You Guys Need To Jump On This U-He Deal - 50% OFF DIVA AND REPRO

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ScuzzyEye
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17 Feb 2019

eusti wrote:
17 Feb 2019
In any case: I’m on a Mac and can’t figure out how to install alternate skins... For some reason I can’t get it to work. :(
Any ideas?
Satin included a high-resolution skin, and included these instructions. I'm guessing it'll be something similar for the other devices.
How to use the "HD UI Images" library within Satin:

1. Copy all folders within the "HD UI Images" archive ("Animations", "Controls", "Icons", "Panes")

2. Go to your Satin installation path:
- Mac: /Library/ Application Support/u-he/Satin/Images/
- PC: Vstplugins\Satin.data\Data\Images\

3. Overwrite all files within the existing "Images" folder ("Animations", "Controls", "Icons", "Panes")

- Note to Mac users: You might be prompted to enter your administrator password

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hurricane
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17 Feb 2019

ScuzzyEye wrote:
17 Feb 2019

I don't know if the deal is still on, but I got an email from him when he made the choice to stop RE development. The offer gave me the full set of Ubik VSTs for free, because I had bought at least 5 REs. There were smaller discounts for people who bought fewer than 5.
Same here - I got all of the VST uhbiks. I don't care if he never fixes the REs and that certaintly won't stop me from buying his awesome synths and effects. :thumbs_up:
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EdGrip
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17 Feb 2019

Yeah man. Cut your nose off. That'll teach your face a lesson.

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hurricane
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17 Feb 2019

About 15 hours to go on this deal a little past 8pm in the central time zone of the US. From the kvr thread, it sounds like Urs won't do a deal like this ever again, so this is really your last chance to basically get Diva and Repro-1 AND Repro-5 for about $165 - normal price for Diva alone is $179 for reference. For those of you who think these synths are CPU-intensive, well, they are, but it doesn't mean you won't be able to use them. And remember, Reason 10.3 is right around the corner, so it's only going to get better. Probably.

Anywho - here's a non-annoying Diva preset demo:

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VariableX
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18 Feb 2019

Don't get the fuss at all with these U-He synths, I guess its all subjective?

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Reasonable man
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18 Feb 2019

I'm deciding..... not much cash. Keep comming back to one small matter...although from the demos Diva looks a fantastic library of pre tailored quality sound sources for every occasion ...at an original cost price of £179 its ........way.....way.. overpriced to begin with.... and all the temporary sale does is bring it back a bit closer to its actual value imo. After forking out £100 on complex (wich i feel may very well actually be worth its asking price) it would make this purchase harder to jusify!
Anyway thanks for letting everyone here know about these offers ....i think theres just over an hour left to make up my mind...tick tick

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eusti
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18 Feb 2019

ScuzzyEye wrote:
17 Feb 2019
eusti wrote:
17 Feb 2019
In any case: I’m on a Mac and can’t figure out how to install alternate skins... For some reason I can’t get it to work. :(
Any ideas?
Satin included a high-resolution skin, and included these instructions. I'm guessing it'll be something similar for the other devices.
How to use the "HD UI Images" library within Satin:

1. Copy all folders within the "HD UI Images" archive ("Animations", "Controls", "Icons", "Panes")

2. Go to your Satin installation path:
- Mac: /Library/ Application Support/u-he/Satin/Images/
- PC: Vstplugins\Satin.data\Data\Images\

3. Overwrite all files within the existing "Images" folder ("Animations", "Controls", "Icons", "Panes")

- Note to Mac users: You might be prompted to enter your administrator password
That worked! Thank you! :)

D.

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joeyluck
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18 Feb 2019

eusti wrote:
18 Feb 2019
ScuzzyEye wrote:
17 Feb 2019


Satin included a high-resolution skin, and included these instructions. I'm guessing it'll be something similar for the other devices.

That worked! Thank you! :)

D.
I think you can just copy to the Themes folder and then all your skins will be available for selection from the interface.

