What Do You Think Of Madrona Labs?

[wagtunes]

In the 12 years I've been recording ITB, I have never bought anything from them. I don't know. I tried the demo of one of their synths and the interface just drove me crazy.

Still, I've heard their stuff is really unique. At least it was in 2014.

What about now? Is it still? What is your opinion on their synths? Which ones are you favorites? They don't seem to get talked about much these days.

[Winstontaneous]

If I could only have one software synth ever again...it would be VAZ Modular.
If I could have 2, I would add Madrona Labs Aalto. It's very much West-Coast synth (Buchla) influenced but it can do more traditionally subtractive Moogy-things too. For me it's a perfect blend of chaos and order. Whenever I wish it had more features I patch it up and find alternative ways of doing what I want. I like the fact that it only has 4 voices and I find the interface very intuitive. I generally prefer closed-environment modulars/semi-modulars and instruments that don't add so many new features over time that they're unrecognizeable compared to v1.

I have all the other stuff too, Kaivo does some interesting granular, Virta has intriguing audio processing, Aaltoverb is simple but very tweakable with no artifacts, Sumu is a creative take on additive.
If you don't get along with the interface you're not missing anything, but more than most other devs I find I develop a relationship with the Madrona Labs stuff that keeps me coming back.

[pdxindy]

Kaivo has some of the highest quality physical modeling I've heard. Great synth, heavy on the CPU.

[martinjuenke]

Madrona is modern, unique, left field.
Not really first stop for traditional main stream synth fans.

[emef]

absolutely love Aalto, still one of my favourite synths

[foosnark]

I love Aalto to bits -- it's my favorite softsynth overall. It's deceptively simple, but it's basically a Buchla Music Easel's design, modernized and expanded just slightly. I tend not to use it for chaotic bleep bloop Morton Subotnick style patches, but rather for expressive playing (and sometimes really short simple sequences). I use it with MPE and almost always have pressure controlling something -- usually the LPG, often something else as well.

I like Arturia Easel V too -- it's much more of an emulation than Aalto and does pretty well with the retro vibe. Both have a nice character, but I prefer the feel of working with Aalto, and if I could only have one of them it'd absolutely be Aalto.


That said, I just haven't gotten that much into the other Madrona synths.

I was super excited for Sumu, but in practice I haven't found myself using it very much. The MPE feels slightly broken, some things about the interface are weird. It is certainly capable of making interesting sounds, but I feel like I have to fiddle with it a lot to get there.

I thought I was going to get a lot of use from Virta with my bass, but again in practice I just don't find myself turning to it.

[Andreya_Autumn]

I like Madrona Labs a lot! Randy is a great dev.

The complaints I hear usually either fall into: "they're weird/not useful for me" or: "dev pace is too slow". Both are fair assessments. If you prefer straightforward synth architecture you will be better served elsewhere. Lotta cool presets if that's your thing, but many also lean into the experimental direction so same thing there. Some companies do work faster, but hey, it is what it is.

For what it's worth Foosnark: I have also previously had issues with MPE in Sumu, and those seem to be gone in the 1.3 release candidate that I tested just yesterday. Seems stable otherwise too so that should release soon I'm guessing.

I agree that Kaivo remains a top tier physical modeling synth. A per-voice model *and* a sum-of-voices resonator is a design that I think few others have pursued, but it makes so much sense. Get results with that I couldn't otherwise.
Aalto is cool too, though it's the one I've used least.
Virta in 256-band mode is the best modern Imogen-Heap style Vocoder IMO. Sadly it also has a bug in which it reverts to 8-band on projet reload which makes me use it less than I would otherwise.

And yeah Sumu is a really fantastic synth. As others have noted it's not what you'd call middle-of-the-road (also true for all the others). It's one of those that you gotta accept for what it is. At first I found it challenging to program. The 64-parallel-signals design is a fundamentally new mindset which I'm still getting the hang of tbh. When Randy added the independent LFO's to each (!) parameter, that's when the synth really took off for me. Makes it easy to add movement, affecting all partials of all voices, anywhere it's desired. Now that the MPE seems to work right I will use it much more I bet!

Oh, and if you're using MPE to access alternative tunings: Be advised you probably want to turn the "drift control" way down from the default position. That threw me off a few times.

[Download SOphist]

I think they're great and unique. Niche, not designed to wow you on 1st sight but reward exploration. a micro cosmos of sound into its own. and randy is a class act.

[wagtunes]

Thanks guys. After demoing everything again, I went and got the whole package. I do a lot of weird music so these synths will fit right in. I guess I've changed a lot in 12 years,

[fceramic]

Love Madrona Labs, got the entire collection. Look forward to Aalto 2.

[foosnark]

Look forward to Aalto 2.

Wait what? Did I miss some news?

[eLawnMust]

Never liked the CPU usage, still would like to have a tour of Madrona Labs... perhaps I'll book one, I hear that the free cheese cubes are great & you can talk to the staff on the other side of the plate glass thru intercoms, kinda like a prison visit but with much better ambience (and cleanliness), Tell your friends, impress your family!

[kraster]

I have them all and I love them all.

I think they really lean on unorthodoxy. Aalto is the most straightforward but is still a bit of an oddball.

Kaivo is a weird combination of granular and physical modelling with stacked waves!

Sumu is probably the most out there. A true additive box of tricks that uses the Loris algorithm to break down sounds.

One thing I love about Sumu is that while it can take a bit of work to get the partials into Sumu the amount of variabilty is incredible. I think the pulse system is ingenious. Usually working with that many partials is unbelievably cumbersome but the pulse system allows you to have a lot of control without being too fiddly.

One thing about Madrona synths is that they all contain something beyond the headline. With Aalto it's the Aaltoverb which is available as a separate plugin, with Kaivo it's the body modelling that compliments the resonator section and with Sumu it's the Space processor.

They're all unique and a lot of fun.

[GaryG]

Aalto was ultimately the reason I caved and installed wine on my Linux box so I could still use it, that good and unique.

[Ah_Dziz]

I've enjoyed aalto and kaivo quite a bit. They remain a way higher strain on the CPU than I ever anticipate. That usually keeps me from using them more. It's also why I haven't bothered with the other plugins from ML. Great stuff and fun to program. I'd just as soon make a huge modular patch and have lower CPU use though.