In Praise Of Spire

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Shameless fanboi post.

I have used a slew of soft synths - 100's - and of all the synthesizers that I've spent time with that run on a computer: I connect with Spire the best. By far.

Bought about 20 sound banks to see what designers have been able to wring out of Spire - even after exploring those not of my interest, I have yet to experience any version of listener's fatigue - Spire consistently makes me happy - inspires me to push further into the unknown.

If anybody cares: I'm interested in evolving textures - atmospheric pads that float & animate. I've found it easy to make them; even starting with presets designed for EDM/Trance.

Anyway: Never been happier with a softsynth.

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I completely agree, I've never had anything like Spire.
It makes other soft synths obsolete.
It makes hardware VAs obsolete.

And v1.1 is up to 3 times faster! No need to upgrade CPU!

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i am really loving spire also, and am turning into a bit of a fan boy. although i haven't taken the plunge yet, as i still have a virus currently and they are too alike to justify it until i build up the courage to sell my virus. i am only demoing 1.1.1 and I've demo'd the previous version for quite some time. and i know they have went to great extents to model the virus sound with the infecto filter, (which doesn't actually sound like the virus filter), phaser and the detune and i guess that is what makes this synth so special. its by far shaping up to be my fav soft synth in fact theres nothing close for me. there has never been any softy until now that has made me even consider selling my snow.

BUT as i say this .........

1.1 was rushed out fact! it wasn't ready for release. its great the developers are on the ball and working extremely hard and remaining current with updates. but there really is no need to authentically model the TI bugs lol "we don't want these". 1.1.1 is shaping up to be the closest TI clone i have ever seen in software the saws sound like it, the phaser is almost identical, the distortions are similar and chorus, and get this if i open up more than one instance in logic i get the famous TI distorted audio and weird behaviour.

i know spire is not a TI ,its spire. but anyone that has owned both really couldn't argue with the fact they are very similar. which is a very good thing not including the bugs here lol, we live in great times as far as software is concerned.

i do love spire though and will probs sell my virus and buy it instead, as patch management in the TI is a pain, TI is buggy as hell and it means i can go portable on my macbook and offline bounce in place, and run multiple instances.

The one thing i feel that spire needs to improve on is the infecto filter i really hope they are still working on an update for this and a dedicated 4 pole to have the option to go 6 pole as the virus filter smokes spire. i know you can go 2 x serial 2 pole but this still doesn't sound like the virus 4 pole, the virus filter still rules here its more resonant its quite special. I've tried combinations of the infecto and acido filter to try to match it but no joy. perfecto sounds better to me all round in spire, but still not as nice as the virus.

spire is still in early development though and is expanding its feature set, and i feel will eventually catch up and surpass the TI at this rate as virus development has pretty much come to a stand still.
i really wish they would release the effect section as a vst like zebra to run the likes of serum through. A combination of serum and spire with this effects section would be killer and reinforce my on off decision to part with the snow.

spire is awesome i am loving it ATM gonna wait for the next sale though i guess. amazing sounding synth

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They just posted v1.1.2 info at Facebook, see http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &p=6384402
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core wrote:They just posted v1.1.2 info at Facebook, see http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... &p=6384402
just downloaded the demo looks awesome, testing now. cheers

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Microtuning and a new skin - not bad for 1/100th of a version upgrade! :D

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I own both, they don't sound similar to me. On the one hand, yes there are similarities, especially if you think of how similar Spire is to the Virus compared to other VST's, but on the whole Spire does not remind me of using the Virus at all. Spire does sound good but as you noted it's filters are nothing like the Virus, I don't think it will be an alternative.
Aiynzahev-sounds
Sound Designer - Soundsets for Pigments, Repro, Diva, Virus TI, Nord Lead 4, Serum, DUNE2, Spire, and others

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Aiynzahev wrote:I own both, they don't sound similar to me. On the one hand, yes there are similarities, especially if you think of how similar Spire is to the Virus compared to other VST's, but on the whole Spire does not remind me of using the Virus at all. Spire does sound good but as you noted it's filters are nothing like the Virus, I don't think it will be an alternative.
Out of interest: Do you think there is another soft synth sounding closer to the Virus? Some said Z3TA's character reminds them off the Virus, but not sure about that... whenever i listen to sound demos from the Virus, i feel like much of its character is also due to the filter drive, which is very present on many sounds, so, basically, you'd have to also drive the soft synth, if you want to have that character.

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If you can afford it, why not be indulgant, and have both! :D This is just my opinion, but it seems silly to expect them to sound similiar at this point - the Virus TI OS is up to what? 5.1 something? This is after years - and there was the A, B, & C before that (all wonderful, IMHO) - Spire is 1.1.2. & runs on PC. Very different animals. My post was celebrating that Spire by itself sounds fantastic, and is wonderful to work with - the best soft syth ever, IMHO. But you know what? I *still* love my Virus A - no plans to get rid of it.

