KVR Audio

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:18 pm

The sound demos on Rob Papen's site for Predator are pretty underwhelming. The fact that it's also pretty old, was cut down in price, and people here don't frequently recommend it, adds to the picture. Don't get me wrong, i'm sure it's a "good" synth, but i doubt that it's fantastic. And i probably already have 5 synths which cover similar sonic terrain.

djshire · Post by **djshire** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 6:39 pm

chk071 wrote:The sound demos on Rob Papen's site for Predator are pretty underwhelming. The fact that it's also pretty old, was cut down in price, and people here don't frequently recommend it, adds to the picture. Don't get me wrong, i'm sure it's a "good" synth, but i doubt that it's fantastic. And i probably already have 5 synths which cover similar sonic terrain.

It was cut down in price because Predator 2 is going to be released soon. I love Predator, its my main workhorse synth. Demo it, give it a shot.

Synthman2000 · Post by **Synthman2000** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:05 pm

I have to agree that compared with some of the newer synths of the last 2-3 years it is a little on the thin/grainy/metallic side. I think the filters are showing their age now. Definitely more digital than analogue in overall flavour.

I hope the filters and fx are being improved for v2. I suppose not everything can sit up front in your face, 1 synth a track and mix does not make. It is a good to use each synth to its strengths and have various textures.

It has a very enjoyable to use interface, maybe a tiny bit small but is a logical and easy to use synth.

Anyway not relevant so apologizes for going off the topic.

db3 · Post by **db3** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 8:56 pm

Predator's still great...and with it's 4K+ presets it's a bit of a bargain at the moment before v2 release. More recent plugs are more virally digital sounding though.

Harry_HH · Post by **Harry_HH** » Tue Jul 19, 2016 9:19 pm

recursive one wrote:Oh, thanks!

Well, if these tracks have convinced anyone that Virus is still great, I'm happy

I think its more matter of skills and taste/artistic vision. Virus is great sounding synth, but I believe the tool is not the deal maker here.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:09 am

db3 wrote:Predator's still great...and with it's 4K+ presets it's a bit of a bargain at the moment before v2 release. More recent plugs are more virally digital sounding though.

Predator is indeed very nice synth. I found the GUI design very inviting for sound design. Cute synth! I was going to buy it but ended buying LuSH 101 from the market place!

LuSH has a great sound and surprised me with how it can sound a Virus like and not only Rolandish!

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 5:12 am

Harry_HH wrote:
recursive one wrote:Oh, thanks!

Well, if these tracks have convinced anyone that Virus is still great, I'm happy
I think its more matter of skills and taste/artistic vision. Virus is great sounding synth, but I believe the tool is not the deal maker here.

Indeed. I believe that if recursive one replaces Virus with other synths, it also can sound nice (or even nicer) if given the same amount of love

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:12 am

Harry_HH wrote:
recursive one wrote:Oh, thanks!

Well, if these tracks have convinced anyone that Virus is still great, I'm happy
I think its more matter of skills and taste/artistic vision. Virus is great sounding synth, but I believe the tool is not the deal maker here.

Maybe, but Virus is a very inspirational instrument for me. Despite I use it only as a plugin in my DAW is see it as an instrument, not a "tool", like I used to think about software synths.

EnGee wrote: I believe that if recursive one replaces Virus with other synths, it also can sound nice (or even nicer) if given the same amount of love

I've made a bunch of psytrance tracks with plugins before I've bought the Virus, some people say that these plugin tracks sound better that my Virus tracks

. Won't be posting them here (I've derailed this thread enough with my self-promotion) they all are on my soundcloud if someone is curious.

I've read on gearslutz (where most users are supposed to be hardware elitists, lol) that people are ditching Virus in favour of Zebra, Diva, Serum, Spire, even Predator. As I've said in another thread, my tastes were shaped by mid-00 trance and psy where Virus played a very improtant role, not that I think that Virus is inherently superior to plugins or other synths, I just have a soft spot for its sound.

Returning to the topic I think Icarus may be something to consider. I only have a demo so I don't know how it would behave in a mix, but overall I like it. It has it's own character, although not especially Virus-like but I think it sounds better than other Tone2 plugins, and cover similar bases overall.

