Ableton Forum

Tarekith wrote:Ok, grokked this one now, very, very cool synth.

+1 Probably going to get this.

It looks like a washing machine with seaweed in it, but sounds way better.

Martyn wrote:

Tarekith wrote:Ok, grokked this one now, very, very cool synth.

+1 Probably going to get this.

It looks like a washing machine with seaweed in it, but sounds way better.

LOL. That is the most perfect description!

Just got the demo and tried it out on my lunch break. I'm loving it! Great interface, makes a change from anything I've used before. Really like the fact you can grow your branches and reseed them - nice touch!

One question that springs to mind - bear in mind I didn't have time to read the manual, I'm very curious and I can't wait till later (it's on my laptop which I can't turn on now) - what is actually happening when you grow the branches - I mean in a traditional synthesis context, what's technically going on there?

Martyn wrote:

Tarekith wrote:Ok, grokked this one now, very, very cool synth.

+1 Probably going to get this.

It looks like a washing machine with seaweed in it, but sounds way better.

+1 Purchasing for sure.

this thing ROCKS!

Playing Devil's advocate:

Seems like every post has been about how cool this synth is because of the cute littles "seeds" and DNA gimmick, but I haven't read anything about blazing lead sounds, phat bass etc.

Is this just an ambience generator?

I know I could download the demo, but these posts haven't tempted me.

Download the demo and flip through the presets. There are plenty of great bass & lead sounds as well as a lot of interesting weirdness.

ChiDJ wrote:Playing Devil's advocate:

Seems like every post has been about how cool this synth is because of the cute littles "seeds" and DNA gimmick, but I haven't read anything about blazing lead sounds, phat bass etc.

Is this just an ambience generator?

I know I could download the demo, but these posts haven't tempted me.

click on the radio icon half way down the page at http://www.soniccharge.com/synplant -- as the description says, these are 100% synplant sounds.

what's most impressive is the truly strange way to create bizarre sounds...someone like me (who is less a mad patch scientist) who wants to create interesting usable sounds and start making music will really like this synth. Also, I like the fact that the raw sounds are great for adding effects. This is a perfect tool at the base of a massive rack generating cool sounds that work great with effects on top.

This is NOT a VA, NOT zebra, not Additive (I mean it could use any of those technologies, but it doesn't sound like them). It takes a more fundamental approach to music creation - solid building blocks.

nebulae wrote:Also, I like the fact that the raw sounds are great for adding effects. This is a perfect tool at the base of a massive rack generating cool sounds that work great with effects on top.

This is an important point. The patches aren't doused in a rack of effects like a lot of other synths so you're going to have to do the work of processing them yourself. The upside of this is that Synplant is great for generating the kinds of sounds that leave room for a lot of creative processing.

kuniklo wrote:

nebulae wrote:Also, I like the fact that the raw sounds are great for adding effects. This is a perfect tool at the base of a massive rack generating cool sounds that work great with effects on top.

This is an important point. The patches aren't doused in a rack of effects like a lot of other synths so you're going to have to do the work of processing them yourself. The upside of this is that Synplant is great for generating the kinds of sounds that leave room for a lot of creative processing.

The same has been true with Microtonic - great building blocks for drum sounds, that you can do amazing things with just be adding compression, saturation, verb, etc.

It may not be the best softsynth ever but it's really refreshing to look at something that is not trying to emulate hardware and more than half the parameters you don't even touch. I really don't care how it does what it does. It's just fin and makes me giggle.

Now some designer needs to make something that implements video game type features where you can shoot shit to adjust sounds and bounce things off of parameters like Pong.

beats me wrote:It's just fin and makes me giggle.

admit it, you look at the bouncing leaves, and it makes you want to smoke it like a big ass bong...

beats me wrote:I really don't care how it does what it does..

yeah, but the great thing about it is that if you DO care you can check what's happening at "Edit DNA" page. and tweak the sound even more.
this is also good if you want to make a break from looking at the plant for hours (it does look a bit scary, right ).

WebSite! wrote:(it does look a bit scary, right ).

I've never been comfortable with plants after watching this documentary...

nebulae wrote:

beats me wrote:It's just fin and makes me giggle.

admit it, you look at the bouncing leaves, and it makes you want to smoke it like a big ass bong...

I admit this is a great step forward for pothead musicians. To some this might even be the Obama of softsynths.

I also agree it's great you can go to the DNA page for finer detail. When I messed with that it also made me giggle.