Verdict on Tension

dredd i knight · Post by **dredd i knight** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:25 am

hey all,
i upgraded from live 5 so got live 7 for 99euros which was sweet.
but now i'm looking at the suite and kinda salivating!
thing is i use sonar, which has a great synth in the form of z3ta, plus i have rapture and dimension pro.
for my beats i use guru and stylus rmx, and have just got battery while over in canada for cheap (compared to uk prices)....
so i'm only really interested in tension. the examples sound really good, but i'd like to hear from some of you as to how you rate it?
does it kick ass for those plucked string sounds? does it have any adagio type strings? is it good sound quality? how easy is it to program strummed chords?
cheers in advance people!
peace.
plus i thought there'd be some pricing policy on it for registered users of live 7 but it seems like only if you get the package..

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:02 am

it's surely cool but as I had the occasion to say in earlier posts it depends on what you need. If you need that real guitar sound, I think a sampled instrument like EIC2 should satisfy you. Conversely, if you want to explore the physics of strings, than Tension it's better. I'm still having doubts. My Alesis Nanosynth has better (real sounding) guitars than Tension has in its Ableton presets, and the same is valid for its Upright Bass or Contrabass. I'm puzzled.
However when used in a mix the guitar sound seems acceptable. I have played with it and I was able to get some better (I liked them more) sounds than the presets but still I can't decide. End of the year is near and I have got two options: go for a 99 Euros upgrade of the core or go for a 279 Euros upgrade to the suite. I really like Electric and Analog (I already got Operator) it's not what I need the most... but I can sure find an usage for it. Tension or No Tension this is the problem...

- My 2 cents.
- Pasha

SMonk · Post by **SMonk** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:42 am

The thing is that it basically fails completely to sound like any actual acoustic string instrument. Weird, unusual and cool sounds, sure. Remotely convincing guitar or violin, no way.

Logics Sculpture is the same.

dredd i knight · Post by **dredd i knight** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:56 am

do the presets play notes or is there a way to get chords out of it?

The thing is that it basically fails completely to sound like any actual acoustic string instrument. Weird, unusual and cool sounds, sure. Remotely convincing guitar or violin, no way.

ok so its got good sounds, but not in the realistic sense... is realism possible through tinkering under the hood perhaps?[/quote]

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:11 am

There is a chord MIDI plugin and a scale MIDI plugin. Put those in front of Tension (or any other instrument) and you will be able to play scaled chords by pressing one note.

Tension does some good sounds. Personally I like because of all the weird sounds it does. Unlike any other synth I tinkered with.

dredd i knight · Post by **dredd i knight** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:33 am

There is a chord MIDI plugin and a scale MIDI plugin. Put those in front of Tension (or any other instrument) and you will be able to play scaled chords by pressing one note.

i dint know live had these! were they in 5 which is the version i'm used to?
thats a really useful bit of info for me thanks a lot; sorry if i seem a bit dense.... its because i am

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:34 am

I think those plugins came with Live 4 and have been in every version since.

polyslax · Post by **polyslax** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 3:18 pm

I haven't tried the Abes version but I have AAS String Studio...

Weird and very expressive, lots of great plucked and scraped sounds fall out of it.

Ultra realistic? Nope. Passable guitars and strings (violin etc) in a mix? Yes, absolutely.

dredd i knight · Post by **dredd i knight** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:06 pm

cheers

Jagermaestro · Post by **Jagermaestro** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 6:26 pm

Yeah, for replicating real stringed instruments an a highly-realistic way I wouldn't recommend it at all. However, it has some absolutely stunning sounds, so as a general synth I'd highly recommend it.

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:06 pm

SMonk wrote:The thing is that it basically fails completely to sound like any actual acoustic string instrument. Weird, unusual and cool sounds, sure. Remotely convincing guitar or violin, no way.

Logics Sculpture is the same.

Logic's Sculpture is far superior. I like tension, but sculpture is the most beautiful physical modelling synth I've heard. One of the main reasons I can't bring myself to ditch logic.

noisetonepause · Post by **noisetonepause** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:26 pm

Tension is fantastic.

basetwo · Post by **basetwo** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:44 pm

I play violin, so I'm interested in this discussion.

Does the modeling take into account the resonance of the instrument's body as well? If it's just string modeling, I could easily see why coming close to a realistic sound for something like a violin would be hard.

One thing that's cool about violin is harmonic (sympathetic) vibrations on other strings. I can play an A on the E string and the A string (an octave lower) will resonate. I doubt there is anything out there that handles that, but it be interesting to explore.

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:05 pm

I did this little tune a while back using 4 instances of Tension and 3 patches that I made before the presets were available.

http://www.dedbird.net/audio/TensionWildcatzWalz.mp3

I updated the guitar sound a little since i posted it before but it's essentially the same (for anyone who bothered to download it)

I was going for a cello/viola sort of sound and it sort of sound like it, I recon with a bit more attention to controllers I could get it a lot closer. I love Tension, you can make some wacky noises with it.

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:13 pm

it does have some rudimentary resonance cavity modeling, with a selection of types (piano, guitar, violin) and some damping and size options, but really - if you play violin you ought to lower your expectations a bit. It won't compete with the real world timbre of a nice string instrument, in fact the resonance nodes are quite pronounced in a way that a cheapo Chinese violin factory wouldn't allow.

The best way to use Tension is to create instruments that don't already exist, at least that way you can't compare them unfavourably with their real world counterparts.

It is a good, interesting, fun synth, but it is very definitely a synth and not a violin or a guitar.

Verdict on Tension

is tension worth the cash?

Verdict on Tension