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eusti
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18 Feb 2019

joeyluck wrote:
18 Feb 2019
eusti wrote:
18 Feb 2019


That worked! Thank you! :)

D.
I think you can just copy to the Themes folder and then all your skins will be available for selection from the interface.
I think I tried that before and seemed not to be able to make that work. The select skin option never showed up for me. At least now it works... ;)
Thank you though.

D.

nomis
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18 Feb 2019

Hello
So even with my i9-9900k I can get Diva to max out my CPU. Is it with the patch to kill all known sound...No. It does sound nice but even so usability is paramount. To be fair most patches fall into 1 or 2 DSP bars which is fine. Its a nice synth and I bought it on a whim. On my old PC (AMD-6500 piece of s**t!) I couldn't even run any patches even the simple basses sent me into the red.
Looking forward to Props getting that VST performance improvement now. Which is one of the reasons I bought this.

Still as an ageing old software coder I cant help but think that maybe U-he should have tightening up some code themselves.

Also for what its worth those people still struggling with an ageing PC ( I was there till very recently) Synapse The Legend is a good substitute. Lot easier on the CPU and sounds great. Diva has the edge but sometimes I wonder if lighting up all the DSP is that advantageous.

Its my first post guys so granted not that helpful LOL

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ScuzzyEye
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19 Feb 2019

nomis wrote:
18 Feb 2019
So even with my i9-9900k I can get Diva to max out my CPU. Is it with the patch to kill all known sound...No. It does sound nice but even so usability is paramount. To be fair most patches fall into 1 or 2 DSP bars which is fine. Its a nice synth and I bought it on a whim. On my old PC (AMD-6500 piece of s**t!) I couldn't even run any patches even the simple basses sent me into the red.
Looking forward to Props getting that VST performance improvement now. Which is one of the reasons I bought this.
In the Reason preferences, do you have Hyperthreading enabled? I found that doesn't help performance in any cases for me, and really hurts Diva. I'd recommend Hyperthreading off, but Multicore on in Reason, and hit the Multicore button in Diva. That gave me the best performance overall.

nomis
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19 Feb 2019

ScuzzyEye wrote:
19 Feb 2019
nomis wrote:
18 Feb 2019
So even with my i9-9900k I can get Diva to max out my CPU. Is it with the patch to kill all known sound...No. It does sound nice but even so usability is paramount. To be fair most patches fall into 1 or 2 DSP bars which is fine. Its a nice synth and I bought it on a whim. On my old PC (AMD-6500 piece of s**t!) I couldn't even run any patches even the simple basses sent me into the red.
Looking forward to Props getting that VST performance improvement now. Which is one of the reasons I bought this.
In the Reason preferences, do you have Hyperthreading enabled? I found that doesn't help performance in any cases for me, and really hurts Diva. I'd recommend Hyperthreading off, but Multicore on in Reason, and hit the Multicore button in Diva. That gave me the best performance overall.
Thanks ScuzzyEye that does help with Hyperthreading on in Diva and Mulitcore off in Reason. Though I'm not back to one DSP for all patches! LOL I guess I'm expecting a lot. I still will hope for A) Props to get an improvement to VST performance which they are working on apparently B) U-he to release an updated Diva with tighter code. Not likely as it is old now and they may be testing something that burns an water cooled i9 to the ground!

This Diva certainly wants it all! Greedy synth it certainly is. I'm pretty sure when I trialed Dune 3 recently it didn't eat this much CPU. I know its a different sound but Dune 3 sounded pretty cool to me even if it does lean towards Trance and EDM.
Reveal Sound Spire that I have is still one of my fav's the only issue is the crazy stuck notes thing which at times drives me nuts. Someone should add a kill audio button to that synth.

I know people get on Props cases a lot but Europa doesn't do any of this stuff does it. Neither does Grain.Next thing for Props is to create a RE called Antiserum or better still auntyserum. One which has 521 oscillators per note and 9x unison (slightly beats Dune3!) has Moses mode rather than God mode, as God is too all powerful (After the Diva experience!) . So a button that says nearly high quality! It should also have furry dice in the top right of the skin and the 1st two patches should be sports exhaust and sub-woofer (designed for DnB tracks obviously!)

