SYN'X 2.5 Released - Xils-Lab - (Multitimbral Synthex - intro discount-)

[breakmixer]

Here my Synthix only 8 bar loop using presets/tweaked!

SYNTHIX LOOP

Thanks for your kind words too !!

Why only 8 bars !

Best regards
Xavier

I was just demoing it and loved the sound so much started laying down some channels to see how it sounded in the mix, and after I'd done this I thought I'd just covert it to an Mp3 to upload to this thread, you can use loads of instances of this without it sounding muddy, the sound seems to cut through and sit in the mix - never before have I gravitated towards a VST synth so quickly...

btw when I reloaded the project the whole thing was just using 'init' patches as per the dongleless demo...

So 8 bars because just testing the demo...

[Lotuzia]

Hi everyone,

after i got the Synthix full version on Wednesday and Xils 3 (+ Xilistics) today i reprogrammed the Brass sound which i first did with Synthix on Xils 3 now.

Here is the demo and the Synthix demo for comparison (both with the same MIDI data):

https://rapidshare.com/files/2286938518 ... Demo_1.mp3

https://rapidshare.com/files/268370146/ ... Demo_1.mp3

Drums are from FXpansion Geist, no external FXs used.

Reprogramming this in Xils 3 was only possible with the additional envelope and the colored Matrix pins of the latest full version so this should not work on Xils 3 LE as it does not include those features AFAIK.



PS:
When i get the two PolyKB II banks from the Xils site i'll have all their available products then (except the LE and player version)...
Like already mentioned those 3 Xils synths together with Largo, PPG Wave 3.V, Synthmaster 2.5 and Dune are more than enough to do sound design for the rest of the year i guess.
Based on those synths mentioned above i already started cleaning up my "virtual synth rig" so i'll sell some of them soon.


Ingo

Hi Ingo,

Good examples

Off Topic : Hope you'll enjoy the Xilistic Soundset. Besides all the presets playable as it, it also offers some "synth templates" wich can be usefull for SDs or Power Users as "starting points" so that you dont have to redo at each time the same basic routings. On the Xils 3 you can even save these ( the left panel matrix ) as templates.

Then Ingo DO NOT PURCHASE the XILS 3 LE now that you have the XILS 3 : Its useless cos the XILS 3 can do ALL that the LE can do ( and much more ) And you cant have both installed. In a project the DAW will load either the LE or full Xils 3, according to wich is intalled atm.

LtZ

[Ingonator]

Hi Ingo,

Good examples

Off Topic : Hope you'll enjoy the Xilistic Soundset. Besides all the presets playable as it, it also offers some "synth templates" wich can be usefull for SDs or Power Users as "starting points" so that you dont have to redo at each time the same basic routings. On the Xils 3 you can even save these ( the left panel matrix ) as templates.

Then Ingo DO NOT PURCHASE the XILS 3 LE now that you have the XILS 3 : Its useless cos the XILS 3 can do ALL that the LE can do ( and much more ) And you cant have both installed. In a project the DAW will load either the LE or full Xils 3, according to wich is intalled atm.

LtZ

Hi Laurent,

i just answered the email you sent.

Yes, i know that Xils LE is not necessary for me. This Brass sound is not possible with the LE version as it uses a second envelope and the colored matrix pins.
The Xilistic set is really nice and a nice addition to the factory sounds which were not so much "overwhelming" tbh (IMO of course).
I haven't checked the three banks from Simon but i guess there is still room for some of my own sounds.

Like already mentioned the only Xils product missing now are the two "Analog Bag" sound sets for PolyKB II but that "problem" could be solved soon.
After checking those, the bank from Simon and the ones from Julian i'll see what i could add to the PolyKB II sound collection.

Anyway the number 1 priority will be on Synthix now as first this is my favorite from the Xils synths and second it's quite new.


Ingo

[Nielzie]

The Xilistic set is really nice and a nice addition to the factory sounds which were not so much "overwhelming" tbh (IMO of course).
I haven't checked the three banks from Simon but i guess there is still room for some of my own sounds.

I fully agree and must say that the Xilistic soundset was a big revelation to me at how unbelievable versatile the XILS 3 is in its sonic capabilities. Not only for graspy, burbly, bleepy, spacy stuff but also for more "bread and butter" like sounds. And that was after I had fallen in love with the XILS 3 LE which I solely used in my 2 tracks for the Xils-lab competition

I hope there will be more soundsets for it! I'm mostly a preset tweaker and learning with joy from all them nice patches

Will be very interested in soundsets for the Synthix too of course!

[Ingonator]

The Xilistic set is really nice and a nice addition to the factory sounds which were not so much "overwhelming" tbh (IMO of course).
I haven't checked the three banks from Simon but i guess there is still room for some of my own sounds.

