KVR Audio

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:08 pm

For Synthmaster one to work as workhorse you need to config your system right way and to know it ,i spend thousands of hours with it and still explore new stuff.
Last good cheap synth i bought was carbon electra.Cheers

ferez21 · Post by **ferez21** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:12 pm

Damn, ANA 2 is officially the largest synth (not including romplers) I've ever downloaded, 800MB.
Gotta love ArcSyn and its 8MB installation

Btw iv'e tried Vaporizer 2 and Wiggle and they both sound absolutely amazing, so underrated, and also CPU usage is very good, maybe one day ill get them but for now i prefer something with a simpler UI, ArcSyn is the best contender so far, i just wish it had some visualization of the modulations.

nevis · Post by **nevis** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:27 pm

How about free?
https://oceanswift.net/enterprise/

ferez21 · Post by **ferez21** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:45 pm

nevis wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 8:27 pm How about free?
https://oceanswift.net/enterprise/

Tried it last week, buggy af, most of the text is not showing and its impossible to navigate and do sound design as it is right now.

Scrubbing Monkeys · Post by **Scrubbing Monkeys** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:00 pm

ferez21 wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:12 pm Damn, ANA 2 is officially the largest synth (not including romplers) I've ever downloaded, 800MB.
Gotta love ArcSyn and its 8MB installation
Btw iv'e tried Vaporizer 2 and Wiggle and they both sound absolutely amazing, so underrated, and also CPU usage is very good, maybe one day ill get them but for now i prefer something with a simpler UI, ArcSyn is the best contender so far, i just wish it had some visualization of the modulations.

Yeah I recently downloaded an update.... couldn't believe it. It must be the WT and sample content.

Dencheg · Post by **Dencheg** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:02 am

ferez21 wrote: Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:12 pm Damn, ANA 2 is officially the largest synth (not including romplers) I've ever downloaded, 800MB.
Gotta love ArcSyn and its 8MB installation
Btw iv'e tried Vaporizer 2 and Wiggle and they both sound absolutely amazing, so underrated, and also CPU usage is very good, maybe one day ill get them but for now i prefer something with a simpler UI, ArcSyn is the best contender so far, i just wish it had some visualization of the modulations.

Hard to blame ANA cause it’s a lot of sample content for the sample oscs (plus wavetables, though must be a fraction of the samples). I think Massive X is bigger than that, still lacking the sample oscs.
No sample feature in ArcSyn, so there are pros and cons in the 8MB size.

And yes, I think ANA is great for one-synth approach cause it (while not being a perfect emulation) can bring any modern or vintage flavor out of the box. Can be moogish, can be junish, or a synth on it’s own - and flavor is more than enough for most projects.
I’ve seen several times that people consider it a “synthwave machine”, and I think it’s pretty valid. The synthwave soundset is amazing to me. I learned to play the Crocket theme from the chord function in that set.
Best bang for a buck.

Danilo Villanova · Post by **Danilo Villanova** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:12 am

Not cheap but Dune 3 sounds amazing and it’s very CPU efficient.

zzz00m · Post by **zzz00m** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:23 am

Dune3 is a very good alternative to SM One if you happen to have an extra $122 sitting around in your synth budget.

ferez21 · Post by **ferez21** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:28 am

Dune CM used to be my go-to for years, but as much as would love to have Dune 3 is definitely way above my budget.
On the other hand, Dune 2 is sometimes being sold for ~50$ here, is it worth it?
One thingvi didnt like about the original Dune is the mod matrix, and these days i am spoiled by synths with drag-n-drop modulations and visualization of these modulations.

VELLTONE MUSIC · Post by **VELLTONE MUSIC** » Sat May 01, 2021 4:29 am

Best free synths to start are Vital and Synth1,but agree that Wiggle AND Loom II r super cool ad underrated.
I still haven't spend more than 10 min with them, but the sound is top noch.
Comparing synths sound somehow i put Sylenth1 near SM1 - ANA,DUNE,SERUM,VITAL so on have different character,more digital to me,missing that sweet analog dirtiness.
I was very nice surprised with Xpand2 very nice and useful synth or rompler,not sure what it is actually.
Cheers

CrystalWizard · Post by **CrystalWizard** » Sat May 01, 2021 5:10 am

How about Omnisphere?

Totally joking! but i didn't see you mention if you tried Vital?

ferez21 · Post by **ferez21** » Sat May 01, 2021 9:56 am

CrystalWizard wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 5:10 am How about Omnisphere?

Totally joking! but i didn't see you mention if you tried Vital?

I gonna demo it but is Vital really as good as commercial synths?
How would you rate the raw sound quality?

mesamask · Post by **mesamask** » Sat May 01, 2021 11:49 am

ferez21 wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 9:56 am I gonna demo it but is Vital really as good as commercial synths?
How would you rate the raw sound quality?

You should demo it. I think Vital is better than quite a few "commercial" synths out there.
Just looked at your "attributes" list and Vital fits pretty much everything. Some people are complaining about CPU usage. Maybe this depends on everyone's system, DAW and so on. I have SM One as well, and Vital isn't as efficient for sure. But here on my system Vital is still pretty lightweight compared to other synths. I have ANA2 which has been mentioned before and I really like it. But ANA is very CPU hungry on certain patches here.
One thing maybe worth mentioning. Vital doesn't come with an Arp/Sequencer in contrast to SM One, ANA2 or let's say Hive. But I don't know if that's important to you.

Just demo Vital, it fits at least those points from your list:
* relatively cheap
* user friendly interface
* has visual representations of modulations (and drag-n-drop style modulation...)
* optional: has some sort of wavetable capability

As for the sound, to my taste the overall sound is too digital at times.
But to me this is a very individual attribute that everyone needs to decide on its' own.
Just check it out and hear yourself

digitalboytn · Post by **digitalboytn** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:31 pm

mesamask wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 11:49 am Just demo Vital, it fits at least those points from your list:
* optional: has some sort of wavetable capability

Just a bit

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Sat May 01, 2021 1:31 pm

ferez21 wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 9:56 am
CrystalWizard wrote: Sat May 01, 2021 5:10 am How about Omnisphere?

Totally joking! but i didn't see you mention if you tried Vital?
I gonna demo it but is Vital really as good as commercial synths?
How would you rate the raw sound quality?

I would say overall Vital is in the same league as commercial synths. Not as polished as some, but then it is new and some synths have been around far longer.

The Vital UI is excellent in terms of workflow and the modulation is superb. As good or better than any synth out there.

Sound wise, it is very flexible, sounds very good. Especially the wavetables. The filters to me are only so so. The thing with a wavetable synth though, is that filters are less important than a classic VA synth with Square, Saw, Triangle as the Osc options. So the filters to me are functional.

I don't collect VST synths and I uninstall stuff I am not really using. I use Hive more, but Vital has made it to my short list of essential synths.

Looking for an alternative to Synthmaster One