KVR Audio

accessdune3 · Post by **accessdune3** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:28 am

When i saw Uno Pro price of a desktop model i thought with a little extra i can get Deep Mind 6, for a lower price Neutron and even Bringers analog emulations, but they don't have such extensive feature set as Uno Pro which makes it its own beast. Ofc deep mind has a polyphony and unison which can be a bigger pro then dual filter to some. But in the end it's about the sound.

I personally love uno one sound and I'm not even in to such simple synths, but I'm thinking of taking Uno Pro in the future.

TribeOfHǫfuð · Post by **TribeOfHǫfuð** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:56 am

Analog magic nothwithstanding, the desktop version seems like one handy piece to work with a computer with. Always a little clumsy for me to bring Deepmind 6 or Bodyssey to my dining table with my Mac and at worst find another place to eat depending on what else I bring with it. A wonderful travel package too if you absolute have to have a hardware synth and not just a controller with you to calm your nerves. Give me a VSTi controller to it, and I am ready to sell my Bodyssey and jump in.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 11:48 am

Yes, of the 2 the desktop is the one I like, I cant see how they justify so much extra to add those keys! Just waiting for Bones review, then I may have to ebay my original Uno to justify the upgrade!

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 2:54 pm

Trust me, it's worth it. I got it a few hours ago and it has exceeded my expectations. It sounds absolutely huge. The thing that really surprises me is how good some of the paraphonic presets sound. It's really impressive how full just one oscillator can sound with the right effects.

The workflow is greatly improved. The knobs are spaced further apart, making them easy to tweak. The Data knob is an endless rotary encoder. I'm not sure what it's supposed to do but all the other knobs are normal knobs. The buttons are smaller than I thought they'd be but they are a big step up from the flat panel buttons on the original and the tiny OLED screen gives you more info than the old screen, too. e.g. You get patch number and name, tempo (for the arp and sequencer), plus the retrigger mode - MONophonic, LEGato or PARaphonic. The edit matrix is also better.

The keys are the same width as on the original so they feel instantly familiar to me. The Mod and Pitch "Wheels" are welcome additions, too. The 64 step sequencer also seems pretty cool, although I haven't tried to program it yet. The sequences are still tied to the patch, which never bothered me but I know some people don't like.

On the down side, it's still a bit noisy but not so bad that I'd call it a problem. More of a problem is that not all the buttons are lit up and some of them are hard to read unless the light is really good.

Because I'm really nice, IK sent me a free powerbank, which is cool of them. I have no idea why they did it but I appreciate it a lot. I also learned from the invoice that I got a 60 euro discount, which I'd sort of forgotten about. I should check my credit card account to be sure but between that and the free powerbank, I got a hell of a deal on what is undoubtedly a hell of a synth. I am super impressed with it so far.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:44 pm

Great to hear

I noticed that powerbank had appeared on IK Page, nice gift!
Look forward to more news and reviews...

Edit - it’s supposed to have balanced stereo outputs, have you tried it for noise with trs cables or is the noise from the USB?

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:34 am

I discovered this morning that it's the Bluetooth from my Roli gear that's causing the noise. If I leave the Rolis switched off, there is no noise. Somehow, both my Unos seems susceptible to the interference, yet I've not noticed it with Rocket or MIcroMonsta (Analog Keys has awful noise issues all of its own).

I have to find out if I can disable the BT in the Rolis or move things around to minimise/eliminate the problem. If push comes to shove, the Rolis will lose out and I'll use KeyStep instead. KeyStep has aftertouch and a mod wheel, which is more than good enough for stage work. Or I'll use Ultranova or AK as a controller. It's nice to have options.

Another thing that contributed to the noise is that the Uno Pro is really loud. Once I turned it down so that it sits in with everything else, the BT noise was a lot less intrusive than it had been last night, when I was playing with the Uno Pro on it's own. I couldn't hear it at all on headphones, either, when everything else was turned off. Of course, this stuff, while something I am completely used to, is a big part of the reason I'd never use hardware in production. I prefer it when things just work.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:56 am

Here's a very short video of somebody's first patch on their new Uno Pro Desktop -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk18P7p56nQ

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Apr 29, 2021 1:12 am

I've noticed that the envelopes seem snappier on the Pro than on the original. It definitely does better plucks and some of the bass patches feel snappier, too. Last night we had rehearsal and I set it up next to the Roli, rather than in front or behind as I'd had it at home, and there was no problem with interference/noise. So it seems to be an easy thing to deal with, it just needs a bit of Feng Shui.

