Vanguard2 by Refx out 25th of November!

[SLiC]

But honestly, I don't need it. I just feel like wanting it.

Nothing wrong with that, it's a famous old synth reborn.

It's obviously capable of a wide range of sounds...some nice pads, ambience, soundtrack type patches included. If you like Tone2 synths, you will like it. Its main advantage as I see it is just workflow- 1 page, super fast and easy to get a patch going, sounds great IMO and you have lots of top notch presets to start/learn from! I suspect it will see plenty of updates in its future.

[syntonica]

But honestly, I don't need it. I just feel like wanting it.

Nothing wrong with that, it's a famous old synth reborn.

It's obviously capable of a wide range of sounds...some nice pads, ambience, soundtrack type patches included. If you like Tone2 synths, you will like it. Its main advantage as I see it is just workflow- 1 page, super fast and easy to get a patch going, sounds great IMO and you have lots of top notch presets to start/learn from! I suspect it will see plenty of updates in its future.

There's a surprising amount of depth to it despite it simple architecture. I find it refreshing to have a little more than the usual 1/2 osc 1 filter 1 lfo analog emu and the modern, multi-tabbed! Multi-windowed all-singing all-dancing extravaganzas of today. The fact that all the features are right there in front of you is quite nice.

[Synthman2000]

I programmed 10 sounds in an hour this evening. Actually not very useful as leads.. but as textures, sound fx almost sonic scapes with long verb tails very useful. It fast makes interesting and rather dated sounds, which is what I require at the moment so the timing could not have been better. I am not actually convinced I would use it much in a modern production. It could be a bit loose and lacking the super detailed control we have in modern synths such as serum/rapid. I have not bought much new the last years so it is quite nice to sit and work on sounds outside of a track that could end up inside a track. Just on synthesis sessions.

It is a little odd in some regards as whilst it is quite simple, controls wise, it is a little unconventional which means there is also a bit of hesitancy on what to do next, but then you are kind of stuck with envelopes and LFO's that feel rather limited.

However this limitation does bring a new character that you would be inclined to iron out with more tweaking on a tweak every parameter synth. Maybe we lost something in the modern synth details, it is arguable. Well now you can have that back it seems... it has an organic thing going on.

It is very helpful they put the mod indicators on the parameter knobs as I have had a few "what the hell is going on?" moments. I suppose 1 hour is not very long on any synth though. You can get quite a deep sound with just the 2 effects onboard.

It is unashamedly retro sounding.

[JonSolo]

Been messing with making skins, these are a little too intense, but it appears to be somewhat easy to do:



Vanguard-Neon-main.jpg



Vanguard-Dusk-main.jpg

Share please

[Boy Wonder]

Every so often, I try to find modern usage for some of the old vintage sounds. Used as is, they often don't work, but if I render them and chop them up, or shred them through something like Looperator or any other glitcher/mangler, that seems to help. If I buy Vanguard 2, I wouldn't be surprised if I employed this technique as well.

[Synthman2000]

Which you could arguably do with any modern "good" synth I imagine.

I have really grown to like (love) Predator. Rob Papen seems a very likable person from interviews and his demos, seems like a very chilled guy and serious about his craft. Predator may not have all the latest WT oscillators and highest quality implementations of effects/filters etc. But it is highly featured, had many WT's and is a really enjoyable synth to use. When you need something that is not pure VA and not a metallic FX Predator can often slide into a mix with just what you need.

Any word about alternative/original reverb for Vanguard2 ? Surely the original reverb is a big part of the synth original sound staging ? Is there a problem or is that a possibility ? Any word on that Figbug, you seem to be in the know with Vanguard2.

[DrGonzo]

Can any Mac users confirm the OS requirements for me?
Is MacOS 10.13 really the minimum requirement?

MacOS 10.13 was released 2022.
WIndows 8 was released 2012.

This surely must be a typo?

/Carl

[LoveEnigma18]

But honestly, I don't need it. I just feel like wanting it.

Nothing wrong with that, it's a famous old synth reborn.

It's obviously capable of a wide range of sounds...some nice pads, ambience, soundtrack type patches included. If you like Tone2 synths, you will like it. Its main advantage as I see it is just workflow- 1 page, super fast and easy to get a patch going, sounds great IMO and you have lots of top notch presets to start/learn from! I suspect it will see plenty of updates in its future.

There's a surprising amount of depth to it despite it simple architecture. I find it refreshing to have a little more than the usual 1/2 osc 1 filter 1 lfo analog emu and the modern, multi-tabbed! Multi-windowed all-singing all-dancing extravaganzas of today. The fact that all the features are right there in front of you is quite nice.

Thanks to both. I like the reFX ecosystem (being a Nexus user) and the simplicity of Vanguard2 is indeed very welcome, especially for someone like me. A demo version would have been nice, but pretty sure it is not going to happen. I will wait for a few days and see if I still want it.

[Samiver]

With there being no demo does anyone know refx policy on refunds if you don't like it. Usually on plugins that do not have a demo you see a 30 day no quibble refund type of thing but I could not see anything on the refx site under vanguard 2 or Faq's.

Has anyone ever tried to get a refund from refx on things before. I am assuming they accept some kind of consumer rights or rules.

Considering buying to trial but don't want to get caught out or it to be a complete hassle getting a refund if I don't like it. Yet again I so wish there was a demo.

[i need Help]

Has anyone ever tried to get a refund from refx on things before. I am assuming they accept some kind of consumer rights or rules.

Via https://refx.com/terms/

Return & Refund Policy:

1) All sales are final.

2) There will be no refunds with respect to any and all products or services.

3) F**k you.

(#3 Added for comedic effect)

[Samiver]

Has anyone ever tried to get a refund from refx on things before. I am assuming they accept some kind of consumer rights or rules.

Via https://refx.com/terms/

Return & Refund Policy:

1) All sales are final.

2) There will be no refunds with respect to any and all products or services.

3) F**k you.

(#3 Added for comedic effect)

Thanks appreciate the link (and the laugh at point 3 you added). That sucks from a consumer perspective but at least it killed any lingering thoughts I had about trying this.

[i need Help]

I mean they might as well add it with no demo nor refunds lol.

[SLiC]

Isn't it no resale as well?

No demo, no refunds, no resale would be the trinity of 'you better be sure you want it'!

I think if you have and like NEXUS you will like Vanguard, but you almost certainly don't need it...but then it doesn't currently cost more than a NEXUS preset pack, so you could just look at it that way!

[revvy]

Nexus isn’t no resale. Is it?

[i need Help]

The Use License section says you can’t transfer your license without their expressed written authorization, so maybe you can?

Or maybe they say it that way just so users will ask because they like crushing people hopes and dreams lol, who knows?