Yes I know lay off the coffee dude and get back to your Diva! Or should that be snickers...oh quiet now!

LOL

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hurricane
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19 Feb 2019

nomis wrote:
19 Feb 2019

I know people get on Props cases a lot but Europa doesn't do any of this stuff does it. Neither does Grain.
That's because they're sonically inferior synths compared to Diva or Repro. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, but c'mon.
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diminished
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19 Feb 2019

Well, I can sometimes run one instance of Repro-5 in HQ with low buffer size.

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EnochLight
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19 Feb 2019

hurricane wrote:
19 Feb 2019
nomis wrote:
19 Feb 2019

I know people get on Props cases a lot but Europa doesn't do any of this stuff does it. Neither does Grain.
That's because they're sonically inferior synths compared to Diva or Repro. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, but c'mon.
Sonically inferior? :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Come on, man - you're comparing completely different synths. Diva and Repro are analog modeled synths. Europa is a wavetable synth. Grain is a grainular synth/sampler. Europa and Grain can easily do things that Diva and Repro simply cannot touch. They're all just different sorts of synthesis. I'd hardly call that sonically inferior.

One could easily make the argument that analog synthesis like Diva and Repro is tired, outdated, and completely lacking innovation. :lol:
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nomis
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19 Feb 2019

EnochLight wrote:
19 Feb 2019
hurricane wrote:
19 Feb 2019


That's because they're sonically inferior synths compared to Diva or Repro. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, but c'mon.
Sonically inferior? :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Come on, man - you're comparing completely different synths. Diva and Repro are analog modeled synths. Europa is a wavetable synth. Grain is a grainular synth/sampler. Europa and Grain can easily do things that Diva and Repro simply cannot touch. They're all just different sorts of synthesis. I'd hardly call that sonically inferior.

One could easily make the argument that analog synthesis like Diva and Repro is tired, outdated, and completely lacking innovation. :lol:
Damn it man it was going to be my second ever post and you ruined it by beating me to it!! LOL :D

I was going to add though that my point could have been clearer made I was referring to the fact that Diva, though sounding nice, used a huge amount of CPU in some patches which made it less usable in some respects (like big orchestrations of sorts). Spire has an audio glitch that other synths such as Props own Grain and Europa don't exhibit. Again Spire is very expensive as is Diva so we can judge them more harshly. Europa and Grain are built into Reason so comparatively cost much less. Do I have the right to be irritated by the CPU of Diva yes I do as I'm using an i9-9900k so its not like I can massively improve my hardware.

I was also going to say that sonic inferiority forms the mainstay of many genres of music. Analogue synths were sold second hand in the 90's to many people/acts who started many genres of music with them even though sonically the Korg Wavestation for instance was sonically so much better. In fact my micromoog went for 50 quid back in those days. Such is the need to upgrade. Now look at me using Diva. Which incidentally cost 50 quid ish! God what a pointless circle this is. Incidentally my micromoog didn't stutter when it ran out of CPU. It did have a slight weird hum to it which some people called character! It also smelt like an old council chamber which to be fair Diva doesn't, that just smells of my ... anyway.

For the record I miss my Yamaha DX100 even the hobbit keys that my fat fingers wouldn't go between!! Sonically a deaf camels version of the DX7 but tell that to Orbital or even Jean Michel Jarre!! Sometimes less FM operators forces more application in the programming. Yes I'm just waffling now. Which reminds me to check out FM4 or PX7 again but how many detuned bells can one have! Plus Diva does do some nice stuff like that. Albeit at a cost.

