Future of Synth Squad - props and cons

[zvenx]

........
I see. Well, I've been mostly using Strobe and Fusor, maybe that's why I haven't noticed the problem. I actually played Strobe 8x oversampled just to try and nothing bad happened to my CPU, so that's also why I thought the CPU usage wasn't so bad. As for one instance at a time, I had projects with up to 20 instances of Fusor and Strobe and still no problems occured.

But I'll take a better look at Amber and Cypher in the future .

well I will get to see it from your perspective as I just pre-ordered your bank for Strobe and Fusor, which sounds really good....I think this bank may actual make me want to use strobe which the stock sounds weren't my cup of tea (didn't much take to cypher stock sounds either till himalaya's banks but still have to deal with the 'problems' in the software)

rsp

[zvenx]

Thank you for the vote of confidence.

you are most welcome. I am sure many others, like myself, think you have more than earned it.

rsp

[musikmachine]

I'm kinda surprised Groove3 or someone hasn't done a series on Synth Squad. They'd sell faster than an IK groupbuy!

http://www.groove3.com/str/synths-explained.html

i sold synth squad... diva fits me better (and zebra2 )

Yeah came across that on the Fx forums. I mean an in depth series but there's nothing. Groove 3 has done them for Maschine and Trilian and there's tons of tutorials for Massive. Guess there's nothing else for it but to roll up ya sleeves and get stuck in.

Some tuts on the semi trans-modular patching with Fusor would be good though.

[musikmachine]

They don't support XP and Vistas anymore, but that doesn't mean they won't work. They just don't have manpower for that.
If you have spikes and have Phenom you should try the new betas.

Yeah they caught a bug with that which was fixed in the latest beta.

[pdxindy]

None of the above demos are designed to dazzle anyone with some otherworldly analog sound. But I suppose sound makes a break from having to read so many words (sorry 'bout that).

I wish more people posted sounds...

[musikmachine]

How the heck did DIVA get dragged into this thread and continues to pop up. There is no way SS compares to it. Very different sounds and no doubt algorithms going on under the bonnet! Personally I think this comparison is an insult!

Don;t get me wrong I own both and more.

I have yet to get into SS so recommend some WOW factor for me to explore.

Personally I in find the GUI fiddly and messey. Soundwise I think vanguard is a better comparisson.

Post or recommend some astounding SS presets and I'll dig in. I find SS run of the mill till convinced otherwise.

I've only really started to explore it recently but i think it's more of a workhorse than a racehorse. What sold me on it was a moving sounscape i created with Cypher in Fusor, i'll have to see if i can find the patch. I like the sequencer as well for building drum patterns and riffs in standalone or just when i'm noodling on my laptop.

[musikmachine]

There has to be a way to browse presets quickly through with computer keys (or midi map those little arrows in preset slot). Any work around for this omission or is it only demo which lacks key commands?

Not afaik, you have to use the browser or PCs. Be good to have those arrows mappable like in Geist. Maybe you could set something up with Bomes midi translator.

[SKoT_FX]

To clear up some misinformation about our 64bit updates policy:

BFD2 and Synth Squad have free 64bit updates. (Public beta available, BFD2 is RC)

*BFD Eco* v1.5 is a paid upgrade that comes with an additional kit of a type that would sell for more than the upgrade price by itself.

[buttrock]

just wanted to show some love for synthsquad. Strobe and even more so Cypher have become go-to synths for me. The Transmod system and espacially the unison and random mod-sources are really unique and powerfull. The harshness which is often mentionded, is mostly due to the high drive settings. Reduce drive and it sounds sweet as honey

[PsynwavArkitekt]

SS is awesome. over the two years i have been a registered user i have slowly fallen in love more and more with these synths.
it took a while, as the presets seemed too aggressive, and patches i ended up making were worse. i recognised its potential instantly tho.

these days i find i am able to get just about any sound i want from this squad.

i find the gui to be great to work with. the transmod is brilliant. and the unison is superb. with strobe, some unison, sync, detune etc can make it big.

i love amber. i find it is wonderful for making dark evolving chords. i never use it for disco strings.

the filters are superb on all three synths.

i havent found cpu to be too much of an issue really. i use an i5 lappie. a cheap one at that.

i have found FXpansion to be a superb company. they have always responded quickly to me, and have been far better at helping me resolve an issue with thier help.. as opposed to NI, who, even tho i have a number of synths, and hardware units of theirs, are terrible at responding personally, and fob you off to look in the manual, or online help forum....like, derr. as if i wouldnt have done that allready... fxpansion are a joy compared to NI.

i have been doing so a/b checks against my virus ti, that i recently got... my latest toy, after an evolver, and to telll you the truth, the osc in strobe, is indistinguishable in many respects. in fact, i was pleasantly surprised across the board how good ss stack up against the virus. the effects section in fusor, were on par too. and the filters are just awesome.. i think the ss filters are second to none.

i love ss. i also love all of urs stuff too. zebra is incredible. it blows me away consistently.

i do find that as i am improving... that i now can set myself a challenge and see if i can use nothing but ableton suite instruments and effects to emulate the virus, or emulate zebra etc... i am pleasently surprised how good suite is after a few years of learning it. so i do feel there is credence in that old saying about getting to know whatever synth you have well. they can all do it all. and their makers make sure they stand up well against the competition in the marketplace.

so, i cannot comment on diva. bu ti feel it is good also. sheesh, urs made it. it must be. urs stuff just is good. it sounds so good.
but this is about Synth Squad. i would say get it. and get to know it slowly. i think it is a creeper. and a definite keeper.

[silikonanswer]

The worst thing of these synth is that they are very resource hungry. They put my i7 920 to its knees (With 6 Mb f RAM). But they sound awesome. Which CPUs/RAM combination do you use?

[filtide]

6 Mb ram is not enough for mor than like 10 years, time to upgrade! ;P
I can run 6 Fusors with no oversampling, along with 3 other vstis along with dozens of effects no problem on Q9550 with 1024 samples.
Lower your realtime oversampling and set 512 or 1024 samples for buffer size.

[osiris]

Don't be ridiculous. I have 2 mb of RAM and can run like 2 Massives, 2 Zeta's and 2 Nexus without a hitch. (and on a 18 track fully fx'd and mixed song that's 7 minutes long.
I had 1 Massive up and put in 1 instance of Strobe and CPU went to 35 percent.

[filtide]

I'm still wondering how can you even boot with that much ram

[sabiwa]

My first generation macbook from 2006 (2Gb) handles SS demo without any glitch - 2x oversampling that is. One instance of SS is enough for my workflow anyway.