Swayed v1.0.3 - available now!

[Compyfox]

https://strydeaudio.com/swayed

99 EUR (albeit including VAT)...

At least there is a demo version (though it is not mentioned what limitations it has) and a freely available and very detailed manual. Considering that this has become way too rare in our realm, that’s really commendable!

However - as good as this looked on paper, and as good as this sounded in audio demos and sparse videos... I would have gone along until 69 EUR (incl. VAT) to 79 EUR (incl. VAT) at most. But 99 EUR (incl. VAT) is pushing it.

IMHO and YMMV and all that...


I appreciate your efforts - but I think I'll pass on this one and stick to what I have.
(which is already way too much)



Also, I thought I was signed up to the newsletter - apparently not.

Doesn't matter - the other thread is still pretty much pinned to the top of "my forum topics" (and the "tone" in there didn't change much).

[EvilDragon]

to be fair imo it is impossible to make a good CS80 plugin

It's not impossible, both Memorymoon, Softube and XILS did it very very well. You just need to know how to play one well.

but I think Dexed is the best emu one could get

No, OPS7 is.

[ChilliusVGM]

Just had a quick play-around with this in the demo version and it's *almost* there for me, but the lack of support for the original SY/TG waveforms in regards to importing SysEx currently is what's got me holding off from purchasing until a future update. I have to commend you though as my tests with strictly FM reliant patches were impressive enough that I could see myself replacing both Digital Synsations DS77 and TGX-99 with this VST once something like that is (hopefully) added. it's added.

EDIT: I went back and played around with it and I feel a bit embarrassed now I've come to learn that this is a feature, look into things before what you're saying I guess folks, heh.

[DCrown]

to be fair imo it is impossible to make a good CS80 plugin

It's not impossible, both Memorymoon, Softube and XILS did it very very well. You just need to know how to play one well.

but I think Dexed is the best emu one could get

No, OPS7 is.

I don't agree with you on CS80, I had the opportunity to play a real CS80 once and you must be kidding if you think a plugin is close.
Softube - playability, feel, response and inspiration factor is a nightmare to me.
There are some videos of that Toto guy (Steve Lukather?) presenting and playing CS80, yes and he knows to play the real instrument, a plugin is just a visual presentation of a real instrument and I have one masterkeyboard by Yamaha that has to play all these visual instruments - not the best case always using the same keyboard, but...! You can get close to the sound of real instrument, but never to the playabiltity and feel of it. I sometimes have to laugh when I see people comparing real hardware instruments to plugin emus, they focus on sound only, but never on playability, haptic and the feel, because they can't, a plugin doesn't give you haptic experience of the real thing and in a lot of cases people who make these videos are not even good musicians, just sound makers and comparers.
We sometimes forget it is about making music, a plugin can't give you the haptic xperience of an instrument, it is an instrument!
I also play guitar, a Strat for many years, ask me how I feel when I would play a Gibson Les Paul!

OPS7 didn't convince me at all, I am fine with Dexed, you prefer OPS7 and that's fine.
The most important things for me are whether a plugin inspires me to create music and whether I can have a fast workflow. But that's just me.

[wikter]

Turning off the reverb to run it through something better is the ultimate optimized emulation of the SY77

Honestly we have so many outstanding reverb plugins you can run this through does it really matter?

Agreed. A Bypass Reverb option would be sufficient.

It's really easy to disable effects in the Common section, and in the same way you load a new reverb, you can load a new chorus, phaser....
DCrown Foed. Derailling thread is not a must.

[Artie Fichelle]

For a 1.0 Version, very good. Bought it.

[jbraner]

3) I tried to load the original SY-77 ROM files and it worked. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to quickly relink the original presets to the original samples? Is it possible? In case, how?

I haven't tried this yet but - when you import the original presets, there is a button that lets you choose cartridges (bottom RH side). does this link the new imported presets to this cartridge? (in your case the original samples)
if a preset bank is not connected to the right cartridge - is it possible to "export" it and then re "import" with the right "connection"? (as mentioned above)

I was planning on playing around with this later...

Sheaf says it's not possible - so maybe you have to edit each preset to change it's cartridge that it's linked to?

[MCMorrise]

Excellent work, sheaf. You got SUPER close to the SY77 wave ROM with most of the sounds you curated. It's hard to tell a difference switching between "PRESET" and "PRESET 77" waves while going through the factory presets. This is on my to-buy list for sure.

My only wants and wishes are for (1) a global reverb bypass and (2) not having to reload my DAW once I've copied waveform ROMs into the folder. Would be nice if there were a manual rescan option.

On that note: is Swayed compatible with RY-30 ROMs as well? My understanding is the hardware works with RY-30 cards but I wanted to check rather than break anything.

Also, I've sent a bug report about patches being silent and the volume knob displaying "NaN" at random times. I can't seem to reliably replicate it; sorry about that!

[sheaf]

if a preset bank is not connected to the right cartridge - is it possible to "export" it and then re "import" with the right "connection"? (as mentioned above)

You can only reconnect to another wavesource in the SysEx bank at the moment, and there is no quick way to export an entire preset bank back into a SysEx bank. You'd have to assign them to slots 1 by 1, which is a lot of work. And you'd lose the other metadata like category and author, since that's not stored in SysEx.

