tristancalvaire Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 For Christmas, I was offered either to download Massive or Razor (though I'm certain I could ask for another VST Synth as well). I'm really conflicted on which of the two I want. Massive is more expensive and thus hypothetically 'better', but we know that in the world of synths price isn't necessarily revealing. It does expand some great options for synthesis with the large selection of wavetables; there's simply certain sounds unachievable with a simple saw/sine/square/triangle synth. Furthermore, Massive is tried and true; plenty of famous artists use it, including some favorites of mine. Now... Razor, Razor is new, experimental. I love every single little detail about it; the oscillators, the filters, the additive based effects; it also seems more versatile, genre wise; while Massive's Wavetables seem very Hard Dance/Dubstep centric, Razor's variety of oscillators allows for a lot of experimental sound creation. My mine fear with Razor is that it might end up being *too* experimental. What are your thoughts? Which of the two do you think I should go for, and why? Or, if you have a synth you really recommend in a similar price range, what is it? (my trance-a-holic friend keeps pushing me to get Nexus2 x.x) I am mostly focused on features, as I tend to not use preset sounds. Thank you for your advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 I'd look closely at Rob Papen's/Linplug Synths... Albino 3 and Predator are both very good... and very easy to program but very deep too.. I personally prefer Predator myself but it's a very close 'battle' between the two... Nexus 2 is good but very expensive (when you add in the costs of the various expansions..), fairly simplistic.. more of a Rompler than a synth.. and very overused... in the 'Trance' world.. Sylenth is excellent but unfortunately it seems to be 'deadware' these days with very little if any development going on so you are stuck with 32bit for the Mac... Also the last Beta that was released a while back now.. does not work well with Lion though the previous stable version works fine.. Of the two you mentioned, I'd go with Massive every time... Much more interesting and varied types of sounds can be programmed... but, I personally don't think either hold a 'candle' to RP's or Sylenth myself... The choice comes down to your own type of music and what sort of sounds you are tend to use.program... and that, is up to your own ears.. RP provides a demo of each.. (Plus you also get a free copy of RP Delay.. a fun though quite complex delay based FX plugin) and I think Sylenth has a demo version up too but not sure.. Finally, hunt online for the best prices for any of these.. I bought another copy of RP's Predator recently, for a client of mine.. for about 25% cheaper on bhphotovideo.com rather than on the RP website.. and as they are all digital downloads.. you get exactly the same product either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruari Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 That's an interesting choice, how you answer it I suppose would depend on what other synths you already have. If it was me I would choose Razor before Massive, only because I already have other synths which have a similar function to Massive - you don't need to worry about Razor being too experimental, this video should banish those worries Whichever one you choose is bound to put a smile on your face, if you are thinking about other possibilities too then check out U-he Diva - it's just been released but it does have quite a nice sound to it, I think you will hear more good things about it in the coming year. I've had the beta for the last few weeks & I've been suitably impressed by it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruari Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 Haha As is evident from the 2 answers so far, if you get 10 people to answer this question you will probably end up with 10 different answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n6smith Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 ruari, As is evident from the 2 answers so far, if you get 10 people to answer this question you will probably end up with 10 different answers. Exactly!! Everyone's needs and 'ears' are different so it's really down to your own needs and taste as to what will work best for you... Try out demos as and if they are available... and then make your choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 if i could only choose from razor or massive, for me it would be razor in a heartbeat...just love the sound i've heard from it..massive always left me cold other favourites for me are omnisphere and alchemy, but also having a great time with u-he's diva (beta)....zebra 2 also worth checking out i've always been fond of predator..great sound, love the gui depends what areas you want to cover, sonically/musically are you in a rush ?? cuz most of the ones i have mentioned are demo-able, including alchemy player (which is fantastic in it's own right)...at this moment, diva demo is restriction free, to the end of the year, after which some limitations will appear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristancalvaire Posted December 25, 2011 Author Share Posted December 25, 2011 As for my current library, I have- Hardware: Korg R3 (VA Subtractive w/ FM), Korg X50 (ROMpler), Moog Slim Phatty (Analogue Subtractive) Software: Logic Standards (ES1, ES2), running the Massive Demo and making, composing for and bouncing the audio of a patch in 30 minutes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillo jr Posted December 25, 2011 Share Posted December 25, 2011 I've got Sylenth and Zebra 2 and Alchemy. Really like all three and use them lots. But I can't wrap my brain around Zebra's modular interface, as far as programing is concerned. Got Massive with Komplete a while back; like it but haven't used it much yet. Razor looks and sounds very cool. That might be my next synth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mm Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 All the synths mentioned here are really good alternative suggestions but I'd like to throw another into the mix. A Diva http://www.u-he.com/cms/113-diva was born this Christmas and she's a real beauty. Much more alive sounding than anything else on the market right now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 All the synths mentioned here are really good alternative suggestions but I'd like to throw another into the mix. A Diva http://www.u-he.com/cms/113-diva was born this Christmas and she's a real beauty. Much more alive sounding than anything else on the market right now... you're 3rd in line with this suggestion currently having some fun with it in the kvr 'osc' challenge considering the hardware this guy owns, i would change not go for diva, but something that does something different probably alchemy for the sample/granular manipulationor omnisphere for the core library Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristancalvaire Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Alright... I've narrowed down my search to Zebra2 and Razor, mainly due to their uniqueness of features- I want to make something different and have fun synthesizing! (I went through Massive's wavetables... the wavetables seem to be mostly made up of standard S/S/S/T's bitcrushed and distorted in various ways) They both seem fantastic- Zebra2 with it's waveform morph, and Razor with it's various Oscillators and abilities to change the sound due to the additive engine- I'm having a really tough time deciding. Zebra's downfall may be it's sheer complexity; I don't like things with features I'll never use (Massive would've been like this as well though not to the degree of Zebra) because I always beat myself up for not using something's full potential, even if I can get the sounds I want using minimal features. While Razor has a lot of features, they're all laid out in a really understandable interface. Razor's downfall may be my fears of it not being good for traditional sounds; I've only heard it being used for experimental music as well as hard-dance/electro/dnb/dubstep; and while I produce those I also like to produce more traditional sounding stuff like EuroDance and Trance. My R3 and Moog can cover traditional sounds well, but I'm trying to move to software for mobility and ease of use; and well... the quality of sounds in those genres is very filter dependent. Modern Trance likes sterile filters; Classic Trance likes phat, warm, creamy filters; My current AU synth, ES2... well, its LPF resonance is just buzzy while open and cheesey with the filter closed. I'd like to know that Razor can accomplish traditional sounds that sound good; I've seen demos of Zebra doing it. Yes, Razor obviously has your standard saw/square waves as well as low-pass filters; but for traditional sounds it's not about having them but having them sound good from the get-go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el-bo Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 okay, if you are looking for something to semi-replace your hardware i'd definitely look into 'diva (unrestricted demo (beta) for the next few days alchemy if you really want to get something different otherwise zebra is a good all rounder filters from u-he, especially 'diva' might be what you are after Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tristancalvaire Posted December 27, 2011 Author Share Posted December 27, 2011 Well, I think I'm going to go with Razor- it was the first synth I looked at other than Massive, so I think rather than ponder these things for too long I'll go with instinct. However, there's an added bonus- NI sent me a $30 rebate for registering my Maschine Mikro, so I've decided to add in FM8 as well! And with Razor and FM8, it's still $30 cheaper than (a discounted) Massive, and $60 cheaper than Zebra- so I'll save some people some money ^^ Scratch that x.x $80 is the upgrade price for FM8- not the full price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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