Parawave Rapid?

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RAPID Synthesizer

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zerocrossing wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 5:30 am What sets Rapid apart from the rest of the multi engine plugins? I remember demoing it a long time ago and it seemed good but nothing stood out.
Although I don't own Rapid a band member of ours uses Rapid and I have to say it looks and sounds impressive with a good workflow, it seems light on CPU for what it offers.
I end up with stems from the projects and sometimes wish I owned it but chose a different route (Icarus2) which is very well supported, lack of updates put me off taking the plunge with Rapid.
Beware of the gatekeepers and attack dogs and stay safe.

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I own both Rapid and Icarus 3. Two completely different synths which are both great in their own ways but the quintessential apples and oranges comparison.

What sets Rapid apart from say Nexus 5 or VPS Avenger? If I'm being honest I'd be hard to come up with something concrete but Rapid is still an awesome synth that I very much enjoy having in my collection.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Teksonik wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 12:00 pm I own both Rapid and Icarus 3. Two completely different synths which are both great in their own ways but the quintessential apples and oranges comparison.

What sets Rapid apart from say Nexus 5 or VPS Avenger? If I'm being honest I'd be hard to come up with something concrete but Rapid is still an awesome synth that I very much enjoy having in my collection.
No doubt it will be in your collection for many years to come.
By your own admission based on your past posts you have reservations?
That being the case you are not exactly pushing Parawave with full confidence are you?
Please don't take this as a personal attack Teksonik.
I read your posts and value them.
Beware of the gatekeepers and attack dogs and stay safe.

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Hi,

Is RAPID version 1.8.10 for Windows the latest version ?

That's what my account shows. Just wanted to double check here.

Thanks.

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Seluvis wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 1:55 pm
Teksonik wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 12:00 pm I own both Rapid and Icarus 3. Two completely different synths which are both great in their own ways but the quintessential apples and oranges comparison.

What sets Rapid apart from say Nexus 5 or VPS Avenger? If I'm being honest I'd be hard to come up with something concrete but Rapid is still an awesome synth that I very much enjoy having in my collection.
No doubt it will be in your collection for many years to come.
By your own admission based on your past posts you have reservations?
That being the case you are not exactly pushing Parawave with full confidence are you?
Please don't take this as a personal attack Teksonik.
I read your posts and value them.
Well one can not be blamed for having at least some reservations due to Parawave's history.

But their announcement back on Jan 8th satisfied me that they will not let us lose access to the plugin if they should go out of business. As they also wrote, "There will be updates can be said with certainty":

viewtopic.php?t=606263&start=390

The post seemed sincere and I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. We're not yet six months removed from that post so we'll just have to wait to see what the future holds.

For the record I don't really need an update to Rapid but of course the promised MSEGs would be welcome as would any new features and functions. I also don't have a problem paying for updates if they contain things I want and need at a price I consider to be fair.

Would I recommend Rapid over Nexus 5 or VPS Avenger if their prices were in the same range? If I'm being honest it would be hard to do so based on feature sets and the number of sample expansions available for Nexus and Avenger.

Like I said Rapid is a fantastic synth but the market is full of fantastic synths so the choice would be up to the individual. I would definitely recommend at least trying the demo if one is looking for a powerful synth.

Again I'm very happy to have Rapid in my collection and would not want to lose it for any reason but others may not share the same opinion.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Muziksculp wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 4:25 pm Hi,
Is RAPID version 1.8.10 for Windows the latest version ?
That's what my account shows. Just wanted to double check here.
Thanks.
That's what it shows in my account as well. I'm not aware of any beta releases not found in our accounts.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Teksonik wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 6:35 pm But their announcement back on Jan 8th satisfied me
And that's all you need to justify your purchase.
Hopefully my comments don't spoil your magical moments with Rapid.
I still like the Synth though. Enough to comment.
But Tone2 are showing me what updates really mean.
Beware of the gatekeepers and attack dogs and stay safe.

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Seluvis wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 6:58 pm And that's all you need to justify your purchase.
What justified my purchase was the fact that Rapid is a great sounding and very feature rich synth. I bought it for what it was not what it might be in the future.
Seluvis wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 6:58 pm Hopefully my comments don't spoil your magical moments with Rapid.
No one's comments will change my opinion of Rapid as a synth.
Seluvis wrote: Fri May 15, 2026 6:58 pmBut Tone2 are showing me what updates really mean.
Oh yes I enjoy owning Icarus 3 and appreciate the many free updates. It gets a lot of use here.

