Latest Humble Bundle Synths

[machinesworking]

To be honest, I generally feel like the Cherry Audio emulations don’t cut it when put next to other plugins, though they can still sound good. That said, I felt like Dreamsynth was worth $20, for sure.

THis, not that impressed with Cherry audio, terrible emulations for the most part, but good on them for this promotion, and Dreamsynth is the only thing I've heaard by them I would use.

[McLilith]

Dreamsynth might be the Cherry's very Best.

I have a thread where I asked for people to list their favorite Cherry Audio synths. Tonight, I summed up the very unscientific results of that thread:

viewtopic.php?p=8906152#p8906152

Of course, that list is mostly just for fun. It only attempts to gauge what's popular, not what is "best", and some of the latest Cherry Audio synths didn't even exist when that thread was started. For example, I expect Chroma to become one of their popular synths in the future.

[McLilith]

To be honest, I generally feel like the Cherry Audio emulations don’t cut it when put next to other plugins, though they can still sound good. That said, I felt like Dreamsynth was worth $20, for sure.

THis, not that impressed with Cherry audio, terrible emulations for the most part, but good on them for this promotion, and Dreamsynth is the only thing I've heaard by them I would use.

I'm not sure how some folks who own the original hardware being emulated can praise the Cherry Audio version of a particular synth, claiming it's nearly identical to the original (sometimes even better than original), while other folks say Cherry Audio emulations are "terrible".

It would seem someone is probably exaggerating...

[gearwatcher]

To be honest, I generally feel like the Cherry Audio emulations don’t cut it when put next to other plugins, though they can still sound good. That said, I felt like Dreamsynth was worth $20, for sure.

THis, not that impressed with Cherry audio, terrible emulations for the most part, but good on them for this promotion, and Dreamsynth is the only thing I've heaard by them I would use.

I'm not sure how some folks who own the original hardware being emulated can praise the Cherry Audio version of a particular synth, claiming it's nearly identical to the original (sometimes even better than original), while other folks say Cherry Audio emulations are "terrible".

It would seem someone is probably exaggerating...

I would say that people who say Cherry Audio synths are terrible haven't actually seen or heard that hardware in their lives but since they're not Softube they must suck or something.

Tbh the only thing I deeply hate about my Cherry Audio plugins with a passion of a burning sun is that they refuse to get their shit together and stop asking for my username and password every few months.

I actually ended up using warez versions of all their plugins I own because I couldn't take that crap any more and I also "can't live" without Dreamsynth and their 201.

I got these two for more than $20 a pop (not much more tho DS was on sale for €29 and 201 was a gift with mercury) and still consider them money well spent OP. You will not regret it.

[McLilith]

I would say that people who say Cherry Audio synths are terrible haven't actually seen or heard that hardware in their lives but since they're not Softube they must suck or something.

Yeah, I think many of the folks who say a certain brand and model of software synth is a "poor emulation" are doing so based on a somewhat hazy memory of what the original synth sounded like. (That's assuming they've ever played the original hardware in their life.) I would say it's a fairly small minority of people who actually have the original synth available (in excellent working order) to do a direct A-B comparison using the same amplifier and speaker system. Also, some folks might be fooled by the difference between a certain synth as recorded on one of their favorite albums, versus the software synth being played directly, without the "who-knows what" studio processing that was used on the album recording.

And then, there is that category of person who will detect a difference that is barely perceptible to most folks, but claim that difference is absolutely enormous and the two synths sound nothing alike!

[aMUSEd]

Where does it say it's Windows only?

Here:
https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en- ... quirements

Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 14.02.12.png

The others do say both platforms, as does the Cherry site, just this one doesn't so I don't want to get caught out by the small print. Maybe they made a mistake or maybe they only have Windows licenses, although I agree it doesn't add up so maybe it is just an error

[whyterabbyt]

Where does it say it's Windows only?

Here:
https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en- ... quirements
Screenshot 2024-05-18 at 14.02.12.png

The others do say both platforms, as does the Cherry site, just this one doesn't so I don't want to get caught out by the small print. Maybe they made a mistake or maybe they only have Windows licenses, although I agree it doesn't add up so maybe it is just an error

Given that that states support for Windows XP, which Cherry most certainly do not confirm, its not 'maybe' about that being a mistake.

The actual Windows and OSX requirements are on the Cherry product page:

Dreamsynth is available in AU, VST, VST3, AAX, and standalone formats.

A free 30-day demo of Dreamsynth is available. This demo will play white noise periodically, but is otherwise unlimited.

macOS Requirements: 10.13 or above. macOS 13 Ventura supported. 64-bit required. Native Apple M1 or greater processor support, including Ultra. 3.4 GHz Quad-Core or M1 CPU with 8GB of RAM recommended.

Windows Requirements: Windows 7 or above (including Windows 11), 64-bit required. Quad-core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended. MPE requires a DAW and hardware controller supporting MIDI Polyphonic Expression.

[aMUSEd]

I know - anyway I took the slight risk and it installed fine on my Mac

[Doggo]

Not sure why but Cherry Audio have failed to win over the kvr mob. But the DreamSynth is worth the bundle price itself.

[McLilith]

Not sure why but Cherry Audio have failed to win over the kvr mob. But the DreamSynth is worth the bundle price itself.

There's several happy Cherry Audio users on KVR, but it seems every brand gets criticized by someone here. Whenever possible, it's always best to download product demos and try them yourself.

