Wow Me! (Synth Suggestions...Dune 2 Winner Prize Ready...Update 5/5)

[Lejurai]

Ok. I'm out of ideas then

[ImNotDedYet]

I skipped about the middle sixteen or seventeen pages of this, but if you're looking to expand on your sonic capabilities, have you looked into any effects VSTs? The great thing is, you can use them on top of all your current VSTs.

For instance, I finally read through the manual of Cytomic's The Drop the other day, and that thing is flippin amazing! The sonic mangling capabilities, modulation possibilities as well as sound and different filter options are really, really damn deep. I'm actually floored that Andy only charges $99 for it. I think it could add a lot of sonic potential to your already stacked list of VSTs. I'm currently working on a song where I've used it and its modulation for a breakdown and it's really damn nice.

[wagtunes]

I skipped about the middle sixteen or seventeen pages of this, but if you're looking to expand on your sonic capabilities, have you looked into any effects VSTs? The great thing is, you can use them on top of all your current VSTs.

For instance, I finally read through the manual of Cytomic's The Drop the other day, and that thing is flippin amazing! The sonic mangling capabilities, modulation possibilities as well as sound and different filter options are really, really damn deep. I'm actually floored that Andy only charges $99 for it. I think it could add a lot of sonic potential to your already stacked list of VSTs. I'm currently working on a song where I've used it and its modulation for a breakdown and it's really damn nice.

Okay, listened to the demo. It is one of the best, if not THE best filter I have ever heard including some of the old hardware from my early days of synthesis.

The question is, do I want to spend a hundred bucks on a filter?

Ultimately, I cannot justify, in my mind, spending that kind of money on a filter. If this thing cost $29 or even $50, yeah, I could MAYBE see it. But a hundred bucks?

That's more than I paid for a number of my synths.

So as much as I love the way it sounds, I am absolutely going to have buyer's remorse if I pay $100 for this thing.

[ImNotDedYet]

I skipped about the middle sixteen or seventeen pages of this, but if you're looking to expand on your sonic capabilities, have you looked into any effects VSTs? The great thing is, you can use them on top of all your current VSTs.

For instance, I finally read through the manual of Cytomic's The Drop the other day, and that thing is flippin amazing! The sonic mangling capabilities, modulation possibilities as well as sound and different filter options are really, really damn deep. I'm actually floored that Andy only charges $99 for it. I think it could add a lot of sonic potential to your already stacked list of VSTs. I'm currently working on a song where I've used it and its modulation for a breakdown and it's really damn nice.

Okay, listened to the demo. It is one of the best, if not THE best filter I have ever heard including some of the old hardware from my early days of synthesis.

The question is, do I want to spend a hundred bucks on a filter?

Ultimately, I cannot justify, in my mind, spending that kind of money on a filter. If this thing cost $29 or even $50, yeah, I could MAYBE see it. But a hundred bucks?

That's more than I paid for a number of my synths.

So as much as I love the way it sounds, I am absolutely going to have buyer's remorse if I pay $100 for this thing.

I only used The Drop as an example of an effect that could do a lot to your sound. Others, such as saturation and delays could also provide a lot from a sound perspective.

However, IMO, The Drop is a lot more than "just a filter." Did you look at the specs? It's a dual resonant filter (high pass and low pass, 4 pole or 2) that can self-oscillate and be driven as well. The actual filters themselves (I believe there are six different High Def mode filters based on some old school hardware filters. The filters can also be run in serial or parallel. On top of that, there are two LFOs, one that can have up to sixteen different steps of modulation, the ability to change the LFO shapes but not your typical LFO shapes - you can change the curve, phase, etc to really create some wacky LFO modulations. There are also two Envelopes that can be used to modulate the filter cutoffs, resonance and an overall preamp like pre-gain and post-gain ability. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, but...I've not seen another filter VST out there with these capabilities and a UI that to me is very intuitive. (I have FabFilter's Timeless which I never use because as much as I love FabFilter's plugs, I just don't gel with their modulation stuff from a UI perspective)

[wagtunes]

I skipped about the middle sixteen or seventeen pages of this, but if you're looking to expand on your sonic capabilities, have you looked into any effects VSTs? The great thing is, you can use them on top of all your current VSTs.

For instance, I finally read through the manual of Cytomic's The Drop the other day, and that thing is flippin amazing! The sonic mangling capabilities, modulation possibilities as well as sound and different filter options are really, really damn deep. I'm actually floored that Andy only charges $99 for it. I think it could add a lot of sonic potential to your already stacked list of VSTs. I'm currently working on a song where I've used it and its modulation for a breakdown and it's really damn nice.

Okay, listened to the demo. It is one of the best, if not THE best filter I have ever heard including some of the old hardware from my early days of synthesis.

The question is, do I want to spend a hundred bucks on a filter?

Ultimately, I cannot justify, in my mind, spending that kind of money on a filter. If this thing cost $29 or even $50, yeah, I could MAYBE see it. But a hundred bucks?

That's more than I paid for a number of my synths.

