# Which synthesizer is underrated and needs more good sounds to convince? Which synth do you prefer?



## germancomponist (Feb 7, 2017)

I have the desire to go back to my roots. This means that I want to program synthesizers again.
Which synth needs fresh, hitherto unheard-of sounds?
What do you think?

In the 80's my company was called "Metaphon", and it is still .... .


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## InLight-Tone (Feb 7, 2017)

FALCON!


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## Saxer (Feb 7, 2017)

+1 
Great synth, great sound, less or too expensive content!


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## Flaneurette (Feb 7, 2017)

VI-Celestia, a Kontakt synthesizer I created while learning KSP for Kontakt. I made it exclusively for the VI-Control forum members. 

It doesn't have presets, and that might turn some off. But it's very powerful and unique. To describe it, it would say it is a wavetable additive formant polyphonic modular _re-_synthesizer. Since it uses Kontakt, one can drop ones own samples into the mapping editor, and mangle/resynthesize your samples with VI-Celestia. VI-Celestia also showcases what can be done with KSP, and the scripts are accessible without a password. It was my way of giving back to this unique community and the amazing people that created it and support it.

It's free. Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?7dno9om5dw6opnq

Here is the VI thread:

http://vi-control.net/community/threads/giving-a-synthesizer-a-name.32725/

A short quick-start manual:

VI-Celestia has 3 banks (tabs), in each bank one can select either a shape, instrument or sound-fx to work with. So in total 3 sound sources can be mixed together. Each bank stands on it's own, therefore each sound can be manipulated. The last tab is the mixer where one can do additional processing of the 3 sound sources. With the red display one can select a sound to work on. To enable a sound, click either P1, P2 or P3. This corresponds to either: SHAPES, INSTRUMENTS or SOUND FX.

With the _arrow keys_ it is possible to browse through the sound sources, or use the mouse to drag and scroll through them. Usually, one can produce a lot of different sounds with P1, the SHAPES alone. There are a lot of knobs that can be tweaked. The Formant, Speed, Smoothing, Cutoff are necessary to tweak to produce a sound, as they control the sound source and the respective low-pass filter. Of course, tweaking the ADSR is usually needed to create a certain sound. Each bank has it's own 3 band EQ, Shape modulators, Effects and a Arpeggiator. The modulators -or LFO- can be activated by _clicking the shape images_ on the right side. So to enable the Sine modulator, click the sine wave image. Not very intuitive, so I guess it was worth mentioning.

VI-Celestia does not produce instant sounds, it is a synthesizer that needs tweaking. If you are looking for instant sounds, then this is not for you. However, VI-Celestia can load and save settings. It is possible to save your configuration by pressing the "SAVE" button. You can also load a preset, by clicking on "LOAD". These presets are stored as a NKA file. Which basically is a text file which contains all parameters for easy sharing. Note: each bank must be saved independently, and the mixer tab settings will not be stored. The "Data" folder has therefore 3 folders: Bank 1, Bank 2, Bank 3. This way you can store a preset and later retrieve it in the bank it belongs to. It's not possible to load a preset for Bank 1 into Bank 2.

It is also possible to assign 9 CC controls to various knobs. 3 per bank. Click the MIDI CC MAPPING to select a knob to assign it to. The CC number can be selected by _dragging with the mouse_ over the black CC box. So you could assign the Cutoff to CC1 and thereby control it with the modwheel. Etc.


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## D-Mott (Feb 7, 2017)

Definitely Falcon. Not many people talk about it around here and I am surprised. It's all Zebra and Omnisphere. I think Zebra is Overrated :D


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## Chandler (Feb 7, 2017)

Mpowersynth. It is one of the most powerful synths, but it only has 2 soundsets. It is extremely versatile and has the best FX section of any synth.


