KVR Audio

MFXxx · Post by **MFXxx** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:09 am

Never got into any of the Rob Papen synths, demoed a few just never sat right with me personally.

Sure many people like them and take to them well....this one seems to be (like a few others) rather gimmicky, although a lot of work must og into them!

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:52 am

So far I'm not really interested.

Blue is probably the only one that has me slightly interested in. However I have more than my fair share of stuff that covers similar ground already.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:15 pm

It gets panned by CM, only 5/10 rating. Seldom do they give such low ratings

Raw suffers particularly heavy in comparison with the more recent Bazille and Spire synths, which ... simply blow it away in terms of sound and functionality, and Raw doesn't have either the flexibility or great sound of previous Papen creations like Albino 3 or Blue II

Sendy · Post by **Sendy** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:20 pm

Numanoid wrote:It gets panned by CM, only 5/10 rating. Seldom do they give such low ratings
Raw suffers particularly heavy in comparison with the more recent Bazille and Spire synths, which ... simply blow it away in terms of sound and functionality, and Raw doesn't have either the flexibility or great sound of previous Papen creations like Albino 3 or Blue II

Has Hell frozen over?

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:21 pm

I guess Rob didn't advertise in there this month.

EagleZone · Post by **EagleZone** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:31 pm

CM gave Magix Music Maker 2/10 in a recent issue (TWO!) and wasn't even really based on the product, more the optional add-ons and lack of info re: a specific new feature... So is possible they have gone mentally ill.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:54 pm

According to the blurb in the KVR database what makes RAW special is:

RAW has a focus on 'distorted' sounds, so this means that it has a different signal setup, synthesizer-wise. We have two oscillators and a FILTER, but what is new when compared to our other synthesizers is that you have an EQ that can be pre- or post-distortion. After that, there is also a WAVESHAPER and dedicated DISTORTION module with several types of distortion, as well as a LOW FI control. This is new to this synthesizer, and it's part of the concept that the distortions are on the voice level, so it's not just a case of a total signal going into the distortions, but rather each voice has its own WAVESHAPER, DISTORTION, and LOW FI — plenty of options to shape the sound here!"

Do they also come up with terms of their own, or is LOW FI the same as lo-fi ?

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:01 pm

Mushy Mushy wrote:I guess Rob didn't advertise in there this month.

Maybe they got something against Rob?

There is a lenghty feature on FM synthesis elsewhere in the mag, where they list 10 terrfic FM VST's.

They put two synths from Image Line on that list, but award no space to Blue II. I would maybe have picked Blue II over Toxic BH ?

Nightpolymath · Post by **Nightpolymath** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:26 pm

Was the 5/10 justified? Probably yes, since they could have come up with a better GUI than the one they have now. You get the feeling that the product was rushed to market. I don't have a problem with the sounds, though, and Raw serves its market niche. The execution could have been better. An update can take care of it.

Igro · Post by **Igro** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:33 pm

I have a feeling that the synth been constructed using modules from their older synths. The lack of audio rate modulation is confusing.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:34 pm

Nightpolymath wrote:Was the 5/10 justified? Probably yes, since they could have come up with a better GUI than the one they have now.

It looks very much like a Reason RE.

It would probably fill more of a hole on that platform too.

Nightpolymath · Post by **Nightpolymath** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:50 pm

Numanoid wrote:
Nightpolymath wrote:Was the 5/10 justified? Probably yes, since they could have come up with a better GUI than the one they have now.
It looks very much like a Reason RE.

It would probably fill more of a hole on that platform too.

I hope Predator II which is supposed to come out this year gets a good GUI overhaul. They need to move away from the current "look and feel" with small knobs, faux 3D buttons, dark skins, etc. Nothing wrong with the approach, but at least make all the knobs and labels clearer like Waldorf Largo, for instance. Punch and Sub Boom Bass are just as bad. Blue II unfortunately wasn't any better than the original.

Robmobius · Post by **Robmobius** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:21 pm

I used to really like predator, it's a decent synth. Raw, I dunno... But I'm just more wowed by newer synths, like Serum.

Blue two is really good tho'.

softska · Post by **softska** » Thu Mar 26, 2015 10:09 am

Despite all the negativity here, I honestly like it quite a bit after randomly programming it a couple times. The presets aren't strong (or too focused on 1 type of sound) which makes it a little less appealing in first impression. The distort-to-death presets doesn't do it justice. Cleaner patches like RAW ARP 1 really showcase where the fun is IMO. Wish RP does more tutorial talking about it.

Certainly not the one synth you would get if you have to choose only 1 RP synth, but there's fun to be had if you put a bit of time in. Shame it doesn't get much love.

Nightpolymath wrote:They need to move away from the current "look and feel" with small knobs, faux 3D buttons, dark skins, etc.

This. Blade is probably the worst offender. It's the one RP synth I had to open the manual just to find where the LFOs and Mod source are hidden under. There's no contrast or visual distinction whatsoever. Their RE UI suffers even more without any tab organizations...

Robmobius · Post by **Robmobius** » Thu Mar 26, 2015 11:23 am

Scalable UIs would be great. I found predator a pain to look at for a long time. Blue II is small as well.

New Rob Papen Synth: RAW