# UVI Falcon



## rvb (May 18, 2017)

After looking (and considering getting UVI Relayer) I found out about UVI Falcon's synth. I honestly never heard about it, nor seen anyone mentioning it. Although it looks quite impressive. Now I dont want to be 'that' guy, but how does it compare to Omnisphere 2? Obviously the presets on Omnisphere 2 will be better, but I am someone that loves to dig 'deep' into a synth to create new stuff. So I would love to hear your thoughts about if you have or used Falcon before! Thanks!!!

EDIT: I think I found a thread after a long search here on the forum. Not a lot though!


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## Sid Francis (May 18, 2017)

I use both synths and technically they are on one level. And the sound of both is very different but in both cases gorgeous.
Unfortunately Falcon comes from french developers and their taste is just quite different from what you are used from other synths. So most of the presets seem experimental or a bit strange in one or the other way. You will have much more difficulties to integrate Falcons preset sounds into your average music than those of omni which are really inspiring.
Second "unfortunately" for me is the fascination of the french developers for the classic electronica of the 70ies to 90ies. Somehow a "natural acoustic" sound seems to be quite boring for them. My third main synth is "The Dark Zebra HZ Edition" but although it is also a synth with a lot of synthetic presets there are some soundsets which show , how organic and smooth Zebra can sound. When stepping through the presets of falcon "organic" and "smooth" will not be the first terms that come to mind, at least for me. (Though that depends on what you relate with these terms)
Since its appearance on the market I wished for some sound designers from other countries than France to show the whole potential of Falcon.
If you dig in deep yourself though, you will find everything you need...and much more nice surprises. Because its potential is really really really deeep


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## rvb (May 18, 2017)

Sid Francis said:


> I use both synths and technically they are on one level. And the sound of both is very different but in both cases gorgeous.
> Unfortunately Falcon comes from french developers and their taste is just quite different from what you are used from other synths. So most of the presets seem experimental or a bit strange in one or the other way. You will have much more difficulties to integrate Falcons preset sounds into your average music than those of omni which are really inspiring.
> Second "unfortunately" for me is the fascination of the french developers for the classic electronica of the 70ies to 90ies. Somehow a "natural acoustic" sound seems to be quite boring for them. My third main synth is "The Dark Zebra HZ Edition" but although it is also a synth with a lot of synthetic presets there are some soundsets which show , how organic and smooth Zebra can sound. When stepping through the presets of falcon "organic" and "smooth" will not be the first terms that come to mind, at least for me. (Though that depends on what you relate with these terms)
> Since its appearance on the market I wished for some sound designers from other countries than France to show the whole potential of Falcon.
> If you dig in deep yourself though, you will find everything you need...and much more nice surprises. Because its potential is really really really deeep


Thanks for that super helpful reply Sid! After going through some youtube videos it doesn't seem like the 'sound quality' has that extra special flavoury 'Diva' type sound (whatever I personally believe that means haha) though.. But that could honestly be a rushed interpretation.


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## waltercruz (May 18, 2017)

Sid Francis answers resumes pretty much about Falcon.

It's awesome and very capable, but their content, not that much.

At first, I thought that the interface would be a mess to work with it, but don't. It's pretty logical and clear, although it has a lot of options.

It certainly deserves good soundbanks from 3rd part developers.


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## waltercruz (May 18, 2017)

rvb said:


> After going through some youtube videos it doesn't seem like the 'sound quality' has that extra special flavoury 'Diva' type sound



Yes, it's not a synth very well suited for analogic sounds. It's very digital to me, in a good way.


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## Saxer (May 18, 2017)

Falcon has a deep and great organized architecture. Actually it was licensed by Motu and they sold the previous version as Motu Mach Five 3. Meanwhile UVI sells it on their own as Falcon. It a combination of sampler and modular synths and effects engine. It's a bit cumbersome to start with but (for my taste) better structured than Kontakt. I would compare it more with Kontakt than with Omnisphere. It's an open sampler (you can sample your own stuff including scripting and building GUIs for libraries) and has a free synth structure with lot's of modules.
Pro (compared to Kontakt): modular approach, modern GUI
Con (compared to Kontakt): less third party libraries, smaller content that comes with the plugin, UVI libraries too expensive
I think Falcon could be the new Kontakt (or at least a serious competition). Virharmonic violin & cello, AcousticSamples guitars and B5 organ are outstanding instruments for Falcon. Maybe they should make it more interesting to developers and customers.


