KVR Audio

chilly7 · Post by **chilly7** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 3:47 pm

Anybody can give me good advice.

1) I am looking for FM software.
I want the best sound quality but level of editing at list on Native Instruments FM 8 or better.

I was looking at Tone 2 Nemessis and i might like the sound quality i totaly dislike how childish editing possibilities are.

2) I am looking for granular synth.
Again i want the best sound quality and more editing possibilities are more better.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 6:56 pm

chilly7 wrote:2) I am looking for granular synth.
Again i want the best sound quality and more editing possibilities are more better.

You can't go wrong with Padshop Pro

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 7:13 pm

Numanoid wrote:
chilly7 wrote:2) I am looking for granular synth.
Again i want the best sound quality and more editing possibilities are more better.
You can't go wrong with Padshop Pro

IMO, currently the best granular synth is UVI Falcon. Second best is Steinberg HALion. Padshop Pro is basically the granular part of HALion, somehow simplified.

For FM:
DeXed, obviously, as it emulates the DX7. Still a WIP, but it's getting there.
Image-Line Toxic BioHazard (from Maxx Claster)
Image-Line Sytrus (if you can deal with the small GUI - from GOL)
Lin Plug Octopus (discontinued, but I think it is still available and at a great price).
Big Tick Rhino (often neglected, but a hell of a synth)
OXE (free, but very good, IMO)

chilly7 · Post by **chilly7** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:01 pm

What about Serum? Is it worse then Falcon in terms of 1) Sound quality 2) Editing possibilities?

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:03 pm

chilly7 wrote:What about Serum? Is it worse then Falcon in terms of 1) Sound quality 2) Editing possibilities?

Serum is a wavetable synth, it doesn't do granular synthesis at all.

Daru925 · Post by **Daru925** » Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:48 pm

At least pick an fm synth that has multi stage enveloppes.
Im all for the good old FM8 and Sytrus. Zebra is probably very good as well.

TheNickC · Post by **TheNickC** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:04 am

Zebra would be a great choice. It may not be the most advanced strictly FM synth(FM8 or Sytrus maybe?) but it does so much more and you can FM all the other things it does. In stereo, Sytrus doesn't do that and I don't think FM8 does either. The filters are great too, I love the XMF. Aside from anti-aliasing and envelope shapes FM is fairly straightforward and similar between different synthesizers, the filters are going to have a big impact on how you perceive it's quality.

Sytrus isn't on mac yet and most of it's filters are exactly what you'd expect for a 2003 software synth. FM8 would be the other obvious choice, I'd look closely at that and Zebra.

fmr · Post by **fmr** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:08 am

TheNickC wrote: Aside from anti-aliasing and envelope shapes FM is fairly straightforward and similar between different synthesizers, the filters are going to have a big impact on how you perceive it's quality

WHAT?

pheeleep · Post by **pheeleep** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:30 am

It does much more than "just" FM but Rob Papen Blue II is a thing of beauty.

In my order of preference for FM (I own them all):

Blue II
Sytrus
Toxic Biohazard
FM8

UncleAge · Post by **UncleAge** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:32 am

There really are quite a few decent options available for both requests. Most commercial options come multi-platform so finding an AU shouldn't be that tough. While you are checking out the rest you might want consider these as well...

For FM give Rob Papen's Blue2 a good look.

For granular check out Sonic Arts Granite.

TheNickC · Post by **TheNickC** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 12:39 am

fmr wrote:
TheNickC wrote: Aside from anti-aliasing and envelope shapes FM is fairly straightforward and similar between different synthesizers, the filters are going to have a big impact on how you perceive it's quality
WHAT?

There are no hardware imperfections to consider as with analog or VA type stuff, there are some like VOPM that try to emulate old chips but there isn't deliberate lo-fi going on in the higher end synths like Sytrus or Zebra. Phase modulating sine waves with digital precision is always going to yield similar results(or whatever other waveform you want to use). It's mostly about features like using those other waveforms, FM8 having more operators than Sytrus or Zebra, Rhino using samples, or Zebra doing stereo FM. But if you wanted to just straight up copy pure FM patches between Sytrus, FM8, or Zebra, you could get them to sound the same with the control you have provided that you aren't using those exclusive features.

chilly7 · Post by **chilly7** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:36 am

Sampleconstruct wrote:
chilly7 wrote:What about Serum? Is it worse then Falcon in terms of 1) Sound quality 2) Editing possibilities?

Serum is a wavetable synth, it doesn't do granular synthesis at all.

As you see i do not know what is wavetable synth and granual synthesis. But i want to explore these things.
Money are extreamly tied for me so idealy i want to buy one thing which can do them all and with good sound quality and as much more editing possibly as possible.

People do you know Zebra 2 can do all 3? FM , Granular, Wavetable?

PieBerger · Post by **PieBerger** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:02 am

Zebra 2 will do FM and Wavetable but not Granular.

Sampleconstruct · Post by **Sampleconstruct** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 8:44 am

chilly7 wrote:
Sampleconstruct wrote:
chilly7 wrote:What about Serum? Is it worse then Falcon in terms of 1) Sound quality 2) Editing possibilities?

Serum is a wavetable synth, it doesn't do granular synthesis at all.
As you see i do not know what is wavetable synth and granual synthesis. But i want to explore these things.
Money are extreamly tied for me so idealy i want to buy one thing which can do them all and with good sound quality and as much more editing possibly as possible.

People do you know Zebra 2 can do all 3? FM , Granular, Wavetable?

Well, the one that does 15 different synthesis types including granular/multi-granular/time-stretching/sampling/FM/wavetable/analog/analog stack/physical modeling/organ synth/noise generators/drum module/arps/plethora of modulators (as many as you like), filters and FX/fully mappable with round robin, key-switching, interface scripting and more is UVI Falcon.

Ingonator · Post by **Ingonator** » Thu Jan 28, 2016 9:20 am

chilly7 wrote: I was looking at Tone 2 Nemessis and i might like the sound quality i totaly dislike how childish editing possibilities are.

Nemesis is not "childish", maybe you just do not know how to use it properly.

The big point of Nemesis is that i actually does REAL FM while most other so called FM synths (including those from Yamaha like the DX7...) actuallöy do phase modulation. The result could be similar but with more complex waveforms than a Sine and in some cases even with a Sine the result could be also quite different.
The real FM inc,uded wit hNemesis works properly with ANY waveform, no matter hoe compex it is. Due to this in Nemesis you could load custom waveforms and also create new ones with the built-in simple additive editor (or modify loaded waveforms with this).
Besides that Nemesis includes a bunch of additional oscillator modes that go beyond usual FM including e.g. phase distortion and many others.

To emulate the sound of old FM synths Nemesis also includes phase modulation modes that emulate the way how the DX hardware synths worked (and also NI FM8 which is a great synth IMO).

As both phase odulation and real FM (= frequency modulation) are included it is easy to compare results of using both in Nemesis, you just have to switch the oscillator/synthesis modes (real FM modes are called "NeoFM" and phase modulation "PM").

So Nemsis is a slightly different approach to FM but if you need a synth with 6 or more operators or a synth that properly replicates a DX7 something like e.g. NI FM8, the free Dexed or others seem to be a better choice.

Looking the best FM and granualar AUs.