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## marcotronic (Feb 7, 2017)

Yeah, I'm still wondering why Falcon isn't being used much more. I totally love it and a while back I began creating some cinematic sound patches for a commercial Falcon extension/soundbanks pack I planned but I never finished it due to the fact that hardly anybody here seems to use Falcon. I don't want to invest weeks/months of work and then sell the whole baby 5-20 times. Probably that typical "the chicken or the egg dilemma"  Not many soundpatches available -> nobody uses it. Nobody uses it -> nobody wants to create sounds for it because no one will buy them 

Marco


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## AllanH (Feb 7, 2017)

Falcon, I agree. After having added Diva, I have to say that Falcon is missing something in the analog synthesis area. I love the flexibility of Falcon and the way the hierarchy of samples, effects, etc make sense. But I find it far more difficult to make interesting sounds with than Diva.


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## Simon Ravn (Feb 8, 2017)

InLight-Tone said:


> FALCON!



It has very strange CPU usage issues though. Only synth where playing one patch can easily make crackles and dropouts despite me having one of the fastest machines available.

Also it has some very annoying bugs, like not remembering the settings of the AHDSR amp envelope on some patches at least, so I have to manuall redo it every time I load up a project. But great potential sure.


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## Saxer (Feb 8, 2017)

I think UVI are to blame them self that Falcon isn't more popular because they make their sound libraries very expensive. Nobody wants to pay over 100$ for a synth sound collection, even if it is big and good sounding. Those sound sets should belong to the factory library. Compare to Omnisphere or Kontakt (which are in the same price range) what you get with Falcon. It's poor. I would use it much more often if it has more inspiring content to choose from.


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## Living Fossil (Feb 8, 2017)

Chandler said:


> Mpowersynth. It is one of the most powerful synths, but it only has 2 soundsets. It is extremely versatile and has the best FX section of any synth.



Yes, this synth is fantastic, but completely under the radar...


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## Karsten Vogt (Feb 8, 2017)

For me D16 Lush-101 is overlooked a lot. So great sounding and versatile but the amount of available presets...


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## germancomponist (Feb 8, 2017)

Flaneurette said:


> VI-Celestia, a Kontakt synthesizer I created while learning KSP for Kontakt. I made it exclusively for the VI-Control forum members.
> 
> It doesn't have presets, and that might turn some off. But it's very powerful and unique. To describe it, it would say it is a wavetable additive formant polyphonic modular _re-_synthesizer. Since it uses Kontakt, one can drop ones own samples into the mapping editor, and mangle/resynthesize your samples with VI-Celestia. VI-Celestia also showcases what can be done with KSP, and the scripts are accessible without a password. It was my way of giving back to this unique community and the amazing people that created it and support it.
> 
> ...





Flaneurette said:


> VI-Celestia, a Kontakt synthesizer I created while learning KSP for Kontakt. I made it exclusively for the VI-Control forum members.
> 
> It doesn't have presets, and that might turn some off. But it's very powerful and unique. To describe it, it would say it is a wavetable additive formant polyphonic modular _re-_synthesizer. Since it uses Kontakt, one can drop ones own samples into the mapping editor, and mangle/resynthesize your samples with VI-Celestia. VI-Celestia also showcases what can be done with KSP, and the scripts are accessible without a password. It was my way of giving back to this unique community and the amazing people that created it and support it.
> 
> ...



Very cool!
It reminds me about the "Taiko synth project", what I started some years ago.
Sorry, can't find the link to the threads..... .


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## germancomponist (Feb 8, 2017)

Thanks for your input, friends!

What's about U-He's "Hive"? I think this synth is great and has much potential, and it is not expensive.


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## Silence-is-Golden (Feb 8, 2017)

vengeance sound avenger! super fun to play, very versatile, top sound, and not so much sound libs/expansions out yet other then vengeance own 4 libs.

(vengeance sound company is also german btw )


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## zacnelson (Feb 8, 2017)

I really love Reaktor, is that highly regarded by anybody?


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## InLight-Tone (Feb 8, 2017)

zacnelson said:


> I really love Reaktor, is that highly regarded by anybody?


I want to love it but keep procrastinating on learning the basics of it, but hey maybe this is the year...


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## gmon (Feb 8, 2017)

My vote is for Synthmaster!


