Proxima - Synapse Audio

[zvenx]

Clap really isnt as popular in the wider world as some on kvr think it is.

If it was, more developers would develop for it too.
rsp

[miloszz]

Just a little under half of what I paid for a BRO-800 on sale?

Yeah, that's a pass.

[tumface]

Normally, I wouldn't even bother demoing something like this. Its features are covered by other great synths I already have, many times over. But, it's from Synapse Audio, and their stuff is really high quality (not buggy, loads quick, MPE, etc.) so I gave it a shot during my off-hours...

Oh no, it sounds really good. I really don't want to add another basic analog synth to my collection...

I've never used a Prophet 600 before. (I'd always heard the modulation stepping was atrocious.) If a Prophet 600 is anything like Proxima, it sounds very, very different from a Prophet 5 or Pro-1. The filter saturation is totally different. Prophet 5 and Pro-1 barely saturate at all, and can pile up huge resonance. Proxima starts saturating right away, and it has a really nice effect on the higher frequencies without sounding like crackling. I don't know if a Prophet 600 has a switch for 2-pole mode, but it's great that Proxima has it.

The reason I don't just buy it right away is that, like Dune 3, it requires challenge-response activation and there are a limited number of activation slots. Meaning that it will eventually stop working some day in the future. (I've been burned by this many times.) For Dune 3, I decided it was worth it, and it earned one of my coveted "I'll tolerate the activation for this plugin" slots that I rarely give out. I don't know if it's worth it for Proxima. (I care way more about this than the price tag, FWIW.) I'll have to think about it.

But yeah, obviously a high quality product with a great sound and responsive GUI.

[SonicDimension]

Had a quick go with the demo. I know nothing about the original synth, but I see this has a kind of fuzzy/veiled sound, which might work in certain situations.

Yeah, that dusty dark sound seems to be typical of the Prophet-600. It's definitely a different flavor from the Prophet 5, but I can see the appeal for making crunchy lo-fi sounds.

[vitocorleone123]

So... I won't be buying it any time soon.

The main reasons
1) It definitely sounds very good but is not some incredible leap forward in sound - I already have several fantastic VA plugins
2) Since it was "merely" good I needed more than 20 minutes to try it out. At least an hour, maybe three. But... nope. Only 20 and then it's done.

The biggest pro: Synapse Audio FINALY has a well-designed synth. Truly well done. More of the same would've made it as a #2 on my list above, pushing the current #2 to a #3.

The biggest con other than a ridiculously-short time to demo: the core sound is only very good... I think I could tweak the Options and save a more hardware-like init with more variance. The default init is sort of dead-sounding. I'm also not impressed with the filter - it's fine, seems linear (better than Obsession was to me), but isn't... I don't know.... grabby or characterful. Seems like a VA filter. Maybe it's a perfect emulation and I just don't love that filter.

$99 seems a better list to me given the above, but, if there's a future sale for $79 or something I may consider it. I feel that it's closer to TAL (great VAs) than to uhe (exceptional VAs).

Purely out of curiosity, when you say you already have good VA plugins, which ones were you thinking of in relation to this? And if you didn't already have them would you feel differently about it?

Great questions - had been thinking of the second one you asked since I wrote my post.

All instruments are personal choices - I would never play spoons, but I’m sure there’s some people who love them. Heh. That caveat aside, my current favorite VA plugins are: MultiPoly, OB-E, Model 84, Twin3, Repro-1. I have a few others that are, to me, sonically on the same level as Proxima, such as: Polysix, MiniSynx (better sound worse UI), Phoscyon, J-8, Axxess. Leaving out crossovers like Hive2 and Serum2, etc.

As for whether I’d recommend it to someone with fewer top VAs? Maybe. I haven’t been able to use it enough to do more than to recommend a demo. Which I do recommend. Can’t recommend someone buy it without a demo.

[vitocorleone123]

Just a little under half of what I paid for a BRO-800 on sale?

Yeah, that's a pass.

This is a far more capable synth. Not sure about sound, though, as I’d not get the Behringer myself.

