Latest major update on Current look very enticing ;)

I already have Pigments, so having a little trouble justifying the purchase. But man Current 2 looks and sounds good.

Worth getting while it's at 50%?

 

Will that be the company who originally tried to launch the product as subscription only and requiring a full-time Internet connection?

Um, no thanks.

 

I tested the first version and I think the Current sounds bad. You can't even test the second version as a demo. 50% cheaper means it's hard to sell. If you wait longer, the percentage goes down even further. Just wait until Black Friday!

The possibilities of sound shaping are really great. The color of the GUI cannot be changed and there is no demo available for download.

 

Last edited: Nov 5, 2024

To me Current is a flawed synth because of the step-wise interpolation of the OSC parameters. It's a wavetable synth it should be smooth as silk that's how you create evolving nice sounds, whether it is pads or leads or whatever but in Current you move a knob just a bit and you get abruptly a new sound, then you have to use effects to mask this jump which destroys the sound. Even more bluffing to me that they are position this synth as a DnB-Dubstep powerhowse and that are music genres where the subtle changes in the low, mid-low range are everything. It's like you want be a sprinter superstar and you shoot yourself in the foot prior to the Olympics. I hoped they would fix it in version 2, but they went for the cosmetic upgrades NI-style. So no, I personally don't see any reason to spend money on ver2.

On the other hand, if you enjoy Arturia's Pigment, which I find to be a very weak synth, then you might be enjoying Current2, it's definitely better than Pigment in every aspect.

 

I see it the same way as you, when you read what it can do, it sounds tempting to play it, but when you do play it you are bitterly disappointed, what was he thinking, totally messed up, sounds bad too. I have finally given up. Clearly not buying it!!!

 

I like Minimal Audio effects way more than the synth. I had hope they'd focus on effects, but no, they want to push subscriptions. Right now wavetable synthesis is kinda solved, if you're starting out just get Vital for free and it'll last you for a long time, then if you need more get Phaseplant, which is a way better synth and has a way better bundle than Current

 

Disagree with the comments here so far. Its a massive sound design synth. Super cool for crazy morphing reese basses. Its very capable, from glitchy granular ambient, to soft pretty pads, screaming reeses, and everything in between. If i had to pick between this and pigments, i would probably pick pigments, as to me its more straight forward to program, but it would be a hard choice, as they both are awesome.

 

I have some crazy mileage with Current and it's great. Plenty of unique features, audio effects alone make a huge difference. Love FM/AM matrix where you can crossfeed signals to get really interesting results. I would pick it over lots of acclaimed softsynths because UI is really fun to use and everything is designed in a very user-friendly fashion.

 

Yeah im not understanding the step-interpolation thing here because i've made some really insane evolving stuff with tons of modulation and had zero problems doing it. Yeah its not the perfect synth but tbh it's built in fx are on a completely different level from 99% of synth stock fx and that gives it a ton of possibilities

 

Looking at this 2.0 update critically, they did little to improve it past adding the mod panel. Certainly not making it 'the next evolution'
Yes, there's a new effect (Wave shifter). The UI changes don't deserve a full point release. Hype machine is hard at work.

I see they removed the user forum as well. Nice way to keep those sales going and have zero accountability.

 

Last edited: Nov 5, 2024

Well, that's the thing "insane evolving stuff with tons of modulation" doesn't equals with "sounds good". Once you've been in sound design for 10 years or so you start to pick up on other things than the average bedroom producer and the "insane evolving stuff" doesn't impress anymore you start to look for control over the sound and unfortunately Current fails flat on that.

Yes, the integrated FX section expands the sound palette and dedicated Sub OSC is ingenious, the granular part is a welcoming bonus, however the stepwise-interpolation makes the WT section almost unusable for modulation, FM section is bad, you drive it less than a 1/3 of the range and it turns to aliasing noise and apart from the granular OSC and FX it doesn't offer anything that Vital can't do. But Vital is free and Current2 is 99$.

It's not a bad synth, again, definitely better than Pigment but why would you want to buy it when you have Vital for free? Well yeah, right now Current2 goes for 99$ while the normal price is 199$ and 199$ is the same price as PhasePlant. So again why would you want to spend your money on Current2 when you can buy PhasePlant?

 

That first paragraph is arrogant masturbatory nonsense, appeals to credibility are worthless to me as I've been doing this since 2008. While you may not like the synth, which is your right, many high level sound designers like Databroth, Dash Glitch and others agree that this synth is fantastic for sound design. And that's because it just is. You can dislike something without having to fish for a technical, functionally inaudible, problem to justify it. Lmfao. I tend to bounce back and forth between using Phase Plant and Current, and I think both are worth having if you have the budget. Current for quicker sound design and Phase Plant for longer more in depth sessions but if you're strapped for cash Vital presents the best value hands down, however if you have stuff like Phase Plant and Current the built in fx in Vital are just nowhere close in terms of versatility.

 

Dear @DiRG3, nobody wants to spoil your fun with the virtual synthesizer Current 2. Quite the opposite, if you enjoy it and make music with it, then go ahead and have fun. If it's a great instrument for you, then it's a great instrument for you personally too and that's fine and it will stay that way.

My experience with the Current is:
I'm a sound designer and have already used 138 different virtual synthesizers to create sound banks, you can download them here: http://ohlenbostelhelge.magix.net/public/ ! I actually wanted to create a sound bank with the Current, unfortunately the Current is the first synthesizer that isn't suitable for me for sound design, so I had to delete it, I was really looking forward to the Current but it's somehow totally messed up. I deleted it. I can only agree with the following comment.

Please respect other opinions. I have played almost every synthesizer that has ever been released.

1831 Freeware Synthesizer - 9,59 GB - Only Windows / 32 Bit - Info - DL LinksIn 2012/2013
I collected 1831 freeware synthesizers. It is now 2021 and many of the freeware synthesizers are no longer available. Many websites no longer exist, some manufacturers have stopped production or replaced them with new products.

So here the "backup" download, is an archive of all freeware synthesizers up to 2012. My thanks go to all creative minds who made the virtual software synthesizer possible.- 1831 Entries - Easy to Read - Color Images - Short Description - Manufacturer Links - Concept by Che 2012 - You need to download all 11 files and then unzip them. LINK: http://ohlenbostelhelge.magix.net/public/contact.htm

 

A small update to those who are interested.

I was in contact with a developer and he said they were aware of the issue and applied a patch while back, however it seems to not be able to fix for all DAWs and all scenarios.
That step-wise interpolation I was referring to was actually a block size issue of a DAW and it affects GUI only. With other words: a manually tweaking knob might produce this abrupt changes in sound, but the "internal modulation is handled by the developer and should be ace regardless" (the quote is the developer's original choice of words)

So yeah, I change my mind - MA Current2 is good, especially for that price. The only issue I had with that synth wasn't even on Minimal Audio.

P.S. I've almost forgot)), he said that CLAP version should not have this issue and as I understood based on our little chat developers on MA look forward to wider adoption of the new CLAP plugin format.

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2024 at 12:41 AM

Thank you @Axvap for your message and contact to the manufacturer! I installed "Minimal Audio - Current v2.0.1 VST3" in PreSounus - Studio One 7 and tested all the knobs, the knob problem is solved, the knobs work perfectly, as they should.