Sonic Cat

Purity is Purty!

Note: This is going to be a revised and condensed version of the review I posted on the forums here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=391435&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=107

Purity has recently been reduced to $49 USD, with prices adjusted for UK and EU residents. With this new, enticing price point, is Purity worth another look? In short: Absolutely.

Ease of Use

Purity has a GUI that is just shy of 750x600 pixels, with its editing pages taking up the lion's share of screen real estate. The result is a tall GUI with almost all of its editing parameters on a single page. To put this into perspective, the Korg M1's GUI is roughly 795x455 pixels - about 100 pixels shorter - with the majority of its editing features spread over 3 pages, squished to one side, and sandwiched between a keyboard and mode select switches, making for an even more cramped user interface than its pixel width and height suggest. This makes Purity comparatively easier to use, along with the fact that it doesn't use the Korg-specific jargon of the M1 such as "EG Time", "EG Int" and "Time Polarity" - which, as an old Roland guy, prompted me to look at the manual more than once - and rather sticks to calling things by simpler, more universal names.

Sound

It's hard to describe Purity's sound in less than 10,000 characters. It's clean, well-equalized, and production-ready. The acoustic instruments sound like a high quality 90's sound module, and can rival the likes of my Roland XP-30, while the synth leads, basses and pads are on par with any software VA available.

Purity features a Korg-like "Combi" mode, where up to 16 layers (or 32 total waveforms) can be linked together to create enormously detailed sounds. When combined with its extremely low CPU footprint, its arpeggiator, and even an onboard sequencer that gives you up to 4 measures to work with, it is a deceptively powerful synthesizer that is capable of producing some incredibly complex pads, phrases and rhythms (or even all three at once in a single Combi!)

The sample quality itself is stellar, with very little in the way of errors or artifacts. It's obvious why they called this synth "Purity" - because everything has been polished to a pristine and very usable shine. If, like me, you are frustrated by modern samples, sample tuning and offset issues, you will be happy to know that Purity has almost none of that (barring the GM sitar, which has a small problem with sample timing in the lower ranges).

Conclusion

For fifty dollars, you get a synth that feels like a genuine workstation, with sounds covering all musical genres, and an arpeggiator and sequencer that would make any virtual analog enthusiast weep. I've resisted the urge to make P-puns long enough; now I leave you with this: Purity is nearly Purrfect.

Read Review

So, I just got my hands on the brand spanking new Purity. Purity is in many ways an extension and improvement of Luxonix previous synth Ravity and they share many of the same pros and cons.

Like Ravity, purity atempts to emulate a hardware rompler very closely and does so with some success. If you like the way you work with a roland or korg rompler, you should definitely check Purity out.

Where Ravity only emulated the patch layer of a rompler, Purity takes it a step further by adding an over arching combi structure. This means you can have several patches loaded at the same time, arrange them in key and velocity zones and have them respond to different midi channels. Or, you can have several patches playing together as layers.

It's a very versatile setup, that should work whether you prefer multitimbral synths, or (the standard VST) one-synth-per-track style which would give you 16 patch layers.

The second largest difference with respect to Ravity, (and most romplers) is the built in sequencer. Again the word is versatile. It can serve as a regular sequencer for melodies and drum loops, but also as sort of pattern arpeggiator that plays the incoming notes.And given that each patch has its own sequencer you can use it to build casio style auto accompaniments.

It's not 100% obvious how the sequencer works at first, but that's to be expected given it's capabilities. Once you get it, it adds a whole new dimension of fun and inspiration.

Filters, effects, presets and the over all structure of the synth all look/sound good and self explanatory to me. But given that I have spent so much time with Ravity, I may not be the best judge. There are a lot of controls on screen, all clearly labeled, but I suppose a newcomer to the realm may find it bewildering at first.

Moving on.
At the heart of any rompler is the sample rom, which is Purity's weakness. About half of the sounds come directly from Ravity, and the other half are base samples for GM sounds. The quality varies. I like the Ravity sample set very much, so I have nothing against it returning here.

I am a little disappointed over the new additions though. I hoped that Luxonix would take the opportunity to add some kick ass samples of acoustic instruments, which was Ravity's big weakness.