But again Icarus is nothing like Rapid. Once more that's an apples to oranges comparison if we focus on the synths themselves. It's like comparing an acoustic piano to an electric guitar. Both have strings but they sound very different in use. Having both in our musical arsenal makes perfect sense.

Rapid as an instrument and Parawave as a company are two completely different subjects. It's entirely possible to love one while at the same time not being totally satisfied with the other.
Last edited by Teksonik on Sat May 16, 2026 12:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Teksonik wrote: Sat May 16, 2026 12:06 pm Rapid as an instrument and Parawave as a company are two completely different subjects. It's entirely possible to love one while at the same time not being totally satisfied with the other.
Pretty much sums it up.
X32 and 24C mixers, S88MK3, Live + PUSH 3, Osmose, RedShift 6, Pro3, S4, Tempera, Syntakt, Digitone, OP1-F, OPXY, TR-1000, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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I cant believe this was 5 years ago!

X32 and 24C mixers, S88MK3, Live + PUSH 3, Osmose, RedShift 6, Pro3, S4, Tempera, Syntakt, Digitone, OP1-F, OPXY, TR-1000, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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I cant believe there is no update about the update.

So easter 2026 has concluded over a month ago. I have hope for update to come in Easter 2027
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Once again I'll refer to the post from Parawave on January 8th of this year:
parawave wrote: Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:06 pm Updates
There isn't much of an excuse to offer here. Just that unforeseen things happen which sadly mess up schedules and deadlines. This was really unfortunate. An update was promised in April 2025, with a really tight schedule and no room to breathe. But in the final stretch there was a decision that resulted in chaos and a way longer delay. To be more concrete it was a redesign of the way the new MSEG feature was used. Not that it was the wrong decision, in the long term it will be better. Just badly timed.
It isn't easy to explain the reasoning or why it wasn't communicated better. There is just no excuse for it. Appeasing with false promises wouldn't be right at this point. Only the intention of : "There will be updates" can be said with certainty. No concrete dates, as there is no fixed schedule.

Please be aware that there are unplanned things happening and that there is a natural product cycle at play and that the amount of time spent is related to all of that.
The realistic assessment of the situation is that Rapid will not disappear. You will not lose access. Your support requests are read but not always answered (especially if the email can't be delivered) or the bug is related to 3rd party software.
The update frequency was always slow and it will not suddenly change. I'm sorry for the unfulfilled promises. Eventually there will be updates.

I still hope that you can enjoy using Rapid in the meantime.
None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Teksonik wrote: Tue May 19, 2026 12:03 pm Once again I'll refer to the post from Parawave on January 8th of this year:
parawave wrote: Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:06 pm ...
The update frequency was always slow and it will not suddenly change. ...
And I refer again to the reality that this is just a lie to cover the fact that Rapid is nearly dead developement wise...
Have a look at the changelog yourself https://parawave-audio.com/rapid_version_history...

13 partly big updates (the most feature rich ones in this synths whole history) for Rapid from october 2016 til december 2020 containing 2 big ones 2020 alone (one in july the other in december)...

13 updates in 4 years!

From 2021 til today: 5 updates ...

Again... it´s just a lie that Rapid´s development was always slow... it was "rapid" in the first 4 years... but is nearly dead for the last 5 years...

And this is (besides other facts) why I simply cannot trust this guys words... for me he´s always just trying to calm down the waves by just telling the people what they want to hear in this moment...
... it´s just words... hot air...
Why does he only show up for a few milliseconds when his world is cooking??
Unless a lot of people complain loudly, you don't hear a peep from him for years!

And therefore I don´t trust him that it would be an offense to himself if Rapid wouldn´t be accessable anymore once the doors are closing ... which is imho just a question of time...

A dead product you cannot sell anymore... the products page and licensing hosting costs money... Once the numbers go into the red, Parawave will dissappear faster than you can say "Rapid" ... and I highly doubt there will be ever a DRM free version...

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Just waiting for the inevitable sell to another developer. (i.e. Cherry Audio).

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