Thanks for the link. First impression, damn, it sounds better than the Arturia.. LOL. Not sure if it is close to the real thing, but definitely has something to it. Flowstone is SynthEdit successor right ?

 

That's what I always thought, but both companies exist side by side:
http://www.dsprobotics.com/company.html ($149)
http://www.synthedit.com (110 EUR)

 

you guys probably know this already, and as expected with Arturia recreation, it can load the SQ80 SYSEX files. I have some that I use with the SQ8L vst. When I try to load them with the Arturia SQ80, ah, that is when this synth truly shines. I think these were made by some competent epic sound designers. They actually use the advantage of playing with the stereo image in creating patches with the synthesis instead of depending on the FX.

I see, thanks.

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2021

Sounds close enough for me!
The samples in the oscillators were extracted from the synths, and they are accurate to bit level, so you are getting the same sounds as the synth has.

And Roland creations!
Otherwise they wouldn't be emulations, I guess.
I mean regarding loading patches via SYSEX.
As was the way! lol

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2021

In general, whenever Arturia makes a shitty clone there's less incentive for someone to make an actually good one because they literally steal the market. Their goal is not to provide a true balls-on accurate recreation, it's to be the first one, and to make money and grip the market share.

They also stray much too far from the originals and use enhancements like a crutch. All the presets can't stand by themselves without using the extra effects and modulators, which defeats the purpose for it to be an emulation of a supposedly "good on its own" synth.

 

Could you develop?

 

Yet this time they are the last! hehe

Agreed. Often the case with Arturia synths.

 

SQ80 is a 12bit synth and I think it should already sound like bitcrushed on its own, old low bitrate sound, maybe not extreme, but you know what I mean, such as the Emulator II etc all has this old low bitrate sound that we all know and love. Also the SQ8L plugin that have that sound on its own. So, when you try to create a patch with Arturia's SQ80 and ended up with something that HAVE to use Bitcrusher to sell it (it's the factory preset), there must be something wrong with it. Just my opinion. I checked the presets, and browsing through them, in every 10 of it, there must be atleast 5 of the factory presets using "Bitcrusher" at the FX section.

 

- If they're gonna go this route now. I surely hope they do the Mirage & 90s Emu rack synths like Proteus ect ect....

 

I have tried 112db Morgana, I never liked it, it is a rompler I believe. For a Mirage fan, what do you think about it ?

About what you said, it would be awesome if Arturia really go that route, but I think they will be moving towards something that is hyped and liked by the masses. The Ensoniq SQ80 is like every Trap/HipHop music producer's dreams (now that DX7 Bells sound already too mainstream), and Trap is kinda dominating the market now, just a guess.

 

The target group, or generation.
Probably not the masses!
That would be too weird!
Like a global synth Matrix (Oberheim) awakening.

 

bad choice of word. my bad, you know what I meant, and yes what you said.

ah, almost forgot that my 2 days long request of a certain Oberheim synth was fulfilled by DECiBEL today, gotta check em out.

 

Ah I see.
My uneducated guess is Arturia went with the "emulation of old synth, but with modern juju" as usual. Kinda like their polyphonic Buchla Easel lol.
Instead of adding a bitcrusher on presets they could've implemented two modes, one vintage (true 12 bit emulation) and one modern (24 or 32 bit). Which makes me wonder : a bitcrusher at the end of the signal chain surely can't produce the same results as having a low bitrate engine, right?

 

I was looking forward to this from past experience with SQ8L but was initially disappointed with Arturia's attempt. However, I would concur these SQ80/SQ8L SYX banks from KVR and elsewhere sound extremely better than the Arturia sound-designed presets.

 

they did that with the DX7 and Emulator II synth. The things that made me wonder, when I load the old SQ80 sysex file, it sounds like how I thought it should. Which bring me to these 2 new also uneducated guesses:

1. The limitation on the original machine is what made it sound like how we know SQ80 would. Arturia had added a lot of features, it is like the whole company philosophy is based on that, which may caused it didn't sound like how it should.
2. The new sound designers, when given a lot of features, sure as hell they will use everything thrown at them. The opposites of the sound designers of the old sysex patches where they have to work within limitation and have to become creative.

I truly dont know, need to learn more about this subject especially the 12bit engine and stuff.

 

It does not, you're right.

The math used to implement stuff in 8 or 12bit realm is somewhat different than processing using floating point resolution, which is mostly what modern VSTs do (it's in the spec). You could quantize between every component, but the results would be still different.

I've tried. Basically you'd have to have the entire signal chain processed using 12bit (or whatever), and only at the last step convert that to float. That entails using similar maths as DSPs of that era.

 

Some more worthy beasts from the past...

Kurzweil K2xxx series
E-Mu Morpheus
Ensoniq- VFX & TS series still has big following:
- http://www.donsolaris.com/?p=902

 

Wait, so you created Serum but you don't know about this subject???

 

I am the Steven Slate of the company not the Fabrice Gabriel.

Spoiler

Steve Duda is probably both at xFer.

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2021