I fully agree and must say that the Xilistic soundset was a big revelation to me at how unbelievable versatile the XILS 3 is in its sonic capabilities. Not only for graspy, burbly, bleepy, spacy stuff but also for more "bread and butter" like sounds. And that was after I had fallen in love with the XILS 3 LE which I solely used in my 2 tracks for the Xils-lab competition

I hope there will be more soundsets for it! I'm mostly a preset tweaker and learning with joy from all them nice patches

Will be very interested in soundsets for the Synthix too of course!

Hello Niels,

as i own the whole "Xils Trilogy" now (and "dump" some of my older synths) you could expect some banks from me for those. My guess is that the first one will be for Synthix.
I hope i could add some more "bread and" butter sounds to Xils 3 too.


Ingo

[theeyesoftruthd101m]

there are just 76 presets in the demo?

where are the 128 presets?

[Lotuzia]

there are just 76 presets in the demo?

where are the 128 presets?

Hi TheEyesOfTruth,

Yes this bug has beenn reported by another user so we're not sure if it affects all systems or only certain ones but it will be fixed asap.

A new version of the dongleless demo will then be ULed so that users can test the Synthix with more instruments included.

Thanks for reporting,

LtZ

[Lotuzia]

The Xilistic set is really nice and a nice addition to the factory sounds which were not so much "overwhelming" tbh (IMO of course).
I haven't checked the three banks from Simon but i guess there is still room for some of my own sounds.

I fully agree and must say that the Xilistic soundset was a big revelation to me at how unbelievable versatile the XILS 3 is in its sonic capabilities. Not only for graspy, burbly, bleepy, spacy stuff but also for more "bread and butter" like sounds. And that was after I had fallen in love with the XILS 3 LE which I solely used in my 2 tracks for the Xils-lab competition

I hope there will be more soundsets for it! I'm mostly a preset tweaker and learning with joy from all them nice patches

Will be very interested in soundsets for the Synthix too of course!

Thanks a lot Niels

Well the Xils 3 Original Library is very adventurous and Sound Research oriented.

Thats why I did Xilistics : To offer everyone some more bread and butter instruments, and also to show that the Xils3 was prefectly able to produce erf /........ "normal" instruments and not only mad scientist experiments ( But well I'm also very fond of mad scientist things so ....... )

LtZ

[Ingonator]

Hi everyone, today i thought about doing a "Hypersaw" like Synth Strings sound with Synthix. I have made an audio demo of my first attempt, this time "raw" without any drums:

https://rapidshare.com/files/1950724388 ... ings_1.mp3

This is a single instance of Synthix recorded "live" without any external FXs.

BTW this was NOT done with the unison so you could guess yourself how it works...
It also contains a bit of the beautiful Synthix Chorus but that's not the "trick".


Besides others there is also a new Sync Lead sound from me, maybe i'll post a demo tomorrow or when i have done a collection of some more sounds.


Have fun,
Ingo

[Mr. Breeze]

After playing with the demo for couple of hours, here are my first impressions and thoughts.

I have never played with a real Synthex, so I don't really care how close the emulation is (I trust it's pretty close anyway). What is more important for me is the actual sound. Do I like it? Can I use it? After reading all this praise, I was expecting to be blown away by any note I hit. Well, I must say I was a bit disappointed at first. The sounds that I got out were good, but not great. Until I found the Chaox LFO, that is. Assigning that to the filter cutoff frequency seemed to add the missing magic to pretty much any sound. I've only scratched the surface, but I'm sure I will spend a lot of time with this LFO.

Speaking of modulation, I have request that should be easy to implement and would be very useful for me. I would like to have bypass button (or clickable LED) for each modulation. I often try to use a tiny amount of modulation on various destinations just to give enough motion to make the sound alive. So you wouldn't even notice the modulation until you bypass it, then you start to miss it.

Then some words about the layers. I really struggled to understand the concept. After reading the corresponding chapter in the manual several times, it still didn't make any sense to me. It was only after trying this hands-on with the demo when things started to be clearer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's I understand it. If the unison is off, this is not about layers at all, it's just eight monophonic synths triggered in succession with each keystroke. If all have almost the same sound, the overall feel should be less machinelike. Of course, if all have completely different sounds, this could yield to some wild effects. The layer really means a layer only if the unison mode is selected. And this is where it really becomes confusing. For example, if want to play two layers of sound simultaneously, hard pan them left and right and detune the other layer, I have to do the following. Select 'Unison On: 2 voices', select 'layers' 1, 3, 5, 7 and pan them hard left, select 'layers' 2, 4, 6, 8 and pan them hard right and detune. Well, it worked, but hardly user friendly or clear. It becomes even more cumbersome if you want to have three layers of sounds simultaneously. You can have max 5 voices simultaneously using 15 of the available voices (the 16th will become useless). About selecting the layers, I would prefer the same logic as used in Windows file explorer (click to select, ctrl+click to select more, ctrl+click selected will unselect it, shift+click selects a range). All in all, I feel this layer stuff is an interesting idea with great potential, but it currently lacks clarity and clear vision.