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hurricane
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19 Feb 2019

Ha. To that guy who slyly implied that the Props are better coders than U-He because Europa and Grain are less cpu intensive than Diva and Repro, I say your implied conclusion is terribly misguided. Diva and Repro are synths that have been impeccably and obsessively modeled. Urs is very transparent when it comes to his designs. So on one hand you have two Propellerhead synths built by guys who sacrifice sonic quality for CPU performance. And on the other hand you have a guy that is trying to push software analog modeling to new levels of realism. Therein lies Europa's and Grain's sonic inferiority. But then again, I guess you could say I have no proof propellerhead are sacrificing sonic quality for CPU performance. True, because they don't like to tell you anything. Urs on the other hand, is all over the net talking about Diva and the tech behind it:

Diva captures the spirit of various analogue synthesizers by letting the user select from a variety of alternative modules. The oscillators, filters and envelopes closely model components found in some of the greatest monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers of yesteryear. But what sets DIVA apart from other emulations is the sheer authenticity of her analogue sound. This comes at the cost of quite a high CPU-hit, but we think it was worth it: Diva is the first native software synth that applies methods from industrial circuit simulators in realtime.

and about the filters:

The filters are at the heart of Diva’s analogue sound. A combination of realtime circuit simulation and zero delay feedback (ZDF) design gives Diva its remarkable sound. With ZDF, the delays normally produced when modelling analogue circuits are vastly reduced, resulting in a much more authentic resonance behaviour.

So until you show me otherwise, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that U-He's DSP synth mojo, is stronger than Propellerhead's and they (U-He) easily take the sonic superiority title.

My ears can hear it.

edit: just want to add more Urs:

Recording.de: Your plugins sound excellent! In your opinion what's the difference with competing developers?

I can't comment much on colleagues. I don't try out products from other companies so much. Soundwise I can say we're trying to avoid any compromises. That means every single module must perform outstanding on its own. With Zebra for instance the oscillators are reasonably free of aliasing without being oversampled. It took a long time to make them very flexible nevertheless. This makes a great difference.
A classical example is DIVA's filter which is being calculated in a fundamental way which is usually not done in software. It is unusual to model all the components of these filters at this level which results in these filters consuming a lot of CPU power. But that's why they sound so good. I know from some other developers they don't believe they can sell their products if they consume so much CPU power. We were about the first who has done it like this and it sold well nevertheless. To our standards quite good actually. So for me there's no reason to change it.
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EnochLight
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19 Feb 2019

I don't see anyone debating that Diva and Repro are authentically modeled analog synths and sound great - hell, I agree with you. Tired, outdated, and completely lacking innovation, sure - but they sound great. One could easily argue that they're also sonically inferior to Europa, Grain, Serum, Thorn, and a boatload of other synths, if you're tired of analog synths and their sound. That said, you seem to really prefer that sound - good on you! I'm sure Urs appreciates the sales you've made for him here in this thread.
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Loque
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19 Feb 2019

I have all my respect for musicians that can hear the difference between the synths, get horny on clear oscillator FFT displays and then use the latest distortion and saturation analog modeled devices and finally all my respect to the many audiophile listeners out there which hear and honor the difference of the synths on there 1300€ mobile phone. Kudos.

And thanks for trying to convince me that i am such a pro that i could hear all that differences between the devices and honor analog modeled industry standard buzzwords from other pros in the pro-only club.
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hurricane
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19 Feb 2019

Loque wrote:
19 Feb 2019
I have all my respect for musicians that can hear the difference between the synths, get horny on clear oscillator FFT displays and then use the latest distortion and saturation analog modeled devices and finally all my respect to the many audiophile listeners out there which hear and honor the difference of the synths on there 1300€ mobile phone. Kudos.

And thanks for trying to convince me that i am such a pro that i could hear all that differences between the devices and honor analog modeled industry standard buzzwords from other pros in the pro-only club.
Nah you don't need all that - all you have to do is get off your phone and get in front of a real hardware analog synth like say the OB-XA, and some good monitors and then start playing it. Then quickly switch to Thor or Europa and hear and feel the difference. Talk about a life changing ear re-calibration. And you don't need any FFT displays for that. And yeah, you would hear a difference and you don't even need to be a "Pro".
EnochLight wrote:
19 Feb 2019
Tired, outdated, and completely lacking innovation, sure - but they sound great.
Guess that applies to the Jupiter 8, Model D, CS-80, OBXA, and every analog synth in history, huh?
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EnochLight
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19 Feb 2019

hurricane wrote:
19 Feb 2019
EnochLight wrote:
19 Feb 2019
Tired, outdated, and completely lacking innovation, sure - but they sound great.
Guess that applies to the Jupiter 8, Model D, CS-80, OBXA, and every analog synth in history, huh?
Sure! In 1979, 1980, 1981, etc they were cutting edge, fresh, and brand new. Now? Not so much, I'm sure you'll agree.
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Reasonable man
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20 Feb 2019

