Opinions on Complex-1

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mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

I've been listening to the samples of Complex-1 since it's on sale. I feel like I might be missing something. Yeah it sounds nice, but not groundbreaking. It sounds similar in tone to Thor, and the sounds in the examples sound like something I could do with my analogue hardware or with Thor. Am I missing something? Or is this just not as groundbreaking as it seems?

mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

Ok, wait wait wait, I'm watching a Complex-1 tutorial on YouTube and it seems the options for modulation are rather lovely and the interface is a bit clearer than Thor. Hmm...

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Loque
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11 May 2019

I do not think Complex-1 is a revolution soundwise - since the market is saturated with all kind of synths. But the overall sound and possibilities are good, especially the modulation and the comb filter are very good. And you can connect everything with everything very easily and this can lead to quite interesting results. While i write i am experimenting and i came from a squelshy psychedlic saw-pitch modulated sound to something that sounds like a car engine with a screaming man inside...Turn some knobs and you get a ringing pluck...i like it...just miss the polyphony. Its a synth for "ok, what sounds i can get today out of it?"
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mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

Loque wrote:
11 May 2019
I do not think Complex-1 is a revolution soundwise - since the market is saturated with all kind of synths. But the overall sound and possibilities are good, especially the modulation and the comb filter are very good. And you can connect everything with everything very easily and this can lead to quite interesting results.
This is a helpful summary of its position. Thank you!
Loque wrote:
11 May 2019
While i write i am experimenting and i came from a squelshy psychedlic saw-pitch modulated sound to something that sounds like a car engine with a screaming man inside...Turn some knobs and you get a ringing pluck...i like it...
I've always struggled with experimenting with synths. Something holds me back, especially with analogue hardware synths with no patch memory, as I worry that if I find something I like, I won't be able to get it back. So a highly tweak able soft synth is very appealing. But is it significantly different to Thor? Thor is my workhorse synth. I don't feel I need anything new, but weird blips and chirps are always welcome, so something I can tweak to my heart's content is appealing, and dragging cables around is much nicer than using a mod matrix...
Loque wrote:
11 May 2019
just miss the polyphony. Its a synth for "ok, what sounds i can get today out of it?"
Oh, it's mono? Well, that's not necessarily a problem. There's ways round that if really needed.

mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

Ok, the tutorial gave me palpitations... bought :lol:

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challism
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Posts: 4642
Joined: 17 Jan 2015
Location: Fanboy Shill, Boomertown

11 May 2019

I'm trialing Comlex-1 now, since it's on sale. I really like it but I dont think I'm going to buy it right now. I imagine it will be on sale again in the future and, honestly, I have way too many synths in my rack gathering dust. Modular is a lot of fun, and this has been a great way to better learn it. I am making some really cool sounds getting some happy accidents. I was surprised to discover it is a monophonic. Seems like it should definitely be poly, but, as mentioned, there are ways around this in Reason.

I have a sneaky suspicion Complex-1 is going to end up in the Synth Rig Bundle. If that happens, I will definitely do an upgrade and lock it into my rack.
Players are to MIDI what synthesizers are to waveforms.

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dusan.cani
Posts: 472
Joined: 16 Oct 2018
Location: Slovakia

11 May 2019

I am trialing as well and for me, It has very distinct sound. It is definitely not like Thor or any other existing native Reason synth or RE. I can instantly hear very organic, smooth, detailed and fat sound. Originally (before trying it) I thought it's some ordinary sounding synth but finally I am really surprised how good and inspiring it sounds :)

But I don't get why this thing is restricted to mono mode. It doesn't make any sense to have monophonic instrument in software environment where your only limit is the CPU performance.

WongoTheSane
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Posts: 1851
Joined: 14 Sep 2015
Location: Paris, France

11 May 2019

It's very different from Thor: Thor is made to be played, while Complex is made to create drones, sound fillers, sequences, or to mangle sound. The fact it's mono (well, duo...) is one important aspect of that. While it is possible to make patches like on other mono synths, it's not really what it's about, and if you check the default patches, you'll note that quite a number of them are meant to be played with just one sustained note: the sound evolves by itself. Complex doesn't try to compete with Thor on the number of available Oscs for instance, but provides lots of logic functions and routings that are absent from Thor (even with its matrix). I would qualify Thor as a Production synth, and Complex as a Research or Experimental synth. Generally, the sounds you get out of it are so rich - both in movement and harmonic content - that playing them as pads would simply choke the frequency spectrum.

mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

Thanks for the insights guys. I'm really excited to get stuck into this and already just mucking about I'm starting to hear the tone of the instrument and some of the possibilities. One question, is it possible to cross-modulate two Complex-1s? The front cables won't leave the device, but I'm wondering if it's possible to route through the external routing in/outs.

mashers
Posts: 435
Joined: 05 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

Oh fuck, you can route up to the EXT CV out on the front, then flip round and route CV out from one to CV in of the other, then back from the front CV IN to a parameter of another Complex-1. You can even route via spiders to get multiple connections :D

WongoTheSane
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Location: Paris, France

11 May 2019

Yes: send one Complex's audio out to the Ext Audio In of the other Complex, and use that in the Pitch, AM and FM inputs in the Osc section.

It may be interesting to experiment with Osc 3 on the modulator one, rather that Oscs 1 and 2, because 3 has a much lower range which can be really sweet when used as a modulation source. But anything goes, this is Complex after all :D

Edit: All right, I see you're there already :D

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mjxl
Posts: 600
Joined: 23 Nov 2018

11 May 2019

If you have 1 instance of Complex, you can take a gate to CV Out, and put it inside it's own Gate on the back, this way you can make use of the RND, Velocity and Key1/1 input sections aswell ;O

It's like a modulation beast , which pretends to be a synth in the weekends ;P

reggie1979
Posts: 1181
Joined: 11 Apr 2019

11 May 2019

It's killer but I'ma pass. I won't use it as much as some would and I'm cash poor right now. Definitely a good deal.

two shoes
Posts: 254
Joined: 13 Jul 2018

11 May 2019

there are no revolutions left to have when it comes to the timbre of synthesized sound - the existing methods are capable of recreating every possible sound - i mean that literally. the one thing coming in the near future that might sound revolutionary to people are synths that support an object-based format (atmos, dts-x, etc, etc). you could, for example, have a sound that you perceive as coming from a point source that flys towards you from a distance and then circles around your head - a far more convincing version of "3d" sound than stereo or existing surround formats. of course the listener would have to be using a playback system that supports the same format, but that will be most home theater and car systems a decade from now. currently four or five formats are competing for market dominance. most people are quite impressed by object-based recordings the first time they hear one - genelec had a demo setup, i don't recall which format, that was the talk of a recent trade show. there's zero question that one or two of these formats will become the future standard(s) for film and game soundtracks and it will be interesting to see if any of them actually challenge stereo as the dominant format for music.

a young person who wants to prepare for a engineering career in any of these industries would be well served to become very adept at mixing or post for one or more of these formats - if the horse you pick doesn't win the race it shouldn't be too difficult to transfer those skills to a competing format as they're all slightly different methods of achieving the same effect. the hardware makers will love this future and push it just like they did with previous surround formats because object-based playback systems utilize lots and lots of speakers.

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aeox
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Joined: 23 Feb 2017
Location: Oregon

11 May 2019

I accidentally made a realistic flute sound with the comb delay + noise

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BRIGGS
Posts: 2135
Joined: 25 Sep 2015
Location: Orange County California

12 May 2019

aeox wrote:
11 May 2019
I accidentally made a realistic flute sound with the comb delay + noise
oops! :puf_smile:
r11s

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