Tone2 Saurus2...The Great Underrated?

[Examigan]

I always liked Saurus, criminally underrated imo.

+1
I enjoyed making presets for it and writing demo tracks also.
Easy to use and it sounds great.

[.jon]

Tone2 seems to have a solid selection of well designed synths, but I just can't accept the wonky 3D knobs. Do they come with alternative GUIs with proper knobs?

[chk071]

TBH, i wasn't too impressed by Saurus when i demo'd it. IMO, there are a couple of freeware analog modelling synths (Tyrell N6, Charlatan, TAL-Noisemaker) which sound better to my ears, and i also disliked the non-standard waveforms and selections in Saurus. Not a huge fan of their GUI's either, but that wouldn't be a big obstacle. Rather that i already have a ton of synths which do the same, and sound better to me. Tone2 are good at what they do, but, IMO, others did the analog modelling thing better already (u-he, TAL, Synapse...). I think they're doing well concentrating on stuff like Icarus. And they also did a great job on improving their workflow with Icarus.

[Apostate]

TBH, i wasn't too impressed by Saurus when i demo'd it. IMO, there are a couple of freeware analog modelling synths (Tyrell N6, Charlatan, TAL-Noisemaker) which sound better to my ears, and i also disliked the non-standard waveforms and selections in Saurus. Not a huge fan of their GUI's either, but that wouldn't be a big obstacle. Rather that i already have a ton of synths which do the same, and sound better to me. Tone2 are good at what they do, but, IMO, others did the analog modelling thing better already (u-he, TAL, Synapse...). I think they're doing well concentrating on stuff like Icarus. And they also did a great job on improving their workflow with Icarus.

If you haven't tried Saurus2, as Ingo mentioned it is a significant improvement. If you have already, all respect, to each his (or her) own.

[fluffy_little_something]

Strange that some think it sounds too bright for an analog synth. If I remember it right, it has somewhat reduced high frequencies. Compared to Sylenth1 it sounds outright muted. The filters sounded ok.
What I liked was that the pw knob worked on all waveforms, not just pulse.

The effects also sounded fine to me, appropriate to be more precise.

I was not fond of the user interface, the displays are hard to read, and some of the knobs in v2 as well, too shiny. Nor did I like those square buttons for cycling through options. Without them the interface would look tidier and there might be space for additional controls.
I prefer sliders for envelopes. The ADSR knobs look like all the other controls and are arranged inconsistently.

I think there is a white GUI, but only as part of one of those expensive expansions.

I don't remember exactly which features, but some more basic ones are hidden away in the matrix, which I did not like. Noise for instance, if I remember correctly. Or was there no noise at all?

Despite the big GUI and bling bling controls, it is a rather simple synth, but that might also be challenging - as in inviting.

[recursive one]

I own v. 1 which I had used in several tracks but then I bought Diva and Monark so I hardly ever load Saurus now. I remember that when I've got Diva I was puzzled why it sounds so very different to Saurus, some other plugins which aren't marketed as analog emulations sound more similar to Diva than Saurus in terms of fatness/warmness and other characteristics I associate with analogue synths.

I've demoed v. 2 and I think it sounds somehow better but not better enough to justify the uprgade price.

[Apostate]

Despite the big GUI and bling bling controls, it is a rather simple synth, but that might also be challenging - as in inviting.

Great point! I feel that way about ABL Pro1.

[chk071]

TBH, i wasn't too impressed by Saurus when i demo'd it. IMO, there are a couple of freeware analog modelling synths (Tyrell N6, Charlatan, TAL-Noisemaker) which sound better to my ears, and i also disliked the non-standard waveforms and selections in Saurus. Not a huge fan of their GUI's either, but that wouldn't be a big obstacle. Rather that i already have a ton of synths which do the same, and sound better to me. Tone2 are good at what they do, but, IMO, others did the analog modelling thing better already (u-he, TAL, Synapse...). I think they're doing well concentrating on stuff like Icarus. And they also did a great job on improving their workflow with Icarus.

If you haven't tried Saurus2, as Ingo mentioned it is a significant improvement. If you have already, all respect, to each his (or her) own.

Yeah, it was version 2 i tried. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't sound bad, i just think others do analog modelling better. I do think Tone2's synths in general are VA sounding, and not so much analog. That's fair enough, but, as Saurus is announced as a particular analog modelling synth, it has to benchmark against other analog modelling synths, and i do think, at least the popular ones, are usually doing a better job at it.