Excellent work, sheaf. You got SUPER close to the SY77 wave ROM with most of the sounds you curated. It's hard to tell a difference switching between "PRESET" and "PRESET 77" waves while going through the factory presets. This is on my to-buy list for sure.

My only wants and wishes are for (1) a global reverb bypass and (2) not having to reload my DAW once I've copied waveform ROMs into the folder. Would be nice if there were a manual rescan option.

On that note: is Swayed compatible with RY-30 ROMs as well? My understanding is the hardware works with RY-30 cards but I wanted to check rather than break anything.

Also, I've sent a bug report about patches being silent and the volume knob displaying "NaN" at random times. I can't seem to reliably replicate it; sorry about that!

Thank you! I'll make sure it's easier to reload ROMs. Is definitely needed when you can make custom sample ROMs too.

The RY-30 uses the same format so you can load those too.

I thought I had fixed that NaN bug, but apparently not yet entirely. If it happens again: pressing the panic button should reset it, so you don't have to completely reload the plugin instance. If you ever stumble upon a way to reproduce it reliably I'd like to know, because it's really hard to debug something that happens so rarely.

[soundman007]

"@sheaf I thought I had fixed that NaN bug, but apparently not yet entirely. If it happens again: pressing the panic button should reset it, so you don't have to completely reload the plugin instance."

That does not work. You have to eliminate and reinsert the plugin. It happens quite regularly out of the blue, no apparent reason.

[Caesarg86]

Hey Sheaf, I’ve spent a lot of time with my SY-99/TG-77 over many years, and I’ve taken an active interest in SWAYED from the very beginning.

What immediately stands out most isn’t just the sound—it’s the intention. You can feel the care and respect behind it. You built a VST with a sound designer in mind.

In my opinion, the TG-77 was never a casual synth—it rewarded those who took the time to learn it. That depth, especially how AFM and AWM interact, is where the magic lived. From what I’ve seen and heard with SWAYED, you’ve honored that while bringing it into a modern workflow. With the 4x added polyphony and ability to import various data cards and SYSEX sounds are a real bonus.

Any user of the SY-77/TG-77 knew the chorus and reverb effects had their limits, but they were never the heart of the sound—the synth engine was. And that’s where this shines and so does SWAYED. It definitely worked for TOTO, Chick Corea, Level 42, Etc...

This definitely feels like a true labor of love. In the right hands, it’s not just nostalgia—it can shape modern production.

I’ve already decided to being part of the future with this instrument—and I’m looking forward to what comes next.

Thank you for the outstanding work—it really shows.

[jbraner]

You can only reconnect to another wavesource in the SysEx bank at the moment, and there is no quick way to export an entire preset bank back into a SysEx bank. You'd have to assign them to slots 1 by 1, which is a lot of work. And you'd lose the other metadata like category and author, since that's not stored in SysEx.

Ahh OK, well that will save me some time trying to find out if that works

I love this plugin BTW. I've never had a "real" SY77, but I love the sounds from recordings in the 80s and 90s.
I don't think I'll ever get my head around the programming, but I'll get a good collection of presets and maybe tweak slightly if I have to

I'm also very impressed with the manual (I read the whole thing) - that makes a difference and is very helpful for getting started.

[soundman007]

The last paragraph of the manual is:
In the bottom right part of the screen you can select the waveform sources that will
be used for PRESET and CARD. By default there only the factory waveforms for PRESET
and the Swayed Expansion 1 waveforms for CARD. If you put additional ROM files in the
designated folder, they will be selectable here.

What is the designated folder? If it is the Waveforms folder then this does not work. I have
Yamaha SY77 WaveROM (IC220_8_MSB).BIN and YAMAHA_TG77_V102.BIN in there and they do not show up. All that shows is Swayed Expansion 1.

[benedettodue]

The last paragraph of the manual is:
In the bottom right part of the screen you can select the waveform sources that will
be used for PRESET and CARD. By default there only the factory waveforms for PRESET
and the Swayed Expansion 1 waveforms for CARD. If you put additional ROM files in the
designated folder, they will be selectable here.

What is the designated folder? If it is the Waveforms folder then this does not work. I have
Yamaha SY77 WaveROM (IC220_8_MSB).BIN and YAMAHA_TG77_V102.BIN in there and they do not show up. All that shows is Swayed Expansion 1.

Files to load are (5632 KByte)
SY77 ROM 1 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 2 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 3 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 4 - 0512KB.bin
SY77 ROM 5 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 Drums - 1024KB.bin

[Teksonik]

Files to load are (5632 KByte)
SY77 ROM 1 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 2 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 3 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 ROM 4 - 0512KB.bin
SY77 ROM 5 - 1024KB.bin
SY77 Drums - 1024KB.bin

I hate to be that guy again but someone has to ask.....are those .bin files legal to use?

If not then discussion of them should not be allowed at KVR.