Many people have critized the GUI. Apart from the layers (see above) I find it pretty clear and intuitive. The only gripe I have, is the grey color (I don't even count grey as a color). An easy way to please me would be to offer a color selection dialog which allows me to change the background color to any color the operating system supports.

Given the great introductory price and the fact that I'm suffering from a chronic gear acquisition syndrome, Synthix will make a nice addition to my ever growing collection of soft synths. Although not a love at first sight, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

[Ingonator]

I seem to be a bit confused with the layers too. The sound in my last demo was made with layers but after checking the manual i guess i must have a look at it again.

UPDATE:
After checking this again i have to say it only looked like the layers in my patch sounded right but it's just cycling through the layers. I'll try to get this right and publish another demo then.

UPDATE:
Looks like i finally start to understand the layers. In fact it seems to be comparable to the "Differential Unison Engine" in Dune. Normally you got the same sound in all 8 layers which when used with unison leads to that typical sound. When you use diffent sounds for e.g. the layers and use 4 voice unison it will play all those 4 layers at once, also in polyphonic mode (where "POLY Reset" seems to be best in this case).
I have now used a combination the Upper/Lower keyboard and 2 voice Unison to play 4 different layers at once. Of course the polyphony is limited to 4 in this case.


Ingo

[Lotuzia]

After playing with the demo for couple of hours, here are my first impressions and thoughts.

I have never played with a real Synthex, so I don't really care how close the emulation is (I trust it's pretty close anyway). What is more important for me is the actual sound. Do I like it? Can I use it? After reading all this praise, I was expecting to be blown away by any note I hit. Well, I must say I was a bit disappointed at first. The sounds that I got out were good, but not great. Until I found the Chaox LFO, that is. Assigning that to the filter cutoff frequency seemed to add the missing magic to pretty much any sound. I've only scratched the surface, but I'm sure I will spend a lot of time with this LFO.

Speaking of modulation, I have request that should be easy to implement and would be very useful for me. I would like to have bypass button (or clickable LED) for each modulation. I often try to use a tiny amount of modulation on various destinations just to give enough motion to make the sound alive. So you wouldn't even notice the modulation until you bypass it, then you start to miss it.

Then some words about the layers. I really struggled to understand the concept. After reading the corresponding chapter in the manual several times, it still didn't make any sense to me. It was only after trying this hands-on with the demo when things started to be clearer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's I understand it. If the unison is off, this is not about layers at all, it's just eight monophonic synths triggered in succession with each keystroke. If all have almost the same sound, the overall feel should be less machinelike. Of course, if all have completely different sounds, this could yield to some wild effects. The layer really means a layer only if the unison mode is selected. And this is where it really becomes confusing. For example, if want to play two layers of sound simultaneously, hard pan them left and right and detune the other layer, I have to do the following. Select 'Unison On: 2 voices', select 'layers' 1, 3, 5, 7 and pan them hard left, select 'layers' 2, 4, 6, 8 and pan them hard right and detune. Well, it worked, but hardly user friendly or clear. It becomes even more cumbersome if you want to have three layers of sounds simultaneously. You can have max 5 voices simultaneously using 15 of the available voices (the 16th will become useless). About selecting the layers, I would prefer the same logic as used in Windows file explorer (click to select, ctrl+click to select more, ctrl+click selected will unselect it, shift+click selects a range). All in all, I feel this layer stuff is an interesting idea with great potential, but it currently lacks clarity and clear vision.

Many people have critized the GUI. Apart from the layers (see above) I find it pretty clear and intuitive. The only gripe I have, is the grey color (I don't even count grey as a color). An easy way to please me would be to offer a color selection dialog which allows me to change the background color to any color the operating system supports.

Given the great introductory price and the fact that I'm suffering from a chronic gear acquisition syndrome, Synthix will make a nice addition to my ever growing collection of soft synths. Although not a love at first sight, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…

Mr Breeze ( And Ingo )

A LOT OF QUESTIONS

Instead of answering each question, wich could lead to cascading and nested other questions, i'll give a few examples of layering techniwues in the Synthix, that you can extend further to even most sophisticated structures by yourself after.


