Surge vs top free/paid synths

[Morty-C-137]

We are ramping up for 1.4 most likely this Summer A lot of things have happened!

Damn, that is a lot. Surprised to see that a patch browser overhaul has not been implemented yet (full gui overlay patch browser). I thought that was the intention a few years ago?

[vanerio]

Well, if I am pretending to use my wavetables, I want them as they are. Don't want to be forced to use a filter...
... Of course you don't care and that is OK.

Right. I do understand where you're coming from. It's also totally fine to me if you like the WT synthesis in Serum 2 more than Surge (I would probably agree). I/we do actually care though! It's just I'm 99% sure the difference you're hearing isn't because of the DC filter.

Here's the thing: The only time you get your wavetables "as they are" is if you play them back as a plain audio file at their native sample rate. To get different pitches, morph between frames, minimize aliasing, etc etc... every wavetable synth uses some kind of interpolation and anti-aliasing strategy. The sound/character you hear in Surge's WT osc is the sound of the BLIT strategy it uses. Serum chose a different one and therefore sounds different. If you don't like Surge's sound right now, I can practically guarantee you would still dislike it without the DC filter. Maybe more even, due to the DC thumps.

Just want that to be clear also for anyone else reading this. Again, totally fine if you prefer something else!

It is not something about the sound honestly. It is just that I would like my waves to be played without DC filtering forcibly, that's all the story, regardless of anything else. We can call it personal preference. My use cases are not always music creation, I also use synths as oscillators for signal analysis, and that affects a lot.

Now...am I saying that Surge sounds bad or worse than Serum because of that DC filter: of course NOT! I am really thankful for your work, it could not be otherwise!
This is your synth and you can do whatever you want/need with it, I am nobody to demand anything. I honestly thought there could be a positibility for an option and that pointing out that there was a filter in some oscillators wouldn't cause such a stir haha!, that is all.

[Andreya_Autumn]

Right right. All good!

[EvilDragon]

Damn, that is a lot. Surprised to see that a patch browser overhaul has not been implemented yet (full gui overlay patch browser). I thought that was the intention a few years ago?

That is most likely happening for Surge XT 2.0, after all.

[Tj Shredder]

My use cases are not always music creation, I also use synths as oscillators for signal analysis, and that affects a lot.

If you need it for non musical purposes, you got a chance. Its open source. Just remove the DC filter yourself or ask a Claude to remove it and you get what nobody else would possibly want.

And have a look for other open source wavetable synths, they might be worse, but better for your purpose…

[mabian]

I lost a bit of love for Surge when I found that the oscillator-to-filter routing is somehow not so straightforward.
Has something been done about this (maybe keeping backward compatibility but adding new more "easy" and intuitive routing modes)?

EDIT: looking at the nightly log doesn't seem so, unfortunately...

Thanks,
Mario

[EvilDragon]

There will be breaking non-backwards-compatible changes in that area in Surge XT 2.0. You will be able to pan each mixer channel in stereo AND continuously between two inputs into the filter routing block. And the routing will be more modular/nodal (think Massive X).

https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/4355
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/1150
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/6015
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/2606

All of those are relevant and will be taken care of. But the price is Surge XT 2.0 will be a side-by-side install and patches from XT 1.x won't be compatible.

[vanerio]

There will be breaking non-backwards-compatible changes in that area in Surge XT 2.0. You will be able to pan each mixer channel in stereo AND continuously between two inputs into the filter routing block. And the routing will be more modular/nodal (think Massive X).

https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/4355
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/1150
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/6015
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/2606

All of those are relevant and will be taken care of. But the price is Surge XT 2.0 will be a side-by-side install and patches from XT 1.x won't be compatible.

That modular routing sounds fantastic! Thank you very much guys!

[soundman007]

There will be breaking non-backwards-compatible changes in that area in Surge XT 2.0. You will be able to pan each mixer channel in stereo AND continuously between two inputs into the filter routing block. And the routing will be more modular/nodal (think Massive X).

https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/4355
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/1150
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/6015
https://github.com/surge-synthesizer/surge/issues/2606

All of those are relevant and will be taken care of. But the price is Surge XT 2.0 will be a side-by-side install and patches from XT 1.x won't be compatible.

[whassup]

There will be breaking non-backwards-compatible changes in that area in Surge XT 2.0. You will be able to pan each mixer channel in stereo AND continuously between two inputs into the filter routing block. And the routing will be more modular/nodal (think Massive X).

OK, I get it. We're only in FAR away and not in FAR FAR away yet.
Any idea for an ETA?

[EvilDragon]

We don't operate on fixed deadlines. Could be next year. Could be the year after. We just don't know yet.

[digitalboytn]

We don't operate on fixed deadlines. Could be next year. Could be the year after. We just don't know yet.

tal vez mañana

[Seluvis]

I am always on a lookout for new releases. Incredible Synth. Grateful to all those that set aside their quality time to improve on this Synth.
Keep those updates rollin guys.