ReasonTalk.com

danc wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

hurricane wrote: ↑

17 Dec 2020

So that's it bros, I'm going to start really getting into my synths, and making each synth count. I'm going to start spending a lot of quality time with my chosen ones, because I know that comfort and familiarity are key. Audio quality is my number 1 concern now. Fortunately, most of the higher quality synths out there also come with great GUIs and solid workflows. I'm looking at you, U-he. All your synths make my list.

Wholeheartedly agree... however, what I would say is... yes, the u-he synths are proper top-drawer synths, but if you've already got let's say VPS Avenger, Falcon, Serum, Massive X, PhasePlant, Model 72, Pigments, Thorn or any of those other top-drawer synths from other developers I'd definitely say hold your horses and even at 50% off don't buy u-he for the sake of GAS. Yes Zerbra is great, but you can get similar great sounds from Avenger, Massive X, or PP.

Maybe we would all be wiser to spend our time and attention on music theory. Musicians with solid music theory skills can get even the worst sounding instruments to sound amazing. When musically talented friends pop around that pick up my kids totally out of tune and missing multiple strings ukulele and knock out something awe-inspiring you soon realise that it's not the instrument that is at fault.

I like this, I know this, but I am not willing accept it...

good advice.

danc wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

hurricane wrote: ↑

17 Dec 2020

So that's it bros, I'm going to start really getting into my synths, and making each synth count. I'm going to start spending a lot of quality time with my chosen ones, because I know that comfort and familiarity are key. Audio quality is my number 1 concern now. Fortunately, most of the higher quality synths out there also come with great GUIs and solid workflows. I'm looking at you, U-he. All your synths make my list.

Wholeheartedly agree... however, what I would say is... yes, the u-he synths are proper top-drawer synths, but if you've already got let's say VPS Avenger, Falcon, Serum, Massive X, PhasePlant, Model 72, Pigments, Thorn or any of those other top-drawer synths from other developers I'd definitely say hold your horses and even at 50% off don't buy u-he for the sake of GAS. Yes Zerbra is great, but you can get similar great sounds from Avenger, Massive X, or PP.

Maybe we would all be wiser to spend our time and attention on music theory. Musicians with solid music theory skills can get even the worst sounding instruments to sound amazing. When musically talented friends pop around that pick up my kids totally out of tune and missing multiple strings ukulele and knock out something awe-inspiring you soon realise that it's not the instrument that is at fault.

Agree. And i am sure, if Uhe made those sales a bit earlier, i probably had jumped easily on board, but now i have already everything. But i will give em a try, i mean the synths have a lot of patches and sometimes randomly throw in a synth with good patches, when i am stucked or without any ideas, often helps or is just fun.

danc wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Wholeheartedly agree... however, what I would say is... yes, the u-he synths are proper top-drawer synths, but if you've already got let's say VPS Avenger, Falcon, Serum, Massive X, PhasePlant, Model 72, Pigments, Thorn or any of those other top-drawer synths from other developers I'd definitely say hold your horses and even at 50% off don't buy u-he for the sake of GAS. Yes Zerbra is great, but you can get similar great sounds from Avenger, Massive X, or PP.

Maybe we would all be wiser to spend our time and attention on music theory. Musicians with solid music theory skills can get even the worst sounding instruments to sound amazing. When musically talented friends pop around that pick up my kids totally out of tune and missing multiple strings ukulele and knock out something awe-inspiring you soon realise that it's not the instrument that is at fault.

I agree

but...

I just tried Hive 2 and I want it

I tried Zebra and thought its a bit clunky to work with. The sound is good, the filters too. The patches are boring.

Diva sounds pretty good, also a bit clunky to work with. Lots of detailed tweaking, which can be nice if you have nothing else to do - you can easy get lost in such micro tweaking. The patches are boring too.

The synths sounds pretty good, the filters are excellent and quite unique. If i had tried the 5 years back for the price of this offer, i think i had bitten. Today, after i got better offers in the meantimme and also excellent synths, i pass.

