UVI Falcon - v4 = 2026 released - rumors, ads, praise, kindergarden, auto-sampling and off-topic inside!

[Sampleconstruct]

I can modulate the sparkverb on program level without problems with envelopes!

But not with ADSR envelopes or anything that retriggers per voice played.

[Cinebient]

I can modulate the sparkverb on program level without problems with envelopes!

But not with ADSR envelopes or anything that retriggers per voice played.

It works only with the first shot then for me yes... but the multi envelopes works fine so you can add any ADSR like you want... or not?

[Liero]

I think Cinebient added the envelope but didn't understand that just adding it isn't enough as it doesn't actually do anything... *sigh*

I like Falcon but think that the whole modulation system (and UI layout) is a mess. It needs a really simple list/matrix type page of what is modulating what. It's very difficult to get a grasp of bigger patches. The modulation tab is horribly unintuitive.

[Sampleconstruct]

I can modulate the sparkverb on program level without problems with envelopes!

But not with ADSR envelopes or anything that retriggers per voice played.

It works only with the first shot then for me yes... but the multi envelopes works fine so you can add any ADSR like you want... or not?

Maybe you have a special unique Falcon version which got corrupted during download in which re-triggering envelopes work on Layer/Program level, for the rest of us they don't.

[Sampleconstruct]

I think Cinebient added the envelope but didn't understand that just adding it isn't enough as it doesn't actually do anything... *sigh*

I like Falcon but think that the whole modulation system (and UI layout) is a mess. It needs a really simple list/matrix type page of what is modulating what. It's very difficult to get a grasp of bigger patches. The modulation tab is horribly unintuitive.

Oh no, please no matrix, matrices are the most unintuitive things in synths. I think the modulation system is brilliant, in tree view you can see everything listed per oscillator/Macro, so I don't see any mess here.

[Cinebient]

I think Cinebient added the envelope but didn't understand that just adding it isn't enough as it doesn't actually do anything... *sigh*

I like Falcon but think that the whole modulation system (and UI layout) is a mess. It needs a really simple list/matrix type page of what is modulating what. It's very difficult to get a grasp of bigger patches. The modulation tab is horribly unintuitive.

Oh no, please no matrix, matrices are the most unintuitive things in synths. I think the modulation system is brilliant, in tree view you can see everything listed per oscillator/Macro, so I don't see any mess here.

Well, it actually do something. But yes, i got it... it just loops the envelope and doesn´t retrigger.
Yeah, it really should greyed out then. I also find it a bit confusing how this thing is build.

[Hans25]

I'm still waiting on my discount. Don't you want my money or what even though it's just $179

We are located in Paris, France hence at this time the tech support guy is probably at home with his family

Yes okok. I'll try to be patient. Feels like when my mom told me December 23th that it would soon be the 24th :-O....
Oh it was last year by the way

[EvilDragon]

Modulation tab is a bit all over the place, but Modulation section in Edit tab is not bad at all. Also, if you have all sections displayed, it's easy to see all the modulators at every level of the program...

[Hans25]

Cheapest I've seen Sparkverb go for here in the USA is $99. I'm aware that UVI have 50% off sales all the time. That doesn't ruin anything. I still essentially get Sparkverb for $29.

Ok Im happy that nothing gets ruined anyway . Im actually thinking of buying it at best service and get the extra voucher. The price is almost the same because of the €20 discount from Best Service.

Without vat it's only a difference of $21 :-O. So I get $100 for 21. The only problem is that I already have everything at UVI. Or almost. Vintage Vault, Sparkverb and Relayer....
It's actually not an obvious decision.

[Hans25]

For some reason my Xtreme FX registration is no longer showing up on the UVI site. I remember it being there in the past. Perhaps this is why I never got the MF3 upgrade e-mail. Still waiting to hear from support.

Just for the record. Mine is showing as registered but I didn't receive the crossgrade offer .

[bmanic]

In all instruments ever developed and still to be developed there will always be things not fitting our workflow or not working according to our preferences. But after a few days you'll get your head around Falcon and accept it's oddities - or not...

True, but I really should have waited for a demo. All the videos and information I could find on the instrument made it sound like a truly flexible hybrid synth where you could modulate everything, just like in Alchemy. Sadly this doesn't seem to be true at all. In fact, it seems to be quite severely limited in many areas. I thought it would be like building with legos. Have a bunch of blocks that I can build in any order I want and modulate/modify in hugely flexible ways but alas.. that's not the case at all. Of course I have only myself to blame for not understanding this before purchasing. That's why I will make sure other people in my situation do NOT fall for this.