Simple Two instruments Layering :

Just Use the TWO KEYBOARDS and NO UNISSON ( to preserve Polyphony ).
Assign Layer 1 to 4 to LOWER KEYBOARD, Then assign Layers 5 to 8 to UPPER KEYBOARD. Then program the layers using the following techniques : Make Layers 1 to 4 editable ( Select Layer 1 and Shiftrightclick layer 4 ). Program your layers. Then use the TOGGLE FUNCTION ( Click under layers bar ) to alternate between layers 1/4 and 5/8 editable. Edit as usual ie as if you alternate bewtween to panels. OF course you Should not set a SPLIT POINT for upper and lower Keyboards. If you do so you're working on A SPLIT preset, and not a Layer.

Alternative Layer 1

one layer wor a bass sound and the remaining ones for a Pad Sound. This will lead to the same results.

The Huge 6 different layers Lead

Select each layer one by one and edit them. You can also use unisson as a bonus but its not mandatory. All the eight sounds are completely independant, and have their own panel. You cn use the MUTE and SOLO buttons of the layers to keep things more clear while working.

Combined with the Rythm LFO, or ARPS, or Sequencer, or all this can lead to incredible results, be it FX, or monstruous thick instruments.

Here you MUST choose to get the help of the Unisson, so that each note stroke triggers all layers (ie unisson 3 to 6 minimum ). You'll then most probably choose one of the monomodes. But you can also choose a combination of polycircular and unisson modes, so that a note stroke generates alternatively this huge 4 layers two unsisson voice, or that equally monstruous 4 layers tow unisson voices.

Complex 3 voices (or more) voices layering : As Mr Breeze spotted it you'll have to take the help of the Unisson there IF you want that all the notes played triggered at least a layer of each type each time a key is stroke ( But you can also choose to make some layers random triggered.)

The technique I used is alternate layer programming (ie 1+3+5+7, then 2+4+6+8 ) as Mr Breeze found it ( Kudos ) ( 1/4/7, and 2/5/8, + 3/6 will give some excellent results with a 3 notes unisson toon though adding a kind of structural randomness in layers 3/6 management, than you can also use as independant 3 AND 6 to generate pseudorandom musical events )

Also you'll prefer to choose one of the following Polyphonic play modes : Polycircular ones. This ensure that all incoming notes will generate about the same sonic content for a note.

And then gentlemen you can choose more complex hybridations based on polyphonic or mono modes, arpgegiattors, layers, etc.

Wich in the end makes that the SYnthix can be used in simple panel mode, or transform itself into a huge complex sound laboratory, not so different from some modular systems, but using very different tools and paradigms of the musical gesture

To go for the complex modes, or ...... beyond, I wont hide the fact that it WILL take some hours to get used to the layers selection techniques, and a more than basic understanding on how the layers/voices/ etc combinations interact and work. But well its not that easy to make very complex things in a very easy way

Hope it answers to your questions Ingo and Mr Breeze + I'll certainly make a tutorial during holydays about 1/ The Layers selection techniques 2/ Some basic patches/layering techniques. On a video tutorial it will much more easy to understand the different techniques and associate them to UI and GUI blocks.

+ Ingo : I like the Infected Strings patch !

LtZ

[Ingonator]

+ Ingo : I like the Infected Strings patch !

LtZ

Hi Laurent,

yes i like it too but like already mentioned it didn't use the layers in the correct way (in fact it only played all layers when playing chords) so i'll post an updated demo soon.
In fact like already mentioned i used a combination of Lower/Upper keyboard and 2 voice unison to get the 4 layers done. This way i got identical layers at 1 + 3, 2 + 4, 5 + 7 and 6 + 8. The first 4 at the Upper keyboard and the others at the Lower one.

BTW the CPU consumption with all 16 voices played is quite high at my system (Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 4 x 2,4 GHz, Windows 7 32-bit, Ableton Live 8.2.2). It reaches up to 75% on this. At least this is the value in Ableton Live 8, on Windows itself it's between 25-50%.


Ingo

[Ingonator]

Hi Laurent,

based on what i already said in the last post i made a new demo now based on the corrected layer settings:
https://rapidshare.com/files/501806727/ ... _1_new.mp3

Here is the old one for comparison:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1950724388 ... ings_1.mp3

The old demo is only correct in the parts where i used at least 4 notes at once, in the others only some of the parts were used. You could hear the difference at the beginning and at the end where i used only 1-2 notes.

UPDATE:
The new version is quite CPU demanding so i tried to do a comparable "light" version ("LE") with 2 layers and 2 voice unison:
https://rapidshare.com/files/497453620/ ... ngs_LE.mp3

I have chosen the layers in a way that most of the sound of the 4 layer version is kept. There is a difference but it's not really big IMO.




Ingo

[Timfonie]

(sorry, accidentally posted here)