Soooo... before anyone's had time to have a proper look at them, what are your absolute first reactions? Based on preset bashing, random twiddling, gee whizz factor, prettiness of guis or whatever...
I'm really excited by the number of unusual and distinctive synths - Bagels, Bini, IFF, and PitchBlack all make really unique noises straight out of the box, and the Sounds of Nature are absolutely fantastic, although it might take me a while to figure out enough avian anatomy to work out which combinations of setting will actually get noises out of the Oscine Tract.
The effects have less immediate impact because it takes a while to find out what they work best on. Quasimodo and ReSynFX seem interesting already, but I suspect I'll get more into the other effects - especially the more conventional ones like the EQs and comps - in the course of time.
Right, back to messing around.
First Impressions
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- KVRian
- 1399 posts since 29 Feb, 2004
----There was a couple I couldn't get to work yet, but I'ma wait and see if anyone besides (*cough* somehow even dumber than *cough* ha-ha) me has the same probs and I get a free solution on here in the next 24-48 hours. 
But, the ones I have tried and got working have been solid runners, even the more "generic-ish" ones, sounded good enough to mess around with some more, and a couple actually really impressed me (o.k., that turn-anything-into-shakers one made me laugh at first, but I can see using it really, throw a stereo delay after it, and rawk on, why waste time programming hihats or shakers, just flip through some presets there and yer good to go with some accompaniment eh). Overall, it's looking like another great crop of goodies so far. 
Jeff
But, the ones I have tried and got working have been solid runners, even the more "generic-ish" ones, sounded good enough to mess around with some more, and a couple actually really impressed me (o.k., that turn-anything-into-shakers one made me laugh at first, but I can see using it really, throw a stereo delay after it, and rawk on, why waste time programming hihats or shakers, just flip through some presets there and yer good to go with some accompaniment eh). Overall, it's looking like another great crop of goodies so far. Jeff
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- KVRAF
- 5110 posts since 5 May, 2005 from Stockholm, Sweden
..Ive had a run through the synths and lookswise IFF Synth is fantastic..
Pity I cant get any sound out of it though ..will try that properly and the FX tomorrow..
....need sleeeeeeeep...zzzzzz
Pity I cant get any sound out of it though
..will try that properly and the FX tomorrow......need sleeeeeeeep...zzzzzz
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- DC TC
- 2518 posts since 30 May, 2004
when you're able to get a sound, i think you'll be even more impressed.lotus2035 wrote:..Ive had a run through the synths and lookswise IFF Synth is fantastic..
Pity I cant get any sound out of it though
....need sleeeeeeeep...zzzzzz
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- KVRian
- 1214 posts since 10 Aug, 2005
OK need to sleep but here are initial impressions on a few that I tried out. Comphensive reviews coming soon!
Alieno
Good sounds, solid and chunky and sci-fi heaven, I like how the interface changes color, nice touch!
Bagel
Warm and alive sound, makes me feel fuzzy inside, can see using it for percussive melody sounds for lullabyes. Needs pitch bend implementation and more presets.
GUI is clear and well laid out.
Bini
Mmmm noise. The few presets that come with it were all very quiet or even at 0 volume. Shall investigate further
Ellipse
Couldn't get it to make any noise, I suck, shall RTFM and report back
Hypercyclic
Cool concept and once I got my head around the routing I enjoyed the interactivity of the arp with my playing. However every preset had the same gating sound to it. More experimentation is required me thinks.
IFF Synth
Loved the ability to draw waveforms and harmonics, really can teach you a lot about sound this way. Loading waveforms was a bit counter intuitive but I got the hang of it. Shame there is no easy way to load presets at least from first glance. Major bug with the pitch bend wheel causing the CPU usage to go berserk and max out my core2duo 2.2ghz P4… Promising synth though.
KITR
Aah rubber bands, loved the bottlecap gui knobs!
KX-MODULAD
Hmm.. comments coming soon
Rastabox
Fun! Great fat sounds and simplicity is queen here. I can see it being used on special occasions. No pitch bend love though
Pitch Black
Nice! Instantly inspiring sounds, eminently playable and crystal clear GUI. Double thumbs up. Possibly my favourite so far..
Have others to try of course though, hearty well dones to all who submitted. May the best noise maker/manipulator win.
Alieno
Good sounds, solid and chunky and sci-fi heaven, I like how the interface changes color, nice touch!
