Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Discussion of Digital Performer use, optimization, tips and techniques on MacOS.

Moderator: James Steele

Forum rules
This forum is for most discussion related to the use and optimization of Digital Performer [MacOS] and plug-ins as well as tips and techniques. It is NOT for troubleshooting technical issues, complaints, feature requests, or "Comparative DAW 101."
sayatnova
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by sayatnova »

Hello Everyone,

I think I need to get a good VI Synth for doing moving, complex ambient pads (mostly). I have spent the day researching on the web and looking at YouTube videos, and I think if I were to get one, I would get Absynth 5... (Zebra was not far behind, but the control ability, and scope of creativity of Absynth seemed terrific).

I do not own any VI synths, apart from what shipped with DP. Is the NI stuff stable and good to work with? I am on DP 9.02, soon to go to 9.5 once I get my converter upgraded in a week, or so.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you, I appreciate the help.

~Shea
http://www.bfdmusic.com
Mac Studio Ultra, 64 gigs RAM, OSX 12.7.3, DP 11.3, UAD2 thunderbolt satellite octo, Apogee Symphony IO MK2 TB
User avatar
cuttime
Posts: 4291
Joined: Sun May 15, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by cuttime »

You're likely to get a lot of opinions here (but that's what you asked for!). Personally, I find Absynth rather dated sounding, and the effects are lackluster. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict the most votes for Omnisphere. The biggest cons are that is is relatively expensive, both on the wallet and the CPU. My personal recommendation is Alchemy. To my ears it has the freshest, most original sounds that pretty much blow everything else out of the water. The price is practically free ($29.99). The biggest con, and it's a big one, is that it is only playable through Apple's MainStage 3. There are many workarounds for piping the audio and controllers through other applications (they have been discussed in detail in these forums). Personally, I feel it is worth the effort.
828x MacOS 13.6.5 M1 Studio Max 1TB 64G DP11.31
User avatar
kgdrum
Posts: 4068
Joined: Tue Nov 16, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: NYC

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by kgdrum »

Absynth is a great synth,a classic in the softsynth world but as Cuttime mentioned it's been around as is for quite awhile,many users are begging for it to be updated.

Unless you're using Logic as your DAW imo as great as Alchemy is,it's not worth the the hoops you'd need to jump through to work with it presently.

Myself I have turned into a U-he fanatic,Zebra2 w/the Dark Zebra add on is an amazing Synth bundle. Dark Z used U-he's Diva filters it just sounds gorgeous.
Presently Z is about to be updated to Zebra 2.8 and anyone who purchases Zebra2 with Dark Zebra will get Zebra 3 when it's released for free.
Zebra 2 w/DZ sounds amazing and it is easy on the computer resources.

Diva as well is one of the best soft synths out there,a ,it;s my personal favorite, it sounds so damn analog! ;-)

They are just about to release Repro 5 (Prophet poly)bundled with Repro 1(mono),pre-release price for both is $99,it sounds truly amazing!
It sounds like an ANALOG SYNTH not a V-synth,it might be my new favorite,lol. :love:



The U-he team has a strong presence on their KVR hosted forum,Urs(founder lead developer) and Howard(programmer) are always answering questions,totally helpful, they and the U-he team listen and respond to their user base.
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=31

Good luck!
2012 Mac Pro 3.46GHz 12 core 96 gig,Mojave, DP11.01,Logic 10.51, RME UCX,Great River ME-1NV,a few microphones,UAD2, Komplete 12U,U-he,Omni & way too many VI's,Synths & FX galore!, Mimic Pro w/ SD3,Focal Twin 6 monitors, Shunyata...........
sayatnova
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by sayatnova »

Thank you for the info. However, I probably won't deal with the Alchemy route, between the aforementioned hassles and not having Logic.

Omnisphere is maybe more than I needed and is double the price of the others... However, I need to check it out a bit better to see if it is worth it. I mostly want it for ambient, lush moving soundscapes that I can create and manipulate/design. It looked more like it was more limited in it's approach? I am looking for more of an organic sound palette (like what the access virus, or some modular analogue synths seems to be able to do). Can Omnisphere do these?

Thank you again for the info.

~Shea
http://www.bfdmusic.com
Mac Studio Ultra, 64 gigs RAM, OSX 12.7.3, DP 11.3, UAD2 thunderbolt satellite octo, Apogee Symphony IO MK2 TB
User avatar
mhschmieder
Posts: 11282
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Annandale VA

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by mhschmieder »

Given the Access Virus baseline, I'd say maybe Omnisphere, even though there is a patch library (which I own) for Alchemy that is based off of Virus samples.

