Skrock bundle, IMO something to keep in mind....

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ShelLuser
Posts: 358
Joined: 25 Aug 2019

06 Oct 2019

Hi gang!

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I apologize up front for not being able to get as detailed as I want to but I have approx. 10 minutes left and then I really need to get some sleep, but I still wanted to share this with you...

Today I ended up on the Reason shop and skimmed over some "hot deals" (although I wasn't really looking to get anything new) and I came across the previously mentioned Skrock instrument bundle; a chance to grab all of their instruments for E 129,- vs. having to pay an easy E 300,- ( E 39 for Poltergeist, E 29,- for Kraft, E29 for Horizons, E 29 for Aurora and that's only 4 out of the 14 devices you get in total). I mentioned these because I already grew a strong liking to them...

If you ask me (you're not ;)) then this is a great deal. Most of all it's an honest one because I believe they really try to provide you with a nice variety of sound options vs. giving you only the "l33t stuff". I conclude as much because this bundle also includes the freely available Nautilus bass synth as well as the low priced Orbis wavetable synth (E 9,-).

I've been playing around with these devices for a while now (both in the rack but most of all within Reason 10 rewired into Live, controlled by Push) and I am really excited about all the variety this gives you. I'm already a huge fan of the Kraft synthesizer because it allows you to (relatively) easily create very convincing dynamic sound setups. For a quick idea try the demo and load the 'FX Beeboops' patch. I love that one, esp. while playing it on Push, I can very easily get some rythmic background melody going with this. And that's just a preset...

And just because Iridium is pretty cheap (E 9) doesn't mean it's also giving you cheap sounds. Yes, I can also come up with some other instruments which would allow me some of the sounds this one has to offer (try the Stabby preset sometime) but... these provide some really good sounds nonetheless. IMO that is of course. Sure, Reason's "Electric bass" RE is also very convincing but...

As mentioned I also really enjoy the variety which Skrock provides.

Thanks for reading!
--- :reason:

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Loque
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Posts: 11170
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

07 Oct 2019

Yea, they are quite nice and deliver what they were made for. But at some point i find them too limited and i ended up losing a clear view what each thing is good for and i felt they were a bit redundant. The patches are quite good.

And today in general i would rather spend 200 bucks on a really flagship synth which can do everything instead of 10 limited ones which can do only a part of the flagship synth. Its just because if i reach a point in the sound building where i "want" this specific thing, the synth needs to have it. And if you are looking for a specific patch, it might be easier to have one synth instead of 10.

Just check the Arturia Analog Lab, which integrated around 20 awesome but limited synths, just for patch finding and than more editing. That is good for patch searching, but you cannot combine this cool feature from the synth with the other cool feature of that synth.

Nevertheless, for 130 bucks it is a interesting deal. I'd rather would go for a flagship synth today.
Reason12, Win10

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

07 Oct 2019

Hello,

I love Skrock synths. I own a lot of them, they are very useful and they can deliver some fresh and new sounds.

Especially Kraft is my favourite one. I LOVE the drive feature, it can produce veeery tasty distorted/waveshaped tones and in polyphonic mode (per voice).

Orbis is a little gem, I like its wavetables and filter which is unique because it can blend several modes together. Orbis also has tasty "drive" feature so you can introduce awesome flavours to your sound.

Mixfood WT4 is IMHO very underrated synth. There are a huge posibillities to get very dynamic sounds from it.

Aurora is very nice synth for oldschool sounds, it does the job very well !

Both Nautiluses are also fine, I am able to get unique results from both of them.

Iridium is very specific, I was able to get some bass guitar style sounds and a lot more other different stuff.

Personally I consider inspiring to have several synths each for the particular range of sounds. It brings more variety to music mix because of the differences of each synths. And the different user interface also contributes to feeling more inspired.

ENJOY your new synths and make some music !

Mataya
Posts: 518
Joined: 03 May 2019

07 Oct 2019

dusan.cani wrote:
07 Oct 2019

Mixfood WT4 is IMHO very underrated synth. There are a huge posibillities to get very dynamic sounds from it.
This one is not skrock, but I love WT4 a lot.

Solaris and Kraft for me and the rest is li-la.

tx
M
Last edited by Mataya on 07 Oct 2019, edited 1 time in total.

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

07 Oct 2019

Mataya wrote:
07 Oct 2019
dusan.cani wrote:
07 Oct 2019

Mixfood WT4 is IMHO very underrated synth. There are a huge posibillities to get very dynamic sounds from it.
This one is not skrock, but I love WT4 a lot.
Yeaaah, sorry for the confusion...it's Studio Corbach of course.

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miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

08 Oct 2019

I have Solaris. Great for synthwave. I wish it would remember your preference when you change the skin.

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ShelLuser
Posts: 358
Joined: 25 Aug 2019

08 Oct 2019

Thanks for the feedback everyone! As always I appreciate the different viewpoints :)
Loque wrote:
07 Oct 2019
Yea, they are quite nice and deliver what they were made for. But at some point i find them too limited and i ended up losing a clear view what each thing is good for and i felt they were a bit redundant. The patches are quite good.
That I understand. As much as I enjoy the synths I do agree that they have their limitations. But that suits me just fine because my main intent here is to provide a little bit of (easily usable) variations to what I already have.
Loque wrote:
07 Oct 2019
And today in general i would rather spend 200 bucks on a really flagship synth which can do everything instead of 10 limited ones which can do only a part of the flagship synth.
I can definitely agree with that. It's for that reason why I already have specific devices in my setup such as Absynth, Guitar Rig and of course all Ableton and (most of) the Props instruments. Those basically form the core of my setup which I hardly change (though my upgrade to Reason 10 did just that a bit ;)).

dusan.cani wrote:
07 Oct 2019
Especially Kraft is my favourite one. I LOVE the drive feature, it can produce veeery tasty distorted/waveshaped tones and in polyphonic mode (per voice).

Orbis is a little gem, I like its wavetables and filter which is unique because it can blend several modes together. Orbis also has tasty "drive" feature so you can introduce awesome flavours to your sound.
Hehe, that was my experience as well. Kraft is definitely different, that's for sure. So far I have only played with some of the presets and experimented a bit but from what I've seen and heard so far I'm sure this one is going to be fun. I'm especially interested in sets where you have a rather strong and short attack; those are very fun to play on a midi controller; you basically sustain a note and while doing so continue to play a few others to put in a melody. The effect can become quite interesting.

I have yet to play some more with Orbis but that's mostly because I've got quite a bit of wavetable based instruments already.
dusan.cani wrote:
07 Oct 2019
Personally I consider inspiring to have several synths each for the particular range of sounds. It brings more variety to music mix because of the differences of each synths. And the different user interface also contributes to feeling more inspired.
Agreed. Different interfaces usually require different ways to think about your setups and that can make things either more challenging or help you to think 'out of the box' (even though that sounds horribly cliched ;)).

And well, getting to play with something new for a change can definitely be quite fun :) I'm quite curious what I can do with this stuff when I combine them with some of my other devices (Reason player(s), some nice effects to spice things up a little...). And then before you know it's 4am again :)
--- :reason:

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