so what is the consensus on Analog?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
Poster
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Post by Poster » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:40 pm

it's biggest flaws for me personally are the lack of FM and the hardwired LFO's..

not doing FM places it right in the 'bread'n'butter' section.. sonic spectrum is way too limited..

though sound quality is very good I cannot understand some of AAS decision making..
I mean in a world that is over-saturated with VA's you come with this feature set?
It's sound quality complemented with a routing matrix would have made it killer..

dr.wackler
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Post by dr.wackler » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:47 pm

forge wrote:so is this something that can't be achieved at all in the Ableton one?
Don't know, but it seems not.
forge wrote:I mean for me ultimately I think Analog sounds good,
Absolutely. Analog sounds very good IMO. Just for some patches Ultra Analog goes a little bit more to where you feel the sound in your belly. Well, that is if you disregard the fact that the chorus plays a big role in many patches - if you don't, then the difference is huge.


Angstrom
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Post by Angstrom » Sun Apr 13, 2008 3:56 pm

Poster wrote: though sound quality is very good I cannot understand some of AAS decision making.. I mean in a world that is over-saturated with VA's you come with this feature set? It's sound quality complemented with a routing matrix would have made it killer..
I agree,
it may well be the best of the basic synths, but really that's like having "The best hammer that money can buy". Hammers are limited in functional scope, making one out of gold is not really going to increase it's usefulness too much.

For me, if any basic Virtual Analogue has a few filter models and doesn't alias then it is adequate quality. I mean - if your sound source is just simple saws and triangles then who cares?

give me something out of the ordinary, something creative - not something that would have seemed like a compromise in features in 1976.
This is software .. can we get creative now, or are we going to make some more limitations?

Hey lets only give them 3 waveforms , that's soooo retro!!

Poster
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Post by Poster » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:16 pm

Angstrom wrote:it may well be the best of the basic synths, but really that's like having "The best hammer that money can buy". Hammers are limited in functional scope, making one out of gold is not really going to increase it's usefulness too much.
The Finest in hammer Sounds
In a world filled with reproductions and ever increasing complexity,
Ultra Analog imposes itself as a unique and powerful hammer that is fast, easy and remarkably versatile.
At the heart of Ultra Analog are the best alias free hammer heads of the industry.

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Post by Poster » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:31 pm

Angstrom wrote: This is software .. can we get creative now, or are we going to make some more limitations?
exactly..
Angstrom wrote:Hey lets only give them 3 waveforms , that's soooo retro!!
:lol:

I think it's because they stayed too close to the concept of a 'typical' analog synth..

Maybe they thought the PM and the sound quality alone would be unique enough..
Though other than the PM it doesn't add anything to the ever growing field of 'adequate' VA's..

Geebag
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Post by Geebag » Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:01 pm

Its like a summers morning when you have taken the day off work and have plans and then it piss's rain.

In other words. Its Shit!

Alexis Forge
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Post by Alexis Forge » Sat Apr 19, 2008 3:47 pm

Image

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3dot...
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Post by 3dot... » Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:59 pm

speaking of Pro53... which I proudly own a license to...

I would love to be able to route audio through 'analog's filters....

other then that...

+1
... for sucky layout...
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Khazul
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Post by Khazul » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:34 pm

3dot... wrote:I would love to be able to route audio through 'analog's filters....
:?

I guess its potentially one up on eq3 and the auto filter...

Try one of the fabfilter plugins.
Nothing to see here - move along!

leedsquietman
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Post by leedsquietman » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Nobody is saying pro53 isn't a nice synth ... Analog uses the typical Live minimalist GUI look, apart from being small and not being able to be resized, you have to wonder why people are complaining about it, if you don't like Analog's GUI, you must surely hate Live's GUI and workflow...

Fancy graphics don't make the plugins sound better !

Anyway, Analog really is not a bad synth and part of the Suite represents good value for money. For me the cost of the upgrade from Live 6 for the educational version was unbelievable value, so I won't be whining about it.

Geez, there's a hell of a lot of whining from some people about Ableton and its products on this board recently - well, Live has revolutionized my workflow and music production and I for one really enjoy using it and the new products.

If you don't like Analog, then don't buy it and get off the pot ...
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.

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Post by Angstrom » Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:57 pm

you are misunderstanding.

there is a difference between minimal, which usually means "clear and easy to read" ...and what Analog is which is "cramped and complicated to read"

It's only a 3 osc synth, so it should be really easy to make sense of, but it isn't. The controls are laid out and grouped bizarely. Open a filter and control how much the envelope affects the cut-off. Is that feature easy to find and sensibly placed. Nope.

Is this interface really 'clear' ?

get off your high horse for gods sake. These are valid comments that people are making not just random whining.

leedsquietman
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Post by leedsquietman » Sun Apr 20, 2008 12:32 am

Some of the points are valid, but some people are just whining for the sake of it.

I agree that it is a bit cramped but I run it on a laptop with 1680x1050 resolution and can still use it, even if it's not optimal.

High horses are cool, I can look down and spit on the little people below me :D

The overall GUI look is still modelled on Live. People don't complain that Live isn't laid to look like a 3d portastudio, yet they do complain that the onboard devices don't have wooden effect and virtual keys. Seems crazy to me...
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.

alex.the.forge
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Post by alex.the.forge » Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:02 am

leedsquietman wrote:Nobody is saying pro53 isn't a nice synth ... ...

I didnt realise that was implied - I posted the pictures because I wanted to demonstrate how much easier to look at Pro-53 is because I was working on a set with Pro-53 in it immediately after one with Analog in it

seriously, the biggest whiners on this forum were all invited to Berlin twice to have whining sessions specifically to talk about these whines - don't mistake constructive criticism for random moaning - the Reason ABleton are so good as a company is because they are really good at listening to the whiners and extracting the useful bits they can act on and integrating it into their own visions - and of course that sometimes means completely ignoring said biggest whiners in favour of perhaps more conventional or universal requests - that;s the way it goes

if it were just one or two people complaining about the interface on Analog then it would probably just be considered normal general moaning, but threads like this are incredibly useful to Ableton because it helps them gauge just how many people feel this way

and to be honest I would probably be quite surprised if Ableton weren't already having similar thoughts themselves

the trouble is they are trying to stick to their original standard for device size and it has got to a point where it;s getting unworkable

3dot...
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Post by 3dot... » Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:30 am

not unworkable.... but at least they could make it horizontal ... like operator...

make it easier on the eyes/brain...

lesss.... sub... menus....

that's why I started using live in the first place..
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3dot...
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Post by 3dot... » Sun Apr 20, 2008 1:33 am

...thing is it doesn't matter... we're discussing this....

but they aint gonna change jack shit...

...kinda sad... :cry:
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