Edit: have to correct myself: in some ways, Spire & Virus *do* sound similiar - but not exactly the same, although I'd love to be proven wrong - guys: please feel free to clog this thread up with Audio Comparisons - I'd be very interested in hearing Spire examples side-by-side with Virus TI examples, *especially* if they're programmed to sound exactly the same!

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chk071 wrote:
Aiynzahev wrote:I own both, they don't sound similar to me. On the one hand, yes there are similarities, especially if you think of how similar Spire is to the Virus compared to other VST's, but on the whole Spire does not remind me of using the Virus at all. Spire does sound good but as you noted it's filters are nothing like the Virus, I don't think it will be an alternative.
Out of interest: Do you think there is another soft synth sounding closer to the Virus? Some said Z3TA's character reminds them off the Virus, but not sure about that... whenever i listen to sound demos from the Virus, i feel like much of its character is also due to the filter drive, which is very present on many sounds, so, basically, you'd have to also drive the soft synth, if you want to have that character.
It does have a lot to do with filters, but fundamentally the Virus just seems to have a character of it's own that is always present, even on just raw waveforms. There really isn't anything else that I think sounds like it and that is especially true when it comes to using it in a track/mixing. Nothing that I've used anyway.

-Edit, this may be a subject for another thread, lol
Aiynzahev-sounds
Sound Designer - Soundsets for Pigments, Repro, Diva, Virus TI, Nord Lead 4, Serum, DUNE2, Spire, and others

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It's ok i think. :)
goldenanalog wrote:guys: please feel free to clog this thread up with Audio Comparisons - I'd be very interested in hearing Spire examples side-by-side with Virus TI examples, *especially* if they're programmed to sound exactly the same!
Would love to hear some comparisons too, recursive one posted one in another thread, but would be cool to have more.

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Aiynzahev wrote:I own both, they don't sound similar to me. On the one hand, yes there are similarities, especially if you think of how similar Spire is to the Virus compared to other VST's, but on the whole Spire does not remind me of using the Virus at all. Spire does sound good but as you noted it's filters are nothing like the Virus, I don't think it will be an alternative.
I'm not as experienced a programmer as yourself but I totally get what you are saying and I agree, the filters as I said earlier are one of the main reasons I am not ready to part with my virus any time soon. It's just I think spire must be the first softy I have ever gelled with completely and appreciated almost every component of the synth and the ease of use it offers. I really love to use it even if it is just the demo, and don't seem to ever feel let down by it while messing about with it. I always seem to find a sweet spot for what I'm doing. I don't believe it's a replacement for the TI as you said. But more of a compliment to it. they go very well together IMO, I can also run a VI like serum through my snow effects section if I want. awesome stuff that right there.

I think someone that doesnt have the budget for the virus or can justify the price tag are lucky to have the option of spire. If I ever had to part with my TI for financial reasons i am glad Spire exists, and will be watching it for sure. Hell I might even pull the trigger soon, next sale though.

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Here is the comparison mentioned by chk071 - Virus TI, Spire and Dune2 play some very simple sounds, nothing fancy at all I wanted just to compare the filter and basic waveforms.

https://soundcloud.com/recursion-loop/v ... e-vs-dune2

To my ears, Spire infecto lp behaves quite closely to Virus 2 pole lp with no saturation and analog mode switched off, but as soon as you add saturation to Virus filter the similarities end. I hope there will be filter drive/saturation control in next Spire versions, not necessarily Virus like, but still it would be a great addition. Scorpio filters apparently do saturate depending on the volume of oscillator input (havent' tested this scientifically, just by ear it seems so) but more models and more controllable behaviour is always wellcome.

Distrotion and phaser in Spire also may sound close to Virus but not identical. Overall, it is true that Spire comes closest to Virus if we talk about VA and unison based sounds, but this is also true that it doesn't sound quite the same. Virus is usually darker/fatter. Still, Virus itself may sound very different, some sounds may be approximated by Spire, for some others you probably may get closer with other synths, Z3ta and Diversion come to mind as having a bit of Virusy sound.

For the record, Spire hypersaw doesn't sound much alike to Virus (as you may hear in the demo above).

But all in all, i'd say that Spire is on the same level of sound quality as Virus. For me they complement each other rather than replace.
You may think you can fly ... but you better not try

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The comparison I've posted above was wrong, because the hypersaw patch in the plugins had stereo spread, while Virus hypersaw didn't.

Here is a more correct comparison (same examples but the hypersaw patches in the plugins don't have stereo spread)

https://soundcloud.com/recursion-loop/v ... -vs-dune22
You may think you can fly ... but you better not try

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*Bump* -

- Just wanted to *again* praise this incredible software synthesizer -

There are some real beauties out there - truly - but Spire would be my desert island synth, hands-down.

BTW (and this is cool): My test bed for programming new Spire presets (and playing with the ones that I have) is an old dual-core XP machine - which goes a ways to prove that Reveal-Sound has done a fair job coding Spire to run more efficiently.

Love it!

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