RAPID Synthesizer | Rapid 1.8.0 released | Free "SP - Granular Elements"

[Dirtgrain]

It's one of the fundamental building blocks of something like Camel Audio Alchemy and one of the main reasons it is so powerful. You can custom shape any modulation source's input to any output target range.

What other VSTs do this? I want to try it out--but not sure any I own have this capability.

[Teksonik]

I guess Rapid is just too much synth for people who only think of synthesis as saw waves and filters.

I can understand why it's way over some people's heads and just isn't for them.

Oh well I'm enjoying the dozens of patches I've made with Rapid so far but then my imagination stretches beyond basic subtractive synthesis.

[zvenx]

Thanks, I looked all over the site and didn't see the changelog. Impressive update.

Site seems to have a set of hidden pages.
How I got to it was from the plugin, Choose help, choose user guide and it was next to the user guide.
rsp

And hidden no more.......
Thanks Parawave, that was quick.
rsp

[the.new.me]

I wrote to Parawave but no replay back. Does anyone also expierience only 1 payment option availability? I'm only able to pay via PayPal.

[recursive one]

the filters are a weak point. Yes, there are some quite nice LowPass filters in that list but a very limited section of highpass and bandpass ones. Would really want higher quality, more organic bandpass and HP versions.

As much as I like Rapid i tend to agree on this. The newer LP filters sound gorgeous but BP and HP i believe weren't updated from the very first release and they sound not very spectacular imo. I use BP filters in various synths heavily modulated and with lots of resonance (psytrance and acid leads kind of stuff) and with Rapid ist's quite hard to find the sweet spot where it spits the resonance in a nice way but doesn't sound too pirecing, or too screechy, or too digital. The Multi BP is better than the others but still not perfect.

[magicmusic]

now it look very perfect now. I test the demo and what i wish do is that normaly play layer 1 and only when i press a key switch layer 1 is mute and layer 2 or layer 3 is play(depend on key.). for example when press and hold key c1 then layer 1 should switch off(do no note on process) layer 2 to on layer 3 to off. when i press c#1 and hold then layer 1 off, layer 2 off, layer 3 on. is this possible maybe with modulation features ?. the sense of this is to have articulations. for example c1 is the switch to play staccato, c#1 is switch to play tremolo. because there are 8 layers and each with 3 oscilators this is much enough. so the layers can use to support more articulation of sound for example for bend half bend full.

I dont know which future plans you have, maybe now is time to add a loader that can load sfz multisamples as a oscilator direct.so it need no support of sfz envelope settings and only sfz sample mapping. maybe this is not much work to program. with this both features i think rapid synth is perfect.

[Caine123]

isadly cannot still test it as im not back but how is the GRANULAR engine's soundquality ompared to AVENGER?

[Caine123]

-For custom shapes, i use the Sequence mods. Works like a charm.

Don't think you understood what I meant with custom shapes. I want to SHAPE the outgoing MODULATION SIGNAL, for instance key tracking so that I can precisely tune it to track the way I want it to track. As far as I can tell there is absolutely no way of doing this. It's one of the fundamental building blocks of something like Camel Audio Alchemy and one of the main reasons it is so powerful. You can custom shape any modulation source's input to any output target range.

Example of basic use for shaping key tracking:

Lets say you have a sound done that plays really nicely from C1 to around C3 but then as you go further up the keyboard some specific notes sound a bit shrill and resonant due to various synthesis parameters causing resonances and buildup of the fundamental frequency. What do you do? You could EQ it if it's one specific tone.. but what if it is always a multiple of a certain key that has the unwanted problems and thus happens in all octaves? This is where you make a custom key tracking modifier and then make it so that your problem is fixed for this specific key only. Now you got a nice even synth preset that doesn't need EQ nor compression to sound even and nice. End result is that it's nicer to play and fits better in a mix.

-The filters are very nice imho. Indeed, Rapid lacks a couple of good/different high pass filters, but to me there are other additions that make up for those, like a truly amazing COMB filter and the 'special' LP filters. I must admit that i usually use hp filters to filter a bit of the bottom out of the signal. So i personally don't need more hp filters.

HP and BP filters are very fundamental sound design tools.. not just basic "remove the lows" stuff. Especially in a synth that builds on layering sounds. It would be very nice to have good sounding "analogue like" HP and BP. Like the Vintage LP filter in Rapid (which sounds really good imho).

