Looking a Spire fellow

[kyodeejay]

Hi,

The last plugin I purchased was Spire on its release. Until today I've been happy with it and I didn't use nothing as substractive synths and go-to synth. Recently I've been looking for another synth to have more 'colours' in my songs.

I saw Tone2 finally stopped using the old copy protection they had in Gladiator (which I sold due to that). So I tested their synths again. I've been testing few plugins: Icarus, Electra, Thorn, Hive, Dune, Vital, Warlock, and ofc, Sylenth1

I'm an adicted so supersaws, so that the first thing I've tested on them, comparing them with Spire. What am I looking for?

- Easy copy protection - no dongles no C/R. I want to backup my software for offline installation if I need do it someday. Offline serial are ok. That discards Dune, Vital, Sylenth1 and I think Thorn. Vital (it's free) asks to create an account to use the plugin.
- I'm too lazy to switch pages/tabs or to menu diving. I don't mind MSEGs, FXs, arps are in tabs, since I generally don't use them. Spire and Icarus are quite bad. Sylenth1, Dune and Vital are mediocre. I would prefer a more direct control. Electra annoys me, because one of the things I use the most, the ADSR for AMP and Filter, both are in the same position sharing tabs.
- Easy and direct oscillator options. Even if I'm an unison/supersaw junkie, I like to know I have more methods to create sounds. But easy ones. Tone2 plugins are very good here. Sylenth1 and Hive are quite poor. I love Thorn metallic sounds!
- Easy, direct and varied filters types. Simple interface. Icarus is bad here (it does too many things, they did a good job with the interface showing the most of it in a single page, but I don't need drums sequencers or wavetables edition). Sylenth1 and Hive are a bit boring with filters. Hive has too many thing I wouldn't use, I think.

That's all. I'm thinking my top choices here are Electra (I hate the shared adsr tab!!) and Warlock. While I'm inspired, I want to create my sounds fast, without thinking or diving too much. I'm looking for a go-to synth. Am I missing another unison monster which fits my needs?

Btw: the only reason I didn't purchased Warlock now is that I miss adding tension to ADSRs

[DJErmac]

I really think you’re gonna love Avenger...
Rapid could also be the one for your needs...
Try them, listen to the sound, and think about it... compromizes are everything...

[chk071]

I assume you're looking for a different sound then? As paradox as it seems (as I don't like its sound) you might want to look into Dune 3 then. It's kind of on the opposite spectrum of sound compared to Spire. Spire is aggressive and punchy, Dune is rather soft and mellow, nice for Ambient pad sounds and such.

Of course, it all depends on which sound you are looking for.

By the way, if you want to create sounds fast, without thinking and diving too much, DON'T get Electra... the workflow is slow and tedious. Rather check out Icarus. It can do much more anyway, and is so much easier and less tedious to work with. Like Dune, I think it would probably complement Spire quite well, as it's rather on the soft side of sound as well.

Or... take a look at Rapid, as DJErmac has suggested. Although (I think) it goes more into the Spire direction, sound wise.

[kyodeejay]

But Dune 3 uses C/R copy protection, right? I don't want that. I've been using Icarus and Electra demo, they are awesome, but I feel I wouldn't use the most of Icarus (like drums, resynthesis or sample imports), but after all it's in the same price range of Electra2.

I don't mind that the sound be too different, I just want a faster (less tabbing, less micro-adjust sliders - I don't like how they are scaled in the Spire ADSR) workflow. Less knobs, more sound variety!

I'll check Avenger and Rapid

[Korg Supporter]

Did you forget about Warlock? It is a cool additive synth by Tone 2 that has unison, ringmod, and noise for its oscillators. Everything is on one page! I also highly recommend Flowtones by ToneBoosters when it goes on sale Black Friday. It has a resizeable GUI, has everything on one page, and has unison, noise, and waveshaping per oscillator. You can even ring modulate between oscs, and the filters are nice and liquidy. Flowtones also has an amazing formant filter effect! BLEASS Alpha and Razor (another amazing one-page additive synth) by Native Instruments have polyphonic unison features.

Edit: And if you have Windows or FL Studio, check out Harmor. Then there's Parsec 2 for Reason.

[syntonica]

+1 for Warlock. It's very simple to use and tweak, has a wide sonic range with 2k presets(!?!) and the patch randomizer is a blast to use, even more so than the one in Crystal.