If you do not own a lot of great synths, its clearly worth a look.

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

I tried Zebra and thought its a bit clunky to work with. The sound is good, the filters too. The patches are boring.

Diva sounds pretty good, also a bit clunky to work with. Lots of detailed tweaking, which can be nice if you have nothing else to do - you can easy get lost in such micro tweaking. The patches are boring too.

The synths sounds pretty good, the filters are excellent and quite unique. If i had tried the 5 years back for the price of this offer, i think i had bitten. Today, after i got better offers in the meantimme and also excellent synths, i pass.

If you do not own a lot of great synths, its clearly worth a look.

Would you like to share which synth you think comes with not boring patches. Would really like to know, because I agree that a lot of vsti come with boring patches. That's why I like randomization options(also for speed).
If I have to mention one it would be Malstrom for example. I just love that synth and also comes with great patches(for my taste of course). I own Gladiator and it also comes with pretty nice ones. Any other?

tx
M

Mataya wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

I tried Zebra and thought its a bit clunky to work with. The sound is good, the filters too. The patches are boring.

Diva sounds pretty good, also a bit clunky to work with. Lots of detailed tweaking, which can be nice if you have nothing else to do - you can easy get lost in such micro tweaking. The patches are boring too.

The synths sounds pretty good, the filters are excellent and quite unique. If i had tried the 5 years back for the price of this offer, i think i had bitten. Today, after i got better offers in the meantimme and also excellent synths, i pass.

If you do not own a lot of great synths, its clearly worth a look.

Would you like to share which synth you think comes with not boring patches. Would really like to know, because I agree that a lot of vsti come with boring patches. That's why I like randomization options(also for speed).
If I have to mention one it would be Malstrom for example. I just love that synth and also comes with great patches(for my taste of course). I own Gladiator and it also comes with pretty nice ones. Any other?

tx
M

Sure. Everytime i slap in Dune3, i am blown away. Also The Legend has ery good patches, i always find something. Thorn has great patches, Diversion too. Avanger as Rapid has very good patches. Lots of other synths, where always find something quickly.

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Mataya wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Would you like to share which synth you think comes with not boring patches. Would really like to know, because I agree that a lot of vsti come with boring patches. That's why I like randomization options(also for speed).
If I have to mention one it would be Malstrom for example. I just love that synth and also comes with great patches(for my taste of course). I own Gladiator and it also comes with pretty nice ones. Any other?

tx
M

Sure. Everytime i slap in Dune3, i am blown away. Also The Legend has ery good patches, i always find something. Thorn has great patches, Diversion too. Avanger as Rapid has very good patches. Lots of other synths, where always find something quickly.

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

I had Zebra and ACE years ago and I liked them both. I've sold them(dumb). And I absolutely agree Zebra can sound amazing. All I want is a full Bazille version now and I already have the ultimate randomizer patch for it...and yeah, Repro-1, sounds great.
Gladiator also has a randomisation button, so when you're stuck, just hit it a couple of times.
That would say Nostromo would be a synth for me. And it really is by the option it offers and I had lot's of fun with it. But for some reason the sound just doesn't "hits" me properly. I tought it would be my dream synth and again, something's missing and I can't get it to sound as I would like it.
I've purchased Noise engineering few weeks ago and to be honest, theese are my favorites for now. When you load one of them it's just...blah..a tone, often nasty, dry, boring...few minutes and effects later...and it speaks to me.

Maybe I'll go for Repro-1 cos it's just so nice sounding.

thanks
Matija

For the Hive 2 owners amongst you. Can the XY controllers be automated in Reason? So far I seem to have no luck with doesn't make sense, if anything wants to be automated, it's the XY controllers.

I've already blown most my budget for synths. But if you could only have one U-he synth in this sale which one would it be?

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

Funny. I was looking for a poly analog - triggered by the recently published TAL J-8. But that synth didn’t click with me. Sound was (to me) lackluster, although I was heading out for some kind of „Roland“ sound. When I trialed Diva yesterday, it was instantly way better for what I was aiming for, and I bought it within an hour.

