ANA 2

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reddust
Posts: 677
Joined: 07 May 2018

06 Jan 2020

Hi,

I read a thread today by TritoneAddiction about The Legend and how much he likes that synth and after answering there I had to think about what I think it was my best purchase during the past christmas days and surely one of my best purchases of 2019 if not the best.

As there is not much content about this synth in this forum and it isn't either one of the most usual synths to find when searching through the internet I just wanted to make a dedicated thread here and give some love to this piece of software called ANA 2 by Sonic Academy.

To be honest I haven't used it as much as I'd like yet because I had some ear problems right the day after I got it and they lasted for around ten days, but it didn't stop me from watching some tutorials and listening to some demos on the internet.

I am really happy with it because of several things, first of all of course is its sound, which in my opinion is very rich and full and while modern it also covers some nice recreations of retro synths as well, which makes it a very interesting choice if you are looking for modern sounding synthwave sounds.

Here is a demo of both the rich sound this synth can achieve and how good it works for synthwave stuff



The synth can mix up to 6 different sounds, being three of them a selection of waveforms and wavetables (Oscillators 1 to 3) and the other three a selection of up to three samples (included or your own samples too . oscillators 4 to 6).

Apart from that I find it specially interesting because in my opinion it has an easy to understand UI, where everything is on a single window - well, there are some hidden frames you can open too, but they will appear in the main window as well, like the arpeggiator, the extended view of the graphic envelope or the chord memory device... and now that I name these features I want to say that they are also a good reason for me to like this synth specially.

The chord memory device allows you to save chords into single keys so you can trigger them with just one key and make it possible to save a chord selection to test different chord progressions on the fly and even make variations on them without any effort. Here is a demo video on how it works together with the included arpeggiator.



I'm very glad I got this synth and well, I hope to be able to tell more about it yet and see if it's as great as it I think now once I can get deeper knowledge of it by using it more or if it has some kind of limitations that might be interesting to know before purchasing it.

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Micha1973
Posts: 468
Joined: 24 Mar 2017
Location: Germany
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06 Jan 2020

ANA 2 is good VST. I like The style. For some € it is great.
Music Is My Life
&
Reason 12 sounds better :essentials:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsW3Wr ... gA05XklBng

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Loque
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Joined: 28 Dec 2015

06 Jan 2020

It was quite cheap on BF, but not cheap enough to get me n board. Sounds a bit boring and "standard" for the called price tag and i have lots of synths, wich sound better. The exmples did not convinced me.
Reason12, Win10

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reddust
Posts: 677
Joined: 07 May 2018

06 Jan 2020

Loque wrote:
06 Jan 2020
It was quite cheap on BF, but not cheap enough to get me n board. Sounds a bit boring and "standard" for the called price tag and i have lots of synths, wich sound better. The exmples did not convinced me.
Which synths sound better in your opinion? I compared it to a lot of synths out there that seem to have a good general opinion and honestly I liked this one better than most of them also in terms of sound, but I guess it is a subjective thing

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reddust
Posts: 677
Joined: 07 May 2018

06 Jan 2020

Micha1973 wrote:
06 Jan 2020
ANA 2 is good VST. I like The style. For some € it is great.
Yeah, I missed the Black Friday sale though but either way I ended up buying it and I’m happy I did

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Loque
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Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

06 Jan 2020

reddust wrote:
06 Jan 2020
Loque wrote:
06 Jan 2020
It was quite cheap on BF, but not cheap enough to get me n board. Sounds a bit boring and "standard" for the called price tag and i have lots of synths, wich sound better. The exmples did not convinced me.
Which synths sound better in your opinion? I compared it to a lot of synths out there that seem to have a good general opinion and honestly I liked this one better than most of them also in terms of sound, but I guess it is a subjective thing
Dune3 has blown me away.
Reason12, Win10

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reddust
Posts: 677
Joined: 07 May 2018

06 Jan 2020

Loque wrote:
06 Jan 2020
reddust wrote:
06 Jan 2020


Which synths sound better in your opinion? I compared it to a lot of synths out there that seem to have a good general opinion and honestly I liked this one better than most of them also in terms of sound, but I guess it is a subjective thing
Dune3 has blown me away.
Dune3 is on my list too :), I hope I can get it soon as well. I gave preference to this one because I am mainly searching for synthwave, future bass and that kind of sounds and couldn’t find a good demo for Dune 3 in that direction but I really liked its sound too.

I actually have a good list of synths already but Dune3 is one of the very few I still consider purchasing either way

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Loque
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Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

06 Jan 2020

reddust wrote:
06 Jan 2020
Loque wrote:
06 Jan 2020


Dune3 has blown me away.
Dune3 is on my list too :), I hope I can get it soon as well. I gave preference to this one because I am mainly searching for synthwave, future bass and that kind of sounds and couldn’t find a good demo for Dune 3 in that direction but I really liked its sound too.

