Now Hive is here, is it RIP Sylenth?

[ENV1]

As someone who got kinda obsessed with sharp labeling i can (on Windows) only recommend for devs to adapt the SynthEdit way of generating text. Why: Because SE TextModules use Windows' own AA, which is quite simply the cleanest and sharpest there is.


Heres a comparison:

- Top row = PS. The 'Sharp' one would seem to be what you see in most plugins that have text printed onto the background.

- Center row = GIMP. Its 'Slight' mode is comparable to PSs 'Sharp', partially a bit better. The rest is pretty meh.

- Bottom row = Windows. Very easy to see that PS and GIMP are no match for Windows with respect to sharpness.

(If you download the image and zoom in so you can see the individual pixels you will also see why. (PS and GIMP solely use greytone AA pixels whereas Windows uses colored ones, which makes all the difference.))

Font AntiAliasing Comparison.png

As for the 'case' thing: Faceplates are traditionally labeled in all-caps, from synthesizers to airplanes to ships, you name it. There are only few exceptions, (most of which ive seen in audio land), and to my eyes it always looked kinda odd because somehow it just doesnt 'feel right'. Of course in the end thats a matter of opinon, but as i said, traditionally its all-caps and it has been that way for decades.

[fluffy_little_something]

Wow, SE, who would have guessed...

On documents I find all-caps text harder to read, but of course on user interfaces, where size matters, the difference between an upper and lowercase letter is big. And since it is only isolated nouns anyway, the brain doesn't have to think about many aspects of language.

Maybe I am missing something, but I find the 3rd example in the top row easiest to read.

[ENV1]

Wow, SE, who would have guessed...

Odd but true.

(In fact it does the kerning even better than PAINT, just look at the space between the A and Y in DECAY and the 2 T's between the 2 A's in ATTACK, etc.)

On documents I find all-caps text harder to read, but of course on user interfaces, where size matters, the difference between an upper and lowercase letter is big. And since it is only isolated nouns anyway, the brain doesn't have to think about many aspects of language.

Agreed, thats precisely how i see it too.

[fluffy_little_something]

As amended to my previous post, I actually find the third example of the top row the easiest to read.

[ENV1]

As amended to my previous post, I actually find the third example of the top row the easiest to read.

Well i suppose thats because its the most bold, (although its not really bold-face), but it also happens to be the most smeared, so personally i wouldnt use that mode.


BTW, i only mentioned SynthEdit because it was the first audio-app using WinAA that came to mind. However, there are of course other examples that could be cited, like for instance the ReaPlugins by Cockos. Again the colored AA pixels make all the difference. (ReaPlugs are also one example where lowercase letters are used on the 'frontplate'.)

ReaComp.png

[EnGee]

I don't have a specific problem with the fonts in Hive!

The only thing I suggest is changing the background colour of the light blue backgrounds (as shown below with 200%), I use normally 120%.
The font is fine IMO, but the background should be dark so the font appears sharply. I think it is easy to change

Hive_Fonts.JPG

[fluffy_little_something]

Strange offer I just stumbled upon:

"discoDSP is offering a 40% off discount for Discovery Pro and Corona synths exclusively to Sylenth1 and Spire customers until September 30."

I wonder what the reasoning behind that is, I mean, why only those two? And why would someone who owns Spire want those two DSP synths, which, sorry to say, are not at the same level, imho?

[pdxindy]

Strange offer I just stumbled upon:

"discoDSP is offering a 40% off discount for Discovery Pro and Corona synths exclusively to Sylenth1 and Spire customers until September 30."

I wonder what the reasoning behind that is, I mean, why only those two? And why would someone who owns Spire want those two DSP synths, which, sorry to say, are not at the same level, imho?

Corona does some good sounds... and the arp outputs midi so you can play the arp and record the midi notes...

[2ZrgE]

Strange offer I just stumbled upon:

"discoDSP is offering a 40% off discount for Discovery Pro and Corona synths exclusively to Sylenth1 and Spire customers until September 30."

I wonder what the reasoning behind that is, I mean, why only those two? And why would someone who owns Spire want those two DSP synths, which, sorry to say, are not at the same level, imho?

Lol, seriously?

