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Any Syntronik Users?

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PerryD

Senior Member
I am considering buying Syntronik while it's on sale for half price. I also qualify for the crossgrade and have Jam points. Zebra & Repro 5 honestly cover most of my synth needs. The Syntronik demo can't do layers and is a bit neutered. Syntronik sounds are all preset samples that can be tweaked a bit. Low CPU seems a plus...50+ gigabyte download is a minus. Anyone out there using it? Thoughts?
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I got it because it was cheap. I also have a lot of synth plugins already so wasn't sure. I haven't used it yet, but i might, some of the presets are excellent and have excellent sound quality. If you don't do a lot of sound design and just need some synth tone and the ability to twist the filter a bit...then its got a lot of great content and highly useable. But if you like to program synths, you will be disappointed.
 
If you are a preset person and want to pull up sounds from classic synths relatively quickly (needs and SSD IMO) then it is worth it. I find it pretty good when I have an idea in my head that I need to get down quickly, and the sounds are good enough to stick if needed. The effects section is great and very easy to use as well, which is a bonus. Layering is also very straight forward, and the preset system is good enough to get you in the ballpark quickly.

However, if you are a sound designer who likes to build unique patches from scratch, then no. I personally like it for quick writing / getting classic sounds quickly, but I'm also glad I have other synth options that offer more sound design capabilities.
 
I'm also sitting on the fence about this. In my mind, it's somewhere in between a general purpose hybrid synth (I have Falcon among other things) and a collection of emulations of classic hardware (I have Arturia and UVI among others). Based on the free demo, I think it has good sounds and is easy to use. But I can't decide whether it really adds much to an already sizable collection.
 
Thanks for everyone's input. $72 with my cross grade & Jam points, so I pulled the trigger. See you in a few days when downloading is done! :)
 
I bought in with Jampoints and intro discount a while ago but have not used it much. The effects are excellent (as always), and the sampling clean. The best part is the layering of multiple synths. The DRiFT technology works very well and gives the filters a very analog, if a bit exaggerated, feel. I find the UI navigation and organization of samples/patches poor and tedious to use. More time with the product will probably help with this.
 
I had this for awhile and only tweaked the presets (particularly liking the multis). I liked the sounds, but I didn't explore sound design.

Finally, I took a few hours and mapped all the controls to my NI keyboard, and this changed everything for me. This is a beast. What you can do yourself is infinitely better than the stuff they give you. And that's just with one patch, and you can layer four, each with different arps and effects.

The MIDI learn capability is pretty extensive. Not only can you map nearly all of the controls (and each synth has the same ones, which makes it easy), you can also turn on and off the arp--and change arp modes, rates, octaves, etc. There is even a place in settings where you can set up cc control of patch changes, selection, and choice of A, B,C, or D synth. You can control all the effects. One thing that many Syntronik users don't explore is that it comes with 38 effects, derived from T-Racks and Amplitube, arranged lunchbox style.

The only limitation with my MIDI control is that I have already mapped out 8x8 pages of knobs, and plan to do more. I would need to do at least 4 times that to make use of the four synths you can layer in Syntronik. (Each of the four is mapped with unique MIDI ccs.) I sure hope that IK adds NKS someday.

If you do map Syntonik to your controller, be aware that that the MIDI mapping is only saved in a Multi, not a specific patch. I learned that the hard way.

@PerryD Since I bought it they have offered extra presets and samples for J-60, Pro-V, SAM, and T-03. Make sure you download these additional files if they're available. I think they only stay up for a limited time. I like the way that IK continues to support and improve Syntronik. The Deluxe upgrade is over-priced, but I'll probably get it when it goes on half price sale.
 
TigerTheFrog said:
If you do map Syntonik to your controller, be aware that that the MIDI mapping is only saved in a Multi, not a specific patch. I learned that the hard way.
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What exactly does this entail if you don't mind my asking? I'm trying to simply map a MIDI Designer Layout to the knobs in Syntronik, but if I close the instrument in my DAW and reopen it, the mappings are forgotten again.

Does this mean that for every patch I open/tweak I have to then save as a multi to be able to recall the mapping? Seems absurd to not save the mapping in some kind of global preference file...
 
clisma said:
What exactly does this entail if you don't mind my asking? I'm trying to simply map a MIDI Designer Layout to the knobs in Syntronik, but if I close the instrument in my DAW and reopen it, the mappings are forgotten again.

Does this mean that for every patch I open/tweak I have to then save as a multi to be able to recall the mapping? Seems absurd to not save the mapping in some kind of global preference file...
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Yes, you can create a Global preference file that will work all the time.

There are two ways to save a patch in Syntronik. You can save as an "instrument" by clicking the box at the center top. If you click the multi box on the left, you are give the option to save as a "multi." When I did this, it saved my MIDI mappings. Do a test and see if it works for you.

There is a certain logic to this, because a full MIDI mapping of Syntronik would require you to map parameters for the A, B, C and D synths. Saving a Syntronik instrument as a multi makes it clear that you mapped only the parameters for the A instrument. And if you want to add more mappings later, you can build on it.
 
Thank you, I will try this out today. So basically, save as a multi, and then whenever I reopen a new instance of the plugin on a new track, I’ve got to load my multi for that specific synth first in order to load the midi mapping. Only then can I start browsing the presets and have automatic mappings available on that particular synth. Am I understanding this correctly?
 
clisma said:
Thank you, I will try this out today. So basically, save as a multi, and then whenever I reopen a new instance of the plugin on a new track, I’ve got to load my multi for that specific synth first in order to load the midi mapping. Only then can I start browsing the presets and have automatic mappings available on that particular synth. Am I understanding this correctly?
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That's the way it worked with me using my NI controller, but definitely test it out to see if it works for you. Obviously you need to be able to save your mappings in your controller too.

I also save my Syntronik MIDI-mapped multi as a track preset in Cubase.
 
Very nice, thank you. Takes some of the disappointment away!

On a related note: does anyone have a good way to browse and load the presets via keyboard only? The arrows work but I can’t find a key to confirm and load my selection (‘Enter’ does not work, maybe ‘Return’ on an extended keyboard, if anyone might care to try?) I find that having to use the mouse really slows things down.
 
clisma said:
Very nice, thank you. Takes some of the disappointment away!

On a related note: does anyone have a good way to browse and load the presets via keyboard only? The arrows work but I can’t find a key to confirm and load my selection (‘Enter’ does not work, maybe ‘Return’ on an extended keyboard, if anyone might care to try?) I find that having to use the mouse really slows things down.
Click to expand...

There is another option:
Click the gear next to the shopping cart (Settings)
Select Remote
Here you will be given 3 options for
Browse Parts (A-D)
Browse Sounds
Load Selected Sound

You can set a cc# for each one (save this in your multi)
I find the browsing cc to be hard to control on my controller. It's okay if you don't mind getting some random patches. :) Perhaps it will work better for you.
I use a combination of the arrow keys and a "load" cc on my controller.
 
I was aware of the CC method, but as you mentioned yourself, it's rather hard to control. However, your idea of arrow keys and 'load' CC might just be the ticket, so thanks!
 
I liked more samples UVI products i dont own either but UVI demos i hear few sounds what i can imagine use.
 
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