Cherry Audio Releases Mercury-4 Compuphonic Synthesizer!

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Mercury-4 Polyphonic Synthesizer

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Friendly Noise wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:13 pm Hi guys, curiosity was greater than my laziness and finally I downloaded the Mercury 4 demo.

In the next days there will be some videos with direct comparisons between the software and my Jupiter 4. Please stay tuned. :-)
Good stuff! If I may: on top of any traditional sounds you want to show off, please include some extreme settings, like a fast decay filter sweep at full res, sounds that show off the snappiness of the envelopes, audio-rate modulations on the OSC and filter, what the amp VCA sounds like when driven, etc.

I've seen some comparisons where it's just like a simple keys patch or a simple saw pad played on the hardware and it's relatively easy to dial those types of patches in very closely with any two VA synths. On the other end of the spectrum, just listening to raw osc waveforms is informative but not the whole story either.

Just my humble request. I look forward to whatever you put together.

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I have a feeling people are not going to like these results. My take on all of the cherry stuff is that it gives you functionality of the emulated synths and they sound good. nothing more, nothing less.

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XpanderDude wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 5:37 pm I have a feeling people are not going to like these results. My take on all of the cherry stuff is that it gives you functionality of the emulated synths and they sound good. nothing more, nothing less.
I don't think anyone is actually expecting U-he or TAL level accuracy. Particularly at audio rate. I'm just curious to hear how close to being in the ballpark it is. And also familiarizing myself with what the hardware sounds like when pushed similarly.

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I would like to hear one person, just ONE PERSON, try once to make a plug sound like the real thing, in a comparison... not just compare as is, out of the box (or rather, IN THE BOX as it were). We all have ears, EQ, saturation and we USE all that to enhance sounds, why not enhance plug ins also to match? its not cheating, it's real world.

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Here is the first part of the test. Not the most inspiring one, but still…

https://youtu.be/BI_GmIAVwB0

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Funkybot's Evil Twin wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:25 pm
Good stuff! If I may: on top of any traditional sounds you want to show off, please include some extreme settings, like a fast decay filter sweep at full res, sounds that show off the snappiness of the envelopes, audio-rate modulations on the OSC and filter, what the amp VCA sounds like when driven, etc.

I've seen some comparisons where it's just like a simple keys patch or a simple saw pad played on the hardware and it's relatively easy to dial those types of patches in very closely with any two VA synths. On the other end of the spectrum, just listening to raw osc waveforms is informative but not the whole story either.

Just my humble request. I look forward to whatever you put together.
Thanks for the suggestions. The first part is the most static one. But I will definitively test the unusual settings, too. 👍🏻👍🏻

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wwjd wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 12:34 am I would like to hear one person, just ONE PERSON, try once to make a plug sound like the real thing, in a comparison... not just compare as is, out of the box (or rather, IN THE BOX as it were). We all have ears, EQ, saturation and we USE all that to enhance sounds, why not enhance plug ins also to match? its not cheating, it's real world.
I guess that we have already such a plethora of sound generating devices and sound modifying tools that almost everything is doable with some skills and investing time. If you want to test the basis sound of two instruments, then a naked comparison is valid. It’s not a real world comparison, exactly as you said, but it is still valid as a starting point.

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wwjd wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 12:34 am I would like to hear one person, just ONE PERSON, try once to make a plug sound like the real thing, in a comparison... not just compare as is, out of the box (or rather, IN THE BOX as it were). We all have ears, EQ, saturation and we USE all that to enhance sounds, why not enhance plug ins also to match? its not cheating, it's real world.
Isn't making the plugin sound like the hardware the developer's job? :wink: :hihi:

I mean, adding low end via EQ or some saturation may work if EQ or saturation is the only thing missing, but if the waveforms are way off, or the filter response and behavior is off, or the audio rate modulation doesn't sound right, that's not stuff EQ and saturation will fix.

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Thank you friendly noise for making that comparison sound video.

The point of my post is "can we MAKE the plugin sound almost exactly like the real one, with the slightest effort"? I think the answer is always yes.
Listening to that comparo.... although probably not very scientific, he tried to normalize the sounds, yet the MERC4 is noticeably quieter than the real one. maybe the normalizing, or meters did what they do digitally, while not quite living up to real world. I feel the levels would benefit from eyes closed volume setting by listening, not just normalizing.

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wwjd wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 12:34 am I would like to hear one person, just ONE PERSON, try once to make a plug sound like the real thing, in a comparison... not just compare as is, out of the box (or rather, IN THE BOX as it were). We all have ears, EQ, saturation and we USE all that to enhance sounds, why not enhance plug ins also to match? its not cheating, it's real world.
You can't change an oscillator's PWM cycle with EQ. Tone is note-specific, your suggestions are static & global. All that is the developer's task.

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wwjd wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 11:02 pm Listening to that comparo.... although probably not very scientific, he tried to normalize the sounds, yet the MERC4 is noticeably quieter than the real one. maybe the normalizing, or meters did what they do digitally, while not quite living up to real world. I feel the levels would benefit from eyes closed volume setting by listening, not just normalizing.
Claiming that the hardware is louder doesn‘t make sense. Normalizing does not change the sound and is mandatory for any comparison. If its not loud enough crank up the level - done…

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It's not really quieter, it's just thinner, less low-end, less saturation by the VCA at a similar loudness level. The comparison is fair.

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wwjd wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 11:02 pm Thank you friendly noise for making that comparison sound video.

The point of my post is "can we MAKE the plugin sound almost exactly like the real one, with the slightest effort"? I think the answer is always yes.
Listening to that comparo.... although probably not very scientific, he tried to normalize the sounds, yet the MERC4 is noticeably quieter than the real one. maybe the normalizing, or meters did what they do digitally, while not quite living up to real world. I feel the levels would benefit from eyes closed volume setting by listening, not just normalizing.
I will double check the loudness in the next video. 👍🏻

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Level differences aside, the Mercury-4 seems weakest on the PWM sounds in these examples. Wonder what the filter will be like?

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yes, I completely comprehend the timbre/tonality differences, and acknowledge they sound different. still feel audiable leveling is best over digital normalizing, especially where they do sound different like this. that can make these comparos more "apples and oranges" instead of "watermelons and grapes" :D

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