I've seen several people say that it can replace Alchemy. This is not at all true. Not even close. Alchemy is a lot more flexible. I'd say at the moment it's closest relative (not counting Mach 5) is Kontakt. There too you can add modulators of all kinds relatively freely yet you are stuck to a certain architecture. Basically I already have what I need in that department and that is Kontakt. So I just spent 229$ on something that I ultimately already kind of have, okay.. sure it's missing the grain stuff and wavetable stuff but still.. I got Reaktor for that if I really need to do those things. I was just hoping for Falcon to be a true mega flexible hybrid synth ala Alchemy but that it is not. This is clear now. Hope this helps somebody else who is in my situation.

WAIT FOR A DEMO is the best I can offer at the moment. Or prepare to be potentially underwhelmed and frustrated.

[bmanic]

... and I just noticed I can't add sparkverb in a keygroup. So there's no way of modulating the parameters of Sparkverb with an envelope then, eh?

EDIT: I'm really starting to regret this purchase. I did NOT buy Falcon to get another sample player/mangler. I bought it to get a proper hybrid synth but it's starting to seem frustratingly crippled. I guess I'm spoiled by Alchemy where you truly can modulate virtually everything with anything. If there's a knob with a ring around it, you can modulate it with ALL of the modulation sources available and then scale it to fit.

At the moment Falcon is not a good alternative for this kind of freedom. Is there a way to get a refund? I just bought it a few hours ago. Wish there was a demo available.. I should have waited for one.

Envelopes work per voice, each new note played triggers the envelope - you can't insert a reverb per voice unless you have a computer yet to be developed. FX like e.g. ring modulation can be inserted on keygroup level as you would want to modulate RM frequency with key follow maybe, and that's no problem CPU-wise, but Spark Verb just wouldn't work per voice played.

Yes I can see how that would become a problem, though spark verb is a really CPU light reverb. It COULD work polyphonic no doubt.

I still don't see the point in not allowing envelopes to be monophonic though. Heck you can make some AWESOME and unique sounds using re-triggered monophonic envelopes. OhmForce Symptohm showed this well.. and it's actually an area where Alchemy fails miserably as the re-triggering is wonky and doesn't always do it.

There really should be no limitations to where you put any modulation sources. If they are polyphonic sources then they should automatically become monophonic with the choice of legato mode or re-triggered on each new note (or re-trigger after release stage has started). There's so many ways of pulling this kind of stuff off neatly.

[bmanic]

Perhaps greyed out would be better (similarly to how Sparkverb and some other FX are greyed out at Keygroup level).

Yes. This is how it should be.

[EvilDragon]

Falcon is a lot more flexible synth than Kontakt is, though - and in that regard it's closer to Alchemy than Kontakt is, too.

[Sampleconstruct]

... and I just noticed I can't add sparkverb in a keygroup. So there's no way of modulating the parameters of Sparkverb with an envelope then, eh?

EDIT: I'm really starting to regret this purchase. I did NOT buy Falcon to get another sample player/mangler. I bought it to get a proper hybrid synth but it's starting to seem frustratingly crippled. I guess I'm spoiled by Alchemy where you truly can modulate virtually everything with anything. If there's a knob with a ring around it, you can modulate it with ALL of the modulation sources available and then scale it to fit.

At the moment Falcon is not a good alternative for this kind of freedom. Is there a way to get a refund? I just bought it a few hours ago. Wish there was a demo available.. I should have waited for one.

Envelopes work per voice, each new note played triggers the envelope - you can't insert a reverb per voice unless you have a computer yet to be developed. FX like e.g. ring modulation can be inserted on keygroup level as you would want to modulate RM frequency with key follow maybe, and that's no problem CPU-wise, but Spark Verb just wouldn't work per voice played.

Yes I can see how that would become a problem, though spark verb is a really CPU light reverb. It COULD work polyphonic no doubt.

I still don't see the point in not allowing envelopes to be monophonic though. Heck you can make some AWESOME and unique sounds using re-triggered monophonic envelopes. OhmForce Symptohm showed this well.. and it's actually an area where Alchemy fails miserably as the re-triggering is wonky and doesn't always do it.

There really should be no limitations to where you put any modulation sources. If they are polyphonic sources then they should automatically become monophonic with the choice of legato mode or re-triggered on each new note (or re-trigger after release stage has started). There's so many ways of pulling this kind of stuff off neatly.

I just worked 2 months with the much improved Alchemy 2 and it's by far more limited than Falcon due to it's 4 source-architecture where you can play sample maps within a source now also spectrally re-synthesized sample maps (or additive) or sampling or granular, but all samples in that source will always share the same envelope, the same filters and so forth. In Falcon you can assign a different filter/envelope/modulation setting to each sample/keygroup of a complex map or even mix different oscillator types on a single key, hundreds of keygroups with different oscillators and filters in a single patch if you dare, nothing Alchemy could ever do. The modulation system and snapshot morphing in alchemy is still unique though.
And Kontakt is just a sample player with a nice time-stretching function, so i don't understand the comparison at all. There is nothing hybrid in Kontakt.