Retrologue by Steinberg

[IvyBirds]

It's a really nice synth. Will be great if Steinberg will improve this one... but seems, that they don't do it with their old products...

Which improvements do you suggest?

A scalable interface. I refuse to install plugins without a scalable interface, no matter how good or intuitive they are.

Um...

Whaaat?! Since when? Has Padshop been updated as well with this? I really didn't know

With the release of the Padshop 2.3 update, Steinberg added the ability to scale the GUI anywhere from -50% to +100% in 12.5% increments

[starflakeprj]

It's a really nice synth. Will be great if Steinberg will improve this one... but seems, that they don't do it with their old products...

Which improvements do you suggest?

A scalable interface. I refuse to install plugins without a scalable interface, no matter how good or intuitive they are.

Um...

Whaaat?! Since when? Has Padshop been updated as well with this? I really didn't know

With the release of the Padshop 2.3 update, Steinberg added the ability to scale the GUI anywhere from -50% to +100% in 12.5% increments

FFS! ...in a good way, thanks for letting me know! This is a big deal for me

[cobaia]

It's a really nice synth. Will be great if Steinberg will improve this one... but seems, that they don't do it with their old products...

Which improvements do you suggest?

Simple, look what Diva can do. Alternate pan, drift, component modelling vco, vcf, vca,
zero delay feedback no artefacts or aliasing

It does have a drift control at the top. Simplistic but it works.
Pan spread is automatic, which might not always be welcome, especially with basses, where stereo is not so good.
I don't hear aliasing or artifacts, frankly.
What do you mean by modeling? That it is not emulating any specific hardware?

[oscillik]

Yes; Retrologue 2 has scaling.

However, it is the laziest kind of scaling that could possibly be implemented: literally just scaling pixels by resizing, which makes UI elements appear very un-sharp.

[starflakeprj]

I have been snoozing a long time obviously. Yeah, they are a bit unsharp, but that's better than nothing. Noted that Backbone was given the same treatment as well. But Groove Agent I need to upgrade to v6 to be able to scale.

[cobaia]

Yes; Retrologue 2 has scaling.

However, it is the laziest kind of scaling that could possibly be implemented: literally just scaling pixels by resizing, which makes UI elements appear very un-sharp.

Not here, totally sharp at 200%.

[oscillik]

Latest version of Retrologue 2, on a 16" MBP, not totally sharp at all.



Retrologue is at 200%, The Legend HZ is at 100%. Retrologue is noticeably unsharp to me.

[cobaia]

Latest version of Retrologue 2, on a 16" MBP, not totally sharp at all.

What is MBP?
16" is very small

[oscillik]

MBP = MacBook Pro

[cobaia]

Latest version of Retrologue 2, on a 16" MBP, not totally sharp at all.



Retrologue is at 200%, The Legend HZ is at 100%. Retrologue is noticeably unsharp to me.

Why don't you increase Legend to 200% as well to make things fair?

At -50% certain lines get lost, but who uses such a tiny resolution these days?

I used a literal magnifying glass, Sherlock Holmes type, and sharpness is fine at 200% just like it is at 100%.
I think the impression of lack of sharpness might come from the background panel, which is slightly textured to emulate metal.

[oscillik]

You don't seem to get the point — The Legend HZ at 100% scaling shows a perfectly sharp interface, without any scaling. A plugin that does scaling well does so without any artefacts of said scaling, and thus exposes the fact that Retrologue does scaling the lazy way.

Of course, The Legend HZ looks perfectly sharp at 200% scaling. I'm not making another image so that you can attempt another strawman, however. Enjoy being contrarian

[cobaia]

Since there are so few threads on Retrologue, I will just reply in this ancient one.

Is the Diva default patch considered very analog? I like it despite its simplicity and I recreated it in Retrologue 2, can you tell which one is which from this little audio (two identical halves)?

https://app.box.com/s/zp50sh4d4pv5jvalmrsnvfxfo4wph9b9

Simple sounds like that may not yield a big difference, but, if you play both, you will notice a very big difference.

And, yes, I own(ed) both. Diva is a different league in terms of analogue modelling.

I would rather compare Retrologue to Sylenth1, and, even in that comparison, I prefer Sylenth1. Not just in sonic character, but also for more versatility with the unison, better internal saturation, a bit more punch in the sound etc.

Retrologue is surely one of the better DAW-included synths though.

I don't think Sylenth1 is at the same level as Retrologue 2. Yes, it has the stereo controls, but other than that I think it is inferior. The effects are way better in Retrologue 2, resonance also sounds much more musical to me. But I suppose that is subjective, some people like the aggressive whistling.

[cobaia]

You don't seem to get the point — The Legend HZ at 100% scaling shows a perfectly sharp interface, without any scaling. A plugin that does scaling well does so without any artefacts of said scaling, and thus exposes the fact that Retrologue does scaling the lazy way.

Of course, The Legend HZ looks perfectly sharp at 200% scaling. I'm not making another image so that you can attempt another strawman, however. Enjoy being contrarian

People scale interfaces in order to make the interface fit the display, not in order to make the interface sharper.
I think it would be only fair to compare both at the same scaling factor...

[cobaia]

I did it for you, both set to the max scaling, which seems to be 200%:
You have to right-click the image to open it in a new tab and see the real size...

[cobaia]

Legend does not even allow mini GUI's, Diva does just like Retrologue 2, and in both fonts fall apart

This is the screenshot, but increased in Paint afterwards so that the details are easier to spot: