Alchemy or Sylenth??? Forgive me.

[original flipper]

HI

Have a good listen to a variety of similar priced synths (Surge, Albino, Blue, Predator, FM8 ...) and honestly tell me that Sylenth has any real character (up against them) and I will be surprised - by character I mean the basic sound that appears to be exhibited in the presets.

I cannot for the life of me hear anything remotely interesting with Sylenth - - I hate to say it, but even as freeware I wouldn't use it.

For some reason I think the synth has picked up a level of interest here and it has perpetuated into something that is far greater than the sum of it's parts (the synth).

But it's a free world - if you like it go buy it.

Flipper.

[aMUSEd]

Buy them both, because they're completely and utterly different synths aimed at different markets and with different sounds targeted. Personally I think it's a weird either/or question - I can't imagine 2 more disparate synths.

Again wrong.
The VA part of Alchemy can do all that Sylenth can do and then more.
The VA synth structure in the two syths is very similar.

Yep - except Alchemy has vastly better filters - only let down is the lack of good VA presets so far but I'm sure that will change - if you want a ton of good VA presets out of the box then I suppose Sylenth is a good choice but in terms of what it can do Alchemy is more powerful in every respect.

[filterfilter]

Sylenth sounds brilliant, far better than most other softsynths, and I own a lot of them. When I produce a track, in most of the cases I don't need thousands of features, but a really good sound! And sylenth HAS a really good sound, that is it's biggest strengh in my opinion.

I own real analog hardware, too, sylenth is in the same league.

Haven't tried Alchemy jet.

[yellowfever]

I hadn't heard of Sylenth until I stumbled upon it here. I'm toying with the idea of getting an Access Virus (B or C). Having listened to the Sylenth demo, it does sound rather good on first hearing and obviously geared towards dance / trance etc. Question - how does the Sylenth compare against the Virus?
Thanks.

[aMUSEd]

It's reasonably comparable to a B or C but not to the Ti which has a much wider range of sound capabilities (such as wavetable, graintable and formant based oscs) and also a bigger sound and better filters.

[Aroused by JarJar]

Sylenth sounds brilliant, far better than most other softsynths, and I own a lot of them. When I produce a track, in most of the cases I don't need thousands of features, but a really good sound! And sylenth HAS a really good sound, that is it's biggest strengh in my opinion.

I own real analog hardware, too, sylenth is in the same league.

Haven't tried Alchemy jet.

What real analog hardware do you own?

From what I've heard from Sylenth, it's a prime example of channel-surfing-for-boor-zhaw-kids, on a second-rate TV for that.

Notice that everyone is entitled to their opinion until it goes agaisnt the majority, LOL.

No judgement on Alchemy yet.

[bmanic]

Sylenth can't replace Alchemy whereas Alchemy can easily replace and exceed Sylenth. IMHO Alchemy is superior in departments. Better uninson (more control, better sounding), better filters, much better effects, vastly superior modulation possibilities.. oh and you get great granular and spectral synthesis with it as a bonus.

So, in short. In my opinion Alchemy is clearly the better buy. YMMV.

Cheers!
bManic

[4damind]

I'm sure that Sylenth and Alchemy doesn't share the same algorithm So its safe to say: they sound different.

After the informations from the videos, I would say that Alchemy seems to fill more the gap with sample manipulation. A competitor is not Sylenth but Omnisphere.
I must wait when the demo is available but it could be very interesting to have both.

[koalaboy]

From what I've heard from Sylenth, it's a prime example of channel-surfing-for-boor-zhaw-kids, on a second-rate TV for that.

Notice that everyone is entitled to their opinion until it goes agaisnt the majority, LOL.

My opinion is that you need new ears.

It has a beautiful deep rich sound that many VSTs are either lacking or rarely show in presets. Of course, everyone is currently raving over Alchemy within which I have yet to find more than a couple of presets that give me the same feeling.

I see Sylenth the same way I see Omnisphere (yes, I went there...) - the specs or tweakability don't necessarily give the whole picture, and the raw sound is very important - the same reason I've forever been close to buying Vaz Modular based upon one demo preset.

Nothing to do with majority opinion - I couldn't name you any recent music easily... just based on what I hear.

[djanthonyw]

HI

Have a good listen to a variety of similar priced synths (Surge, Albino, Blue, Predator, FM8 ...) and honestly tell me that Sylenth has any real character (up against them) and I will be surprised - by character I mean the basic sound that appears to be exhibited in the presets.

I cannot for the life of me hear anything remotely interesting with Sylenth - - I hate to say it, but even as freeware I wouldn't use it.

For some reason I think the synth has picked up a level of interest here and it has perpetuated into something that is far greater than the sum of it's parts (the synth).