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## SBK (May 18, 2017)

Owner of Falcon here. If you like digging deep, I think this one is as deep as it gets. Like Saxer said, its not just a synthesizer, its a sampler, scripting, FM synthesis, granular synthesis, its the best synth I think. It even has wavetabl morphing synthesis


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## EvilDragon (May 18, 2017)

Sid Francis said:


> Unfortunately Falcon comes from french developers and their taste is just quite different from what you are used from other synths.



Falcon factory soundbank wasn't done by 100% French people. Just FYI, don't be so easy to produce such sweeping statements you likely didn't verify. 



Sid Francis said:


> Since its appearance on the market I wished for some sound designers from other countries than France to show the whole potential of Falcon.



LOL.

Virharmonic? Simon Stockhausen? GospelMusicians?


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## heisenberg (May 18, 2017)

I concur with the comments here, as a Falcon user. Might be overstating to say it could be the new Kontakt. In a vacuum yes, but in the context of the market and mindshare that Kontakt has as a sample library platform, it would be difficult at best for Falcon to overtake Kontakt in the marketplace.

I never thought of Falcon's presets as being experimental sounding in nature. However, if I am not bringing in my own samples, I generally take the preset and mangle it beyond recognition in short order. This is where Falcon's facility is amazing as you can go down a sonic rabbit hole really fast and get some great results without hours passing by.


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## rvb (May 18, 2017)

[QUOTEIf I am not bringing in my own samples, I generally take the preset and mangle it beyond recognition in short order. This is where Falcon's facility is amazing as you can go down a sonic rabbit hole really fast and get some great results without hours passing by.[/QUOTE]

THIS is exactly what I wanted to hear haha. That's cool.


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## woodsdenis (May 18, 2017)

Brilliant sound design tool, not the easiest VI to get to grips with but probably the best spec of any VI , Sampling, Synth engines, FX etc. Simon Stockhausen's libs give an insight into what is possible with it.


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## elpedro (May 19, 2017)

I love them both, Falcon sounds more "open" to me, wide,clear,awesome to program but overawing to learn to program.Omnisphere is more accessible in some ways, workflow wise.Both are outstanding tools, and the possibilities are endless.Get both!


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## EvilDragon (May 19, 2017)

Don't forget Dan Worrall's series of Falcon tutorials!


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## AllanH (May 19, 2017)

I really like Falcon - While a bit overwhelming the first few days, the structure and the corresponding UI actully makes sense. Dan Worall's videos are excellent and Groove3 has a great tutorial as well.

A few months ago, I tried to make a basic 3 oscillator "moog" sound on Falcon, Diva and Legend (demo). Diva and Legend were best, but Falcon did an excellent job and much better than I expected. Add the entire filter and modulation subsystem, and Falcon gives excellent flexibility. This is, of course, just one of the many ways Falcon synthesizes sound.


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## synthpunk (Jul 30, 2017)

Mikael is developing a sound bank for Falcon. His demos sound quite promising to me.

http://vi-control.net/community/thr...ced-by-leap-into-the-void.62932/#post-4113191



EvilDragon said:


> Falcon factory soundbank wasn't done by 100% French people. Just FYI, don't be so easy to produce such sweeping statements you likely didn't verify.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Rap-sody (Oct 11, 2017)

Anyone got it during the current sale?


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## Marko Zirkovich (Oct 12, 2017)

Rap-sody said:


> Anyone got it during the current sale?



Yes, I (finally) couldn't resist any longer yesterday and purchased. In general, I've been really good at resisting sales the last few months and I hardly bought anything at all because most of my bases are covered. But after watching some of the Falcon tutorials I got really attracted to the flexible structure and the logical workflow.

Similar to Omnisphere 2 you can stay at the surface and get quick results, but if you want to, you can go incredibly deep. The sound is very clean and pristine and after spending yesterday's afternoon twiddling around I'm really happy with my purchase.


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## Rap-sody (Oct 12, 2017)

Thanks for the feedback. Looks like a must have.


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## heisenberg (Oct 19, 2017)

If you are into Electric Pianos and have Falcon, I would strongly suggest you look at the Tines Anthology which is on sale for $50 until October 23rd (60% off). Being able to apply Falcon processing goodness to these Electric Pianos is great.

I saw it on Audio Deluxe this morning and you can of course get it directly from UVI.


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## synthpunk (Oct 25, 2017)

I finally picked up Falcon when it was on sale, it's my Xmas present 

Not had allot of time with it yet, but early thoughts are very promising. Hoping that promise turns into musical results.


