why is there so many soft synths?

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu May 10, 2007 12:40 pm

Not a huge difference, other than the fact that each synth has its own audio engine, with each sounding different. For example, I have done tests where I can take a single-cycle waveform and sample it with Sampler. I then import it into Sytrus (which analyzes it and creates an oscillator with 256 additive partials - a fairly close imitation of the single-cycle waveform). Playing the two sound very close, maybe very slight tonal differences, but overall VERY similar. But then you can start tweaking, and off you go...in Sampler, you can automate the morph filter and have a moving animated sound...with Sytrus, you can just self-modulate with the FM engine. Or you can mess with the filters - Sytrus has three filters, and Sampler has nice options as well. My point being that I disgree that all synths sound the same, even at the basic level...and once you start tweaking, even more crazy shit happens...

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:00 pm

Ive got blue, albino and Predator... used to think they were immense until i got the demo of Massive - wooft, makes the Papen synths sound so thin/weak (still love them though)... just bought Massive this morning

couldnt resist, though the guilts starting to kick in cause i also have to buy some monitors and a sound card on the weekend

Fuck the bills and food

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:07 pm

what are you guys hearing in Massive? I agree that the Linplug/Papen synths sound weak in general, but tell me what you hear in Massive that's so thick?

I found the UI to be difficult.

Poster · Post by **Poster** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:15 pm

nebulae wrote:what are you guys hearing in Massive? I agree that the Linplug/Papen synths sound weak in general, but tell me what you hear in Massive that's so thick?

I found the UI to be difficult.

I'm impressed by it's thickness and modulations options..

not necessarily by the type of sound it produces..

I always felt it is just another reaktor uber synth..

nathannn · Post by **nathannn** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:16 pm

jeskola wrote:Ive got blue, albino and Predator... used to think they were immense until i got the demo of Massive - wooft, makes the Papen synths sound so thin/weak (still love them though)... just bought Massive this morning couldnt resist, though the guilts starting to kick in cause i also have to buy some monitors and a sound card on the weekend Fuck the bills and food

massive is $400.00
you could buy a used hardware synth for that..

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:18 pm

It's $299 at AudioMidi.com but you're right, it's expensive when compared to Zebra or Sytrus. Also, it does look a lot like a Reaktor sypersynth.

I dunno, NI synths haven't floated my boat in years.

jeskola · Post by **jeskola** » Thu May 10, 2007 1:20 pm

nathannn wrote:
jeskola wrote:Ive got blue, albino and Predator... used to think they were immense until i got the demo of Massive - wooft, makes the Papen synths sound so thin/weak (still love them though)... just bought Massive this morning couldnt resist, though the guilts starting to kick in cause i also have to buy some monitors and a sound card on the weekend Fuck the bills and food
massive is $400.00
you could buy a used hardware synth for that..

was cheaper than that from NIs site, i also see if you buy Kontrol for a couple hundred dollars you get massive free....

I bought it cause ive been using the demo extensivly , and not being able to save, or having to bounce inaudio within 30 mins was restricting what i was doing.

mbenigni · Post by **mbenigni** » Thu May 10, 2007 2:30 pm

5 the market is over saturated so stop making these retarded things unless you have a new brilliant idea, which i can almost guarantee you dont.

Bah. Every time a programmer sits down to develop a new plugin, I count my blessings he didn't decide to grace the computing world with another variation on the web browser. Er, platform independence, anyone?

VST's are fun, and you can ignore them when you want to. Mozilla SafariOperaFox v37.5 makes web developers jump off bridges. Grumble grumble.

Sorry, free-associating again.

Chris Paget · Post by **Chris Paget** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:52 pm

"if you have one you have them all, especially when it comes to native instruments products...
its all the same damn thing.. there might be a preset in a synth that makes you say "wow this synth is so much better than that".. but if you look at the wave form and the effects chain its going through that preset can most likely be created with any other soft synth out there."

I'm somewhat new to soft synths, but I'm surprised (and kindof curious) about why nobody is posting about the difference between drum synthesis and melodic synthesis..there can definitely be both within the same program, but aren't some programs more suited to developing beats, and vice versa? why create a totally separate program like Battery?

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Thu May 10, 2007 3:54 pm

b0unce wrote:any absynth 4 users wanna tell us how great & unique it is ?
(a softsynth I happen to be eyeballing...)

Sure :)

A4's a major improvement over A3. You have morph waves. You have a sync granular mode (the same concept as Symptohm : Melohman uses for their oscillators. The difference is that Absynth doesn't use samples in their version- it uses internal or user waveforms). You have flexible routing; any module besides the oscillators and effects can be either a filter or a waveshaper (ring modulator/frequency shifter). In the effects module, you have a channel mixer (finally!). For user waveforms, envelopes, etc; there's no limit to how many you can have (the previous limit was 256), and you can have subfolders. Automation's much easier to set up than in earlier versions.

It's versatile. It's not that hard to program once you get the hang of it. And, it sounds great. The only synth I use more is Reaktor.

This, besides the sample and hold thing (elogoxa's SunRa's doing that), is all Absynth (3 in this case; I did this a couple years ago); four instances. Nothing else as far as effects or anything else goes.

ew

Johnisfaster · Post by **Johnisfaster** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:02 pm

nathannn wrote:
jeskola wrote:Ive got blue, albino and Predator... used to think they were immense until i got the demo of Massive - wooft, makes the Papen synths sound so thin/weak (still love them though)... just bought Massive this morning couldnt resist, though the guilts starting to kick in cause i also have to buy some monitors and a sound card on the weekend Fuck the bills and food
massive is $400.00
you could buy a used hardware synth for that..

I bought my juno-106 for $200. USD not too long ago. asking more than $200 for ANY soft synth is just bullshit if you ask me especially considering the hardware you can get.

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:21 pm

Can you really compare a Juno (one oscillator, one envelope, one LFO) to a modern softsynth and say it's a good deal? Different strokes, I suppose...

I've owned both a Juno-60 and a 106. The facts are 1) a 60 sounds better than a 106, and 2) I wouldn't trade any of the softsynths I own for either (or both, for that matter).

ew

aisling · Post by **aisling** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:36 pm

what is the difference between albino and blue sound wise? which of the two is the better bang for the buck considering cpu (macbook pro), ease of use and sound. I was led to understand albino is a good substitute for a virus (a-c era)?

Thanks

ewistrand · Post by **ewistrand** » Thu May 10, 2007 5:45 pm

Blue's designed as an FM synth, and Albino's designed as a VA. They're coded by different people; Blue by Jon Ayres (from ConcreteFX) and Albino by Peter Linsener (LinPlug). The main similarity is that Rob Papen did the sound design for the most part.

The closer comparison would probably be between Predator and Albino, if you're talking about Rob Papen's synths...

ew

R.J.Dubya · Post by **R.J.Dubya** » Thu May 10, 2007 9:15 pm

I personally find that albino, blue, and predator, all have an extremely similar sound in terms of oscillators and filters. So similar that I could personally not justify having two of the three, let alone all three. They are different, but the sound quality is about as close as you get with soft synths. Predator is simpler and quicker, but very powerful. Blue is more complicated, more options, longer to program. Albino is in between. Very similar filters and sound. They are all very smooth sounding, extremely warm, and nice for the most part, but they have trouble cutting through mixes sometimes.

Massive is pretty incredible, better sound than reaktor imho. Way too expensive, but I got it for free with komplete Care and am very happy about that. I'd maybe have bought it for 200, however I also have trouble justifying a soft synth over that price. But man am I glad I have it.