But it's a free world - if you like it go buy it.

Flipper.

Are you monitoring on laptop speakers?

[thespecialist]

how does the Sylenth compare against the Virus?
Thanks.

Lately there was a thread on both the Zebra and Sylenth forum, to recreate the 'Overture' patch from the Virus. Here are the results:

(first Virus, then Zebra)
http://share.uci-gaming.net/Rat41/Klang ... erture.mp3
(first Virus, then Sylenth)
http://www.lennardigital.com/files/temp ... lenth1.mp3

Judge for yourself. In my opinion, they both come very close and they both sound awesome. However, I think that the Sylenth1 comes closer. That doesn't mean it sounds better than the Zebra, in fact, one could argue that he likes the Zebra example even more than the Virus, that's totally personal taste, but there's something 'Zebra-ish' about the sound, something less 'sharp' or more 'polished' maybe than the Virus. I think that's the main strength of Sylenth, it can sound a bit more 'raw'.

So if your goal is to emulate the Virus, I think there's no better synth than Sylenth.

[thespecialist]

I cannot for the life of me hear anything remotely interesting with Sylenth

Are you using a good soundcard ? It really doesn't have to be expensive, a simple EMU 0202 costs $100 and has great sound. Then, get a good pair of monitors or if you cant' afford them, a good headphone, that doesn't have to be too expensive either (for example, an AKG K271-MKII costs around $200).

Then, listen again.

[Vectorman]

I'm sure that Sylenth and Alchemy doesn't share the same algorithm Wink So its safe to say: they sound different.

Indeed. Just because two synths may share similar specs on paper in certain areas, that doesn't mean they're going to sound exactly the same doing a specific type of sound. Different programmers code their oscillators/filters/etc. differently, resulting in different sonic character. For example, Zebra is my main synth and I love the heck out of it, but I remember trying to recreate a Sylenth patch on Zebra (it was kind of a sharp, hard pulse wave type of comping sound) and couldn't manage to nail it, despite trying various different pulse widths and filter tweakings on Z2. Granted, a better programmer than I might have gotten closer, but the point is that just because one synth is ten times more complex than the other doesn't automatically mean that it subsumes the entire sonic range of the synth with the simpler architecture and makes it redundant. If that was the case, once you got an OB-Xa, a Minimoog would be completely pointless, and yet plenty of people still felt the need to have both around.

[filterfilter]

Sylenth sounds brilliant, far better than most other softsynths, and I own a lot of them. When I produce a track, in most of the cases I don't need thousands of features, but a really good sound! And sylenth HAS a really good sound, that is it's biggest strengh in my opinion.

I own real analog hardware, too, sylenth is in the same league.

Haven't tried Alchemy jet.

What real analog hardware do you own?

From what I've heard from Sylenth, it's a prime example of channel-surfing-for-boor-zhaw-kids, on a second-rate TV for that.

Notice that everyone is entitled to their opinion until it goes agaisnt the majority, LOL.

No judgement on Alchemy yet.

I own DSI Mopho, complete analog signal path.

Sylenth was the first plugin that did sound "alive", it can produce so wonderful basses. Few other plugins do so. Terratec Komplexer is also very good. Nowadays we see a feature-war, new synths with high modulation capabilities and so on, but I don't need this. Ok, when i listen to it I think: sounds interesting, but I don't need it for making a good song! Sylenth delivers good lead and bass sounds in superior quality, it is simple and fast, and this is what I need!

cheers

[yellowfever]

how does the Sylenth compare against the Virus?
Thanks.

Lately there was a thread on both the Zebra and Sylenth forum, to recreate the 'Overture' patch from the Virus. Here are the results:

(first Virus, then Zebra)
http://share.uci-gaming.net/Rat41/Klang ... erture.mp3
(first Virus, then Sylenth)
http://www.lennardigital.com/files/temp ... lenth1.mp3

Judge for yourself. In my opinion, they both come very close and they both sound awesome. However, I think that the Sylenth1 comes closer. That doesn't mean it sounds better than the Zebra, in fact, one could argue that he likes the Zebra example even more than the Virus, that's totally personal taste, but there's something 'Zebra-ish' about the sound, something less 'sharp' or more 'polished' maybe than the Virus. I think that's the main strength of Sylenth, it can sound a bit more 'raw'.

So if your goal is to emulate the Virus, I think there's no better synth than Sylenth.

Thanks for that mate; good examples. I think all 3 patches sound pretty awesome. A touch more bassiness to the Sylenth perhaps? I personally prefer synths you can 'dirty up' a bit, so maybe I'll invest in the Sylenth. Thanks for your help.