Bagel
Warm and alive sound, makes me feel fuzzy inside, can see using it for percussive melody sounds for lullabyes. Needs pitch bend implementation and more presets.
GUI is clear and well laid out.
Bini
Mmmm noise. The few presets that come with it were all very quiet or even at 0 volume. Shall investigate further
Ellipse
Couldn't get it to make any noise, I suck, shall RTFM and report back
Hypercyclic
Cool concept and once I got my head around the routing I enjoyed the interactivity of the arp with my playing. However every preset had the same gating sound to it. More experimentation is required me thinks.
IFF Synth
Loved the ability to draw waveforms and harmonics, really can teach you a lot about sound this way. Loading waveforms was a bit counter intuitive but I got the hang of it. Shame there is no easy way to load presets at least from first glance. Major bug with the pitch bend wheel causing the CPU usage to go berserk and max out my core2duo 2.2ghz P4… Promising synth though.
KITR
Aah rubber bands, loved the bottlecap gui knobs!
KX-MODULAD
Hmm.. comments coming soon
Rastabox
Fun! Great fat sounds and simplicity is queen here. I can see it being used on special occasions. No pitch bend love though
Pitch Black
Nice! Instantly inspiring sounds, eminently playable and crystal clear GUI. Double thumbs up. Possibly my favourite so far..
Have others to try of course though, hearty well dones to all who submitted. May the best noise maker/manipulator win.
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- KVRAF
- 5110 posts since 5 May, 2005 from Stockholm, Sweden
..cool... hmmm, I might stay up a little while and give it another try...tuz wrote:when you're able to get a sound, i think you'll be even more impressed.lotus2035 wrote:..Ive had a run through the synths and lookswise IFF Synth is fantastic..
Pity I cant get any sound out of it though
....need sleeeeeeeep...zzzzzz
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- KVRAF
- 2436 posts since 5 Jan, 2006
I'll copy-paste from another post:
'Some brilliant stuff there! ArcDev's innovative abletonish-like loop player is pure fun (and very easy on the CPU!), lidsquid's Grapheed is just awesome'
(those two are my favorites so far).
The Psychic Modulation's wavtransit looks really interesting but i need to figure out first how to make sound out of it, Shuriken's Najnaj is fun (& noisy!) as always, hypercyclic looks like an awesome arpeggiator, but needs some time to learn, so is Bagels, BlindVU made me smile, Tiny-Q looks... cute, PanGloss looks like a useful tool (here to stay), Ugo's The Element of Surprise is great (reminds me of the free version of ScannedSynth that only allow randomizing).
Stuff that looks promising but i haven't tried yet: bini, bouncer, ffdelay, Rhythmic Tangent, the xoxos pack, Quasimodo.
Stuff that didn't work here (already reported on the bugs post): blip, DCDC, Compressive.
'Some brilliant stuff there! ArcDev's innovative abletonish-like loop player is pure fun (and very easy on the CPU!), lidsquid's Grapheed is just awesome'
(those two are my favorites so far).
The Psychic Modulation's wavtransit looks really interesting but i need to figure out first how to make sound out of it, Shuriken's Najnaj is fun (& noisy!) as always, hypercyclic looks like an awesome arpeggiator, but needs some time to learn, so is Bagels, BlindVU made me smile, Tiny-Q looks... cute, PanGloss looks like a useful tool (here to stay), Ugo's The Element of Surprise is great (reminds me of the free version of ScannedSynth that only allow randomizing).
Stuff that looks promising but i haven't tried yet: bini, bouncer, ffdelay, Rhythmic Tangent, the xoxos pack, Quasimodo.
Stuff that didn't work here (already reported on the bugs post): blip, DCDC, Compressive.
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- KVRian
- 1214 posts since 10 Aug, 2005
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- Banned
- 42 posts since 24 Aug, 2007
(with a grain 'o salt, of course)
ellipsis = simple and sweeeeet
compressive = top-notch (pun intended)
pan gloss = interesting
shaker maker = bit 'o fun
tiny q = Christian, wot were you thinkin' man? haha
wavtransit = nice gui ... but confusing (desperate need of some presets there)
hypercyclic = "the tits" ... great complement to midi fx plugs
(back to the playin'....)
ellipsis = simple and sweeeeet
compressive = top-notch (pun intended
)pan gloss = interesting
shaker maker = bit 'o fun
tiny q = Christian, wot were you thinkin' man? haha
wavtransit = nice gui ... but confusing (desperate need of some presets there)
hypercyclic = "the tits" ... great complement to midi fx plugs
(back to the playin'....)