So as much as I love the way it sounds, I am absolutely going to have buyer's remorse if I pay $100 for this thing.

I only used The Drop as an example of an effect that could do a lot to your sound. Others, such as saturation and delays could also provide a lot from a sound perspective.

However, IMO, The Drop is a lot more than "just a filter." Did you look at the specs? It's a dual resonant filter (high pass and low pass, 4 pole or 2) that can self-oscillate and be driven as well. The actual filters themselves (I believe there are six different High Def mode filters based on some old school hardware filters. The filters can also be run in serial or parallel. On top of that, there are two LFOs, one that can have up to sixteen different steps of modulation, the ability to change the LFO shapes but not your typical LFO shapes - you can change the curve, phase, etc to really create some wacky LFO modulations. There are also two Envelopes that can be used to modulate the filter cutoffs, resonance and an overall preamp like pre-gain and post-gain ability. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff, but...I've not seen another filter VST out there with these capabilities and a UI that to me is very intuitive. (I have FabFilter's Timeless which I never use because as much as I love FabFilter's plugs, I just don't gel with their modulation stuff from a UI perspective)

It's funny you brought up FabFilter. Their mastering pack (I think that was it) was the only FX plugs I really spent any money on. Mostly everything else came with my DAW or is free, like Limiter6 and stuff like that.

I don't know. I have this funny thing with FX. They're so specific. And the only reason I got the FabFilter pack was because (1) it was on sale and (2) it really did make a difference in the quality of my finished tracks. So for me, it was worth it being that it was 4 plugs. But I'm not sure I would ever do that again unless I was swimming in bucks. And that's just it. Right now, I've got $200 to spend on something. I want it to be something that I can get the most use out of as possible and cover as much ground with. A synth is always going to be more versatile than most FX plugs, even if the synth is a "narrow" one like Oxium.

But I did check the specs and listened to most of the demos. You're right. It's more than "just" a filter and it sounds great. It's just a personal thing with me about spending that kind of money on FX. I try to avoid it unless it's something that just blows me out of the water.

[spaceman]

The OP has decided to get out of the synth business and start a new career as a carpenter to the stars.
He's now going to make luxury table tops for celebrities of the silver screen.

So if anyone can suggest a good hand plane for the OP for under $200, that would be great.
He already has a scrub plane, a jack plane and a jointer plane, so he's looking for something new now.

Wow him!

[2ZrgE]

Some developers use re-sizable vector graphics (but then you lose the eye-candy, if that matters to you). Some developers give you separate GUIs of different sizes. Some developers don't have the resources to do this. Some VSTs allow user skinning where you can decide on how big a GUI you want, if you have the ability or time or will-power to make your own skin (99.95% of users understandably don't want to do this).
.

What ever the reasons are, that's not my problem. I won't solve their design problems by buying a new monitor, changing screen resolution or whatever.

Hopefully customers get more and more sensitive about that problem, and some companies have to adapt or will have problems selling their 'eye candy' in the future.

[Lejurai]

..even if the synth is a "narrow" one like Oxium.

Now I'm interested. What makes Oxium narrow? In my books Oxium is something very different than "narrow".

[wagtunes]

..even if the synth is a "narrow" one like Oxium.

Now I'm interested. What makes Oxium narrow? In my books Oxium is something very different than "narrow".

In short, 2 oscillators and 4 waveforms for each. That's what I mean by narrow in comparison to a synth like Spectral where you can draw your own waveforms.

There are only so many types of sounds you're getting out of Oxium because of the limited number of sound sources. It doesn't do additive. It doesn't have wavetables. It doesn't have samples. I could go on and on about all the things it doesn't have.

What DOES it have? It has a great sound for what it does which is essentially old analog moog like stuff. Maybe a little more complex that a mini but not much. It's certainly not in the class of synths like...

Zebra 2
Synthmaster
Omnisphere
Spectral
Harmor
Blue II

Just to name a few.

I put it in the same class as synths like...

Monark
ACE
MINI V
MS 20
Oberheim SEM

Just to name a few. In other words, it's a specialty synth. A very good sounding specialty synth. But by definition, specialty synths are narrow in comparison to synths that have wide open architectures and/or loads of samples where they can really make a variety of different sounds. Oxium is not in that class.

If it was, it wouldn't sell for $104.

[EnGee]

So Oxiom is narrow but sunriser is not!

I'm sorry but you are giving the impression that you are newbie to synths and music making in general.

If you want additive synth why you didn't say so? Or you didn't know what you wanted? Which is not s shame of course but acting like an expert doesn't fit you.

[spaceman]

In short, 2 oscillators and 4 waveforms for each. That's what I mean by narrow in comparison to a synth like Spectral where you can draw your own waveforms.

There are only so many types of sounds you're getting out of Oxium because of the limited number of sound sources. It doesn't do additive. It doesn't have wavetables. It doesn't have samples. I could go on and on about all the things it doesn't have.

