I have the impression that Sytrus is very underappreciated, probably because it can be hard to get into. You just gotta watch the right video, that's how it was for me anyway. Had to go through a LOT of videos before I found one that I could understand. The UI isn't exactly forgiving, but once you learn the basics, you'll understand why it's like that, and it's not hard, but you can't jam that info in sideways.

It's a kickass synth - it's analog subtractive, FM, additive, and probably more. 6 osc, so you know that you can make very complex sounds, drums, and the freeform envelopes gives you vast possibilities. Still haven't gotten into FM - I know how it works, but not enough to make the sound I want. On the other hand, I probably don't spend enough time with it..

But after I saw that vid, I haven't installed Massive, Sylenth etc, I feel very strongly that Sytrus can cover those well enough for me. It has extreme depth, maybe that's why I find it so interesting, there's so much to fiddle with, I know it's probably all that I'll ever need, if I can just learn it even better.

Ofc, if you don't use FL, you're probably not gonna use Sytrus..

Anybody else have any thoughts about Sytrus?

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017

Filters - some kind of bad joke.
Dx7 patches - has nothing to do with the original sound.

Why sytrus when you have fm8?

 

Oh, it's you, oy vey... Why Sytrus? Well, because of all the things I said, not just FM, it can do so much more than FM8 it's ridiculous. But the FM is great and so are the filters. And why bother with Dx7 patches when you can make your own? That's like using presets, which is...

Please contribute, which is what these forums are for, not spew bile.

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017

I love Sytrus; I don't care for the looks of the UI, but how it sounds is what counts, and it sounds great.

 

Good point, the UI is not fancy bitmapped or anything, maybe that's keeping a few kids away :p As far as the sound goes, the presets speak for themselves.. It can do a LOT, and I think it's good to focus on just one synth and learn it well.

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017

You asked for thoughts.

Filters - the heart of the subtractive synthesis. And you have way better choices on the market for your warm subtractive "analog" ideas.
When you see option like "import dx7 patches" you want to hear at least something similar to the original sound.

...Your very important imho obviously.

 

Ditto. So let's hear some of your tunes, using those fabulous filters of yours. Where are they, I'm getting curious... Prove me wrong.

Your words count for nothing to me, actions may.

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017

I tested ALL FM synths (and related), even obscure freewares.
I kept using Sytrus...and dropped FM8 (and a lot more).

YES, if you want to go "DX7 on steroids" route, FM8 is the best.
BUT if i want innovative FM sounds, i prefer Sytrus and Blue 2 (2 obscure ones) to FM8 by a large margin.

That's just my point of view, don't want to start any battle. But TO ME, Sytrus eat FM8 for breakfast on ANY modern sound other than DX7

 

Very good point too, Pipo, you can combine FM with the other functionalities of Sytrus, endless possibilities and fun.

 

Calling either DX7 or Sytrus "subtractive" is a bit of a stretch. Sytrus is additive (left side of pic) & FM (teh matrix, the right side).


Re. "analog," unsure what you mean: we're talking about two 100% digital FM synths.
Regardless, using "analog" and DX7 in the same sentence?

P.S. Calling Sytrus a subtractive synth is like calling 3X Osc and additive synth. Sure Sytrus has a filter section (as does my car radio, the *really* underrated subtractive synth) -- 3X Osc has 3 oscillators ("the heart of" additive synthesis).

 

Last edited: Sep 14, 2017

Has a sane, consistent, tabbed layout. It ̶i̶s̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶k̶e̶u̶o̶m̶o̶r̶p̶h̶i̶c̶ ̶ doesn't try to ape hardware synths, but that's a good thing.

 

I prefer Sytrus to others vsti FM synths.And largely to FM 8 . The bad point is its GUI which old now.

 

It's also great for normal subtractive-type sound design, and can get any general purpose job done. I use Sytrus frequently (even when not in FL), and the single cycle waveform analyzer in the oscillator section is a lot of fun. As for FM sound design, I agree with Daniel that it isn't too accurate with DX7 emulation. But there's Dexed for that, and the amount of flexibility Sytrus gives you is just awesome.