I probably use Alchemy the most, and still use the final update to the AU/VST vs. exporting MIDI to Logic to re-render with what MIGHT be an improved sound engine. Maybe I'll try that soon, but I seem to recall having already done it earlier and finding the results don't match due to envelopes.

Absynth layers well with itself, which is saying a lot. That is, I don't get the usual frequency build-ups when using the same synth on more than two or three tracks on the same composition.

On the other hand, there's always AAS Ultra Analog, which I find has the warmest sound of them all and perhaps the broadest palette. It's especially good for blip and glitch sounds, but perhaps not as convincing as Absynth for SUPER_long evolving textures.

I owned the DSI Evolver keyboard for a few years, but eventually tired of its overly dirty sound, in spite of loving its programmability and evolving pads (mono synths can be great at this).

I found that the Evolver dominated no matter what, so had to pull back from it and also avoid using it on more than one track per composition.

Not owning anything other than the two re-Pro products from u-he, I can't comment on Zebra etc., but PERSONALLY have never liked any of the audio demos, which is why I haven't bought them.

You might be surprised at how well a polymoog works for evolving textures. The new PolyM emulation from Xils-Lab is my favourite new soft synth product of the past two years. Mind-blowingly good. Also great for pads in general, as it sounds so organic, warm, and no issue with frequency stacking or dominating a frequency spectrum.

As versatility is probably your main concern, probably Alchemy is the best bet, but so many caveats due to the current situation. I bought ALL of the libraries before the company sold it to Apple.

Although I own Omnisphere, I rarely use it, and almost always phase it out in favour of something more current that sits in the mix better. I also wasted money on a couple of add-ons that really do nothing to extend its breadth. I suppose it's a good catch-all starter for someone who has nothing, but my feeling is that it has too much of that baked-in sound going on throughout. Pricey too!
iMac 27" 2017 Quad-Core Intel i5 (3.8 GHz, 64 GB), OSX 13.6.1, MOTU DP 11.31, iZotope RX 10
RME Babyface Pro FS, Radial JDV Mk5, Hammond XK-4, Moog Voyager

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35
Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, Johhny Marr Jaguar, 57 LP, Danelectro 12
Eastman T486RB, T64/V, Ibanez PM2, D'angelico Deluxe SS Bari, EXL1
Guild Bari, 1512 12-string, M20, Martin OM28VTS, Larivee 0040MH
User avatar
Prime Mover
Posts: 2439
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2007 1:19 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by Prime Mover »

Longtime Absynth user, but I'd probably be the first one to say look elsewhere. It's an absolute DOG to program. The presets sound amazing, and if you can find one close to what you want and tweak it, great, but have fun trying to create your "own sounds" on it. Thankfully, certain aspects of it are really simple to tweak, but others (like the modulation section) is just plain ridiculous. Also, by default the presets have an absolute motherload of controllers setup, and numerous times I've bumped a slider on my MIDI controller only to find the sound has changed significantly, and I have no idea how to get it back.

I've been told that Apple Sculpture is brilliant and similar, but once again... Mainstage/Logic only, and I HATE having to Soundflower patches into DP.

Kontakt and Massive are absolutely phenomenal VIs that I use daily, but I stay away from Absynth unless I just want to find a nice pad preset, or have A LOT of time on my hands. I guess I use it more than Reaktor, but that's not saying much.

Need to check out Zebra too, I haven't delved into U-he's catalog yet.
— Eric Barker
Eel House

"All's fair in love, war, and the recording studio"
MacPro 1,1 2Ghz 7GB RAM OS 10.6.8 | MacBook Pro 13" i5 1.8Ghz 16GB RAM OS 10.8.2
DP7/8 | Komplete 7 | B4II | Korg Legacy Analog | Waves v9 (various) | Valhalla Room | EWQLSO Gold
MOTU 828mkII | MOTU 8pre | Presonus BlueTube | FMR RNC
Themes: Round is Right and Alloy
User avatar
Rick Cornish
Posts: 1125
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 9:07 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Ely, MN USA
Contact:

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by Rick Cornish »

My 2¢: Omnisphere is my go-to synth for ambient music. It now comes with 10,000 patches (!), so there’s almost always something close to what I’m looking for and the GUI makes it easy to tweak. If you need more, there are a number of excellent third party patch libraries out there (PlugIn Guru, The Unfinished, Ilio...). Absynth is solid and—though it may be starting to grow whiskers—it’s still useful. There are a few third party patch libraries out there for Absynth, as well, that might freshen-up the sound for you. I don’t have any of the U-he synths, but hear good things. Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Rick Cornish

DP 11 on M2 Mac Studio (64mB mem. + 2tB int. SSD + two 2tB ext. SSDs, and Mac OS Sonoma). VIs from MOTU, Spectrasonics, NI, UVI, 8dio, Soniccouture, East West, Spitfire, Heavyocity, Vir2, and more; plus Waves 14, Brainworx, iZotope, Wavesfactory, Oeksound, Final Mix, JST, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, and other FX plugs, Roland A-88, Apogee Quartet, iCON Platform Nano, Genelec 1032a and Westlake BBSM4 monitors, Gibson HR Fusion III. rickcornish.net
sayatnova
Posts: 283
Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: Unspecified

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by sayatnova »

Thank you Everyone for the responses. This is all great info.