What DOES it have? It has a great sound for what it does which is essentially old analog moog like stuff. Maybe a little more complex that a mini but not much. It's certainly not in the class of synths like...

Zebra 2
Synthmaster
Omnisphere
Spectral
Harmor
Blue II

Just to name a few.

I put it in the same class as synths like...

Monark
ACE
MINI V
MS 20
Oberheim SEM

ACE narrow?

[wagtunes]

So Oxiom is narrow but sunriser is not!

I'm sorry but you are giving the impression that you are newbie to synths and music making in general.

If you want additive synth why you didn't say so? Or you didn't know what you wanted? Which is not s shame of course but acting like an expert doesn't fit you.

Okay, first of all, I've never even gotten to demo Sunrizer yet as it's not available for Windows yet. So I have no idea how narrow or not narrow it is until I actually, um, try it?

Secondly, I never said I wanted an additive synth. I gave my 3 requirements in the OP. Read it! That's it. Nothing else. Nowhere did i say anything about additive or wavetable or modular or anything like that.

3 things.

Interesting and different/unusual sounds
Lots of modulation capability
Under $200.

Oxium I do not put in the class of different/unusual sounds. It also only has 6 modulation slots, which isn't horrible but it's nothing to get excited about.

Oxium sounds great for what it does. I love XILS synths. I already have XILS 4. But Oxium doesn't give me the wide assortment of sounds that something like Spectral does. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

And as far as my claiming to be an "expert" when the hell did I ever do that? I've simply stated a few facts about my experience with synths. That's all. I'm no expert. I've just been around a long enough time to know what I want.

And yes, I DO know what I want.

Those 3 things. Nothing more, nothing less.

PS - To the person who doesn't understand why I call ACE a narrow synth, I do because it's not quite Zebra 2 or even Bazille. Yeah, it's nice that you can go plug a cable anywhere, but it still have only a few basic waveforms. It's a suped up subtractive synth. Don't get me wrong. I love it. That's why I bought it for crying out loud. But IMO, ACE is what I call a narrow synth because there are only so many sounds I'm getting out of it.

In fact, there really aren't a lot of synths that I own that I don't classify as narrow simply because I am very picky about what I consider versatile synths. That probably has a lot to do with always preferring modular synths over everything else, but I realize that there are only so many modular synths out there and I have almost all of them. So I'm looking for something in between fully modular and a basic subtractive synth. So yes, I know what I want.

Those 3 things. Nothing more, nothing less.

Newbie...That's a freakin' hoot and a holler.

PPS - I just took a look at the Sunrizer architecture. Yeah, that's a basic synth.

It's also 50 bucks that totally kicks ass in the sound department. Right now, it's only a matter of getting a Windows version and hoping it runs on my machine.THAT is a basic synth that's WORTH getting.

[Lotuzia]

..... 3 things. Interesting and different/unusual sounds
Lots of modulation capability. Under $200.

Oxium I do not put in the class of different/unusual sounds. It also only has 6 modulation slots, which isn't horrible but it's nothing to get excited about.

Oxium sounds great for what it does. I love XILS synths. I already have XILS 4. But Oxium doesn't give me the wide assortment of sounds that something like Spectral does. They're not even in the same stratosphere.

Just about Oxium :
It has only 6 freely assignable Modulations slots, but you also have plenty semifixed mods that you dont find in other synthesizers ( not counting the usual kb/filter, EV VCF that are also hardwired on Oxium in addition ). The three 'musical gesture add three slots for the usual tremoloe, Vibrato and Wah effets. Then you have pitch bend + AND -, for two more freely assignable slots, then you have two additional slots for velocity, and then another pair for the aftertouch and expressio pedal, where you canalso assign any target, and finally two other slots for the mod wheel, to which you can also freely assign any parameter. So if you add this to the 6 slots of the main modulation Matrix, this is 17 slots. Without counting the hardwired masks sequencers to enveloppe triggering modulations ( because Masks, ie sequencer steps, can retrigger enveloppes too) As the MAsks sequencers are unique modulators that you cant find anywhere else, you can make some creative things with this.( and move them live as well) Then you add the odf filters, the double filter structure, the formant filte, unisson, plethora of play modes etc.

This said I fully agree with you : According to your definition of *narrow*, Oxium is narrow, its a *VA and beyond* synth, maybe less narrow than some comparable units. Its not an all rounder.( And just for the record/side note, I tend to use more and more narrow, specialised synths, and almost never the all rounders nowadays. I have specialised VAs, FM, Additive, and WT synths, and I like the special things each does. I use also a few multisynthesis synths, but not so often )

[EnGee]

Ok so to summarize your requirements:
1. A hybrid synth with many modulations ( more than 20?). A monster synth. Something like Zebra and not only subtractive and less than $200. Of course not in my list.

2. If it is a subtractive or basic synth (means not like in number one) then it must be around $50.

3. Whatever is it, it must be with big clear fonts.

Are these requirements right?

[Klinke1]

(Reaktor) Skanner XT.. because it's different.
(perfect victim for a 25,- coupon - 50% off then)