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## AllanH (Oct 25, 2017)

synthpunk said:


> I finally picked up Falcon when it was on sale, it's my Xmas present
> 
> Not had allot of time with it yet, but early thoughts are very promising. Hoping that promise turns into musical results.



It's a very deep instrument; I remain impressed. I suggest you start by watching all the Dan Worall tutorials in UVI's YouTube channel.

Now that you have Falcon, you have to get Synth Anthology II (fantastic) or Vintage Vault II 

Enjoy!


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## heisenberg (Nov 30, 2017)

Should have brought this up a while ago. UVI updated Falcon at the end of October to version 1.4.1. Most notably, in my view, is the updated "Falcon Factory" Library to version 1.4. It received a lot of new and sonically complicated presets. You can find them easily as in the preset naming you will find "1.4" at the end of the preset name in the listings. You can download it from within your UVI account on their site.


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## Jaap (Mar 10, 2018)

I have Falcon now for a few weeks and bought as well Avenger at the same time and both are beasts, but Falcon...boy oh boy oh boy. What a pristine sound and what a rich programming environment you have with this. And though at first glance it might not look as intuitive as other synths, once you got your head around it, it makes a lot of sense. The granular and multi granular effects are stunning. For me this beats every granular engine so far in quality and richness and you can really hear the genius at IRCAM shine. I have been there in the midst 2000's and that place is an absolute pure inspiration and place of the brightest minds in the DSP scene fit together.

And for the ones that are on the fence about picking it up, if you do so and you get your 100 dollar/euro voucer to pick up some extra goodies, check out Ether Fields from Simon Stockhausen. This can give you really a great idea of what you can do Falcon.


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## AllanH (Mar 10, 2018)

@Jaap - I'm sure you'll have lots of fun. It took me a while to fully comprehend what was available at each level of the hierarchy, but (as a programmer) it makes complete sense. Many of the effects are incredible. I started with the Dan Worall videos on UVi's youtube channel and went through the Groove3 class.

The Expansion Packs are inexpensive and are good tutorials on their own. So is the factory library.

Have fun and make some music!


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## Jaap (Mar 10, 2018)

AllanH said:


> @Jaap - I'm sure you'll have lots of fun. It took me a while to fully comprehend what was available at each level of the hierarchy, but (as a programmer) it makes complete sense. Many of the effects are incredible. I started with the Dan Worall videos on UVi's youtube channel and went through the Groove3 class.
> 
> The Expansion Packs are inexpensive and are good tutorials on their own. So is the factory library.
> 
> Have fun and make some music!



Thanks Allan! Yeah Dan's tutorials are really good to get started and can only agree on what you said about the expansion packs. Got Atmospherics and Cinematic Shades as well and they contain some real nicely crafted stuff.


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## JEPA (Mar 10, 2018)

Saxer said:


> Falcon has a deep and great organized architecture. Actually it was licensed by Motu and they sold the previous version as Motu Mach Five 3. Meanwhile UVI sells it on their own as Falcon. It a combination of sampler and modular synths and effects engine. It's a bit cumbersome to start with but (for my taste) better structured than Kontakt. I would compare it more with Kontakt than with Omnisphere. It's an open sampler (you can sample your own stuff including scripting and building GUIs for libraries) and has a free synth structure with lot's of modules.
> Pro (compared to Kontakt): modular approach, modern GUI
> Con (compared to Kontakt): less third party libraries, smaller content that comes with the plugin, UVI libraries too expensive
> I think Falcon could be the new Kontakt (or at least a serious competition). Virharmonic violin & cello, AcousticSamples guitars and B5 organ are outstanding instruments for Falcon. Maybe they should make it more interesting to developers and customers.


Hello Saxer, do you think Falcon is flexibler than Kontakt?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 10, 2018)

Yes it is more flexible than Kontakt, sound design-wise. Simply because it does more than just play back and timestretch samples.


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## JEPA (Mar 10, 2018)

EvilDragon said:


> Yes it is more flexible than Kontakt, sound design-wise. Simply because it does more than just play back and timestretch samples.



Hello EvilDragon, would you recommend it at first for sound design than for making a sample library (in this regard maybe is Kontakt better?)?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 10, 2018)

Depends on what you want to do with it. Personally yes, I would use Falcon for sound design first and only then for sample libraries. Kontakt is more efficient in a lot of ways there. However if your sample library isn't a huge multi-mic monster, it should also work adequately with Falcon...


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## Soeno (Apr 13, 2018)

it`s on sale these days ~25%


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