Parawave Rapid?

[tumface]

Is there anything that Rapid brings to the table that Serum 2 doesn't do (aside from layers)?

Layers, like you said, and more usable presets for conventional (especially European) EDM, lower CPU use per voice, and more options/tools for managing high frequency content without having to use OTT. For example, the default filter model doesn't as aggressively cut high frequency content like Serum's default filters at low resonance, even with the same number of poles.

The envelopes in Rapid are easier to set up for conventional sounds and have better tuned knob ranges, the FX have better defaults for the typical case, and the mod matrix is visible at the bottom of the UI at all times.

Serum 2 has a bunch of high quality audio rate modulation possibilities, and Rapid only has a few. The new filter models in Serum 2 have a lot of character and depth, and now it also has a multisample library and (very high quality) sample playback. Serum 2 also has a wavetable editor. Serum 2's mod matrix is more in-depth than Rapid's. Serum 2 has MSEGs, and Rapid doesn't. Serum 2 is better at handling imported audio and wavetables, giving you the option to either immediately embed the data into the plugin state, or to leave the data on disk.

In my opinion, it's easier to make "bright but not harsh" sounds in Rapid out of the box than it is Serum 2. However, you can do the same thing in Serum 2 with some extra effort and knowledge. Serum 2 is better if you want to try to break out of conventional timbres.

Rapid is really good at quickly making good-sounding conventional EDM sounds. I guess that's why it has that name.

[MegaPixel]

Works fine in Bitwig for me, even in the newest beta, and even without process isolation.

(Not to discard any problems you may be having with their customer support, but it's definitely not 100% broken for everyone.)

Yes it's all fine when 1st loaded up, give it a little time and go preset browsing, Bitwig will start to become unresponsive for longer and longer.

I sent them a video of this to report the bug a long time ago via email and the contact us web form, no reply. So now when come across it in an unfinished project, I swap it out.

If it works for you then by all means keep on using it, but if I was someone who just bought it and found that it starts locking up your DAW for longer and longer periods after each time you use it, I would be pissed if support didn't bother to respond to you.


RE: Synthmaster 3 bugs
I haven't run into any issues, it's never crashed for me, and I've never had to hit the panic button (if there is one). I do update every time they release an update which has been quite often, but it's expected on recent major version change.

The only thing I wish, is that it had a nicer interface.

I think the developer(s) are doing a good job with it and are keeping it alive and bringing their community with them.

However I doubt I will spend that much time getting deep with it because when you got PhasePlant and Serum 2 (that list I previously posted) and more available to choose from just go preset junkie and quick configure. Not to mention I'm getting pretty quick at cooking up anything I need from scratch with PhasePlant, and the more time I spend creating with it, the more and more I start to really like it.


RE: Sylenth
I love that synth but for some reason I really have a hard time doing anything with it other than adjusting the effects, adsr, filters etc. I'm full on preset junkie when it comes to it, but I do love it and I have a bucket load of presets for it.


RE: Synths that are not all that but I keep coming back to
I do keep coming back to the following (I'm not going to list them all):

Ana2
I just love the sound of this, it has great presets, a really nice sound, it's more recent updates have made it a bit clunky when using the multi sample capabilities and it's interface is quite nice looking, however after using, you realise it's a bit clumsy. But I love it. One of my first synths.

Hive 2
I really like the look of this thing but hate doing anything with it, it's an eye pleaser but I find going deep on it, grinding. But I love the presets on it and I've worked out the thing enough to make any changes I would need. Also one of my first synths. And one of the best preset browsers of all synths, u-he use the same preset browser on dive and zebra 2, love it.


RE: Synths I love and use, but will never do much creation or modification in:

Diva
It looks good, it hogs the cpu like it's a man looking for water in the desert, and it has more confusing dials/knobs and menus that I probably know about and I have no idea wtf is going on. However the sounds this thing can make are, very nice... But I'm a pure preset junkie on this one, I got a lot of them and let the DAW and other plugins do the rest should I want to tweak the sound.

VPS Avenger
The new version is better, it looks great, however when it comes to actually using it beyond preset junkie you will soon find it's interface cramped and clumsy. I spend a lot of time in phaseplant and then if I fire up avenger, a cold shiver goes through me and I get my ass out of there if the preset I was thinking about wasn't the chosen one. Also preset packs from them are very expensive but they are more than just preset packs, they are more built to reconstruct songs.

This thing can do a lot though, and it can do things that phaseplant can't even do, and most certainly rapid.

I do use it a lot for risers and fall effects, it's uniquely capable of doing great things there.


and that's enough from me....

[Neon Breath]

Is there anything that Rapid brings to the table that Serum 2 doesn't do (aside from layers)?

For me right of the bat:

-Powerful layer system (and very easy to use)
-Global amp & filter Envelopes to control all layers at once
-Stellar effects (can be subjective here of course, but to me they sound much better)
-Granular synthesis much easier to use and sounding better & smoother
-Unique resynthesis to create seamless pads/drones/tones

That being said, I'm not impartial as Serum after many attempts never gelled with me. I always preferred Rapid over Serum in general, workflow, features and sound wise.