The GM samples are OK, but nothing more. They work in a mix, but most of them won't do for anything more critical. Again, it's the acoustic type sounds that are not really up to today's standards.

The quality of the rom samples obviously carries over to the patches, so if you are looking for some top notch GM sets, look elsewhere. Atleast for the time being. The sample rom can be updated so it's possible that addtional sample sets will be released. Time will tell.

Having said all that, I still _love_ the sound of Purity. I have no need of emulating 'real' instruments. What I want is a tool for crafting new sounds that are inspiring and unique. The kind of sounds that can carry a whole track, and Purity delivers that.

So, if you are looking for a GM player or the best piano ever, Purity will disappoint you.

If you want a creative tool with both character and charisma, Purity will make you happy.Read Review

I got Ravity to replace my expanded Roland XP synth, so that's what I'll be comparing it to throughout this review. Ravity doesn't offer as many features as your standard hardware ROMpler, but you can bet it sounds every bit as good as one, and in many cases even better!

GUI: Fabulous GUI! Absolutely wonderful! It's actually FUN to make your own sounds in Ravity! I've made more sounds in Ravity in a week than I did on my Roland in a year. This is the biggest advantage Ravity has over any hardware synth available. Ravity makes you WANT to make your own sounds, which is a first in my book.

Sound: Ooh boy! Ravity has a character unlike any other synth out there. Some of it sounds like a Roland, but it has a cleaner, smaller quality to its sound. In other words, Ravity mixes MUCH better than my Roland did, but still has that "sound module" sound to it. Everything from the effects to the samples sounds great and the sound quality is always consistent. It all sounds the way a ROMpler should.

One thing I hated about my Roland was its looping. My Roland had weird loop errors in it, which made many sounds completely unusable. I'm happy to report that Ravity's samples all loop very smoothly, to the point where I didn't even notice the looping most of the time.

Features: Like I said, not as many features as your standard hardware synth, but everything you need is right there. Ravity also makes up for the lack of features by allowing you to put eight samples together to form one sound. That's twice the amount of samples per patch as my Roland (and most other hardwares). Not only that, but Ravity lets you have 1,260 user sounds. Most Rolands give you 128 or 256! So you can have a field day with this thing.

Documentation: Finally a synth manual that explains everything the RIGHT way. Roland guys could learn a thing or two from Luxonix in this department. ;)

Presets: Most of the presets are good, but not great. Most of the presets just sound "okay." Some of the synth sounds are awesome, but many of the acoustic presets suck. In fact, the acoustic presets are what made me turn away from Ravity in the first place. It wasn't until I really sat down with it and made my own patches that I began to love this beast! And don't kid yourself, it IS a beast.

Customer Support: Luxonix has good customer support. Skycha and Yeap on the forums are very nice people and they do a good job of answering your questions.

Value for Money: 140 dollars for a synth that puts my 1,000 dollar XP to shame! Hah! Luxonix is the best.

Stability: Never crashed. Ever. Rock solid and dependable. A REAL software workhorse!

Conclusion: Ravity is fun, inviting, easy on your CPU and it sounds fantastic. The day I got it I wrote two songs with it without any problems whatsoever. Great! Ravity easily sounds as good, and in most cases better, than my XP-30. It's FAR more usable, too. This was the best piece of software I've ever bought!

So can this replace my Roland? Of course it can! I'd even bet this thing could rival a Yamaha Motif ES if you worked hard enough on the sounds (and I have heard the Motif ES in action *a lot*). Ravity's main weak point is its ethnic instruments. The sitar needs work and there're no kotos or shamisens, but really, when will you ever need those instruments? There're also no drums; you need to buy Ravity R for those, but my XP-30's drums were unusable, so it all works out. Other than that, Ravity can do anything my Roland can, and because it's so fun to use, I'll do more with it than I ever did with my Roland. :)

Great synth, great price, great sound. Luxonix will go far, and I'll be using this baby for years to come.Read Review

One of the best plugs i have in my collection it is my go to tool for many things in the studio, i find that its got one of the better sounding reverbs to my ears. it also has some very nice compression and the EQ is though simple and bare bones very handy for fast work. i use the presets a lot when playing guitar and then i might make changes on them later on. the thing uses less CPU than you would think and i never have it freez up on me ever!


