Current Launch v2 - A new instrument platform by Minimal Audio

[ChanceB]

There was a 50% off sale for their effects at Pluginboutique (for their newsletter subscribers), ended two days ago, though. I think that was just exclusive to that store (?).

No, the sale is still available on Minimal's website.

I have to say I'm a bit puzzled with their price scheme. Is there any reason to buy a perpetual license for Current right now rather than going 1 year All access? It would be the exact same price (paying €139 right now to get Current perpetual license, or €120 for one year of all access which will give a 180 cashback, making it... €139 in total to get Current in one year, with the advantages of All access during that lapse of time). Unless I'm missing something, I don't see the value in buying a perpetual license during this sale. Especially when owning some of their products doesn't seem to have any effect on the price of All Access. Which makes AA overpriced as soon as you own anything from them, imo.

Same goes with the bundles and the ongoing sale makes it even more puzzling. There's a 50% discount on every effect, and a 30% discount on the bundle. Which makes it €208 to buy all the effects individually VS €296 if you take the whole bundle. Hope nobody did the latter...

Anyway, I'll likely get Current cause I'm really loving the sounds I get from it, but the marketing is shady as hell. When you add the complexity of what you own vs what you don't with All Access, it's getting quite complicated, and that's why I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Tbh pricing and the sort of issues you refer to have really dogged this synth. Which is a bloody great product and I use it regularly and will ultimately purchase it when my year is up. But it's made me very wary of investing anything extra into the Minimal Audio ecosystem- they are either confused themselves or intentionally opaque about their offerings and I'm not sure what is worse.

But it's a great synth and with nice improvements of late. The mod matrix is good nice and the new mixer buss is handy too.

I think they were still figuring out how to make it work with the stream, subscription and perpetual pricing and how to keep customers happy and still be profitable. They are pretty open about what they are doing and are quite active on their Discord. Very easy to communicate with unlike many other companies. Currents launch definitely hurt them though,it’s unfortunate because Current is an amazing synth.

[swilow11]

Definitely the switch from subscription to perpetual license threw them off, but it still took months for them to make a clear distinction between "factory" content and "stream" content. I have all access but this made me really hesitate to use the synth- was i mistakenly using things I'd ultimately have to pay extra for after my year was up? I wasn't interested in paying for any sound content, just the synth.

I have no idea how easy or hard it is to make these sort of changes but they've done it now which is fine but was months of confusion. I'm sure they explained everything on discord but not everyone uses that so it just seemed like long periods of radio silence to me.

But whatever confusion there was, the synth is excellent- easy to use, and sounds great. If they would pop in a more normal sounding reverb, it would be even better...

[EfreetiSultan]

Sound wise.. Is it fat? The basic oscillator sound, that is. Sterile? Thin? I know it's hard to measure such things but usually there's a "feel". For example Sylenth1 is fat and juicy, serum is sterile but good. Cause it LOOKS very interesting. I'm looking to replace serum, vital and spire with 1 single thing..
Also what's the cpu usage like? Om on a pretty ancient laptop with a 4 thread i5

[Alexander137]

Sound wise.. Is it fat? The basic oscillator sound, that is. Sterile? Thin? I know it's hard to measure such things but usually there's a "feel". For example Sylenth1 is fat and juicy, serum is sterile but good. Cause it LOOKS very interesting. I'm looking to replace serum, vital and spire with 1 single thing..
Also what's the cpu usage like? Om on a pretty ancient laptop with a 4 thread i5

In my opinion, the Serum, Vital, and Current oscillators sounded the same.
It seems to me that there is no need to switch to just one synthesizer. Vital has some features that are not possible in Current (for example, spectral filters that can be drawn or mod remap in the modulation matrix).

[ChanceB]

Sound wise.. Is it fat? The basic oscillator sound, that is. Sterile? Thin? I know it's hard to measure such things but usually there's a "feel". For example Sylenth1 is fat and juicy, serum is sterile but good. Cause it LOOKS very interesting. I'm looking to replace serum, vital and spire with 1 single thing..
Also what's the cpu usage like? Om on a pretty ancient laptop with a 4 thread i5

The Raw oscillator sounds pretty much identical to Serum,at least using wavetables already made for Serum. CPU usage is pretty good for me on a m1 Mac Air especially compared to Phase Plant but can get a little high with multiple layers in the granular engine and lots of effects while playing multiple notes on the keyboard

[swilow11]

Almost the perfect synth. Plenty of different synthesis options, just enough modulation destinations (although a few more wouldn't hurt) and sounds great. The FX are great but the reverb isn't really good for much beyond soundscape stuff. Quite a noisy reverb.

I would love to see some filter drive and the additive sub oscillator expanded upon...

[Neon Breath]

Isn't there a way to try the demo without leaving my credit card details?

Leaving that kind of sensitive information just to try a demo makes me pretty uncomfortable.

[c_voltage]

Heh i did not figured why it mandatory for demo, too. So changed mind.

[xx JPRacer xx]

If I modulate filter1 with envelope1 and lfo3, then go in the matrix and disable (not remove) the lfo3 the envelope1 also stop working. ne1 with the same problem?

[ChanceB]

If I modulate filter1 with envelope1 and lfo3, then go in the matrix and disable (not remove) the lfo3 the envelope1 also stop working. ne1 with the same problem?

Yeah. Never noticed that before. I’d report it to them on. Discord seems to be the best way to get in touch with them

I reported it to them

[swilow11]

Isn't there a way to try the demo without leaving my credit card details?

Leaving that kind of sensitive information just to try a demo makes me pretty uncomfortable.

It's certainly not best practise and looks like they're trying to get a pay day from those who may forget to cancel in time.

Still, it's a really amazing synth so well worth having a look at. It's become my second most used after Serum.

[yume51]

https://www.minimal.audio/products/current
It is currently displayed as follows
"Watch out for the next phase"

On Facebook, it says that something will be released on October 23rd.

[ChanceB]

Some teasers on their Instagram,looking forward to tomorrow
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBO183kP ... BiNWFlZA==

[sacer]

just donwloaded latest current and it's v2 with :

Current changelog

Version 2.0.1

Get in the flow with the new Play View, a focused space to explore presets using a dual XY pad. Whether you're just starting with Current or looking for a distraction-free place to fine-tune your custom presets, the Play View has you covered.
Transform your sounds with the new Wave Shifter effect, combining frequency shifting, ring modulation, and feedback with oscillator-style controls like FM and soft sync.
Updated UI focuses on user experience and accessibility through improved contrast and typography.
New wavetable spectrum display modes let you see how spectral effects evolve in real time. Click on the wavetable display to cycle through different viewing options.
Effects slots and modulators can now be copied and pasted by clicking and dragging while holding Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows).
A new global setting has been added to let you choose your default view: Play, Engine, or Stream.
Glide mode has been added to the global settings dropdown, featuring new Legato and Always modes. This setting is saved with the preset.
You can now choose which preset pack to save a preset into, giving you more control over organizing your sounds.
All user packs now appear at the top of the preset, wavetable, and sample popups, clearly marked with a user icon for easy identification.
The preset popup has been updated to highlight new expansion packs at the bottom.
Fixed parameter smoothing issues from automation with very large host buffer sizes.
Fixed a possible crash when dragging and dropping user wavetables.
A button has been added to the login panel to reveal the entered password.
Many other enhancements, optimizations, and fixes

[swilow11]

Looks interesting. Glad they've fixed the wavetable drag and drop issue which was crashing Bitwig with some regularity. Wave shifter thing sounds fun too. XY pad- eh, not a huge fan but could be nice..

Really glad I got onto Current as it's basically just kept getting better and better.