 

I don't use FL Studio as a DAW (I know it works great but it just doesn't *feel* right to me) but there's no doubt that Image Line have some fantastic synths and FX that I love to use.
Other standouts are Harmor and Drumaxx.

I agree that focussing on one or few synths is essential for creating your own presets, but even with Sytrus I wouldn't want to go without FM8 and Linplug Octopus, they're just too different and both are very inspiring I dare to say.

Good filters? Additive synthesis? Sytrus is not alone

This, and the Envelope matrix (!), and also those two transposable pattern sequencers are quite fun too.

 

Last edited: Sep 15, 2017

To clear one thing up:
ImageLine itself calls Sytruses types of Synthesis: FM,RM and (for sure) Subtractive.

You can probably call any synth on todays market with different oscillator types and a filter subtractive. The word only means, that you can remove harmonics from a specific type of waveform (usually with a filter)!! Nothing special, for sure it would be stupid to call it solely subtractive. But noone did? Or did anyone?

I had to duckduckgo RM three times before I found out that their second marketing argument of synthesis forms RM was not a cool new type of synthesis, instead it stands for Ring Modulation (I think you can find "RM" in most synths of today but imo no synthesis experts uses the abbreviaton RM).

I think the cool things of sytrus are, that you get a lot of different preset styles for orientation (or learning) and the arpeggiator seems interesting. On the other hand it is probably not a good advice to ignore massive over sytrus @dashfiss, because they have very different approaches in terms of internal routing and options for modulation. Especially if you start learning synthesis an additive synth like Sytrus or FM8 can be pretty overwhelming.

Massive definitely has more deeper (hidden) functions than sytrus. Ultimately they both sound a bit too clean to me and if I had to choose one of the three you mentioned at the beginning (because they were the only ones on the planet) I'd go for massive (or maybe even sylenth)

Whatever...Can you point me to that video you saw about sytrus? Maybe it persuades me, too.

 

Certainly
https://www.youtube.com/user/composinggloves

When you first start searching youtube for Sytrus, you'll come across a lot of vids by SeamlessR, who's probably well-known to most FL Studio users. This guy has a lot of passion and is very skilled (I'll give him that) but sorry, he's not the best at explaining things, and I think his mind runs a lot faster than his mouth, many times I simply can't understand what he's saying. Watching his vids only frustrates me, so I dont. I kinda had an epiphany when I saw CG's vids, easily the best I've found, he has like 1000 vids on all things FL and music, and they're all very good.

Back to what you said about learning your first synth, I'd agree Sytrus may not be the best place to start, I'd recommend Serum actually, since it shows visually what's going on so well, very hands-on, but yeah Massive can work for that purpose as well, altho not very visual

Having said that, if you find the right video for YOU, you can learn Sytrus as your first, sure. I've spent too much time learning synths I don't use anymore, and while you can use some of that knowledge in other synths, I would have spent my time differently from the beginning if I knew what Sytrus could do for me.

 

Last edited: Sep 15, 2017

I find that there is lack of interest in forums from people who still say "FL is toy" etc.
i have used pretty much all the 'big name' DAWs', even taught a few. And I almost turned away from FL myself many years ago. i use it often, esp. for midi. However, there is a lot 'under the hood' that doesn't seem to get fair praise.
And whiles i don't use Sytrus these days, it is still very good. It has it's uses. It's just that i spend all my time at the moment in learning Harmor. Now, that is a beast : )
all i can say if i am totally honest though is this is NOT for a novice. start them on this stuff and they will be put off for life... maybe..

 

I agree, filtersweep, FL is not a toy, that's ridiculous, maybe early versions of Fruity was, a decade ago. These days you can use any DAW and do pretty much anything you want, there are back-sides and advantages with all ofc, but the main limitation is always the user.

Currently, Image-Line listens to its customers more than most (easily) other DAW companies, and a lot of good has come from that. You can actually speak to the devs directly on the forums, more or less, who else does that..

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2017

Every single preset that is supplied out of the box fails to impress me.

 

The presets are good, maybe too generic tho, they haven't been reviewed in a decade probably, which is a shame. But the synth is still monumental.