I'm unsure of the copy protection on these, but I think they are both serial+online first time:

Recommended on another thread was Go2--also a simple and single-page synth which may float your goat. It definitely has it's own overall character.

I'd also recommend something like Chromaphone. Huge range and nothing else sounds like it, although it's definitely not very intuitive to use.

[kyodeejay]

Thanks for the suggestions. Warlock is my first option, followed very closely by Electra2, as I stated in my first post. I wanted to find more alternatives to these, that's why I ask and I describe why these are my favorites.

Rapid has an invasive copy protection - C/R - it's a pity.
Avenger is ok, but it's a bit overkill for me, I'm testing it right now.
Flowstone seems a good candidate!!! I will try it after I finish with Avenger.
Bless Alpha has too many tabs.
Razor from Native Instruments wouldn't have a single key file... they will request you install their client to download Razor - no thanks.
Harmor - I tested it in the past but I didn't get it - also I didn't like its sound (judging only by presets).
Go2 - Seems a good candidate too, however, judging by some videos, I dislike its sound. I will look for the demo.
Chromaphone - C/R copy protection - discarded

[HcDoom]

Viper by Adam Szabo

[Korg Supporter]

+1 for Warlock. It's very simple to use and tweak, has a wide sonic range with 2k presets(!?!) and the patch randomizer is a blast to use, even more so than the one in Crystal.

I'm unsure of the copy protection on these, but I think they are both serial+online first time:

Recommended on another thread was Go2--also a simple and single-page synth which may float your goat. It definitely has it's own overall character.

I'd also recommend something like Chromaphone. Huge range and nothing else sounds like it, although it's definitely not very intuitive to use.

Chromaphone is CPU-heavy, but there is nothing that sounds like it. I got mine from free from PluginBoutique after winning it in a LoopCloud giveaway.

[Korg Supporter]

Viper by Adam Szabo

Windows only though, but I'm happy to have a PC. Surge and Odin are nice free synths, but you may not like their interfaces. JP6K by the guy behind Viper is a nice minimal supersaw synth.

[Korg Supporter]

Thanks for the suggestions. Warlock is my first option, followed very closely by Electra2, as I stated in my first post. I wanted to find more alternatives to these, that's why I ask and I describe why these are my favorites.

Rapid has an invasive copy protection - C/R - it's a pity.
Avenger is ok, but it's a bit overkill for me, I'm testing it right now.
Flowstone seems a good candidate!!! I will try it after I finish with Avenger.
Bless Alpha has too many tabs.
Razor from Native Instruments wouldn't have a single key file... they will request you install their client to download Razor - no thanks.
Harmor - I tested it in the past but I didn't get it - also I didn't like its sound (judging only by presets).
Go2 - Seems a good candidate too, however, judging by some videos, I dislike its sound. I will look for the demo.
Chromaphone - C/R copy protection - discarded

I forgot to recommend you ArcSyn. It sounds wonderful but may be too advanced for you.

[Erik_Lucas]

Look into u-he.

[Chipi]

Thanks for the suggestions. Warlock is my first option, followed very closely by Electra2, as I stated in my first post. I wanted to find more alternatives to these, that's why I ask and I describe why these are my favorites.

Rapid has an invasive copy protection - C/R - it's a pity.
Avenger is ok, but it's a bit overkill for me, I'm testing it right now.
Flowstone seems a good candidate!!! I will try it after I finish with Avenger.
Bless Alpha has too many tabs.
Razor from Native Instruments wouldn't have a single key file... they will request you install their client to download Razor - no thanks.
Harmor - I tested it in the past but I didn't get it - also I didn't like its sound (judging only by presets).
Go2 - Seems a good candidate too, however, judging by some videos, I dislike its sound. I will look for the demo.
Chromaphone - C/R copy protection - discarded

I forgot to recommend you ArcSyn. It sounds wonderful but may be too advanced for you.

Electra 2.9 custom sounds, you can open them on the new V3

check this out:

https://youtu.be/2PUBNOuVLA0

[kyodeejay]

I went for Warlock few months ago. I disliked Elektra, because I cannot see Amp and Filter Env ADSR at the same time, and it hasn't stereo oscillators.

If that changes in the future, I would purchase Electra

[twal]

I went for Warlock few months ago. I disliked Elektra, because I cannot see Amp and Filter Env ADSR at the same time, and it hasn't stereo oscillators.

If that changes in the future, I would purchase Electra

Next I would look for a workstation