Different taste I guess...

guitfnky wrote: ↑

17 Dec 2020

dang, that’s awesome. Satin, for $65 is a great deal. wish I could’ve gotten it for that, way back when!

I see you have Satin any chance you can answer a question for me.

Does Studio Mode "grouping" work in Reason.

Grouping

In Studio mode, you can assign each instance of Satin to one of the eight groups. Each group will behave as a multitrack tape, 'remote-controlled' from any instance in that group.

Thanks

Billy wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

guitfnky wrote: ↑

17 Dec 2020

dang, that’s awesome. Satin, for $65 is a great deal. wish I could’ve gotten it for that, way back when!

I see you have Satin any chance you can answer a question for me.

Does Studio Mode "grouping" work in Reason.

Grouping

In Studio mode, you can assign each instance of Satin to one of the eight groups. Each group will behave as a multitrack tape, 'remote-controlled' from any instance in that group.

Thanks

I haven’t had a need to try it, but I’ll try to remember to check it out later today.

I can’t imagine it wouldn’t. I know other “linked” VSTs work fine in Reason—I have Izotope’s Neutron, which has similar cross-instance functionality and that’s worked for me in the past.

guitfnky wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Billy wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

I see you have Satin any chance you can answer a question for me.

Does Studio Mode "grouping" work in Reason.

Grouping

In Studio mode, you can assign each instance of Satin to one of the eight groups. Each group will behave as a multitrack tape, 'remote-controlled' from any instance in that group.

Thanks

I haven’t had a need to try it, but I’ll try to remember to check it out later today.

I can’t imagine it wouldn’t. I know other “linked” VSTs work fine in Reason—I have Izotope’s Neutron, which has similar cross-instance functionality and that’s worked for me in the past.

It works.

Thanks both.

madmacman wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

Funny. I was looking for a poly analog - triggered by the recently published TAL J-8. But that synth didn’t click with me. Sound was (to me) lackluster, although I was heading out for some kind of „Roland“ sound. When I trialed Diva yesterday, it was instantly way better for what I was aiming for, and I bought it within an hour.

Different taste I guess...

May i ask what clicked with you? Did not said, that the sound is bad. The patches are boring, the sound is excellent, but i have too many already excellent synths.

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

madmacman wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Funny. I was looking for a poly analog - triggered by the recently published TAL J-8. But that synth didn’t click with me. Sound was (to me) lackluster, although I was heading out for some kind of „Roland“ sound. When I trialed Diva yesterday, it was instantly way better for what I was aiming for, and I bought it within an hour.

Different taste I guess...

May i ask what clicked with you? Did not said, that the sound is bad. The patches are boring, the sound is excellent, but i have too many already excellent synths.

Don't know really. I tried some "basics" from an Init patch to set filter sweeps and checked how easy it was to achieve. Probably the versality of the Diva finally made it - not only Roland style, but also Moog, and some extra mojo. On VST side I currently only have the PG-8X for Roland poly sound, and it hasn't been updated for years - which is becoming more and more a risk on Macs with each yearly OS upgrade.

danc wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Maybe we would all be wiser to spend our time and attention on music theory. Musicians with solid music theory skills can get even the worst sounding instruments to sound amazing. When musically talented friends pop around that pick up my kids totally out of tune and missing multiple strings ukulele and knock out something awe-inspiring you soon realise that it's not the instrument that is at fault.

How about improve your skills AND use a high quality instrument? You can play Fur Elise perfectly on Subtractor, and it'll sound like Fur Elise, but play it on a top-of-the line Steinway and....

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Mataya wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Would you like to share which synth you think comes with not boring patches. Would really like to know, because I agree that a lot of vsti come with boring patches. That's why I like randomization options(also for speed).
If I have to mention one it would be Malstrom for example. I just love that synth and also comes with great patches(for my taste of course). I own Gladiator and it also comes with pretty nice ones. Any other?

tx
M

Sure. Everytime i slap in Dune3, i am blown away. Also The Legend has ery good patches, i always find something. Thorn has great patches, Diversion too. Avanger as Rapid has very good patches. Lots of other synths, where always find something quickly.

