Old 01-14-2011, 02:34 PM   #1
Sambo Rouge
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Default Synth 1, what's all the fuss?

Often when I come across a listing or reference about Synth 1, it is always top of the heap and a favourite synth. It is, for instance, constantly on top in the KVR plug in ranks.

Is it me --- or what? I don't get it --- to me it is very ordinary, I have a number of synth vsts which I rate much more highly.

Am I perhaps missing something? A lot of the voices to my ear sound really poor and unattractive.

Is there something about this vsti that I haven't discovered?
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Old 01-14-2011, 02:38 PM   #2
MatticusFinch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sambo Rouge View Post
Am I perhaps missing something? A lot of the voices to my ear sound really poor and unattractive.
I agree, the presets are terrible, I don't think it has a single useable preset - they all sound like GM. However if you get into editing your own patches, it's actually a very flexible engine and decent sounding. I a/b'd it with my AX60 which is a VCO analog, and synth1 can sound very close (on middle C) using a bit of filter saturation.
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Old 01-14-2011, 02:53 PM   #3
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Well if you want presets there's a ton of them available; from the top of my head I love the Ann and bladerunner (is that the bladerunner of REAPER forum fame btw?) patches. Secondly, Synth1 is fairly straightforward to work with for non-synth geeks like me. Sure, I love Oatmeal and other more advanced synths but most of the time when working with those, I don't really know what I'm doing.

So I dunno. It's an easy to use little synth that sounds good and has an impressively small resource footprint. And yes, it's ordinary. Just like maybe 98% of all subtractive VA's out there, the only difference is how pretty the skins are and how easy they are to use.
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Old 01-14-2011, 06:17 PM   #4
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I think Synth1 strikes a good balance of keeping things flexible while not being too complex. It was a great syth to learn subtractive synthesis on. The factory patches are not great, but there are user patches out there that are amazing. I think its popularity comes from its accessibility.

Synth1 is a great place to start before you jump into the likes of Moog Modular or something similar.

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Old 01-17-2011, 03:56 AM   #5
El-Rallef
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Synth1 uses system resources very sparingly. I have a project with 12 MIDI tracks playing through Synth1, most with effects added, and it plays with 2 - 3% CPU utilization according to Reaper and Task Manager (i7-920). This also shows it is rock solid with multiple instances under Win 7 64bit.

Thanks to its straightforward interface, it is a great starting point for experimentation with analog synths types of sounds. And, being available as freeware, a good basis for demos, collaborations or other kinds of projects you might want to share with the rest of the world.

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Old 01-17-2011, 05:11 AM   #6
dub3000
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here's why i like it:

* very flexible synth if you know how to program it
* lots of built-in fx and some of them are pretty brutal (e.g. the different waveshapers)
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Old 01-18-2011, 01:40 PM   #7
ShamanicGarden
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hi all.
Synth1 is a good vsti, i think the main objective of the programmers was to make a Clavia Nord Lead style vst.
I dont use it much cause i have Nord rack 2x, i agree the presets that come with this Vsti are pretty fucking lousy!
But u have to keep in mind that all synths (vsti or hardware) should never be analyzed because of the preset contents, presets are presets, if you like to program subtractive synths, synth1 is pretty easy and straight forward, and its pretty fast aswell! Very good for rich leads! the deelays, chorus unit and distortion units are very good aswell! Its a good machine but for me doesn't replace THE NORD LEAD.

If you dont have a Nord Lead you can make pretty similar sounds with Synth1
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