[miloszz]

This is a far more capable synth. Not sure about sound, though, as I’d not get the Behringer myself.

"More" capable of what?

The only capability I'm concerned about with a Prophet 600 recreation is "can it do what a Prophet 600 does (or more broadly, can it replace any simple analog polysynth). I'm sure this is a fine alternative but given a hardware poly synth (BRO-800) I paid $280 for and another (Nymphes) that I paid $300 for (used), $140 for an a VST recreation is well beyond consideration IMO.

If I want more capabilities than an analog poly, I'll use Serum/Pigments/etc. that are vastly "more capable" than this. (Serum cost $199 initially I believe and Pigments was $89.)

[grandmasterbird]

So... I won't be buying it any time soon.

The main reasons
1) It definitely sounds very good but is not some incredible leap forward in sound - I already have several fantastic VA plugins
2) Since it was "merely" good I needed more than 20 minutes to try it out. At least an hour, maybe three. But... nope. Only 20 and then it's done.

The biggest pro: Synapse Audio FINALY has a well-designed synth. Truly well done. More of the same would've made it as a #2 on my list above, pushing the current #2 to a #3.

The biggest con other than a ridiculously-short time to demo: the core sound is only very good... I think I could tweak the Options and save a more hardware-like init with more variance. The default init is sort of dead-sounding. I'm also not impressed with the filter - it's fine, seems linear (better than Obsession was to me), but isn't... I don't know.... grabby or characterful. Seems like a VA filter. Maybe it's a perfect emulation and I just don't love that filter.

$99 seems a better list to me given the above, but, if there's a future sale for $79 or something I may consider it. I feel that it's closer to TAL (great VAs) than to uhe (exceptional VAs).

Purely out of curiosity, when you say you already have good VA plugins, which ones were you thinking of in relation to this? And if you didn't already have them would you feel differently about it?

Great questions - had been thinking of the second one you asked since I wrote my post.

All instruments are personal choices - I would never play spoons, but I’m sure there’s some people who love them. Heh. That caveat aside, my current favorite VA plugins are: MultiPoly, OB-E, Model 84, Twin3, Repro-1. I have a few others that are, to me, sonically on the same level as Proxima, such as: Polysix, MiniSynx (better sound worse UI), Phoscyon, J-8, Axxess. Leaving out crossovers like Hive2 and Serum2, etc.

As for whether I’d recommend it to someone with fewer top VAs? Maybe. I haven’t been able to use it enough to do more than to recommend a demo. Which I do recommend. Can’t recommend someone buy it without a demo.

Thanks for the reply. I'm feeling quite behind the times as to what software is available these days (aside from the usual suspects that have been around a while) so it's interesting to hear different perspectives and find out about new things.

Personally I really value easy-to-use synths that sound good so I intend on giving the demo of Proxima a go. The VA's I own I have never really clicked with mainly due to the UI and this looks nice and simple.

[Chris-S]

Small BUG: When a fresh loaded preset is changed the name is marked with a star (*). But this is not happening when a knob is moved via MIDI.

[vitocorleone123]

This is a far more capable synth. Not sure about sound, though, as I’d not get the Behringer myself.

"More" capable of what?

The only capability I'm concerned about with a Prophet 600 recreation is "can it do what a Prophet 600 does (or more broadly, can it replace any simple analog polysynth). I'm sure this is a fine alternative but given a hardware poly synth (BRO-800) I paid $280 for and another (Nymphes) that I paid $300 for (used), $140 for an a VST recreation is well beyond consideration IMO.

If I want more capabilities than an analog poly, I'll use Serum/Pigments/etc. that are vastly "more capable" than this. (Serum cost $199 initially I believe and Pigments was $89.)

You don’t seem to understand.

There’s now a more capable version in software of the synth you bought. It has more voices, more features, probably sounds similar (but I couldn’t say). It’s a specific emulation just as you bought a specific hardware synth knock off that also has more features than the original (so you’re already bought into the feature train) instead of a workstation.