Yesterday I was doing a bit of patching and discovered that the way you deal with the dual filters is a little annoying. Rather than setting them up individually in series/parallel, there are multiple modes you have to work through to find the set-up you want to use. I know I'll get used to it but for now I have to work out in my fat head what each mode is going to do, which is a bit cumbersome. The new filter is quite nice and, like the original filter, it doesn't attenuate anything when you turn up the resonance. But I have managed to set up a few patches to play live and they sound great, well up to the standard of my best softsynths.

On patching, the endless encoder with it's push-button action makes browsing patches and navigating the global/set-up menus a breeze. The Mod Matrix is also easy to work with and offers a lot of flexibility. You can assign one slot to modulate the output of another, as well as having destinations like LFO Fade-In, CV, Gate and the sequencer's tie and accent values. It also has aftertouch as a mod source, which is nice.

The deeper I dig, the happier I am with my purchase.

accessdune3 · Post by **accessdune3** » Thu Apr 29, 2021 5:52 am

Hey Bones, what are the target/destinations in the modulation matrix of the Uno Pro?

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Thu Apr 29, 2021 6:53 am

From the manual -

SOURCES:

Velocity
Mod Wheel
Aftertouch
Key Pitch
Key Gate
Osc 1 Tune
Osc 1 Level
Osc 2 Tune
Osc 2 Level
Osc 3 Tune
Osc 3 Level
Noise
Filter 1 Cutoff
Filter 1 Res
Filter 2 Cutoff
Filter 2 Res
Filter Spacing
LFO 1
LFO 1
LFO 2
LFO 2
Filter Env
Amp Env
CV 1 IN
GATE 1 IN
CV 2 IN
GATE 2 IN
Accent
Gate
Tie

DESTINATIONS:

OFF
Osc 1 Tune
Osc 1 Wave
Osc 1 Level
Osc 2 Tune
Osc 2 Wave
Osc 2 Level
Osc 2 FM Amount
Osc 3 Tune
Osc 3 Wave
Osc 3 Level
Osc 3 FM Amount
Noise level
Filter 1 Cutoff
Filter 1 Res
Filter 2 Cutoff
Filter 2 Res
Filter Spacing
LFO 1 Wave
LFO 1 Rate
LFO 2 Wave
LFO 2 Rate
Filter 1 Env Amount
Filter 2 Env Amount
Amp Env Amount
Drive Amount
Delay Amount
Reverb Amount
Mod Amount
CV OUT 1
GATE OUT 1
CV OUT 2
GATE OUT 2
Accent Amount
Mod No. 1-16 Amount (one entry for each)

accessdune3 · Post by **accessdune3** » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:13 am

thank you

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:15 pm

Very detailed 1 hour review from one of my faveroute reviews (always very fair)

https://youtu.be/6DoR9X_QZeA

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 2:48 am

This illustrates the problem I have with YT videos. Because this guy is more interested in being first to post a review, he has not taken the time to learn how to use the synth properly. He complains about the way the knobs make it difficult to select mod sources and destinations but that's only because he is using the default knob behaviour. If you change the knob behaviour to "Pick Up", then you see the current value as soon as you start to turn the knob. It makes life much easier all round. He could also set sources and destinations using the OLED screen and the data knob which, again, is much easier than the way he tries to do it.

It was a nice find in the manual for me that if you hold down any of the edit buttons - OSC, MIX, FILTER, etc. - and press the Data knob, you can use the OLED screen to edit anything and everything. With fiddly things like Mod Matrix assignments, it is much easier. You can also use it to enter very precise values. e.g. Most parameters have 128 possible values, either 0 to 127 or -63 to +63, but Cutoff goes from 0-512. It's very hard to be super precise using the Cutoff knob but you can dial in an exact value using the Data knob.

excuse me please · Post by **excuse me please** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:07 am

@BONES

Thanks for your review!

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Fri Apr 30, 2021 6:25 am

Yes, the net outcome of all of this is I want it (desktop) more than I though I did! I’m not in a hurry however and I think the price will drop a bit when it’s been put a few months...I have 40 jam points (first time around I bought my original UNO as I had jam points that knocked a significant amount from the cost, this time it barely covers the postage cost which is really high, so I’m better off getting it from a shop!)

If it was not for the 30E shipping (seems very high for a small desktop device) I would probably have ordered from IK.

IK announces UNO Synth Pro