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jack [psychicmodulation] jack [psychicmodulation] https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=2588 - KVRAF
- 1567 posts since 24 Apr, 2002 from New Orleans, LA
PTV wrote:The Psychic Modulation's wavtransit looks really interesting but i need to figure out first how to make sound out of it
I posted explainations in the bug thread:RooGoo wrote:wavtransit = nice gui ... but confusing (desperate need of some presets there)
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 71#2713871
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- KVRian
- 1399 posts since 29 Feb, 2004
----I feel bad, I couldn't get that wavtransit one to do anything either, looks sharp though, and now after reading the load-a-dang-sample thread I think I get it and look forward to trying it out tomorrow. Cubix from last year still gets opened up once in a while here, great idea kit, just for something to jam with, like a cyber elektro metronome to say the very very least, good stuff, you get the idea anyways.
Jeff
Jeff
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
- Alieno deserves a vote for the description alone. Best synth description ever, hands-down. The synth itself seemed a bit boring at first but there's a lot more sonic possibility than it looks like at first glance. After a minute or two I was sledging through some rich, squeltchy FM-sounding sounds and cold death pad sounds that almost sound like bending metal in movies. Lovely.
- Bagets: Interesting idea and one I've never seen executed so well before outside of reaktor ensembles. Makes good subass and an excellent epiano sounds. A lot of times I find myself getting FM-like bell tones out of it.
- IFF Synth - neat synth and I like how you can draw out both the waveform AND the harmonic partials.
- KiTr: neat little toy or indie-esque plucky sounds, The attacks of the plucks have a good "thwack" that most pluck/string VST's lack.
- Oddy-free: Looked like just another SE "emulation" at first, but after fingering it, it has a nice, dark, and "real" texture. Very good for gritty lofi sounds. Can't say how much it sounds like an Odyssey but it will be my go-to for dark lofi analog sounds in the following near future. With subtle processing could easily sound genuinely analog.
- Pitch Black - Very cool synthesizer with self-modulation and feedback abilities. Massive sound palette and I can imagine users making loads of preset banks for it, in the Oatmeal range. Do to the range of options to control the timbre (and the nature of feedback oscillation), it can sound very organic and liquid. Plus even without the bells and whistles it's just rich sounding in nature. This, Alieno, and IFF are the synths that really jumped out at me this year, this one probably being my favorite.
- DC/DC: Not feeling the plug itself too much (the listen function is buggy), but the movement of the finger pushing the duck is my favorite single GUI feature in existence.
- Najnaj: Neat little glitch/FSU tool. I like putting simple non-evolving waveforms in it and just tweaking it. I'll use it this way a bit in glitchy tracks. Would be cool to see it made into a synth this way.
- Bagets: Interesting idea and one I've never seen executed so well before outside of reaktor ensembles. Makes good subass and an excellent epiano sounds. A lot of times I find myself getting FM-like bell tones out of it.
- IFF Synth - neat synth and I like how you can draw out both the waveform AND the harmonic partials.
- KiTr: neat little toy or indie-esque plucky sounds, The attacks of the plucks have a good "thwack" that most pluck/string VST's lack.
- Oddy-free: Looked like just another SE "emulation" at first, but after fingering it, it has a nice, dark, and "real" texture. Very good for gritty lofi sounds. Can't say how much it sounds like an Odyssey but it will be my go-to for dark lofi analog sounds in the following near future. With subtle processing could easily sound genuinely analog.
- Pitch Black - Very cool synthesizer with self-modulation and feedback abilities. Massive sound palette and I can imagine users making loads of preset banks for it, in the Oatmeal range. Do to the range of options to control the timbre (and the nature of feedback oscillation), it can sound very organic and liquid. Plus even without the bells and whistles it's just rich sounding in nature. This, Alieno, and IFF are the synths that really jumped out at me this year, this one probably being my favorite.
- DC/DC: Not feeling the plug itself too much (the listen function is buggy), but the movement of the finger pushing the duck is my favorite single GUI feature in existence.
- Najnaj: Neat little glitch/FSU tool. I like putting simple non-evolving waveforms in it and just tweaking it. I'll use it this way a bit in glitchy tracks. Would be cool to see it made into a synth this way.
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- AcousticHippie
- 4769 posts since 12 Mar, 2003
The Chase wrote:the movement of the finger pushing the duck is my favorite single GUI feature in existence.
