. Unfortunately can't find that video any more but I remember it being quite funny and quirky as always.

[justin3am]

Oh yeah, I was just taking about Symptohm with a friend the other day. That and Quadfrohmage were a big part of my sound before I started playing with modular synths.
Divine Machines' Krishna was another one that I got a lot of mileage from.

[JerGoertz]

Decent sounding VOID Modular from 2004... Has also vocoder, TTS, formant filters, SEQ, More...

I lusted after this one, back in the day. Too bad they discontinued it a long time ago...

[eLawnMust]

Decent sounding VOID Modular from 2004... Has also vocoder, TTS, formant filters, SEQ, More...

I lusted after this one, back in the day. Too bad they discontinued it a long time ago...

It is quite likeable & good as FX too... Maybe even more now for those who like retro soft synth sounds it's kinda like a modular version of ReFX JunoX2...

[mixyguy2]

I don't know if Full Bucket's synths have been mentioned yet (I might have but can't recall)...if not, shout out to them now. Awesome (free!) retro synths with tons of capabilities; esp a fan of the FB 3200/3300.

[mixyguy2]

Triple Cheese and Zebralette have been mentioned, right? I'd also toss another retro type synth in the mix called Renegade (these are all free)

[Bandaide]

Super 8 sounds fabulous.

[Nug Wrangler]

Super 8 sounds fabulous.

it does indeed

[c0nsilience]

The ID700 macOS only. Hot take on a Buchla 700:

https://modo.sc/id700/

[El°HYM]

Dont get mislead by the first look, this thing sounds phenomenal!


https://nusofting.net/plugins/psicogram ... ware-synth