But I know that feeling, using Zebra, Diva and Hive (amongst others) I really don't feel the need to buy any other synth any time soon (because no other synth is at the same level (or beyond) as those..)

no seriously I mean that...

[aumordia]

So speaking of Sylenth1 vs. Hive, I've been trying to reproduce a sound that I'm sure was created in Hive, but I can't nail it no matter what synth I use, Hive included.

It's the riffy bit from the beginning of Hive's trailer video, that sounds almost like a palm-muted distorted guitar chugging along: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk4ex-yagls

I think it's some kind of distorted pulse, but I like I said, I can't quite seem to get there. Anybody have any ideas?

[Aliens]

using Zebra, Diva and Hive (amongst others) I really don't feel the need to buy any other synth any time soon (because no other synth is at the same level (or beyond) as those..)

A holy trinity of synths right there.

[D N A]

Ironically, my impression is the people who are hard on Hive don't really know it.

This pretty much may be. Given the amount of possible alternatives, the frist impression is often crucial, especially when a synth is marketed as an instant gratification tool for EDM producers. The avreage user may be testing it like that: "intall - > play the presets - > they don't sound like the Sylenth presets used by [a "bigname" producer] - > uninstall", 15 minutes at best.

Totally agree. It's like with ... mobile apps. Install -> 1-2 minutes tests -> keep / uninstall.

Also Sylenth, Nexus success was mainly because of (electronica/edm only) presets.
Not "bread and butter", "you can do anything" sounds - no. Since the beginning it was ready for electronica / EDM, and third party banks even expanded this path.

That's why, I don't think that comparing Sylenth ie. to Zebra makes any sense. You can do anything with Zebra, much more than in Sylenth, but learning curve is longer, and generally creating a single patch takes much longer too. Is it good, bad ? It's good and bad - depends what you expect

I love Sylenth sound, and I kind love it's limitations. But the truth is that newer synths such as Spire, Hive offer much wider possibilites. It would be bad if they didn't - it's 2016

[fluffy_little_something]

I don't agree. Both synth SEEM geared towards the EDM crowd at first glance, but both are also good for bread-and-butter sounds. I mean, what are those bnb sounds, anyway? In my view the ones that classic analog synths made (obviously both lack FM, wavetable etc.), i.e. synth basses, pads, strings, keys, leads, synth brass, percussion and drums etc. And both synths can do them very well. Of all my Sylenth1 patches there are maybe 2 that could be used for EDM, the vast majority are classic synth patches. I even used it for electric basses and jazz guitars, although the missing direct pwm per osc and the inability to modulate individual env stages make these sounds more difficult to do. I wonder why LD still hasn't implemented that by now. Osc sync is the other thing that is missing, but I think that is missing in Hive as well. But since I am not into harsh lead sounds anyway, I never missed it.

Sylenth1's waveforms for instance are pretty similar to the Minimoog's. And in terms of modulation even the - by modern standards - somewhat limited Sylenth1 blows old bnb hardware synths out of the water.

[mcnoone]

I even used it for electric basses and jazz guitars, although the missing direct pwm per osc and the inability to modulate individual env stages make these sounds more difficult to do. I wonder why LD still hasn't implemented that by now. Osc sync is the other thing that is missing, but I think that is missing in Hive as well.

There are other synths better at making electric basses and jazz guitars and all manner of more acoustic types of sounds that do it better and easier than Sylenth can.
Zebra2 and Dune2 kill Sylenth in that regard. They have comb filters, and fm, and a host of other features that make doing the kind of sounds you are talking about, easier and also more natural sounding.

As for having a sync function. That can be used for more than hard leads. It can also be used for adding harmonic content to the sound for many different effects besides the hard lead thing.
Not to mention that Hive has more features that also allow for very organic, and acoustic types sounds, that the presets reveal much more than anything I've heard from the Sylenth demo.

Modulating the envelope stages is key to making more natural playing sounds imo.
People like Sylenth because its a beginners synth that is easy to use, and does sound good. Yet it has less functions than many other synths including Hive, and it also has a very limited sound palette. It cannot do many of the sounds that Hive can, and especially for more organic or acoustical soft sounding tones.

[pdxindy]

The Sylenth envelopes are kinda boring... cause they sound so samey... no control at all over slope which plays a big part of creating different character to natural organic sounds.