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

I'm at this point where I need to look at what I have. I have the Reason Suite and of course Legend. What does U-he that would fill a void? I haven't even begun to explore everything in Reason's Suite.

kitekrazy wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Loque wrote: ↑

18 Dec 2020

Sure. Everytime i slap in Dune3, i am blown away. Also The Legend has ery good patches, i always find something. Thorn has great patches, Diversion too. Avanger as Rapid has very good patches. Lots of other synths, where always find something quickly.

The patches in Zebra and Diva just sound okayish, nothing that makes "YES! NOW I NEED TO MAKE A TRACK". Just a few were really ok, but most was...well...made 10 years ago from a beginner. But i guess, you can get way more out of those sysths, just to be clear.

I'm at this point where I need to look at what I have. I have the Reason Suite and of course Legend. What does U-he that would fill a void? I haven't even begun to explore everything in Reason's Suite.

Reason lacks a proper analog synth with good filters or a synth with good filters at all. If you are looking for a smooth analog type sounds, that you should check Diva, Repro or Zebra.

If you are into some sample things like Layers or for an agressive digital type of sound or some basic pads, plucks, basses, you can go with Reason Suite for sure. Such "big" synths gives an extra on top, if you always miss that "extra" in your current synths. Dune3 was a revelation for me in that part, but if i really had a closer look to Antidote in the past, i already would have realized the difference... Antidote looks easy and cannot be tweaked much, but it sounds great, full, warm, <<put buzzwords in here>>...

I think I saw that Hans Zimmer interview. I think it may have been his masterclass video. He was basically advising beginner musicians/orchestrators to invest in good quality tools for peace of mind. So that you know its not your tools holding back your music. Why waste valuable time struggling to get a cheap string library to sound good, when you can invest in something that's proven to get professional results like Spitfire or Metropolis.

I dont think Subtractor is inherently bad in a way that is detrimental to the quality of your music. It has its uses in areas where a heavy dsp plug-in would be a waste of resources. Its killer at layering other sound sources and for synth sounds that sit in the background not occupying too much space in the mix.

After demoing these, Hive 2 is definitely the one that stuck out to me for both work flow and sound. This with Dune 3, Antidote, Thorn, Europa, Phaseplant and Legend will definitely have me covered . Thanks for posting up that these were on sale! Going to snag Hive 2.

I got Diva in the last NKS sale. No need for Hive as I just grabbed Synthmaster One for $29. Zebra 2 maybe. Testing the demo now. Presets are a little weak for a 200 dollar synth, was expecting more. But maybe I should have guessed after going through Diva's presets. Never did too much with Diva as Reason started crackling. But now on Ryzen 9 and Cubase as main DAW everything just comes to life in a new way - smooooother....

But it sounds nice, and the presets that take full advantage of the engine sounds like magic. I guess NKS will make me do it as I am soo fed up with bad browsing (looking at you Reason), but hey, life in Cubase 11 with RRP, Zebra 2 and much more, is my green grass place right now.

I'd think of Zebra 2 + DZ as an investment in to Zebra 3. Urs said on the other forum that Zebra 3 will be a complete rewrite from scratch (it won't be compatible with Zebra 2) and it will include all lessons learned from making Repro, Diva and Hive. I'd imagine that means better filters, oscs and a beefier more analogue sound. The only question is when will it come out? Z3 was first announced in 2013 and there is no set release date. But the many many years of R&D being put into it should lead to something spectacular.

I found, at least for me, Hive 2 to have the best preset bank out of them all that i demo'd. It surprisingly caters to the 80's, synthpop, synthwave kinda style which i do. I didnt care for Zebra on first try. Diva is the only one i haven't demo'd yet. Looking at the GUI gets me less inspired to do so (just don't care for it). Repro 5 was a close second.

Hive and Repro are total opposites in intent. I've always thought of Hive as a simplified and streamlined Zebra, but I might have that all wrong...