[machinesworking]

To be honest, I generally feel like the Cherry Audio emulations don’t cut it when put next to other plugins, though they can still sound good. That said, I felt like Dreamsynth was worth $20, for sure.

THis, not that impressed with Cherry audio, terrible emulations for the most part, but good on them for this promotion, and Dreamsynth is the only thing I've heaard by them I would use.

I'm not sure how some folks who own the original hardware being emulated can praise the Cherry Audio version of a particular synth, claiming it's nearly identical to the original (sometimes even better than original), while other folks say Cherry Audio emulations are "terrible".

It would seem someone is probably exaggerating...

I would say that people who say Cherry Audio synths are terrible haven't actually seen or heard that hardware in their lives but since they're not Softube they must suck or something.

I love it when people talk out their ass. I own and have owned plenty of the analog hardware Cherry Audio emulate, they're by far the worst emulations on the market by a large developer, they really aren't any good at all if your parameters for it are how close it is to the original. The most damming example is their Memorymoog emulation, I've owned one since I was 18. The Cherry audio emulation is just about the worst I've heard. I can come much closer with DIva even though it's not specifically a moog or Memorymoog emultaion.

Regardless you can enjoy their software, just having the same parameters as the original hardware can make for an enjoyable experience, but their Memorymoog emulation sounds nothing like a Memorymoog. I wish it did believe me, I could sell mine and be happy with the software.

[planetearth]

Dreamsynth might be the Cherry's very Best.

I have a thread where I asked for people to list their favorite Cherry Audio synths. Tonight, I summed up the very unscientific results of that thread:

viewtopic.php?p=8906152#p8906152

Of course, that list is mostly just for fun. It only attempts to gauge what's popular, not what is "best", and some of the latest Cherry Audio synths didn't even exist when that thread was started. For example, I expect Chroma to become one of their popular synths in the future.

Not to take this OT, but is it too late for you to create a poll in that thread? There are several CA synths not on the list, and while I know the list wasn't done "scientifically", some people may have simply forgotten some of CA's synths. (And to be fair, some of CA's synths probably deserve to be forgotten.) You could even add Chroma to the poll, which might make it interesting, since I really haven't seen many negative comments about it (other than from people who just don't like anything CA does).

I'm pretty sure KVR's polls don't allow it, but it might be interesting to see "Which is your favorite CA synth?" alongside "Which CA synth do you think is the most accurate emulation?" For example, I doubt their DCO-106 is terribly accurate, but it's easy enough to use to get "a Juno sound".

Steve

[THE INTRANCER]

I've used Cherry Audio synths in my music and really, I couldn't give a shit about the accuracy of their emulations. At the end of the day, it's about the music you are creating and enjoying the sound of the patches you create with it. That said, I need a synth that is scalable and easy to read and use which in all cases of those I've acquired via the HB offers there have been, are.

[digitalboytn]

At the end of the day it's about the music you are creating and enjoying the sound of the patches you create with it.

The music we make with the tools we have,is the most important part of the equation and it is the bottom line that we should never lose focus of

[zerocrossing]

To be honest, I generally feel like the Cherry Audio emulations don’t cut it when put next to other plugins, though they can still sound good. That said, I felt like Dreamsynth was worth $20, for sure.

THis, not that impressed with Cherry audio, terrible emulations for the most part, but good on them for this promotion, and Dreamsynth is the only thing I've heaard by them I would use.

So... I may be changing my tune on Cherry Audio. I remember when Mercury 4 came out. I put it up against Roland's Jupiter 4. I'm very exacting about how I set my a-b tests up. Each synth is tuned perfectly with my ears and a spectrum analyzer to make sure I'm not making any mistake about settings. Obviously, different developers like to play fast and loose with parameter ranges. Anyway, my take on it was that Mercury 4 absolutely sounded anemic next to the Roland plugin...

...but today I did the exact same test and I came up with very different results. I think the Roland still sounds a bit beefier, but there are aspects of Mercury 4 that I like more, like the ensemble sound. Mercury 4 tries to emulate the famous Jupiter 4 VCA distortion, where Roland ignores it. Mercury 4 has a cool unison mode with detune and Roland does not. I like to think I'm pretty fair about such things. Recently I was pretty scathing about impOSCar 3, but later I fully admitted that I'm experiencing an intermittent bug and I am getting different results at different times. (I think it has something to do with the filter tracking control)

So what's going on?

I'm not sure how some folks who own the original hardware being emulated can praise the Cherry Audio version of a particular synth, claiming it's nearly identical to the original (sometimes even better than original), while other folks say Cherry Audio emulations are "terrible".

It would seem someone is probably exaggerating...

Maybe. When GX-80 came out, I thought it sounded pretty bad, but a few days later I booted it up and it asked to be updated, so I did, and I got a different result. So different, I bought it. Is Cherry upping their quality a bit over time, or am I completely suffering from confirmation bias? Maybe both? Hard to tell. I remember another plugin of theirs that came out and everyone was ragging on it because the resonance sounded so bad, and then they later came back and fixed it. I Forget which plugin it was.

I still think that in the above 4 v 4 test that Roland sounds a bit better in the way I expect an analog synth to sound, but Mercury is definitely not as bad as I remember it to be when it first came out, and having the MPE is always a bonus to me. Of course, analog is a flavor, and not always the right flavor, so it really depends on the part.