I put together some patches I've made when messing around with the demo, it's not a propely mixed/arranged song and not as polished as Tone2 official demos but maybe it shows slighly different approach to programming it.

https://soundcloud.com/recursion-loop/icarus-test

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 7:52 am

recursive one wrote: I put together some patches I've made when messing around with the demo, it's not a propely mixed/arranged song and not as polished as Tone2 official demos but maybe it shows slighly different approach to programming it.

https://soundcloud.com/recursion-loop/icarus-test

Very nice short track

But I think it needs some clarity in the sound in the 2nd half? Sorry, I suck at mixing, so I don't know what to suggest to make it better!

So, do you think Icarus can be nearer to Virus (sound or character) than Spire for example?

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:36 am

EnGee wrote:
Very nice short track But I think it needs some clarity in the sound in the 2nd half? Sorry, I suck at mixing, so I don't know what to suggest to make it better!

As I've said, it not a track, even not a mix, I've done no external processing, even no lowpassing. To my excuse I can say that I only had 15 minutes (or whatever is the demo period in Icarus before you have to restart it) to dial all the patches and bounce them to audio. Also no processing because I wanted to feel the character of the synth itself.

EnGee wrote: So, do you think Icarus can be nearer to Virus (sound or character) than Spire for example?

You know, the more I work with Virus the less I think Spire sounds similar to it. For very basic patches yes, the Infecto filter is obviously modelled after Virus filter with basic settings so they can sound very similar, same with the hypersaw, but as you do more complex sounds they become all different. Spire is thin and bright by nature, you have to work against that if you want to give your tracks more "body", Virus is dark and fat. Icarus may be more similar to Virus in the sence that it has maybe more dence, strong and balanced sound than Spire. The envelope behaviour is also closer to Virus - Spire tends to be excessively snappy/clicky. However, when in comes to the overall "impact" of the sound, Vrius has oscillator "punch" control - I didn't see anything similar in VSTis (though I'm not saying that it can't be approximated by other means)

All in all, there is currently no single VST synth which may fully replace Virus, but a combination of them with a decent set of effects can do all things Virus and beyond that if you aren't after this very specific Virus character

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:43 am

Predator sounds more analog compared to Albino (the early collaboration between Rob Papen and Linplug) but it has not so much in common with the Virus IMO. It's also the only Rob Papen synth with better votings eg. on Musicradar. But let's see what they improve with Predator 2...

Btw. I replaced my Virus XL often with the always mentioned synth like Spire or Sylenth. I think they are close enough for many sounds.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:46 am

Yeah, for VA/supersaw part of Virus good old Sylenth does quite a fine job.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 8:53 am

4damind wrote:
Btw. I replaced my Virus XL often with the always mentioned synth like Spire or Sylenth. I think they are close enough for many sounds.

What about Dune 2? Is it very near to a Virus?

I don't have a Virus, so that I'm asking because in the net I'm finding mixed results. Sometimes very interesting sounds and sometimes very boring sounds for the Virus. So, it is just a guess that Dune 2 can sound near. I also noticed that LuSH has a very nice preset called "Hyper Saw" which sounds really nice in additional to great plucks. How near those sounds to a Virus or Roland? I have no idea!

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:03 am

Aiyn Zahev has made two soundsets for Dune2, and the demos he posted sound more similar to Virus that anything I've ever heard from Spire. Not that they are really close in the "character" to Virus, but the overall feel (huge, fat, epic) is somehow similar.

But he as a true sound-design genius, anyway.

https://soundcloud.com/aiyn-zahev/dune- ... -vol1-demo

https://soundcloud.com/aiyn-zahev/spice-vol2-for-dune-2

And well, if this topic tolerates another song by me, this is all Dune2 (again psytrance)

https://soundcloud.com/recursion-loop/t ... ptic-cleft

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:14 am

recursive one wrote:Aiyn Zahev has made two soundsets for Dune2, and the demos he posted sound more similar to Virus that anything I've ever heard from Spire. Not that they are really close in the "character" to Virus, but the overall feel (huge, fat, epic) is somehow similar.

Ok, thank you for the answer

Any VST like Virus TI !?