Europa is a quality sounding synth in fairness. Because of the diverse modifers and spectral filter it can do certain things that expanse (and i'm guessing serum) cant.
There are alot of refills and combi patches out there that demontrate this.
Highly recommend Hydlide's free europa refill which is based on performance , (aftertouch, expression sustain pedals)..... but i highly highly recommend Adam fielding's 'Relay' refill which which take Europa into soundcapes that you wont find in its factory patches.
Have to get your hands dirty with Europa to unlock it and i mean every modifier in it .
I think synths like Expanse and Serum have a tad more 'perfumed' (oversampled) sound quality to them from the get go. Europa is wilder,harsher .more unpredictible which is better for experimental and edgier music and sometimes this is exactly what you need to get your music noticed. Even the experts agree that Europa vst was was one of the most original and best sounding synths of 2018...its in most magazines top 5.
Didn't orginally like Europa but boy was i wrong......... it, Vk-2 and Parsec are my main template synths now

nomis
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Joined: 18 Feb 2019

20 Feb 2019

hurricane wrote:
19 Feb 2019
Ha. To that guy who slyly implied that the Props are better coders than U-He because Europa and Grain are less cpu intensive than Diva and Repro, I say your implied conclusion is terribly misguided. Diva and Repro are synths that have been impeccably and obsessively modeled. Urs is very transparent when it comes to his designs. So on one hand you have two Propellerhead synths built by guys who sacrifice sonic quality for CPU performance. And on the other hand you have a guy that is trying to push software analog modeling to new levels of realism. Therein lies Europa's and Grain's sonic inferiority. But then again, I guess you could say I have no proof propellerhead are sacrificing sonic quality for CPU performance. True, because they don't like to tell you anything. Urs on the other hand, is all over the net talking about Diva and the tech behind it:

Diva captures the spirit of various analogue synthesizers by letting the user select from a variety of alternative modules. The oscillators, filters and envelopes closely model components found in some of the greatest monophonic and polyphonic synthesizers of yesteryear. But what sets DIVA apart from other emulations is the sheer authenticity of her analogue sound. This comes at the cost of quite a high CPU-hit, but we think it was worth it: Diva is the first native software synth that applies methods from industrial circuit simulators in realtime.

and about the filters:

The filters are at the heart of Diva’s analogue sound. A combination of realtime circuit simulation and zero delay feedback (ZDF) design gives Diva its remarkable sound. With ZDF, the delays normally produced when modelling analogue circuits are vastly reduced, resulting in a much more authentic resonance behaviour.

So until you show me otherwise, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that U-He's DSP synth mojo, is stronger than Propellerhead's and they (U-He) easily take the sonic superiority title.

My ears can hear it.

edit: just want to add more Urs:

Recording.de: Your plugins sound excellent! In your opinion what's the difference with competing developers?

I can't comment much on colleagues. I don't try out products from other companies so much. Soundwise I can say we're trying to avoid any compromises. That means every single module must perform outstanding on its own. With Zebra for instance the oscillators are reasonably free of aliasing without being oversampled. It took a long time to make them very flexible nevertheless. This makes a great difference.
A classical example is DIVA's filter which is being calculated in a fundamental way which is usually not done in software. It is unusual to model all the components of these filters at this level which results in these filters consuming a lot of CPU power. But that's why they sound so good. I know from some other developers they don't believe they can sell their products if they consume so much CPU power. We were about the first who has done it like this and it sold well nevertheless. To our standards quite good actually. So for me there's no reason to change it.

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