-i don't agree about the lack of modifiers per se. In most (if not all) modulation sources, there is a depth knob. One can mod that knob to achieve the same result.

Yes you can do a few work a rounds like that but what do you do if you want to have an envelope modulate the cutoff, then the envelope depth modulated by velocity which in turn is affected by the key tracking so that you get more aggressive envelope modulation on high key ranges (a quite simple scenario for some pluck sounds).

Flexible modulation is what in my opinion makes a synth truly "organic" in terms of keyboard playability.

Rapid already has a rudimentary modulation matrix. Most of these basics could be easily solved by allowing the actual matrix slots to be modulation targets.

Sure it isn't Falcon, or Reaktor, but it is a great workhorse. And with the addition of the granular engine, it only got better

I already got a lot of workhorse synthesizers (including Falcon and Reaktor) and also some that are more capable with similar feature sets (Avenger for instance but it has it's own silly quirks and stupid design decisions.. not to mention the horrible copy protection). Rapid's low CPU usage and awesome UI is what keeps me hoping for it to get more friendly for tinkers like me.

Rapid is for sure one of the best, if not THE best, synths for beginners to start out with. It does all the basics very well and is plenty capable when no deep diving is needed. It also seems to have quite a decent built in library and 3rd party support for more sounds, for those that don't make their own.

So yeah, don't get me wrong.. Rapid is undoubtedly great but with it's current feature set it isn't for me and I've outlined in my posts why that is the case.

i still would rate AVENGER as my NUMBER 1 but i have no respet for vengeance for this crap move with their copy protetion, they just an do it ause people adapt asap and support this shit. i have hopes RAPID will be HEAVILY ompeteable and get some customers from AVENGER away so vengeance would improve and move to customer friendliness but it doesnt look like it. i also dont are if people majoritywise have no prob with the new CP it is the move and the style from them. so i hope Parawave takes this chance doesnt implement a crap CP as well and heavily improves RAPID and makes it kick Avenger's butt! ompetition is nice in this. still i love Avenger and use it pre-1.5, but it wont work for too long i guess cause i smell they will just dont support you anymore if you dont upgrade.

[steve.lindqvist]

Still no possibility in 1.8 to step through presets via key commands? After all these years. Comen on guys, this must be a joke. It's 2020.
No one really cares?

[exmatproton]

Still no possibility in 1.8 to step through presets via key commands? After all these years. Comen on guys, this must be a joke. It's 2020.
No one really cares?

I don't care, no.

[zvenx]

I do. but 1.85 says preset improvements are coming so I hope it comes then. (I swore at some point I thought it did respond to the computer keyboard arrows)
rsp

[exmatproton]

isadly cannot still test it as im not back but how is the GRANULAR engine's soundquality ompared to AVENGER?

Less heavy on the cpu, sounds lovely and to me, the way it is presented, works better for quick (but good and comprehensive) work.

[bmanic]

It's one of the fundamental building blocks of something like Camel Audio Alchemy and one of the main reasons it is so powerful. You can custom shape any modulation source's input to any output target range.

What other VSTs do this? I want to try it out--but not sure any I own have this capability.

Arturia Pigments, VPS Avenger, UVI Falcon, ImageLine Harmor and any Melda Production FX or synth. There are probably many more but can't think of any right now.

[Caine123]

No MSEGs yet it seems, though apparently in 1.9. Wonder what the ETA is for that!

yes MSEG's are a must! i love those

[bmanic]

isadly cannot still test it as im not back but how is the GRANULAR engine's soundquality ompared to AVENGER?

The granular part was the most impressive thing about the new version in my opinion. It's far less taxing on CPU than Avenger or Pigments (and most of my own Reaktor ensembles) but still sounds really good. I also very much like the controls and layout of how the granular section works.

If I do purchase Rapid now due to the discount, it's because the granular stuff alone. I'd still probably be massively frustrated by the lack of modulation capabilities. Again, key tracking is such a key feature for abusing interesting short length granular sounds due to how grain count + length + shape directly affects the "comb filter" like sound that happens, and thus the actual pitch of the cluster.

There's not much missing in terms of modulation capabilities in Rapid to upgrade it from average/vanilla to something spectacular. All the founding blocks are already in place.