Acustica Audio intros SQUID-3: You don’t need make-up when the sound is this good

[Vortifex]

I think this sounds very good. Certainly in the top tier of analog emulation synth plugins, IMO.

One instance in FL Studio adds about 12% to the CPU meter (Ryzen 7), and engaging Superstereo adds about another 10%. Superstereo is basically a unison and doesn't translate well to mono if you've got the stereo spread set wide. Too many presets use it and I find disabling it is almost always an improvement.

There is some jank. Crackling when adjusting mix sliders for the effects when it's playing. Sound cutting out if you set the Saturator mix to 100% when using the OTT algorithms. Presets not level matched. A bit more tabbing than I would have liked (you can't modulate the OSC to get a PWM sound without going to the MOD page, for example). I didn't find the modulation system particularly intuitive and I'm still not quite sure why it sometimes behaves the way it does.

I would have liked highpass/lowpass control on the delay and reverb, but that's a minor thing.

I'd like to see if Acustica address some of its issues before spending 120 quid on it.

[JerGoertz]

I gave this a try yesterday; didn't impress as much as THING. Some of the patches did get a nice analog growl going, tho.

[PsYAuM]

The Poly patches absolutely slaughter Asio.
Is this something you are aware of and are in the process of resolving?

[billinder33]

The buzzwords and hyperbole created confusion instead of clarity.

This shoe fits nicely:

Jargon is the specialized vocabulary or terminology used by a particular profession, group, or field that often becomes confusing or meaningless to outsiders. While it aids clarity within a group, it can hinder understanding for others, sometimes being seen as overly complex, pretentious, or misleading speech.

You might want to just call it convolution moving forward, or even Volterra Kernels, since Acustica fans know you for that.

LMAO

[Echoes in the Attic]

I would buy all 3 if there was a bundle at 150 USD, I know I’m quite cheap and not the target audience, I just like to play with soft synths.

Yeah I'd consider a bundle if it was cheap enough. I find these synths to have so much overlap that I'm not sure I want more than 1. I do like the sound a lot, but they have not been very good about fixing glitches and bugs. They added real values to the controls for automation for the VST and never bothered with the AU. Why? There are brutal cliks in Thing and Expanse when changing presets. I've noticed some inexplicable behavior in thing and expanse with certain settings, strange things like filter sweeps having multiple resonances coming in at different spots that seems like a glitch, and so on.

[Echoes in the Attic]

So this guys says it seems to be modeled after a Subsequent-37. Seems so sound-wise and structure-wise, it does seem like an expanded one, as well as in the name.

[Echoes in the Attic]

They all use synthesis except ALICE-9, which uses a hybrid approach (based on samples and synthesis). Sorry for the mistake.

From the original THING thread:

So does it use samples or not?

Yes it does.

Anyway, after going back over that old thread and looking at the installed file sizes, it seems to me this is just a messaging issue. The buzzwords and hyperbole created confusion instead of clarity.

When I previously referred to THING as “sample-based,” that wasn’t the best way to describe it. THING does not use sample playback as a sound source.

What it actually uses are our convolution/sampling to model nonlinear behavior, alongside real-time oscillators, modulation, oversampling, and DSP. In other words, it’s a real-time synthesizer, with convolution used for behavior modeling, not for replaying recorded waveforms.

Additionally, some of the included effects (such as reverb and delay) utilize convolution internally, which is likely where the confusion originated; however, the synth engine itself is not sample-based in the traditional sense.

So what's all the download content? What takes 1gb of harddrive space? I figured they were samples. Not critical, just curious.

[Examigan]

Yeah, Diva is about 40MB or so

[Uncle E]

So this guys says it seems to be modeled after a Subsequent-37. Seems so sound-wise and structure-wise, it does seem like an expanded one, as well as in the name.

The comparison with the Subsequent-37 is at 12:55. I don't think they're that close but I preferred SQUID in this test. Might have to buy it now.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I would buy all 3 if there was a bundle at 150 USD, I know I’m quite cheap and not the target audience, I just like to play with soft synths.

Yeah I'd consider a bundle if it was cheap enough. I find these synths to have so much overlap that I'm not sure I want more than 1. I do like the sound a lot, but they have not been very good about fixing glitches and bugs. They added real values to the controls for automation for the VST and never bothered with the AU. Why? There are brutal cliks in Thing and Expanse when changing presets. I've noticed some inexplicable behavior in thing and expanse with certain settings, strange things like filter sweeps having multiple resonances coming in at different spots that seems like a glitch, and so on.

I have to retract something here: I just downloaded the latest trial version of Expanse and actually the clicks don't happen anymore switching presets, so that's good to see!

Still only real parameters values on the VST3, not the AU. Would be nice if they fixed that. I still can't understand why they fixed that in the VST3 but not the AU.

Really amazing sounding synths though. I just realized also that the SQ3 filter is also in Expanse (as is the J-8 filter). I didn't realize what kind of filter that was until they released Squid-3.

Hey Acustica, any chance for a synth bundle at some point?

[Acustica Community]

Hey Acustica, any chance for a synth bundle at some point?

I've suggested it to our team and it's something we'll probably do later on, great idea!

[mambo888]

I will only be interested in a bundle of some sort, if ever. If I get an individual plugin, later I will have gas for the other one, and start regretting my decision. Just like with the Korg collection I bought a couple of their plugins instead of buying the whole collection, now I cannot buy the collection again without double-paying for everything.

When it was 1-2 synths only in the sales portfolio, the choice was very simple, though I was waiting for a deeper 50-75% discount which never happened. Now that you have 5-6 different synths available who can tell which one is the best to buy?

When the first one came out I was very impressed, I downloaded the demo, which still takes up 1gb on my hard drive, and compared extensively with Diva, turns out it sounded very nice, but when I switched to Diva that also sounded very nice... so at the end I couldn't make up my mind in this financial situation.

[_leras]

The comparison with the Subsequent-37 is at 12:55. I don't think they're that close but I preferred SQUID in this test. Might have to buy it now.

That's a sharp 180. You were in full attack dog mode on page 1.

Sounds alright to me. And what synth doesn't, in some way, use samples. At some point doesn't everything use a wavetable for the oscillator for efficiency?

[Echoes in the Attic]

Hey Acustica, any chance for a synth bundle at some point?

I've suggested it to our team and it's something we'll probably do later on, great idea!

One thing that might work well for you guys is a custom “Pick 3” bundle for example like some devs do, where the user picks which synths out if a range to include. The advantage is that you don’t have to reprice as you add more new synths, or have a bundle that is no longer complete. The pick 3 bundle is always 3. Just an idea.

[twal]

This synth sounds absolutely amazing