Dune 2 vs Spire?

[Dasheesh]

Hey Zero thanks for the information about the '12. Shame about using the old filters on that one. Now I understand why you went with the 6. The pro 2 is sick little piece though. I could see myself getting into that if I get hardware gas. I like pads though, so that's a sticking point even if its paraphonic. I'd have to play with it to know if it would bother me I guess. I had a mono evolver and LOVED it but that went when I went "in the box" (family reasons). I miss it though.

I've passed on dune 2 sales twice for no other reason than I have more software instruments than I have time for as it is, but I do like it a lot. The high audio rate settings on that speak to it's quality. Hard to find in software anymore.

The scope system is BOSS. I've owned a couple klangboxes in the past and of course I have a plugiator laying around but the bugs and lack of functionality on a mac always killed scope for me. It used to be buggy like arturia buggy. I'm sure they have had enough time to refine the product by now though. Amazing how those algorithms are still top shelf and better than 90% of what is on the market today.

edit:

At the moment I'm getting into HIVE. With the illuminations skin it gives it a better user experience and it's more versatile than I first gave it credit for. I've been on the search for "brassy" software lately and Hive can do it. It feels like the DSI stuff a lot minus the audio rate modulation. That really bothered me to no end at first. I just couldn't get over it until I made the connection that it's a unison instrument, and that doesn't lend itself to audio rate modulation very well. It can be done but it doesn't usually work well and it will use a lot of cpu so that's why they excluded it. Hive has a surprisingly musical tone though.

[Firebird]

I have both, personally i like Spire's sound better but Dune 2's sound designing better, both are top notch.

Dune is more powerful and better sound quality, Spire is more versatile and has better character. I went with character over quality in this case.

Actually, Dune 2 is more versatile.

Dune 2 is a very flexible synth capable of many types of sounds.
Spire is great but many synths dont stand up to Dune 2, IMHO.

[chk071]

why do people get so hung up with genres? I never understood this.

Who does? All i can tell is the OP asked for what people's opinions are about these 2 synths, and mentioned the genres he mainly produces. Which can be quite vital to giving a recommendation. I wouldn't recommend something like Sylenth1 for ambient music e.g. Rather a wavetable, or granular synth. Unless you want to go for analog sounds, which is perfectly ok for the genre too, see the Fax Records artists' music. For the genres the OP mentioned here, i believe that Spire excels by far over Dune 2. People won't go by that though when they vote, they will vote their favorite of the 2, even if they don't even care, or know much about the mentioned genres. Plus KVR always seemed to be a place for "secret tip" stuff. Seriously, i haven't heard or read of many EDM, House or Trance artists which use Dune 2, while i have heard and read of many which use Spire. FWIW. Of course you can use Dune 2 for these genres. It's just that Spire is so much better for those IMO. YMMV. Etc.

It's sort of the same thing with Sylenth1. Some always argued that it's nothing special, or that you can use something like Dune 1, Helix, or other synths for the same thing. Yet it became the most popular synth in certain genres, for years and years, and even now, it is still. For a reason IMO. It's really all about the sound.

Btw, before i do everything to get the fanboy tag again , i don't even like the sound designing on Spire much. IMO, there are way better thought out, and interesting synths for that, which also offer more and better waveforms, or simply have a better handling in that regard. Where i think Spire shines is the VA thing. It isn't the most analog of all synths, but frankly, i don't mind that. I like its general sound, its supersaw, its basses, and also the FM stuff i get out of it. But, with the additions Reveal-Sound announced, which should come at some point, probably takes another year though, wavetable capabilities, granular stuff, and all that, it probably will become much more interesting in the sound design regard. For sound design, i prefer Largo, which is my favorite synth for that. It's so much fun to tweak, and has such a huge sweetspot, that i can't think of any other synth i enjoy making sounds on more. Spire is bread and butter, Largo is for experimenting here.

Btw, i'm sure that Dune 2 is also better for sound design than Spire, also because it has more options, and a more flexible, and capable architecture. For me, it doesn't sound quite as good as Spire though, and that's very important for me. And for the mentioned genres, i don't think Spire couldn't do about everything you need in the music. But, in the end, the OP has to know, so i'd demo, and go by what i feel like sounds better to my ears.

[wagtunes]

why do people get so hung up with genres? I never understood this.

Who does? All i can tell is the OP asked for what people's opinions are about these 2 synths, and mentioned the genres he mainly produces. Which can be quite vital to giving a recommendation. I wouldn't recommend something like Sylenth1 for ambient music e.g. Rather a wavetable, or granular synth. Unless you want to go for analog sounds, which is perfectly ok for the genre too, see the Fax Records artists' music. For the genres the OP mentioned here, i believe that Spire excels by far over Dune 2. People won't go by that though when they vote, they will vote their favorite of the 2, even if they don't even care, or know much about the mentioned genres. Plus KVR always seemed to be a place for "secret tip" stuff. Seriously, i haven't heard or read of many EDM, House or Trance artists which use Dune 2, while i have heard and read of many which use Spire. FWIW. Of course you can use Dune 2 for these genres. It's just that Spire is so much better for those IMO. YMMV. Etc.

