PLASMONIC - A new synth from Brian Clevinger

[SLiC]

I have to demo it a bit longer to decide if I really need it. I know its great and so but I have already so much and with some tools its more easy to design similar sounds for me.

I felt the same, it wasn't a 'no brainer' for me. I am still not sold on the GUI or the sliders but the sound is special in my opinion. Took me a while to find one ort 2 pre-sets I likes and then just tweak the macros etc to see how organic it could be...like I mentioned earlier, for my taste it also needed a standard reverb after it in many cases but the raw engine is definitely something that can feel 'alive'.

You have until the 17th with the sale price.... plenty of time to dig deep. There is a lot that can be improved and a lot of things that can be added, but this is 'just launched' V1.0...I am pretty sure the developer will improve this over time, it has a very firm foundation and the the developer has a very good pedigree!

[Cinebient]

I have to demo it a bit longer to decide if I really need it. I know its great and so but I have already so much and with some tools its more easy to design similar sounds for me.

I felt the same, it wasn't a 'no brainer' for me. I am still not sold on the GUI or the sliders but the sound is special in my opinion. Took me a while to find one ort 2 pre-sets I likes and then just tweak the macros etc to see how organic it could be...like I mentioned earlier, for my taste it also needed a standard reverb after it in many cases but the raw engine is definitely something that can feel 'alive'.

You have until the 17th with the sale price.... plenty of time to dig deep. There is a lot that can be improved and a lot of things that can be added, but this is 'just launched' V1.0...I am pretty sure the developer will improve this over time, it has a very firm foundation and the the developer has a very good pedigree!

I anyway use mostly extern reverb (beside one exception and here I also use often a second reverb on top). The GUI is indeed still the main thing and I am not sure if I can adopt to this workflow. Its mainly a one page synth but then I have to click around so much that I am way way faster in some modulars to create what I want.
As a nearly perfect GUI for me is Vital. Its just so smooth, great on my eyes and modern. I know sound is the main thing but in times where 100 synths sounds great I begin to see benefits of a great GUI and workflow more.
The question is at the end brings Plasmonic totally new stuff I cannot do with other tools for the price of a workflow and GUI I might never really love....maybe, not sure yet. Sadly next week work starts again and I will not have much time to play. I wasted too much time in holiday to dig around with other stuff, setting up my new machine, and buying too much sample libraries.
I still think €99 is a great price but €149 would be too much for me since there is just too much great free and/or 10-20 dollar stuff (like iOS apps which are as good as desktop plug-in these days and even better sometimes).
Was never a fan of Absynth, so it might be not for me in a long term.

[c_voltage]

The question is at the end brings Plasmonic totally new stuff I cannot do with other tools for the price of a workflow and GUI I might never really love....maybe, not sure yet.

Physical modelling stuff is quite small amount at market, so, answer to question resp. Although, if you apple user (me not), then perhaps Logic can cover Plasmonic's abilities.

Was never a fan of Absynth, so it might be not for me in a long term.

But it completely not even a similar things (although, in UI maybe something)

I anyway use mostly extern reverb

I would say, if you do not going to use internal Spaces section, I would advise not to spend money.

[SLiC]

I use the internal spaces for sound design and add a good reverb, from a little bus reverb to a full shimmer, most of the sounds really benefit from this.

[gunnar]

Totally.

I love the internal effects of Plasmonic for exactky this: effects
Then place the whole thing into a kick a** room

[pdxindy]

I have to demo it a bit longer to decide if I really need it. I know its great and so but I have already so much and with some tools its more easy to design similar sounds for me.

I felt the same, it wasn't a 'no brainer' for me. I am still not sold on the GUI or the sliders but the sound is special in my opinion. Took me a while to find one ort 2 pre-sets I likes and then just tweak the macros etc to see how organic it could be...like I mentioned earlier, for my taste it also needed a standard reverb after it in many cases but the raw engine is definitely something that can feel 'alive'.

The GUI is okay for me. If I could drag a modulator onto a parameter to modulate it instead of having to open the modulation pane for each parameter, I would find the GUI really good then.