[MegaPixel]

That being said, I'm not impartial as Serum after many attempts never gelled with me. I always preferred Rapid over Serum in general, workflow, features and sound wise.

Same for me, I do like Serum but did find Rapid more pleasing to use, except that thing at the bottom, what was it assignments/mod matrix? That sucked... It done it's job, just wish there was a better way to display it. At least they presented it better than VPS Avenger does.

[Trancit]

Works fine in Bitwig for me, even in the newest beta, and even without process isolation.


BitwigStudioApp_Gp72844MDr.png


(Not to discard any problems you may be having with their customer support, but it's definitely not 100% broken for everyone.)

The problem is preset switching...

Let the sequencer in Bitwig run with a clip with some triger notes for Rapid and switch presets... then you´ll probably notice what the others are talking of...
But as this happens just in Bitwig, it´s probably a problem with their "new" (not so new anymore) undo system for 3rd party plugins, so not necessarily Rapid´s fault...but at least a bit as there are many plugins having tons of parameter changes to report to the DAW when switching presets but they seem to do it in a more clever way that Bitwig doesn´t produce this long gap like it does with Rapid...

[Teksonik]

MegaPixel would disagree, as he wrote the plugin locks up Bitwig.

I don't use Bitwig so is it the plugin's fault that it "locks up" or is it the DAW's fault? At any rate you can't "disagree" with a fact and that fact is Rapid is perfectly stable here in all the DAWs I use.

It doesnt matter that Sylenth1 doesnt feeel modern or cant compete thats not the point im making.

You missed the point I'm making which is if a plugin doesn't evolve it will eventually be replaced by plugins that do.

Sylenth 1 isn't a bad sounding synth but I never use it these days because it has been surpassed in sound and function by plugins that actually have evolved over the last decade.

I personally don't see any reason why anyone would buy Sylenth at this point given the alternatives that exist which are still under active development and the same could be said for Rapid.

[Teksonik]

Yes I have reported issues multiple times in your Synthmaster 3 thread without results.

I went through the entire thread, and the only showstopper issue that you reported and has not been 100% resolved is

"SynthMaster 3 might generate hanging notes when
arp chord mode is on
and strum parameter is turned on
and the DAW is sending variable size frames -such as FL Studio-
and user is playing live"

Then you didn't check well enough:

I just updated to 3.4.4 and SM3 caused FL Studio to stop responding in under ten seconds by simply changing presets. I do have Fixed Size Buffers enabled. Windows 11.
EDIT: And it just happened twice more. I can reproduce the issue 100%.

Select preset #1 "BT 1983", play a few notes on your keyboard and while those notes are still ringing switch to preset #2 "79 All the Time BT".

FL Studio immediately stops responding and has to be manually shut down.

You said you couldn't reproduce it but that doesn't mean the issue does not exist. I haven't used SM3 since then and probably won't for some time into the future. I have too many other alternatives that do not give me such issues. Like I said good luck with SM3.

At any rate this discussion is off topic for this thread.

[Lbdunequest]

MegaPixel would disagree, as he wrote the plugin locks up Bitwig.

I don't use Bitwig so is it the plugin's fault that it "locks up" or is it the DAW's fault? At any rate you can't "disagree" with a fact and that fact is Rapid is perfectly stable here in all the DAWs I use.

It doesnt matter that Sylenth1 doesnt feeel modern or cant compete thats not the point im making.

You missed the point I'm making which is if a plugin doesn't evolve it will eventually be replaced by plugins that do.

Sylenth 1 isn't a bad sounding synth but I never use it these days because it has been surpassed in sound and function by plugins that actually have evolved over the last decade.

I personally don't see any reason why anyone would buy Sylenth at this point given the alternatives that exist which are still under active development and the same could be said for Rapid.

I dont care about you, i dont talk about you, no one is asking how you use or your opinion on sylenth1 is it relevant or not or you use it or not, so keep it to yourself please because you derailed from the topic.

[Trancit]

MegaPixel would disagree, as he wrote the plugin locks up Bitwig.

I don't use Bitwig so is it the plugin's fault that it "locks up" or is it the DAW's fault? At any rate you can't "disagree" with a fact and that fact is Rapid is perfectly stable here in all the DAWs I use.
...

It cannot be Bitwig´s fault alone as there are many other plugins which do have tons over tons of parameters which could be important for undo but they work just fine...

If I understood right the response from the Bitwig guys when I reported that issue is that they assume that Rapid´s problem could be reporting every single parameter on preset change instead just those which got actually changed by the newly chosen preset.
If you report 5000 parameters to the undo system it takes for sure longer than just reporting 50...

But as Rapid works fine in other DAWs having 3rd party plugin undo support, there must have been made an error from the Bitwig guys too as they developed their system.

