KVR Audio

Biscotto · Post by **Biscotto** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:05 pm

Amazing how subjective this is.
Thank God for that!

musikmachine · Post by **musikmachine** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:10 pm

BBFG# wrote:Feature to feature, Z3ta+2 wins hands down IMO. I know NucleusSL has Virus sound tables for Rapture and would think that adding such a set to Z3ta wouldn't be a concept too foreign to it either. And then there's the 6 to 4 oscillator comparison to take in to account too. Not to mention the price difference of paying more for less in those regards.

Edit: changed spire osc from 2 to 4.

There's the Muz3um bank but i take it you mean paid?

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:26 pm

This are 2 bars first Spire and then Z3ta for a similar sound. To have both matched it needs a smaller amount of the filter envelope. Without this Spire would sound more bright/harsh compared to Z3TA. Both using 8x Unison and Spire has Unison stereo spread disabled because Z3TA does not have this feature.

Spire - Z3TA

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:31 pm

musikmachine wrote:
BBFG# wrote:Feature to feature, Z3ta+2 wins hands down IMO. I know NucleusSL has Virus sound tables for Rapture and would think that adding such a set to Z3ta wouldn't be a concept too foreign to it either. And then there's the 6 to 4 oscillator comparison to take in to account too. Not to mention the price difference of paying more for less in those regards.

Edit: changed spire osc from 2 to 4.
There's the Muz3um bank but i take it you mean paid?

Thanks, I actually have those banks for both Z3ta & Rapture and they're definitely worth mentioning, especially for the price of free. There is also a Biolabs set for Rapture. Maybe something like it is possible for Z3ta also.

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:33 pm

Thanks for posting a direct comparison, Frank. I think it does a good job demonstrating what I was talking about. I think z3ta does sound fuller, similar to the Virus. Spire seems lighter sounding with highs that are a bit more silky. I don't think a Virus would ever really have this sound that is thin like Spire or as much high frequencies. I think I'm leaning towards just keeping z3ta as I am just seeing both of them as Virus emulations and I don't really see the point of having two Virus synths.

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:34 pm

4damind wrote:This are 2 bars first Spire and then Z3ta for a similar sound. To have both matched it needs a smaller amount of the filter envelope. Without this Spire would sound more bright/harsh compared to Z3TA. Both using 8x Unison and Spire has Unison stereo spread disabled because Z3TA does not have this feature.

Spire - Z3TA

Link shows as broken, only plays the Spire.

C-note · Post by **C-note** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:39 pm

djanthonyw wrote:I am more interested in discussing sound quality and character than features.

Then I don't understand why you are no longer using Sylenth?

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:41 pm

Mainly because z3ta was finally released for Mac. I've always thought it was the closest to a Virus, but figured I'd give Spire a go. If it's updated I might consider Sylenth again.

ftech · Post by **ftech** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:03 pm

I demoed Zeta2, then I demoed Spire.............
I purchased Spire

Spire is still a work in progress, and the developers seem to be working hard to make it a serious player.
And, to my tired ears it sounds amazing......just my 3,1 Mac Pro hates me when I fire it up as it is resource hungry, but I think it's worth it for its sound.

It has become part of my little collection I use for melody/lead lines along with the Arturia SEM and Steinberg Retrologue.........but that's just my taste (or lack of!).

C-note · Post by **C-note** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:37 pm

djanthonyw wrote:Mainly because z3ta was finally released for Mac. I've always thought it was the closest to a Virus, but figured I'd give Spire a go. If it's updated I might consider Sylenth again.

Yes, I understand why people are a little sour on Lennard's business practices but the sound! I have a Virus B and love it but I'm just not into doing stuff OTB anymore other than vocals of course. I do like Zeta and use it but tried Spire and just couldn't get over a direct comparison with Sylenth or Zeta/Zebra/Massive

BBFG# · Post by **BBFG#** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 2:38 am

ftech wrote: Spire is still a work in progress, and the developers seem to be working hard to make it a serious player.

You mean eventually they'll develop it to the level of Z3ta?

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:38 am

I briefly tried Z3ta a while back. I found that it can do some nice sounds but overall I wasn't much impressed . Actually I thought that Sylenth sounds better, at least for typical "tarnce" sounds. Now I have Spire and I think it sounds even better than Sylenth. Sometimes slightly better, sometimes astonishingly better. I would call it anything but thin, it tends to have quieter output than other synths but this can be easily fixed by simple gainstaging and some compression applied here and there. On the other hand, Spire is very easy to mix. Most of the times, when I add Spire to a project I do nothing but simple hi-passing, it just sounds right (it's not only well designed factory presets, I experience the same with my own sounds). Maybe I should try Z3ta again but from my previous experience with it I don't think I would prefer it to Spire.

noiseprovesnothing · Post by **noiseprovesnothing** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 5:53 am

I own both, and left Z3TA= 2 on my hard drive for quite a while untouched. Pulled it up as a result of this thread, and took that crucial half hour to feel around the interface, and it's a much better synth that I remember.

Tronam · Post by **Tronam** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 7:29 am

As so many of the various EDM sub-genres have gravitated to brighter and brighter leads and supersaw pads with more and more piled on white noise, it seems like modern ears have now attuned themselves to the kind of saw wave that only a purely digital oscillator can create. It's interesting to me how many people proclaim the virtues of the Sylenth1 oscillators which are about as clinically digital as possible: no attempt at analog emulation at all. This might help explain why people have begun to describe older VAs like the Virus and others as "dark" or "dull". Their respective developers have gone through great pains to try emulating the inherently non-linear and imperfect saw waves of analog oscillators. Devs like LennardDigital couldn't care less. Instead it's more about sharp, bright, über mega unison ultra wide with as low CPU as possible.

pinkpanther · Post by **pinkpanther** » Tue Oct 29, 2013 10:55 am

Z3ta is dated and sounds like crap unless it's overproduced with effects and unison. Spire is the biggest hyped CPU hog POS I have seen and heard recently. I don't know how people can waste their money on it.

Anyways people gotta love 812 saw stacked unisons

What a fad.

Spire VS z3ta