I actually have a good list of synths already but Dune3 is one of the very few I still consider purchasing either way
The demos i heard wer enot that great. But i read so much good stuff about it and it was quite cheap so i just bought it. And yes, this was one of the most impressive synths i heard in the last years. That analog punch is awsome, never heard that before.
Reason12, Win10

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reddust
Posts: 677
Joined: 07 May 2018

07 Jan 2020

I'll definitely have to try out Dune3, nice there is a demo of it

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Loque
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Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

26 Mar 2020

For anybody looking for a good deal, its around 50 bucks atm. I am still not convinced, so pls convince me.

https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana-2
Reason12, Win10

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

26 Mar 2020

Loque wrote:
26 Mar 2020
For anybody looking for a good deal, its around 50 bucks atm. I am still not convinced, so pls convince me.

https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana-2
Get it for the arp and chords... They send MIDI OUT and they are cool. Assuming you can use MIDI OUT... Being on a Reason site you might want to do it in Reason but can't.

Other than that... You'll prob be covered with other soft synths.
Check my Soundcloud:

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Loque
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Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

26 Mar 2020

danc wrote:
26 Mar 2020
Loque wrote:
26 Mar 2020
For anybody looking for a good deal, its around 50 bucks atm. I am still not convinced, so pls convince me.

https://www.sonicacademy.com/products/ana-2
Get it for the arp and chords... They send MIDI OUT and they are cool. Assuming you can use MIDI OUT... Being on a Reason site you might want to do it in Reason but can't.

Other than that... You'll prob be covered with other soft synths.
Thanks for that info. I must really miss something since this synth is kinda hyped but sounds so cheap and average to my ears.
Reason12, Win10

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

26 Mar 2020

Loque wrote:
26 Mar 2020
danc wrote:
26 Mar 2020


Get it for the arp and chords... They send MIDI OUT and they are cool. Assuming you can use MIDI OUT... Being on a Reason site you might want to do it in Reason but can't.

Other than that... You'll prob be covered with other soft synths.
Thanks for that info. I must really miss something since this synth is kinda hyped but sounds so cheap and average to my ears.
Not everything has to blow your head off. Instead it's better to find synths that fit really well in a mix. And for me .. it fits that category

So... I'd recommend making a track with Ana as a lead synth or bass or whatever and then decide. Trialling synths running solo isn't always a good decider.... Too many synths try and have that performance mode that hardware synths had of old and that has limited use in real music making circles.
Check my Soundcloud:

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Loque
Moderator
Posts: 11175
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

26 Mar 2020

danc wrote:
26 Mar 2020
Loque wrote:
26 Mar 2020

Thanks for that info. I must really miss something since this synth is kinda hyped but sounds so cheap and average to my ears.
Not everything has to blow your head off. Instead it's better to find synths that fit really well in a mix. And for me .. it fits that category

So... I'd recommend making a track with Ana as a lead synth or bass or whatever and then decide. Trialling synths running solo isn't always a good decider.... Too many synths try and have that performance mode that hardware synths had of old and that has limited use in real music making circles.
Well, you may be right. I heard a few patch browsing stuff and also some music, mainly made with ANA2 and all sound, well, basic, average, boring. I really would appreciate it, if someone shows me one cool feature, sound or whatever, that would make me to even try it. As I said, maybe i miss something here, i dont get the hype.
Reason12, Win10

danc
Posts: 1017
Joined: 14 Oct 2016

26 Mar 2020

Loque wrote:
26 Mar 2020
danc wrote:
26 Mar 2020


Not everything has to blow your head off. Instead it's better to find synths that fit really well in a mix. And for me .. it fits that category

So... I'd recommend making a track with Ana as a lead synth or bass or whatever and then decide. Trialling synths running solo isn't always a good decider.... Too many synths try and have that performance mode that hardware synths had of old and that has limited use in real music making circles.
Well, you may be right. I heard a few patch browsing stuff and also some music, mainly made with ANA2 and all sound, well, basic, average, boring. I really would appreciate it, if someone shows me one cool feature, sound or whatever, that would make me to even try it. As I said, maybe i miss something here, i dont get the hype.

Loads of ANA 2 - especially the lead which I don't think can be argued as dull and boring... or samey... maybe a bit crazy ... but you get the idea ... it can do something interesting....


Most of the synth sounds in this are ANA 2... including the sweeps and the plucky thing later.


Loads of sounds from ANA 2 - sounds made by me... so not your usual presets...


You tell me if it's a rubbish synth!!!
Check my Soundcloud:

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