The vst synths lame test.

[kraster]

F'em:

CPU: Moderate. Around 11%.

Usability: Very Easy. Since this is an FM synth the FM part was a breeze. Just use the second operator back into the first. Filter Modulation was a cinch since each module has its own dedicated envelopes and LFOS so everything you need is contained within the filter module.

Results: Excellent. As an FM/PM synth you'd expect it to shine in that department and it doesn't disappoint. Very clean sounding without having to adjust anything. Took me a minute to find the unison settings but apart from that it's the synth that was most tailored to this test.

[Jac459]

A few more for the pile:

DS Thorn.

CPU: Heavy. Around 28% without OSC Oversampling and 34% with.

Usability: Pretty Easy. I did have to look up how to use the FM. It uses the next Oscillator as the modulator

But apart from that it's very easy. Modulation is straightforward.

Results: Very good! You definitely need to use the Oversampling. Very thick rounded sound. Missing a little bit of presence but could be easily dialled back in.

Fun, we did it at the same time.... I am surprised you were easily able to handle the modulations. For me they are very fiddly. Some parameters don't react until... They over react.

[Jac459]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

[kraster]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

Pigments was easy to do since everything exists on the same page more or less.

I found the sound quite harsh but the filter eliminated the problem and I ended up with a very decent sound. The filters in Pigments are great. Which is no surprise given that Arturia know what they're doing.

Also tried out Avenger and it wasn't as easy to set up but it sounded great with the oversampled FM.

The truth is that we're absolutely spoiled with the options we have.

Pigments, Avenger and pretty much everything else in this thread are incredible synths.

(Bazille is still winning for me, though!!)

[Jac459]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

Pigments was easy to do since everything exists on the same page more or less.

I found the sound quite harsh but the filter eliminated the problem and I ended up with a very decent sound. The filters in Pigments are great. Which is no surprise given that Arturia know what they're doing.

Also tried out Avenger and it wasn't as easy to set up but it sounded great with the oversampled FM.

The truth is that we're absolutely spoiled with the options we have.

Pigments, Avenger and pretty much everything else in this thread are incredible synths.

(Bazille is still winning for me, though!!)

I will enrich my test with your comment.
I will also attach a few MP3 to show the final result.
For DS Thorn, did you use mseg or adsr?
I also don't like that the lfo is only going to 25hz max, it is too slow.

But I agree, a lot of the synths tested here are awesome....

[poonna]

Has Equator 2 been done?

[DCrown]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

Well, a synth is for music first and foremost imo
Yes, it's important.
Each time I heard it I was reminded of
how really good (soundimg) synths there
really are. Sound is a matter of personal taste, of course
But why do you hide your real name Jean-Michel J.? Of course I understand why you are supporting a French dev or is it a toy maker (haha just kidding)
The decision whether one likes a synth or not depends on what nature you are, too.
And there are things that can influence a preference that don't make sense at first sight.
Some just join a hype
Some just hate a gui
Some like a dev's shirt
Is it good for a fast workflow? (Very important for me!)
User-friendliness
How creative can you get? ( creating own sounds)
How much inspiration does a plugin give me? (for composing)
Good effect section?
Quality of available presets?
How many presets are bad? (IK Multimedia, you are in the Top3 haha)
Loading times of plugin and or presets (Haha Arturia!)
Your zodiac sign could be important,
what if dev is taurus and you are aquarius, how this us gonna work? Tell me how?!
Do you see the settings of paramenters visually?
Plugin's country of origin?
Does dev speak English fluently without any accent?
How often or fast updates/upgrades/bug fixes?
Dev's customer support.
Extras like expansions.
How close is it to Yamaha quality?
Is there a loyalty or bonus system?
What do people write about it at KVR or in "The Washington Post" ?
How close is it to hardware (emu analog)?
The sound character (warm, metallic, digital or..)
Can your synth play "the final countdown" authentically?
Which famous who is promoting the synth? (Herbie Hancock, Arthur Rubinstein or Arnold Schwarzenegger or...)
When you compare a synth to a fruit, what would it taste like? (Raspberry, cherry, apple or..)
Is the synth good for my music genre(s)?
Is it a morning or rather evening synth or maybe even both (very rare!) ?
Would Jarre like the synth (I mean really like it?)

[Jac459]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

Well, a synth is for music first and foremost imo
Yes, it's important.
Each time I heard it I was reminded of
how really good (soundimg) synths there
really are. Sound is a matter of personal taste, of course
But why do you hide your real name Jean-Michel J.? Of course I understand why you are supporting a French dev or is it a toy maker (haha just kidding)
The decision whether one likes a synth or not depends on what nature you are, too.
And there are things that can influence a preference that don't make sense at first sight.
Some just join a hype
Some just hate a gui
User-friendliness
How creative can you get? ( creating own sounds)
How much inspiration does a plugin give me?
Quality of available presets?
How many presets are bad?
Loading times of plugin and or presets (Haha Arturia!)
Do you see the settings of paramenters visually?
Is the synth good for my music genre(s)
Is it a morning or rather evening synth or maybe even both (very rare!) ?
Would Jarre like the synth (I mean really like it?)

Haha, touché.
I am indeed French and Jac are my initials. But not living in France since.... Ever.