Much appreciated.

~Shea
http://www.bfdmusic.com
Mac Studio Ultra, 64 gigs RAM, OSX 12.7.3, DP 11.3, UAD2 thunderbolt satellite octo, Apogee Symphony IO MK2 TB
User avatar
mikehalloran
Posts: 15134
Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 5:08 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Sillie Con Valley

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by mikehalloran »

If looking for something interesting, unique and on sale, you might want to take a look at Izotope Iris 2. $49 through many resellers including Sweetwater:

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Iris2

Although described as sample based, it really is a sample manipulator and you can do it with anything including the 11g of included samples and patches. The included samples are merely starting points—you never use them straight. It has been described as a sample based re-synthesizer, a description as accurate as any I can come up with.

There's a 30 day demo:

https://www.izotope.com/en/products/cre ... /iris.html

The original version of Iris had add-on libraries you could purchase. These are now included in v.2.
DP 11.31; 828mkII FW, micro lite, M4, MTP/AV USB Firmware 2.0.1
2023 Mac Studio M2 8TB, 192GB RAM, OS Sonoma 14.4, USB4 8TB external, M-Audio AIR 192|14, Mackie ProFxv3 6/10/12; 2012 MBPs Catalina, Mojave
IK-NI-Izotope-PSP-Garritan-Antares, LogicPro X, Finale 27.4, Dorico 5.2, Notion 6, Overture 5, TwistedWave, DSP-Q 5, SmartScore64 Pro, Toast 20 Pro
Killahurts
Posts: 2186
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: USA

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by Killahurts »

Rick Cornish wrote:My 2¢: Omnisphere is my go-to synth for ambient music. It now comes with 10,000 patches (!), so there’s almost always something close to what I’m looking for and the GUI makes it easy to tweak.
+1

If I only had 1 synth, especially for ambient styles, it could only be Omnisphere. It's just so fast and easy to get good results. It has many of the sounds ported over from Atmosphere, one of the great early ambient pad/texture/dreamscape synths.

It is expensive, but otoh you would have all your bases covered.. it's a "desert island" synth.
DP11, 2019 16-Core Mac Pro, Monterey, 64GB RAM. RME HDSPe MADI FX to SSL Alphalink to SSL Matrix console, and multiple digital sub consoles. UAD Quad PCIe. Outboard stuff.
User avatar
daniel.sneed
Posts: 2239
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by daniel.sneed »

Alchemy was my first choice, by far.
I did love the sound and feel of that VI, but Apple ruined that, right after I paid for many libraries...
Until now, playing Alchemy in DP thru Soundflower has been a nightmare to me.
Maybe I should spend some more time trying to sort it out.

IMHO, Absynth is still a good choice for evolving pads.
Some third party libraries add fun and depth to it.

Iris2 has its own personality, which may fit your taste, or not.
It's more about sample treatment. Unusual treatments.
But beware of the CPU load, its heavy.

Falcon is another option. Different, but as deep as Absynth, IMHO.
Comes with many non-sample patches.
BTW, sample based libraries for Falcon shows up in a wide choice. Not as wide as Kontakt, though.
dAn Shakin' all over! :unicorn:
DP11.31, OS12.7.4, MacBookPro-i7-3.1Ghz-16GoRam-1ToSSD
Falcon, Kontakt, Ozone, RX, Unisum & Michelangelo, LX480
Waldorf Iridium & STVC & Blofeld, Kemper Profiler Stage, EWIusb, Studiologic VMK, ControlPad
JBL4326+4312sub, Behringer X32rack
Many mics, mandolins, banjos, guitars, flutes, melodions, xylos, kalimbas...
User avatar
mhschmieder
Posts: 11282
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Annandale VA

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by mhschmieder »

I forgot about Iris, which I own! I need to check into it more, as I have gotten interested in balancing the spectral content of my music to be more "natural" (like the jungle), based on research by Bernie Krause and others, and Iris is oriented towards that sort of thing.

