I have just read about Christophe Duquesne Loris Synth.
https://synthanatomy.com/2025/01/ch...ynthesis-software-for-eaganmatrix-engine.html

 

But only Standalone and only for Mac!!!

Here are my Top 3:

- Air Music Technology - Loom 2
- Arturia - Pigments
- Apple Logic - Alchemy

Loom II Additive Synthesizer - Part 1 - Sound Demo

 

Last edited: Jan 6, 2025

Madrona Labs Sumu is a new gen of additive synthesis, so there ya go. Personally I don't like working with additive, maybe because i'm not good at it but it's funny how often the sound will end up sounding metallic and i hate that. Reason Parsec2 is awesome actually but not VSTI.

 

Additive synthesizers such as discoDSP - Vertigo, White Noise - Additive Synth or VirSyn - Cube are very old and have not been able to establish themselves on the market because they simply do not sound powerful enough or they simply do not sound special and are no longer contemporary. What sounded exciting when it was first released is now rather boring.

It is exciting when you have synthesizers that have additive, FM, AM and granular functions as additional functions to conventional sound generation, for example WavetableSynth or virtual analog synthesizers, you can really expand the sound and create good and new-sounding presets.

 

Additive : Razor
FM : FM8
Wavetable : Serum

Exacoustic Ghost is basically an hybrid of Serum and FM8 and was a very welcome suprise when it released.
No additive tough.

It is not far fetched to think that the direction Steve Duda took with Serum 2 is Serum + Razor.
I would even say that there is a good chance that Serum will have advanced capabilities in Wavetable, additive and FM synthesis.

I'm not sure but maybe you can already do this + granular in Phaseplant (not a musical and intuitive synth to me, I don't use it).

I think Razor is still the best and it's absolutely idiotic that it is still locked within Reaktor wich is a very annoying environment, a standalone version and a GUI update into the HD era would be much appreciated.

Air music Tech did a good job with OPX-4 and Loom II seems great for your additive needs.
I don't like the worflow of both Image Line's Harmor and Logic's Alchemy.

 

It's interesting that you write that you don't like the way some plugins work! I feel the same way sometimes, but that brings us to the question of why manufacturers don't invent or provide several versions with different operating concepts.

Perhaps when the market is saturated, we'll finally get better and more varied user concepts.
Perhaps in 50 years or more, you'll be able to put your own synthesizer together.

 

I think you can more or less do this in Max 8/9 but I like to make music not build synths from scratch (and I use Logic).

I don't think we'll see a multi options GUI from the devs for a given synth but a somewhat modular environment where you can move things around freely will probably happen. Again, Phaseplant do this to an extent already.

I think sometimes people who make skins can drasticaly improve the user experience, Diva Volta from Marco Kapetanovic comes to mind and of course Mona from Plugmon.

http://www.volta.kapetan.net/
https://plugmon.jp/product/mona/

These skins made using Diva a lot more enjoyable and efficient in my opinion.

If Errorsmith wouldn't had partnered with Native instruments to release Razor, I'm sure it would have been updated often and be much more popular amongst producers today. I don't think he has any rights over it anymore unfortunately.

 

Yes, we often experience that the company either goes out of business, is bought out, or is no longer developed. In my opinion, some companies like Native Instruments have had a wrong, anti-customer company policy since they were bought out. They could make a lot of money.

U-HE is one of the best companies with the best possible quality anyway, they really do a lot for their customers and some graphically skilled musicians then lend a hand to create a skin themselves. The scaling of all U-HE products has also been adapted to 4K monitors etc.
DEVICE SKINS: https://u-he.com/PatchLib/skins.html

I agree with you there, but one should not give up hope.

I have often experienced software synths that look great, have a changeable GUI but the sound is bad. The other way round is of course the same. Alchemy started in grey and many users complained and then you could express your wishes in a forum and then there was a NigtShade GUI. That was really good to live with. Spectrasonics Key still has this color that I don't like... bad luck...!

 

Razor, Sytrus AND Blue II for FM and Serum on my side :D
Because Sytrus FM is REALLY easy to master. And BLue II is BOTH FM and sub synth.

Side note : FM8 was used by famous guys like Deadmau5 and Skrillex for their early bass lines
Yes, there was life before Serum

 

The first FM7 from NI was released in 2002. deadmau5 was born in 1981, when he was just 21 years old.

HOW TO MAKE A HEAVY DEADMAU5 SOUND WITH FM8 + FREE MASSIVE PATCH