Spire VST sounds better than ReSpire

[miscend]

Just out of curiosity I converted some of my own patches between the two versions. To see if there any differences.

First thing I noticed is that the VST is always louder than the RE running the exact same patch. Which means the internal gain structure is different.

Initially I thought the VST sounded better because it's louder. But I also noticed the VST sounds plain better, particularly the low end, which perhaps means the RE runs at a lower quality mode. Maybe the VST uses higher quality oversampling?

I also compared the default factory sounds. And they also sound slightly different. A good patch to compare is "BA 304 SAW" that sounds really different. You can tell the difference with just the demo version of the VST. People who tried ReSpire and didn't like it need to try the VST to see what all the fuss is about with this synth. It just sounds better.

[esselfortium]

I don't think oversampling should affect the amount of low end, since oversampling relates to the smoothness of higher frequencies.

Have you tried normalizing the volume output from both Spire and ReSpire and directly comparing them against each other with a null test?

[Loque]

Put a lpudness meter in and see if they are still different. I noticed most VST are at 0db aber RE are at - 12db. VSTs instantly start clipping when playing a chord.

[Exowildebeest]

Put a lpudness meter in and see if they are still different. I noticed most VST are at 0db aber RE are at - 12db. VSTs instantly start clipping when playing a chord.

Not the case with all VST's, but indeed a lot have very badly configured volume on the presets. No fucks given about any rules or consistency at all. Not even aiming for -12db, any db really.

[JDoyle]

I haven't noticed a difference in sound and level (I only crossgraded to the VST yesterday to take advantage of their current sale) but I did notice the VST version is a LOT more kind on my DSP. Single patches from the "Aura II" free bank that used to max out the DSP meter and start to sputter in ReSpire barely push two bars when played back on the VST version. I was really hoping they'd iron out the issues with the RE version by now, but for me it was worth the $73 upgrade to the VST.

[miscend]

I will try the normalising and do the null test. Then post the results here.

[scratchnsnifff]

I haven't noticed a difference in sound and level (I only crossgraded to the VST yesterday to take advantage of their current sale) but I did notice the VST version is a LOT more kind on my DSP. Single patches from the "Aura II" free bank that used to max out the DSP meter and start to sputter in ReSpire barely push two bars when played back on the VST version. I was really hoping they'd iron out the issues with the RE version by now, but for me it was worth the $73 upgrade to the VST.

So the crossgrade thing is still available for respire owners? I own the RE but would like to have the vst because of the stepper

[madmacman]

So the crossgrade thing is still available for respire owners? I own the RE but would like to have the vst because of the stepper

Nope, current Summer Sale asks for $132. You could contact the support, but I think it was a one-time crossgrade.

But what is wrong with ReSpire's stepper?

[scratchnsnifff]

So the crossgrade thing is still available for respire owners? I own the RE but would like to have the vst because of the stepper

Nope, current Summer Sale asks for $132. You could contact the support, but I think it was a one-time crossgrade.

But what is wrong with ReSpire's stepper?

The way respire handles internal routing is a pain and routing parameters to various steps is a pain also when you drag the stepper curves it's all over the place, I think the idea is cool and solid but it's not practical for me to use

[madmacman]

The way respire handles internal routing is a pain and routing parameters to various steps is a pain also when you drag the stepper curves it's all over the place, I think the idea is cool and solid but it's not practical for me to use

Ok, thanks for explaining.

Maybe I should give the VST demo a try.

[Carly(Poohbear)]

I haven't noticed a difference in sound and level (I only crossgraded to the VST yesterday to take advantage of their current sale) but I did notice the VST version is a LOT more kind on my DSP. Single patches from the "Aura II" free bank that used to max out the DSP meter and start to sputter in ReSpire barely push two bars when played back on the VST version. I was really hoping they'd iron out the issues with the RE version by now, but for me it was worth the $73 upgrade to the VST.

So the crossgrade thing is still available for respire owners? I own the RE but would like to have the vst because of the stepper

So the crossgrade thing is still available for respire owners? I own the RE but would like to have the vst because of the stepper

Nope, current Summer Sale asks for $132. You could contact the support, but I think it was a one-time crossgrade.

The original quote was they only crossgraded yesterday what would have been the 24th Aug, so it could be worth contacting them.

I contacted Rob Papen recently and got a the crossgrade to their VST bundles (TBH the best set of synths I have purchased wished I did that before getting hold NI Ultimate 11, live and learn)....


PoohBear

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[chk071]

I will try the normalising and do the null test. Then post the results here.

Very curious about the result. Frankly, i was kind of surprised how lo-fi Antidote sounded when i tried it. Reminded me of Thor. The interesting thing about that is that it was a "side-product" of Dune 2, and Dune 2 surely sounds better to my ears. I can only suspect too that it has to do with oversampling. Or something is seriously odd with Reason's sound engine (sorry).

[TritoneAddiction]

I will try the normalising and do the null test. Then post the results here.

Very curious about the result. Frankly, i was kind of surprised how lo-fi Antidote sounded when i tried it. Reminded me of Thor. The interesting thing about that is that it was a "side-product" of Dune 2, and Dune 2 surely sounds better to my ears. I can only suspect too that it has to do with oversampling. Or something is seriously odd with Reason's sound engine (sorry).

Maybe someone should start a new thread about "The Reason sound"
It's been a while now.

[eXode]

I will try the normalising and do the null test. Then post the results here.

Very curious about the result. Frankly, i was kind of surprised how lo-fi Antidote sounded when i tried it. Reminded me of Thor. The interesting thing about that is that it was a "side-product" of Dune 2, and Dune 2 surely sounds better to my ears. I can only suspect too that it has to do with oversampling. Or something is seriously odd with Reason's sound engine (sorry).

With that logic Spire and all the other VSTs would sound worse in Reason too...

[chk071]

Point taken. Except when the RE format does something different than the VST format. I wonder why Spire wouldn't sound the same though, because they surely took the sound creating algorithms, and put them 1:1 in the RE.

[miscend]

I can get ReSpire to null perfectly with itself and I tried this with a few different patches. But I can't get it to null with Spire VST playing back the same patches. I can definitely hear a difference between them but they are similar enough that not everyone will notice it.

Here is some audio, all normalised to -3
https://www.dropbox.com/s/73yf3p74ce02w ... 3.zip?dl=0

[Hauser+Quaid]

They definitely do sound a bit different to my ears just going thru and comparing the presets, but I wouldn't call the VST "better". It's odd I don't know exactly how to explain it, but they are slightly different as evidenced by the null test above.

I do get slightly better performance out of the VST as well but in my experience it's not a huge difference. I still use the RE often.