I own several excellent add-ons for Absynth and DO use (and tweak) presets, unlike on most synths where I tend to program my own. The ones from Camel Audio were especially good, but likely are no longer available due to the sale to Apple. In particular, those by BioLabs, who also works for other vendors.

Personally, I consider the sounds in Omnisphere FAR more dated than those in Absynth, but especially when considering available add-on packs for both.
iMac 27" 2017 Quad-Core Intel i5 (3.8 GHz, 64 GB), OSX 13.6.1, MOTU DP 11.31, iZotope RX 10
RME Babyface Pro FS, Radial JDV Mk5, Hammond XK-4, Moog Voyager

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35
Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, Johhny Marr Jaguar, 57 LP, Danelectro 12
Eastman T486RB, T64/V, Ibanez PM2, D'angelico Deluxe SS Bari, EXL1
Guild Bari, 1512 12-string, M20, Martin OM28VTS, Larivee 0040MH
David Polich
Posts: 4827
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Contact:

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by David Polich »

I’ll divert from the majority opinion here and say
get Absynth 5. I love it!

If you just browse presets, sure you’ll come
across many patches that sound similar. Thats
true of any synthesizer (and Absynth is a true
additive synth). But once you decide to take
the baby shoes off and learn Absynth, you’ll be
astounded at how drastically you can alter
sounds, and at how many parameters there are
to change.

Plus the ability to draw your own
envelopes (for everything), waveform drawing,
and the hundreds of different waveforms
available...I’ve had Absynth since version 2,
and I still havent explored everything in it.

It is definitely not a “dated” synth by any means.
If anything, it was and still is ahead of its time.
Is there any other synth that has a preset like
“Vulcan Berimbau” or “Vampires in the Pipes”?
Not that I know of.
2019 Mac Pro 8-core, 32GB RAM, Mac OS Ventura, MIDI Express 128, Apogee Duet 3, DP 11.2x, Waves, Slate , Izotope, UAD, Amplitube 5, Tonex, Spectrasonics, Native Instruments, Pianoteq, Soniccouture, Arturia, Amplesound, Acustica, Reason Objekt, Plasmonic, Vital, Cherry Audio, Toontrack, BFD, Yamaha Motif XF6, Yamaha Montage M6, Korg Kronos X61, Alesis Ion,Sequential Prophet 6, Sequential OB-6, Hammond XK5, Yamaha Disklavier MK 3 piano.
http://www.davepolich.com
User avatar
billf
Posts: 3662
Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2005 10:01 pm
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Home

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by billf »

sayatnova wrote:I think I need to get a good VI Synth for doing moving, complex ambient pads (mostly). I have spent the day researching on the web and looking at YouTube videos, and I think if I were to get one, I would get Absynth 5... (Zebra was not far behind, but the control ability, and scope of creativity of Absynth seemed terrific).

I do not own any VI synths, apart from what shipped with DP. Is the NI stuff stable and good to work with? I am on DP 9.02, soon to go to 9.5 once I get my converter upgraded in a week, or so.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you, I appreciate the help.

~Shea
For ambient pads there are many options, here are a few I've looked at:

For me, Omnisphere is at the top and has quite a lot of third party patch support. It's fairly expensive, but it's a high quality instrument.

I have Absynth as part of the Komplete package, and is also quality. Going further into the Komplete package, there are many option including Kontakt libraries that do ambient very nicely.

Izotope has Iris, and while Izotope is probably better known for their mixing and mastering tools, the VI is definitely worth reviewing.

IK Multimedia also has some options, such as SampleTank and Syntronik.

U-He has several great synths, as does Arturia (the latter has excellent emulations of classic hardware synths).
MacPro5,1 2012, six core 2 x 3.06, 10.12.5, Digital Performer 9.13, 40 gb ram, 828mkIII, 2408 mkII, MTP AV, Logic Pro X 10.3.1, Studio One v 3.2, Pro Tools 12.7.1
User avatar
Gravity Jim
Posts: 2005
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:55 am
Primary DAW OS: MacOS
Location: Santa Rosa, CA

Re: Thinking of getting Absynth 5...

Post by Gravity Jim »

Moving, complex patches?

Omnisphere. Expensive, and worth it.

I use Absynth as well, but if I'm creating ambient textures, I try Omnipshere first.
Jim Bordner

MacPro 5,1 (3.33Ghz 12-core), 32g RAM, OS X 10.14.6 • MOTU DP 10.11 • Logic Pro X 10.2.5 • Waves Platinum, UAD-2, Slate Digital, Komplete, Omnisphere 2, LASS, CineSamples, Chipsounds, V Collection 5[color]
Post Reply