It's sort of the same thing with Sylenth1. Some always argued that it's nothing special, or that you can use something like Dune 1, Helix, or other synths for the same thing. Yet it became the most popular synth in certain genres, for years and years, and even now, it is still. For a reason IMO. It's really all about the sound.

Btw, before i do everything to get the fanboy tag again , i don't even like the sound designing on Spire much. IMO, there are way better thought out, and interesting synths for that, which also offer more and better waveforms, or simply have a better handling in that regard. Where i think Spire shines is the VA thing. It isn't the most analog of all synths, but frankly, i don't mind that. I like its general sound, its supersaw, its basses, and also the FM stuff i get out of it. But, with the additions Reveal-Sound announced, which should come at some point, probably takes another year though, wavetable capabilities, granular stuff, and all that, it probably will become much more interesting in the sound design regard. For sound design, i prefer Largo, which is my favorite synth for that. It's so much fun to tweak, and has such a huge sweetspot, that i can't think of any other synth i enjoy making sounds on more. Spire is bread and butter, Largo is for experimenting here.

Btw, i'm sure that Dune 2 is also better for sound design than Spire, also because it has more options, and a more flexible, and capable architecture. For me, it doesn't sound quite as good as Spire though, and that's very important for me. And for the mentioned genres, i don't think Spire couldn't do about everything you need in the music. But, in the end, the OP has to know, so i'd demo, and go by what i feel like sounds better to my ears.

I echo this completely. With all the synths I have, when I'm doing a song, sometimes I reach for one of my "favorites" and I discover for THAT particular song, it just doesn't work no matter what I do.

In fact, in the song I'm working on now, after searching for two pads to layer at this one section, I finally decided on <deleted>. They were the only two synths, when layered together, gave me EXACTLY the sound I was looking for. In fact, of all the songs I've ever done, this combo, using two factory patches, gave me the most unusual flavor I've ever "created" in any song from any year that I've been writing.

So it's not that my Zebra 2 or my Dune 2 or my Falcon or any of the other who knows how many synths I have, aren't good and don't sound great. It's that they didn't give me what I was looking for. And even then, I needed two synths layered to pull this off.

In the end, it's all about the sound you're after and very little to do with how "good" or "bad" a synth is.

Sometimes Mr Alias Pro is exactly what I want.

[chk071]

[Yorrrrrr]

So, did DUNE 2 win again?

I love both and though I know they sound different, most of the time I find them to be quite redundant for what I do.

[quantum7]

I own both Spire and Dune 2, but will reach for Dune more times than not over Spire. Spire is great though.

[chk071]

Bows down to personal preference anyway. Don't get the this vs. that thing. Or trying to figure a general trend out of polls like these. But then, shall the people who think they have to take a decision by poll results like these buy their synths after it. I'm sure the people in the market place here are happy to pick up the impulse buy, which turned out to be a complete bummer after, hehe.

[inkwarp]

i love the sound of both of them, i would say i use spire more for bass , dune2 for pads, but really, there isn't much between. if i was forced to pick one ( and i WOULD have to be: )
i would go with dune, there is a lot more under the hood as it were..

[recursive one]

Dune 2: versatility, multilayer structure, clean neutral sound

Spire: character, musicality

Own both, use Spire much more.

[exmatproton]

Dune 2: versatility, multilayer structure, clean neutral sound

Spire: character, musicality

Own both, use Spire much more.

Same here. Also, for some reason the ui of spire is more logical to me, or at least more fun to work with. Dune2 is great and i love the mod matrix over the one from spire (more of it in 1 screen).

Soundwise i think spire has more character indeed.

[peteman]

Dune 2: versatility, multilayer structure, clean neutral sound

Spire: character, musicality

Own both, use Spire much more.

Same here. Also, for some reason the ui of spire is more logical to me, or at least more fun to work with. Dune2 is great and i love the mod matrix over the one from spire (more of it in 1 screen).

Soundwise i think spire has more character indeed.

For me, it's the opposite.

Anyway, both are totally awesome synths, but Dune 2 is my choice for number one.

[Dasheesh]

Spire has the better filters... some of the best! D2 has the better osc. I owned spire because I figured the filters were more important. That’s what I was taught. As I learned better I sold spire for D2. I now use D2 with out board filters. It really does depend on HOW you intend to make music. For me, the best thing to do was mix it up. To summarize. Spire has fantastic filters, but D2 has fantastic osc. Pick your .