IMO, also, Icarus made Saurus a bit obsolete, because the butter filter is clearly very near the Saurus lowpass filters, and sounds just as good, while Icarus has a lot more options than Saurus. Ok, that's quite arguable, as some people will prefer a more stripped down, limited synth for what they're doing. I just can argue from my own position.

[sacer]

saurus expansions are realy expensive, this is an other plus for Diva you get a lot of soundsets, my favorites are plughugger (10€ intro for 150 great sounds) and aiyen zahef, but there are so many others affordable.
Also if you compare diva 1.0 with diva 1.3, there are so many more new features for free.

Maybe i' ll buy the arp expansion for saurus anyday, but i likeand use diva, syn'x2, strobe2 and oddity2 much more.

[chk071]

Strange that some think it sounds too bright for an analog synth. If I remember it right, it has somewhat reduced high frequencies. Compared to Sylenth1 it sounds outright muted.

TBH, i'm always surprised how much brighter soft synths sound compared to analog synths. Most seem to have less top end than soft synths or VA's. Usually make up for that with bottom end though.

[Apostate]

saurus expansions are realy expensive, this is an other plus for Diva you get a lot of soundsets, my favorites are plughugger (10€ intro for 150 great sounds) and aiyen zahef, but there are so many others affordable.
Also if you compare diva 1.0 with diva 1.3, there are so many more new features for free.

Maybe i' ll buy the arp expansion for saurus anyday, but i likeand use diva, syn'x2, strobe2 and oddity2 much more.

I think the arpeggios are something that set Saurus apart from the others. The only word I can come up with is striking.

[fluffy_little_something]

Strange that some think it sounds too bright for an analog synth. If I remember it right, it has somewhat reduced high frequencies. Compared to Sylenth1 it sounds outright muted.

TBH, i'm always surprised how much brighter soft synths sound compared to analog synths. Most seem to have less top end than soft synths or VA's. Usually make up for that with bottom end though.

I think it might also be a matter of equalization. The low frequencies are certainly there, but too quiet or weak relative to high notes. What I usually do with init patches is set up a negative modulation of volume via keytracking so that the volume is shifted towards the bass. And, if there is an eq, I reduce high frequencies.

Another issue is perceived lack of bass because the generally brighter sound of soft synths might create the illusion that bass is missing, while it seems to me that the ear/mind is simply focusing more on the higher frequencies of a bass sound, maybe because higher frequencies are more interesting, informative to the human being for evolutionary reasons.

[Examigan]

I think there is a white GUI, but only as part of one of those expensive expansions.

That is the Arp expansion, 200 presets, 100 arp patterns, and it has both white and black skins.

[Apostate]

Strange that some think it sounds too bright for an analog synth. If I remember it right, it has somewhat reduced high frequencies. Compared to Sylenth1 it sounds outright muted.

TBH, i'm always surprised how much brighter soft synths sound compared to analog synths. Most seem to have less top end than soft synths or VA's. Usually make up for that with bottom end though.

I think it might also be a matter of equalization. The low frequencies are certainly there, but too quiet or weak relative to high notes. What I usually do with init patches is set up a negative modulation of volume via keytracking so that the volume is shifted towards the bass. And, if there is an eq, I reduce high frequencies.

Another issue is perceived lack of bass because the generally brighter sound of soft synths might create the illusion that bass is missing, while it seems to me that the ear/mind is simply focusing more on the higher frequencies of a bass sound, maybe because higher frequencies are more interesting, informative to the human being for evolutionary reasons.

Saurus has plenty of tone and presence when fiddled with. I think only the most Dark Knight/EDM infatuated would be disappointed with the synth's low end...at least out of the box.

I've noticed a lot of folks here and on other sound forums greatly prefer to have things pretty well as they are if possible, they're not big into fiddling with stuff much. More power to them, but most of the criticisms I've read of Saurus are pretty easy to rectify through patient engineering.

Apologies if this was kind of redundant.

[cyberheater]

I've got the 1st Saurus. It's a great synth that would have been a legendary synth if it was hardware. You get fantastic fat sounds with low CPU usage.
I've no idea why it doesn't get more recognition.