AAS Ultra Analog VA-2

[EnGee]

The demo is fully functional for 15 days. I needed only one day to decide! So, I found it in the market place and bought it

I still have 14 days to play with it till I have the license transferred.

Although there is no modulation matrix but it can do a wide range of sounds in spite of its limited modulations, which surprised me. I think it's especially great at percussion, bass and leads

[fluffy_little_something]

Did you buy classic's license?

Yes, it has the modulation matrix in the form of lots of dedicated knobs in the respective sections.

What I miss a bit are retrigger and phase controls for the osc's.

[EnGee]

What is the classic's license? I thought there is one kind of license, right? I think it is the full version! We will see

Yes, the modulation is fixed, but still the sound is great really. I thought it would be a cpu hog but not at all! Similar sounds produced with NI Prism or other physical modelling use a lot of cpu really, so that I got rid of NI Prism and other Reaktor synths.

Have you tried the demo? how much cpu in your PC? I don't think that much really! I think it is comparable to mine.

[fluffy_little_something]

No, I meant the user Classic, who sells it for $50

I used to have the demo on my computer a long time ago, but the user interface was smaller back then, so I did not buy it. I have reinstalled the demo, but it does not make any sound because there still is a registry entry I suppose.

[EnGee]

Oh
No, it is from a user called "tclak" for also $50

Oh, why don't you ask the developer to extend the demo for you? Maybe they can do it for you. It is a very good synth really. I especially like the Percussion sounds (which I think it is their specialty!) and Basses are wonderful. It also can do nice pads and atmospheric sounds. It gives you the feeling of a 'clean' analog, which I like more than 'dirty' analog!

I don't know about the size, but it is OK in my monitor, not small as in Korg synths but it is like Hybrid3 or SEM V font and knobs size.

[db3]

VA-2 can often be spotted cheap in the marketplace. The GUI is a bit of a mess, but you can certainly conjure nice warm interesting VA tones from the twin filter design and integrated effects. Most presets are vintage in style, but with 4x detuned unison you can get some more contemporary EDM soundage. Poly pads with 4x unison are the only real concern for cpu cycles.

[fluffy_little_something]

Oh
No, it is from a user called "tclak" for also $50

Oh, why don't you ask the developer to extend the demo for you? Maybe they can do it for you. It is a very good synth really. I especially like the Percussion sounds (which I think it is their specialty!) and Basses are wonderful. It also can do nice pads and atmospheric sounds. It gives you the feeling of a 'clean' analog, which I like more than 'dirty' analog!

So, do you still like it? Just asking before I buy it as well, you are my guinea pig and taster

[EnGee]

I still like it, but if you really want to know if it is in my hall of fame synths, ask me after one year

[fluffy_little_something]

Bought it meanwhile, was kind of a lottery game as the demo version expired long ago, so I haven't actually heard it in a long time.

One thing I noticed, also with their string synth, is that when setting the pitch bend range and saving it as the default, the next time I open my DAW it is back to 12 semitones again. Maybe a bug...

The knobs of the user interface still suck, hard to see the settings because of the metal shine.

The GUI is a bit clumsy with those zillions of panels/tabs.

The sound is OK, but not really more than that, I'm afraid. But for 50 bucks it is ok.

[MarlaPodolski]

I get a real kick out of all the whining and complaints this synth receives. Typical of a certain mentality. Meanwhile, I usually prefer NOT to talk about this synth. Today is the only rare exception, just 'cause the stink constantly raised over it is beyond logic.

Why don't you all just go a use Zebra? Seems most want cookie-cutter looks and sounds anyway. You can just leave this UA-2 to me and the few others who know awesome sounds when we hear them and can comprehend the abilities and potential in this particular synth. Apparently many others cannot. And that is so totally fine with me!

[ariston]

Why don't you all just go a use Zebra? Seems most want cookie-cutter looks and sounds anyway. You can just leave this UA-2 to me and the few others who know awesome sounds when we hear them and can comprehend the abilities and potential in this particular synth. Apparently many others cannot. And that is so totally fine with me!

There there... you're just as deserving of love as the rest of us. Have a cookie.

[EnGee]

Why don't you all just go a use Zebra?

Good idea
I'm going after the Black Friday

[2ZrgE]

I get a real kick out of all the whining and complaints this synth receives. Typical of a certain mentality. Meanwhile, I usually prefer NOT to talk about this synth. Today is the only rare exception, just 'cause the stink constantly raised over it is beyond logic.

Why don't you all just go a use Zebra? Seems most want cookie-cutter looks and sounds anyway. You can just leave this UA-2 to me and the few others who know awesome sounds when we hear them and can comprehend the abilities and potential in this particular synth. Apparently many others cannot. And that is so totally fine with me!

AAS decided to deliver a shitty GUI, so they have to live with complaints.

It's really funny: Do synth GUI designers use the synths they are 'designing'?

[ghettosynth]

I get a real kick out of all the whining and complaints this synth receives. Typical of a certain mentality. Meanwhile, I usually prefer NOT to talk about this synth. Today is the only rare exception, just 'cause the stink constantly raised over it is beyond logic.

Why don't you all just go a use Zebra? Seems most want cookie-cutter looks and sounds anyway. You can just leave this UA-2 to me and the few others who know awesome sounds when we hear them and can comprehend the abilities and potential in this particular synth. Apparently many others cannot. And that is so totally fine with me!

To each his own, I don't like the filters in AAS synths. Consequently, I only like the AAS synths that aren't extremely dependent on the filter, e.g., collision. While I don't like the VA-2 gui, it's the sound that is meh to me. I'm really glad that Ableton put Andy's filters in Operator and Sampler. They should have put them in Analog as well.

What I understand even less is why people get so upset when other's are critical of the products that they like. The Omnisphere crowd is renowned for this. Why would you care that other people don't like VA-2? For me, the most helpful opinions when I'm trying to make a decision come from people who are willing to express some criticism. I've long learned to ignore gushing "me-toos" from fans. They may be have basis in fact or they may just be the result of popularity. Critics often say why the don't like something and you can decide if their point of view matters to you.

[fluffy_little_something]

It is in no way a bad synth, mind you. I like its basses and leads most of all. For pads it sounds a bit thin (there is a unison mode, but it uses more CPU, nor does it sound so good with pads), so it complements Sylenth nicely, which is great at pads due to its multiple waves per osc.

But really, the panel and tab layout of the edit view makes operation more difficult than necessary and thus reduces the fun. There is that bigger section in the center which contains the most frequently used controls, and to the right there are the tabbed detailed panels. What is the point of that when both are on the same screen, right next to each other? That distinction only makes sense when the detailed controls are on a different screen while the most frequent controls are on the general screen so to speak.
They could have used the space they wasted on that distinction for displaying all controls of each synth line in a single view. This way there would only be two tabs for switching between synth line 1 and 2.