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## sprout (Feb 9, 2017)

I was shopping for a loop slicer plugin. Some complex ones like Geist are $200. Falcon has all the best slicing bells and whistles, PLUS it compares with the best synths PLUS has the best effects licenced from IRCAM. It can import Logic EXS instrument files, imports wavetables made in other synths. To be fair, other synth do the same. It displays 3D wavetables like Serum. Falcon has a gorgeous, extendable GUI. The best I've seen. This project is long term. 

After looking at reviews and hearing audio clips, I purchased UVI Falcon and all expansions on sale. I just purchased the new Ether Fields expansion half price. Full price is only 39$ ( not $100 mentioned above )

Simon Stockhousen sells five supplementary large expansion packs for Falcon/MachFive at
http://www.patchpool.de/machfive.html 

Seems well supported, with expansions. I'm also going through a Groove 3 video course for it. I understand and appreciate it's flexible interface much more.

I agree. UVI Falcon was poorly marketed but people are catching on. KVR has 62 threads with Falcon in the title. One thread has 266 pages of conversation from 2015 to Feb 8, 2017:

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6297781


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## sprout (Feb 9, 2017)

Simon Ravn said:


> It has very strange CPU usage issues though. Only synth where playing one patch can easily make crackles and dropouts despite me having one of the fastest machines available.
> 
> 
> Also it has some very annoying bugs, like not remembering the settings of the AHDSR amp envelope on some patches at least, so I have to manuall redo it every time I load up a project. But great potential sure.



Which version? 1.2.1?


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## Brian2112 (Feb 9, 2017)

Again, a big +1 for Falcon. Also, Halion 6 was released today. Halion and Falcon are very similar. Haven't tried Halion 6- still on 5 but it has great potential for sound design. Halion has a fairly sizable library though (don't care for the stock sounds so much). With Halion now having vomiting wavetable, they are about equaly capable. I!d give Halion a slight edge for granular synthesis if your in to that (it has a few more options for manipulating grain loops and stuff).
Just try to ignore the included samples.


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## synthpunk (Feb 9, 2017)

As they call it over on slutz, the Falcon Army.  Promoting lots of hype but little substance. 

Every synth VST is now underrated


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## gsilbers (Feb 9, 2017)

D-Mott said:


> Definitely Falcon. Not many people talk about it around here and I am surprised. It's all Zebra and Omnisphere. I think Zebra is Overrated :D



how dare you go against our master Hans wishes!


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## gsilbers (Feb 9, 2017)

IF we talking hardware then I think the metasonix range of synth and effects. they use tv tubes and the examples are always very aggressive. which I like. very different.


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## D-Mott (Feb 9, 2017)

gsilbers said:


> how dare you go against our master Hans wishes!



lols!


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## MartinAlexander (Feb 9, 2017)

Korg DW8000


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## Quasar (Feb 10, 2017)

Dmitry Sches' Diversion.


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## Parsifal666 (Feb 10, 2017)

Waldorf's Largo. One does have to be first a fan of the "Waldorf sound", because Largo (like Nave) can be very much a character synth. However, the modulation options are absolutely fantastic...it's like a secret weapon waiting for some sound designer to make it his or her own. You can literally get lost with Largo (the onboard, anomalously great reverb and delay feed the addiction). I highly recommend at least trying it out.


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## Mikelo (Feb 11, 2017)

I might be slapped by some here with a wet kipper but I think an old classic like Novation V Station could do with some great banks. I know it's old but it's still a fantastic sounding synth with a fantastic liquid filter.


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## InLight-Tone (Feb 11, 2017)

I'm going to add Halion 6 to the list...


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## germancomponist (Feb 15, 2017)

Today I have installed "Hive", and you know what? This little synth is very very good! I experimented only with one sound from Howard, used it as an output base to test all the parameters. It is just WOW! More to come later .... . Of course, I will post audio examples.


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## Vavastrasza (Feb 15, 2017)

Falcon, Rapid from Parawave Audio.


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