Either way... it´s again the same old game... Parawave says it´s Bitwig´s fault, Bitwig says it´s Parawave´s fault and at the very end it is very unlikely that the problem will ever be solved.
So... no Rapid for Bitwig users anymore... at least not flawless... it still works but is not really a pleasure.

[tumface]

Even u-he plugins don't work perfectly in Bitwig when changing presets or initializing a preset. Sometimes some parameters won't change and will be stuck with their previous value. Also happens to some Korg plugins. I believe it's mostly a Bitwig problem. I reported it to u-he and they told me it's a known problem with Bitwig, so I reported it to Bitwig. They acknowledged it but have yet to fix it. (I think this was over a year ago... maybe closer to 2?)

[MegaPixel]

Even u-he plugins don't work perfectly in Bitwig when changing presets or initializing a preset. Sometimes some parameters won't change and will be stuck with their previous value. Also happens to some Korg plugins. I believe it's mostly a Bitwig problem. I reported it to u-he and they told me it's a known problem with Bitwig, so I reported it to Bitwig. They acknowledged it but have yet to fix it. (I think this was over a year ago... maybe closer to 2?)

Odd I've not had any problems with hive2, zerba 2 & zebra 2 hz, I got diva also but it's a pure preset machine for me, it just baffles me, but preset wandering in any of them I've not had a problem with bitwig locking up or lagging on preset change. I also got a lot of additional preset packs installed for all for them, so I did turn off the preset scan on start up as that takes a while and I only re-enable it when I add new presets.

[tumface]

You can replicate it in Hive 2 in Bitwig by picking some preset, then choosing "init" by right-clicking on the top bar, and playing some notes. Repeat a few times. It usually doesn't take too long until you get a half-init preset where some of the state is leftover. This can also happen when duplicating plugins.

[Benjamin923]

Yes I have reported issues multiple times in your Synthmaster 3 thread without results.

I went through the entire thread, and the only showstopper issue that you reported and has not been 100% resolved is

"SynthMaster 3 might generate hanging notes when
arp chord mode is on
and strum parameter is turned on
and the DAW is sending variable size frames -such as FL Studio-
and user is playing live"

Then you didn't check well enough:

I just updated to 3.4.4 and SM3 caused FL Studio to stop responding in under ten seconds by simply changing presets. I do have Fixed Size Buffers enabled. Windows 11.
EDIT: And it just happened twice more. I can reproduce the issue 100%.

Select preset #1 "BT 1983", play a few notes on your keyboard and while those notes are still ringing switch to preset #2 "79 All the Time BT".

FL Studio immediately stops responding and has to be manually shut down.

You said you couldn't reproduce it but that doesn't mean the issue does not exist. I haven't used SM3 since then and probably won't for some time into the future. I have too many other alternatives that do not give me such issues. Like I said good luck with SM3.

At any rate this discussion is off topic for this thread.

I want to point out, since you are being a bit misleading and rude about this, that in your own quote that you just linked KV331 tried to reproduce your issue and could not, asked you follow ups to try and reproduce your system configuration, to which you said that was completely irrelevant and stopped responding after that point. It's too bad you're having issues with SM3, but the issue you are experiencing is not something anyone else seems to be reporting and you weren't interested in helping KV331 debug it, so others can take that as they will.

But anyways, moving on. Hopefully RAPID gets updates soon, or at least some communication.

[Trancit]

Even u-he plugins don't work perfectly in Bitwig when changing presets or initializing a preset. Sometimes some parameters won't change and will be stuck with their previous value. Also happens to some Korg plugins. I believe it's mostly a Bitwig problem. I reported it to u-he and they told me it's a known problem with Bitwig, so I reported it to Bitwig. They acknowledged it but have yet to fix it. (I think this was over a year ago... maybe closer to 2?)

I don´t have any u-he plugins installed so I cannot check...
All I can say is that all my other synths (ANA 2, Avenger, Nexus, Sylenth, Falcon, Synthmaster, Saurus, Serum, Warlock) are working flawless with changing presets... never noticed the slightest issue with them...for me it´s just Rapid since they impemented the undo function.

[Teksonik]

I want to point out, since you are being a bit misleading and rude about this, that in your own quote that you just linked KV331 tried to reproduce your issue and could not, asked you follow ups to try and reproduce your system configuration, to which you said that was completely irrelevant and stopped responding after that point. It's too bad you're having issues with SM3, but the issue you are experiencing is not something anyone else seems to be reporting and you weren't interested in helping KV331 debug it, so others can take that as they will.

I stopped responding because I stopped caring. It's simply pointless to keep spending time with a plugin that is so wonky for me when I have so many other alternatives to choose from that aren't wonky.

I want to point out that:

1. Just because no one else can reproduce an issue it doesn't mean that issue does not exist. Take this from someone who has been a beta tester for many many plugins.

2. My system specs are irrelevant because....and pay close attention to this part: none of the dozens and dozens of other synths plugins have the same issues on the same system with the same specs.

3. He wouldn't be able to reproduce my system specs anyway without the same system components.

Now stop quoting me because you're the one being rude.