Serum 2 isn’t a VA, nor is VA a strength of Pigments (sub par filters) but it does have a VA feature set. You’re grasping at straws.

If I were you I’d consider selling the Behringer and putting that toward something that has no software equivalent or a pedal for the Nympes (like a SolisVentus) - unless you genuinely love the sound and 80s microwave buttons. In which case it doesn’t matter and you should use what you love.

[Uncle E]

I've never used a Prophet 600 before. (I'd always heard the modulation stepping was atrocious.) If a Prophet 600 is anything like Proxima, it sounds very, very different from a Prophet 5 or Pro-1. The filter saturation is totally different. Prophet 5 and Pro-1 barely saturate at all, and can pile up huge resonance. Proxima starts saturating right away, and it has a really nice effect on the higher frequencies without sounding like crackling.

Yes, that's all accurate to the real one.

[BONES]

To me it's like wanting to watch a movie on VHS tape when you have the 4K Blu Ray on hand.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ THIS!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

While I’ve never been big on Richard’s RE-centric GUI thing - it feels like he designs for Reason first, then just ports that over to VSTs which kinda handcuffs the layout - some of those RE limitations might actually work in DUNE 4’s favor if he decides to “RE-ify” the interface.

It's actually the other way around but he's done it to save work. RE has layout limitations, VST doesn't, so he does the graphics around the limitations. He's not a graphics guy, so I understand his motivation, but that doesn't make it any less annoying, so it's good that he's finally freed us all from that paradigm.

[zerocrossing]

Just a little under half of what I paid for a BRO-800 on sale?

Yeah, that's a pass.

It does a hell of a lot more than a Pro-800 and fits better on your desk.

[miloszz]

You don’t seem to understand.

No, I understand quite well.

There’s now a more capable version in software of the synth you bought.

Again: "more capable" of what? Those two words are meaningless in isolation.

It has more voices, more features, probably sounds similar (but I couldn’t say). It’s a specific emulation just as you bought a specific hardware synth knock off that also has more features than the original (so you’re already bought into the feature train) instead of a workstation.

So it adds a bunch of features that are already covered by deeper synths, right. That was the point. You're saying "more capable" when you mean "has more stuff."

Serum 2 isn’t a VA, nor is VA a strength of Pigments (sub par filters) but it does have a VA feature set. You’re grasping at straws.

Both Serum and Pigments have analog modeled filters, both have "vintage knob" behaviors emulating analog inaccuracies, both have the full complement of analog waveforms present here.

Which is fine - again, what I have referred to is why the price is a dissuasion to me. If what is offered is a VST replacement for a basic analog poly, the price has to take into account the cost of hardware poly synths AND the cost of "much more capable" flagship synths (of which pretty much everyone has one).

As the value of $X,XXX hardware must be considered relative to a world with excellent software for $XXX, $XXX software must be looked at in terms of what's available in hardware for $XXX or software for $XX.

If I were you I’d consider selling the Behringer and putting that toward something that has no software equivalent or a pedal for the Nympes (like a SolisVentus) - unless you genuinely love the sound and 80s microwave buttons. In which case it doesn’t matter and you should use what you love.

Why would I sell a perfectly capable synth that sounds excellent?

[zerocrossing]

This thing is really giving me the Stranger Things vibes, for sure. Then I look to the patch I was on and... Dustin's Pad! Oh Dusty Bun!

Here's my take, so far, the good and the bad.

Sound: very good. Poly Mod sounds pristine all the way up, even on the filter with high resonance.

Love that it has the option to goose the mod range even further.

I like the Voice Config, but I wish there was a way to save its own presets. Maybe even a calibration knob that starts at perfectly calibrated and then goes wonky as you turn it up.

I always love when a synth has polyphonic aftertouch, but it would be even better if it just treated both types the same, so the LFO*AT modifier would work with polyphonic aftertouch.

So nothing really bad. The price does seem a bit high, especially since I think The Legend was $99 at release, but that was a long time ago, I guess. I'm not jumping to pick this up, but I definitely will at some point.