KVR Audio

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:12 am

im debating buying the upgrade to absynth 3.
to those of you who have already got the update...what do you think? is it worth the $100+ and if so, why?

im not setup for surround so that feature will be lost on me. i think the one feature that interests me the most is the all-in-one gui, and other UI related changes. how much do you feel that changes have improved the useability?

whats the fractalize like?

im currently a very light absynth user. just as with several other synths i've got, i love the sound of absynth, but other things/projects distracted from shortly after got it. but since i do still love the sound, i'd like to see if i can get more into it.

so i've been wondering if the 3.0 update would be worth my bothering with, since im not a serious user at all right now, or if UI changes (and other improvements) might inspire me to use it more.

-ugo

ew · Post by ew » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:23 am

The surround feature is still useful running in stereo,ugo.All it does in stereo is add more outputs to your host if you wish.By careful panning,you can morph between the same channel feeding separate outputs with different external effects-a very cool thing indeed.You can do vectorish patches the same way.
The stereo option has two different settings-normal(think A2)and wide.Wide adds much more space,
The resonator is great,and the unison oscills make it even easier to get the fat analog sound.The frequency shifter is a single sided ring modulator,where you get the sum frequencies instead of both the sum and difference frequencies.Think OhmForce's Hematohm.
The fractalization adds a nice morphing texture to some patches,and the ability to use audio in as an oscil adds to the fun.
There's still some graphics bugs,but on the whole it's better sorted out than A2 was with its initial release...
You'd like it

ew

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:34 am

thanks for the info. cool to hear the new features are indeed fun...and especially nice to hear that i could still make creative use of the surround outputs. hmmm....

btw, know of any shops selling the updated for under $99? (just curious.)

-ugo

Sicklecell666 · Post by **Sicklecell666** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:21 am

ew have you had an opportunity to mess with it's audio in functions?

ew · Post by ew » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:26 am

Oh yeah

I'm working on something right now using it.I actually picked up my guitar for the first time in months(

)and put my old Roland synth pickup on it.One channel's the guitar going through my Kasha and into Absynth as an oscil,and the other two channels are an Absynth patch controlled by the guitar.
What a sound

ew

ugo · Post by **ugo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:48 am

could you post up an mp3?
i'd be interested to hear what thats like.

-ugo

ew · Post by ew » Sun Jan 02, 2005 6:49 am

When it's done...maybe tomorrow.
ew

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 7:56 am

I'm a little disappointed with it so far, to tell you the truth. All the new features are welcome, but I don't feel that they represent the same kind of step forward that the upgrade from 1 -> 2 did.

* ui improvements
The additions to the envelope editor are welcome. The rest are sort of a wash. I kind of liked the old separate editor screen and the new UI is less legible and suffers from some redraw bugs in the first release.

* unison mode & free oscs
This makes it easier to approximate more conventional analog sounds but I still wouldn't pick Absynth for that sort of thing.

* fractalize function
Haven't gotten anything musically useful out of this yet. Maybe more time will reveal the usefulness of this but right now it just seems to add extra HF harmonics, which was easy enough to do with A2.

* new effects
Kinda nonplussed by these too. Resonators seem most musically useful but I haven't gotten anything nearly as interesting out of them as the resonator effects in Reaktor.

So, overall I'm a little underwhelmed so far and I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with it. It's easily bested by other synths for leads & basses and more traditional pad sounds. Old frustrations remain - only one effect can be used at a time, controller assignment is confusing and unconventional, the basic sound is somewhat antiseptic, it's granular synthesis is a lot less convincing than Reaktor's. It still excels at weird atmospheric stuff and complex evolving sounds but I don't feel that version 3 brings a whole lot more to that party than version 2 did. Perhaps after I've had a little more time with it I'll change my mind but so far I'm a little disappointed.

Cabinfever · Post by **Cabinfever** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 9:07 am

read ni's absynth forum - ab3 has lots of bugs, is much heavier on the cpu and the new sounds are dull. not worth the price imho. i'm waiting a while --- maybe another six months or so until the next $129 upgrade

polyslax · Post by **polyslax** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 10:25 am

Yup, I'm definitely holding off on the Absynth 3 upgrade as well. I could sink that $100 into lots of other stuff that I think I'd get more out of.

Sleepwalker · Post by **Sleepwalker** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 10:42 am

Cabinfever wrote:read ni's absynth forum - ab3 has lots of bugs, is much heavier on the cpu and the new sounds are dull. not worth the price imho. i'm waiting a while --- maybe another six months or so until the next $129 upgrade

Agree, ill stick to absynth 2 for a while. Its to expensive, just to get audio input, and some suround outputtings. when I calculate it, ive used a lot of monny on un-necesary plugs and upgrades the last years (meaning I dont realy use them), even though its only $129, it will fast grow to $1290 if I was to upgrade and purchase all the "must haves" in a year.

Though id think it would be interesting running a drum loop through it, use surround sound outputs and apply different effects on theese different chanels in the host! Im interested in what absynth3 can do with that kind of prosessing. Will it pan the suround image in interesting "morphing" ways? And what does it add of internal sounds to the prosessed signal?

Id love to hear some examples of this! Well, theres probably coming a demo soon I can try..

Ocean Zen · Post by **Ocean Zen** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:42 pm

I've been considering buying Bsynth 3, ( idon't have any earlier version), but from all of NI's demos, I've found them to be buggy and unstable using Logic on PC and on a Mac.

I think I'll wait 'til a few updates sort out the bugs.

Amberience · Post by **Amberience** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:51 pm

I've not got it yet, but don't complain about its sound. Its marketed as something "different" so don't compare it to the flock.

cptgone · Post by **cptgone** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 4:54 pm

Oceanzen wrote:I've been considering buying Bsynth 3, ( idon't have any earlier version), but from all of NI's demos, I've found them to be buggy and unstable using Logic on PC and on a Mac.

I think I'll wait 'til a few updates sort out the bugs.

I never tried their demos but my Komplete2 is very stable (PC)

spaceman · Post by **spaceman** » Sun Jan 02, 2005 5:00 pm

Sicklecell666 wrote:ew have you had an opportunity to mess with it's audio in functions?

you'd love it

absynth 3 update: worth the price?