I'm fine with the sliders... I am already used to them and becoming fluid. Just modulation is somewhat clunky by today's expectations.

I love physical modeling synths and there aren't too many available. So I tend to be more forgiving cause the options are limited. The AAS stuff is fairly limited in regards to modulation and some of the important parameters cannot even be automated. Kaivo is lovely sounding, but so heavy on the CPU and heavy on CPU without even a note playing and also not the most user friendly. Sculpture is Logic only and also has a clunky GUI.

Plasmonic has exceptional modulation capabilities. It can fine tune say a plucked string sound for expressive playing better than other physical modeling synths. If the subtle nuances matter to you, then Plasmonic is well worth it.

Plasmonic is also reasonable on CPU use. As you mention, it can sound quite alive and dynamic and with some attention to subtle modulation can be very impressive.

[pdxindy]

Totally.

I love the internal effects of Plasmonic for exactky this: effects
Then place the whole thing into a kick a** room

Yup...

[Cinebient]

Of course I would use spaces since its unique but it could not replace a very high quality extern reverb for me since the general flavour is a bit on the metallic tin box side for me but it blurs wonderful with a high quality extern reverb and spatialisation software to set in in a room, hall, space ship, whatever.
But its also important how great a software works with other since I experienced that even if a few sound similar, there are high differences sometimes if I send them trough extern reverbs, delays etc.
Like you would take a deeper look. Is the source is not great, it even worse with a large reverb and if the source is great on its own a good reverb just pronounce it even more and you hear all those nice subtle changes when it rings out, modulate, how it reacts to velocity changes, and all these little tiny things which give that organic feeling.
Plasmonic reminds me a bit of PPG Infinite from the sound character but with some more lively sounds you can create.

[psynical]

yeah, i'm a little disappointed with the modulation routing too. If i have a mod active with the circle-thing, why can't i then just click on a parameter to have the mod auto-assign? Since a right-click pops up the matrix, then a right-click drag up should just assign the mod and change value...

[p1afff]

yeah, i'm a little disappointed with the modulation routing too. If i have a mod active with the circle-thing, why can't i then just click on a parameter to have the mod auto-assign? Since a right-click pops up the matrix, then a right-click drag up should just assign the mod and change value...

Mmm, I don’t understand, how would you choose the source mod to assign ?

[SLiC]

Since a right-click pops up the matrix, then a right-click drag up should just assign the mod and change value...

It does?

It couldn't really be much faster, you just right click on what you wasn't to modulate and then drag the slider of the modulation source the amount you want? Given that you will almost always want to set a modulation source and an amount of modulation, I cant actually think of a faster way to achieve this.

You don't need the green dot things at all other than for looking where modulation has been applied.

[gunnar]

Modulation ist amazjng in Plasmonic.
Straight Forward gui

[SLiC]

Modulation ist amazjng in Plasmonic.
Straight Forward gui

Once you get used to the course/fine drag! Personally rather have it always fast with a hold a key modifier for slow, but that maybe just me! GUI is fast and functional once you get used to it, but it not exactly eye candy and I hope we get to choose other colours at some point

[Cinebient]

The modulations options are indeed great but I still find it a bit much clicking around but maybe I also get used to this more and it will get more intuitive over time.
The retrigger option is really nice but the sync goes not fast enough for me.
There are much more advanced options for retrigger fun out there but its still nice to have. 3 retrigger "modules" are also often not enough for me
I know I cannot have that all and a modular might then be better but with such an engine I already miss a customisable strumming option and some other things.
I know, I know its v1.0 and I should not compare it to other tools but its just harder to justify to buy something new if I find too much things I already miss or hit a border.
But it will be interesting to see how this goes in the future.

[p1afff]

@Cinebient
yes, probably not fair to compare to modular, especially if it’s hardware. Total different goals, beasts and costs.
I would also prefer a less modal mod matrix, but how to represent all the mod sources in the main window ? It would be quite cluttered or very tiny. And if you a trackpad or a mouse wheel, you can drag fast moves of values very easily.