GUI: kind of dark but still very simple and easy to use just the same.

Sound: the best i have found for many things and i think the best free ones around.

value: again its free but its still one of the best around if you ask me.

Features: very plain but very effective.

Documentation: was as i remember very simple and easy to read.

Presets: very nice presets wonderful reverbs!


Support: has not been needed but they did come out with a new better version of this plug that fixed bugs so they are at least thinking of us.

Stability: i never had any problems but they did fix some bugs in other software that i have never used before so i am thinking that it must be pretty stable.Read Review

Luxonix Ravity is a synth that has grown on me as I have come to realise just how powerful, useful and great-sounding it is.

The synth comprises an architecture of four layers, which can be split, stacked or whatever, each a full VA synth and each with a full suite of built-in effects.


GUI
The GUI is flawless. There ae two main pages - a preset browser feauring in-situ previewing of presets (the best implementation I've seen) and the main synth editing page - with four tabs : one for each layer. The controls are laid out sensibly and the GUI is pleasing to look at and responsive. Damn near perfect.



SOUND
The sound of this thing is great, ranging from fat synth sounds to realistic instruments , huge pads and weird FX. There are also some great presets which illustrate this things ability to mimic the workstation synths of the 80s and 90s (Korg M1s etc).


FEATURES
There are 4 identical synth layers (generators) each of which is a complete VA synth, including two sampled "oscillators". There are well over 100 samples to choose from covering choirs, pianos etc. as well as the ususal saw, square, triangle. Each layer has it's own arpeggiator (a very flexible one) and it's own multi-fx (a complete implementation fo the famous Luxonix freebie LFX1310). This provides huge flexibility - you can have a stabbed attack on layer one, with pingpong delays, backed up by a swelling pad on layer 2 which is heavily chorussed and reverbed, with an arpeggiated xylophone on layer3 , heavily compressed and .... well - you get the idea.

There are also some great hidden features in here in terms of mapping of midi controllers using midi learn etc.


DOCUMENTATION
A ver good manual is included which covers all the basics, including installation and programming. There are also detailed feature tables in the appendices, covering default midi routing etc.

PRESETS
There is a huge range of excellent presets, including some bass and lead patches that are hugely responsive and rewarding. Patches are arranged into 11 banks, including piano, strings, organ, synth bass, synth lead etc. with each bank ranging from 20 to 50+ sounds.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Never had to use it, but the Luxonix guys frequent KvR and also have their own forum.

VALUE FOR MONEY
Given this synths great library of sounds, built-in effects, ease of use and quality , I would say the Ravity(S) is one of the best VFM vstis around. Truly excellent.


STABILITY
Never crashed, frozen or even dropped a note. Top Notch.


All in all , I rate this synth very highly indeed to anyone looking to expand their range or to find a workhorse vsti which you can use to find the right sound fast, to get down ideas quickly. I love it and use it in most projects, often more than one instance.

Heartily recommended.Read Review

As stated before it is under marketed and under appreciated. This is very true. The current version has the ability to go standalone (the earlier ones were pure plug-ins) which may be of use to some people. It works I tried it but for what I do a plug-in is all I need.

I've used it more than just about anything else for ambient sounds and soft slow sounds. It has one short fall and that is the lack of fatness to the presets that are supposed to be fat (ie the moogish analog sounds you get are a little tinny and weak, you can fatten them up with some effects but you shouldn't have to tinker around for what you expect are standard sounds.

Organ sounds are not that great, pretty limited as they all sound about the same.

Now I know we're not supposed to compare it to other things, but sometimes a comparison is useful. I've used this one and Ultra Focus and between the two Ravity is much better. Why? Because it cost me about a quarter what the Ultra Focus did. The Ravity doesn't eat up as much disk space (if you use Ultra Focus you'll have to give up about 8GB of space and if you're still using FAT32 hard drives you'll have to reformat them to NTFS which is a pain). The Ravity is very stable, I had the earlier version lock up once or twice, the current version hasn't locked up any.

Bottom line is this one is great for ambient sounds, pads, and slow soft sounds. It is a little weak for organ sounds and fat analog sounds. Very good value for the money.Read Review