I do love arturia as a brand because I really love brands with excellent support. UVI too (they are French too). But my favourites remain Kilohearts and they are not French .

Actually if you want my personal opinion (I know you don't but I will still give you lol) Arturia guys are the luckiest. They are living in a very nice region of France, so they enjoy being in nature and holidays-like place AND have an awesome job.
UVI guys are in Paris afaik.... (So meh....).

[DCrown]

anyone done pigments ?

I suppose pigments is a different level, so it might not be taken into consideration

Btw on page 1 you will also find pigments, well, very little information, though haha

No, when I did pigments it was easy and straight forward. Does the job as expected. Not much to say ha ha. But I will enrich a bit maybe, pigments is an important synth.

Well, a synth is for music first and foremost imo
Yes, it's important.
Each time I heard it I was reminded of
how really good (soundimg) synths there
really are. Sound is a matter of personal taste, of course
But why do you hide your real name Jean-Michel J.? Of course I understand why you are supporting a French dev or is it a toy maker (haha just kidding)
The decision whether one likes a synth or not depends on what nature you are, too.
And there are things that can influence a preference that don't make sense at first sight.
Some just join a hype
Some just hate a gui
User-friendliness
How creative can you get? ( creating own sounds)
How much inspiration does a plugin give me?
Quality of available presets?
How many presets are bad?
Loading times of plugin and or presets (Haha Arturia!)
Do you see the settings of paramenters visually?
Is the synth good for my music genre(s)
Is it a morning or rather evening synth or maybe even both (very rare!) ?
Would Jarre like the synth (I mean really like it?)

Haha, touché.
I am indeed French and Jac are my initials. But not living in France since.... Ever.

I do love arturia as a brand because I really love brands with excellent support. UVI too (they are French too). But my favourites remain Kilohearts and they are not French .

Actually if you want my personal opinion (I know you don't but I will still give you lol) Arturia guys are the luckiest. They are living in a very nice region of France, so they enjoy being in nature and holidays-like place AND have an awesome job.
UVI guys are in Paris afaik.... (So meh....).

Ok, gonna re-sell the UVI stuff I have immediately now haha
J'aime la France (le vin Bordeaux et croissants haha), mais pigments n'est pas my cup of tea. Excuse moi, j' ai oublié quelques mots francaises haha
La plus belle langue du mond !

Camille. Saint - Saëns was cool on keys.
I like his piano concertos a lot.
I think if he still was alive he would buy Pianoteq!

[Jac459]

Haha, touché.
I am indeed French and Jac are my initials. But not living in France since.... Ever.

I do love arturia as a brand because I really love brands with excellent support. UVI too (they are French too). But my favourites remain Kilohearts and they are not French .

Actually if you want my personal opinion (I know you don't but I will still give you lol) Arturia guys are the luckiest. They are living in a very nice region of France, so they enjoy being in nature and holidays-like place AND have an awesome job.
UVI guys are in Paris afaik.... (So meh....).

Ok, gonna re-sell the UVI stuff I have immediately now haha
J'aime la France (le vin Bordeaux et croissants haha), mais pigments n'est pas my cup of tea. Excuse moi, j' ai oublié quelques mots francaises haha
La plus belle langue du mond !

Camille. Saint - Saëns was cool on keys.
I like his piano concertos a lot.
I think if he still was alive he would buy Pianoteq!

At least you will just resell the UVI stuffs, you could have just burned them haha.

Your French is impressive, where are you from ?

[Jac459]

...mais pigments n'est pas my cup of tea....

Just to upset you I pushed an mp3 in the OP with my 8 favorite synths in this lame, biased, unscientific, (French) test. Pigments is number 5 !

[DCrown]

I wish I was born in Minneapolis, but I lived and was re-born in many places of Europe.
Born in Sevilla, but lived there my first 1.5 years only. Me gusta el flamenco! Haha
Where did you live in France?
No kidding, doesn't oigments more just like a toy? I always thought might be ok for children's film music. I am not an Arturia hater, I even like two of their plugins, but forgot which... Haha

I prefer Avenger. Well, the new realease of v2 is a disaster, but c'mon, it's only more or less two people creating this beast! Be patient, it can't get worse right now haha

[Jac459]

I wish I was born in Minneapolis, but I lived and was re-born in many places of Europe.
Born in Sevilla, but lived there my first 1.5 years only. Me gusta el flamenco! Haha
Where did you live in France?

Sevilla! Spain knows about quality of life... They are on another level. Quality of life and partying... Me gusta muchissimo. My kids are "mother tongue level" in Spanish/French/English because their mother is Spanish .
I live in the North of France, Lille... Shitty place with awful weather.
BUT a very very vibrant place with belgium and germany for electronic music...

I visited about 45 countries but never US so I can't comment .

[Jac459]

anyone done pigments ?

Yes, and enriched a bit the comments as it was a bit short.

[DCrown]

Nice btw only my father is Spanish/Malaga, I am a cocktail.
I am European, you won't get me out of Europe and there could be two reasons only, I would fly to USA (it's a beautiful country for sure, but distance is too far).
1st :
Prince would call me on phone and say" I am alive, please come to Minneapolis "
2nd:
Elvis would call and say" I am still alive, please come to Hawaii "!
Haha