Wow Me! (Synth Suggestions...Dune 2 Winner Prize Ready...Update 5/5)

[itoa]

Sunrizer big, lush, unique, cheap and easy

[wagtunes]

Dune 2 – Great EDM sounds. Detune function nice and fat. Won't run on my PC however according to minimum specs. So that's that.

Spire - $20 more than Dune 2 and, IMO, doesn't sound quite as good. Also nice EDM stuff. For $189 I expect more. Maybe demos don't show full capabilities but they didn't wow me, so moving on.

Razor – Have enough Reaktor based synths already and just can't see paying $99 for one when all the ones I have were essentially free.

Spectral – The filter makes this synth, period. I can only imagine what I can do with this. Demos are great. For $149 I can see this as a possibility. Love the sound. This one surprised me.

Lush 101 – Great sound but at I7 recommended, another synth my PC can't run so moving along.

SH 2 – No way am I spending $145 on this emulation when I already have a free one in Reaktor that's more than good enough.

CRX4 – Sounds great. No doubt that you can mangle samples to death. Just not sure if I want to spend $149 on yet another sample mangler. If I go with a LinPlug synth it will probably be Spectral.

Helix – Tried the demo recently. GUI is just way too small.

Surge – Great digital sound. Excellent filters. However, hasn't been updated since 2008 and I'm not spending $104 on 7 year old technology that, in addition, is still using 20th century deliver methods where I have to wait 48 hours just to get my download. Thanks but no thanks. Shame, because this is a nice sounding synth.

So right now it's between these 4 synths

AIR Loom
Oxium
Enzyme
Spectral

As I said earlier, AIR Loom is probably out of the mix because there is no demo. I can't help but wonder how much this company is shooting themselves in the foot by not having a demo available.

So next step is to demo the 3 that I can and then make my decision.

Feel free to make more suggestions.

I'm modifying the prize for this. The synth I choose, if I pick your name out of a hat of the ones who chose that synth, you'll get a sound pack for THAT synth. I figure if you love it that much, you should have something that you should use for it.

PS - From what I am seeing, Sunrizer is not a VST so that's out.

PPS - Never mind, I found it.

PPPS - Sounds amazing. Mac ONLY. I am literally crying here.

[Taifunk]

if you can wait a bit sunrizer developer is working on the windows vst version i asked
for the trial version of loom look here : http://www.airmusictech.com/product/loom#updates

[BBFG#]

So right now it's between these 4 synths
AIR Loom
Oxium
Enzyme
Spectral
As I said earlier, AIR Loom is probably out of the mix because there is no demo. I can't help but wonder how much this company is shooting themselves in the foot by not having a demo available.
So next step is to demo the 3 that I can and then make my decision.
Feel free to make more suggestions.

I tend to agree quite a bit with your assessments of the previous synths. I also would add, that for my use and tastes in work flow, I find Razor through Reaktor to be a bit of a PITA and wish they would really separate it as it's own synth outside of that environment. But for that reason alone, I often consider picking up LinPlug Spectral (and equally have some interest in CrX4). Spectral sometimes goes for $80-$90 secondhand or $99. on sale. And CrX4, which doesn't appear to have a strong resale in the market, can be picked up for anywhere from $35-$70.
To add another wrinkle to your Air Loom consideration, I believe it uses PACE. Whether that means anything to you or not is completely up to you, but it is one of those companies that tries to skirt the issue to make the sale.
Enzyme, I tried the beta and even got the player, but the bottom line for me was it always sound 'flat' and 'shrill' and I found no use for it.
Never tried Oxium as it never impressed me enough to. Sounds too much like everything else.

Been having a go with Kaleidoscope and hit points fairly quick where RTM is a must.
But still something I find interesting to keep exploring ATM.

But out of your four, Spectral seems like a good choice overall.

[pdxindy]

Dune 2 – Great EDM sounds. Detune function nice and fat. Won't run on my PC however according to minimum specs. So that's that.

Dune2 is pretty light on cpu unless you turn on audio rate modulations and do lots of layers... You should have no trouble running it

[Lotuzia]

Never tried version 2, but Dune version 1 was rather light on CPU except for big unison.

[aMUSEd]

As I said earlier, AIR Loom is probably out of the mix because there is no demo. I can't help but wonder how much this company is shooting themselves in the foot by not having a demo available.

There is a demo now. Just install the update version and select 'try'.

[Lotuzia]

..........Never tried Oxium as it never impressed me enough to. Sounds too much like everything else...

Well if your standard 2 OSC VA ( because that's what Oxium should be compared to) can make some patches like some in the video above I agree with you.



Note : Presets are played *as it*. No automation via Ccs etc.

[wagtunes]

Lotuzia pretty much nailed it on the head. I've been demoing this thing for about an hour and it's just that, a 2 OSC VA synth. It's not Omnipshere, Zebra 2, Synthmaster or capable of doing 16x Supersaw and all that stuff. If that's what you're looking for, this isn't going to do it for you.

As a 2 OSC VA synth goes, nothing I have in that area sounds like this, period. In addition to that, this thing is deceptively complex as far as what you can do between the modulations and the ARP. For a 2 OSC VA, this thing is deep.

So the question is, do I want to spend $100 on what is essentially a limited synth in capabilities, albeit much greater than the 2 OSC VAs that I have, or spend $150 to $200 on a synth that does more, can produce more "types" of sounds, but might not sound that much better, if at all?

What won't I use Oxium for? Not too much. Supersaw stuff, Omnisphere like soundscapes that can only be made from samples and orchestral stuff. Other than that, for basic meat and potatoes sounds and some unusual synth sounds, I can see myself using this a lot.

Having XILS 4, I took to Oxium pretty quickly. It's not too difficult to program and quite flexible considering it is a limited synth.

This is not going to be an easy decision. Later on I'm going to tackle one of the other synths on my list, either Spectral at $149 or Enzyme at $50. Oxium is right in the middle and I expect that, when all the smoke clears, it'll probably end up just that, right in the middle. But I won't make any hard decisions until I've tried everything.

FWIW, I really love the sound of this synth and how easy it is to get some interesting sounds out of it. And the ARP is super cool.

More later.

[gnosis123]

Modelonia. Not a do-it-all synth, but a great complement to all the behemoths you already own.

[spaceman]

You can buy Surge for peanuts in the market place.

[Touch The Universe]

you need to install spire and try it out, it didn't even wow me after first trying the demo, let alone the audio demos, but after I gave it a few hours of tweaking I discovered it's one of the best synths out there period and am constantly 'wow'd' with it.

[BBFG#]

..........Never tried Oxium as it never impressed me enough to. Sounds too much like everything else...

Well if your standard 2 OSC VA ( because that's what Oxium should be compared to) can make some patches like some in the video above I agree with you.

Yes, thank you for confirming this again for me.
Pretty much sounds like everything else in that class.
Sounds good, just doesn't impress me as anything special.

[CrystalWizard]

maybe if you didn't ike the layut of Alto then this suggestion will not be useful but i think Kaivo is extremely original and can make some amazing sounds. And it's too bad you couldn't get Tassman to work as i was also going to suggest it. Chromophone might be worth a look.

[kuzami]

If you got all those, why the hell are you looking for more xD