Comparing Dune 3.5 With Hive 2

[Sergievsky]

Dune 3 has much lower CPU footprint.

Not in my experience. It's biased though.

(I used Dune 3 as reference for our 2.1 performance update because it was the most CPU friendly synth out of the popular competiton, and I have not stopped optimising Hive until it beat Dune 3 on my computer in almost every setting)

Just wanna say, I love this post! Thats what I wanna hear/see…none of this graceful, humble crap saying something like, “we both have plus & minuses” or “they’re different blah blah’. I like seeing “Ya, I wanna beat the crap outta their synth and wont stop til mine is better!” Maybe I’ll bite on the sale after all

[Urs]

Lol, I basically just got fed up with comparisons where users simply assume that a setting in one synth is comparable to a similar setting in another, and then draw conclusions from that. We have never optimized our stuff for “best case”, we always go for “worst case”. So surely, if one compares presets that are inconsequential for demanding tasks, we simply haven’t seen the need to make that less than necessary.

[a9k1tp]

Lol, I basically just got fed up with comparisons where users simply assume that a setting in one synth is comparable to a similar setting in another, and then draw conclusions from that. We have never optimized our stuff for “best case”, we always go for “worst case”. So surely, if one compares presets that are inconsequential for demanding tasks, we simply haven’t seen the need to make that less than necessary.

I wish you keep optimizing Hive. I love this synth and the workflow it provides. It's not the easiest to learn but learning all of its features provides whole new world of creativity. I am already happy.

But I compared Dune's demo with Hive - 16 voices, filter with adsr and one mseg, one reverb, one distortion, similar settings and very similar sound in both synths. Dune was lighter on cpu.

Hive is definitely very well optimized, unlike Pigments, which was a nightmare to work with. But Dune definitely is the most optimized synth. I do not know or have the expertise to tell if Dune is of lower quality (technically) than Hive, hence lower resource usage.

[pdxindy]

But I compared Dune's demo with Hive - 16 voices, filter with adsr and one mseg, one reverb, one distortion, similar settings and very similar sound in both synths. Dune was lighter on cpu.

Hive is definitely very well optimized, unlike Pigments, which was a nightmare to work with. But Dune definitely is the most optimized synth. I do not know or have the expertise to tell if Dune is of lower quality (technically) than Hive, hence lower resource usage.

I just tried a test project and Dune uses less cpu than Hive. Maybe 20% less. But with both of them I was able to easily have 200 simultaneous voices on a 96khz project on my laptop and with plenty of cpu to spare. That is far more than I will ever have at once.

[Urs]

Thing is, when you want to compare anything to Dune, IIRC it has multithreading on by default. If so, you'd only ever see a fraction of the CPU it really uses.

I really just always ever compare voice based modules, and those which I think may have a similar underlying complexity. Some effects in Hive may be a bit costly, such a the compressor or the distortion, but optimising those any further has less benefit than optimising what's happening in the voices.

[pdxindy]

Thing is, when you want to compare anything to Dune, IIRC it has multithreading on by default. If so, you'd only ever see a fraction of the CPU it really uses.

The tests I just tried (M1-Pro MBP, 96khz, CLAP version of Hive, VST3 version of Dune, dune multithreading off... 12 and 24 instances of each using a simple preset with Osc unison of 11 and an 8 note clip and 8 voice polyphony in the synth) Dune always uses less CPU (according to the Bitwig performance graph).

[Urs]

Well, I think I can live with 20% more CPU

[pdxindy]

Well, I think I can live with 20% more CPU

I sure can... I can already have more voices of Hive at once than I would ever have in a project! Hive CPU use is not an issue for me..... and that is using 96khz!

Bazille on the other hand...

[THE INTRANCER]

The cost of major version upgrades between Dune and Hive has been significant. Between Hive v1 and v2, I recall the price of upgrading was approximately £25. For Dune it's £65 for v2 to v3. V3.5 was a free update, however.

[vitocorleone123]

Lol, I basically just got fed up with comparisons where users simply assume that a setting in one synth is comparable to a similar setting in another, and then draw conclusions from that. We have never optimized our stuff for “best case”, we always go for “worst case”. So surely, if one compares presets that are inconsequential for demanding tasks, we simply haven’t seen the need to make that less than necessary.

I wish you keep optimizing Hive. I love this synth and the workflow it provides. It's not the easiest to learn but learning all of its features provides whole new world of creativity. I am already happy.

But I compared Dune's demo with Hive - 16 voices, filter with adsr and one mseg, one reverb, one distortion, similar settings and very similar sound in both synths. Dune was lighter on cpu.

Hive is definitely very well optimized, unlike Pigments, which was a nightmare to work with. But Dune definitely is the most optimized synth. I do not know or have the expertise to tell if Dune is of lower quality (technically) than Hive, hence lower resource usage.

If you can hear a difference (I did, and chose Hive2), then use the one you like best / already have / can most afford. Or get both.

[Lbdunequest]

Lol, I basically just got fed up with comparisons where users simply assume that a setting in one synth is comparable to a similar setting in another, and then draw conclusions from that. We have never optimized our stuff for “best case”, we always go for “worst case”. So surely, if one compares presets that are inconsequential for demanding tasks, we simply haven’t seen the need to make that less than necessary.

I wish you keep optimizing Hive. I love this synth and the workflow it provides. It's not the easiest to learn but learning all of its features provides whole new world of creativity. I am already happy.

But I compared Dune's demo with Hive - 16 voices, filter with adsr and one mseg, one reverb, one distortion, similar settings and very similar sound in both synths. Dune was lighter on cpu.

Hive is definitely very well optimized, unlike Pigments, which was a nightmare to work with. But Dune definitely is the most optimized synth. I do not know or have the expertise to tell if Dune is of lower quality (technically) than Hive, hence lower resource usage.

If you can hear a difference (I did, and chose Hive2), then use the one you like best / already have / can most afford. Or get both.

They indeed sound different. Dune 3 sounds like Sylenth1 just on steroids while Hive 2 sounds very analog, almost virus ti like.

[fisherKing]

They indeed sound different. Dune 3 sounds like Sylenth1 just on steroids while Hive 2 sounds very analog, almost virus ti like.

just more proof of how subjective most of this is. i had sylenth1 for years (no longer), and dune3 (to me) sounds nothing like it, just as dune3 & hive2, in general, sound very different.

that's not to say that all 3 plugins can't make similar sounds. but it seems ridiculous to keep comparing different synths this way; we use what we want, what sounds 'good' to each of us, and what works for the type of music we make.

now off to eat too much food, and count the moments to xmas-unwrapping time...

[Freaqpeak]

Both are great, but very different features and sound. Hive is arguebly much more versatile and can do sounds that arent possible with other synths.. but dune has layers and sample support.

[chk071]

They indeed sound different. Dune 3 sounds like Sylenth1 just on steroids while Hive 2 sounds very analog, almost virus ti like.

just more proof of how subjective most of this is. i had sylenth1 for years (no longer), and dune3 (to me) sounds nothing like it, just as dune3 & hive2, in general, sound very different.

They really do. So, I don't think it is subjective.

[fisherKing]

They indeed sound different. Dune 3 sounds like Sylenth1 just on steroids while Hive 2 sounds very analog, almost virus ti like.

just more proof of how subjective most of this is. i had sylenth1 for years (no longer), and dune3 (to me) sounds nothing like it, just as dune3 & hive2, in general, sound very different.

They really do. So, I don't think it is subjective.

not saying the difference in sound is subjective, but that the value of each plugin is subjective, based on our needs and our tastes.