Ok Px7 or FM4?

[samardac]

Hi, I want to buy PX7, does anybody know will be any sale soon?

It was on sale last week. The next sale will probably be in september or november.

Damn!!!!

[satyr32]

I would not recommend Zero for FM. The reason is the FM knobs are way to sensitive and therefore super aggressive- A workaround is to use the modifier knobs and the routing table, but it is limited and inconvenient. If you want to use only one carrier and one operator it is fine, but when using more the problems start.

[fieldframe]

You can download a refill with 700k presents, but many of them are bland as hell and desperately need FX slapped on them. That is the case for most all PX7 presets that I have heard, because PX7 doesn't have any onboard FX. But if you slap a nice reverb on the end of a dull preset, it magically becomes quite beautiful.

Not sure why exactly, but agreed it tends to work this way. I think I passed on the synth originally because the presets I tried out (as well as my attempts at patching) sounded rather lifeless with a dry signal. But once you add a bit of reverb they really do spring to life.

[Auryn]

I would not recommend Zero for FM. The reason is the FM knobs are way to sensitive and therefore super aggressive- A workaround is to use the modifier knobs and the routing table, but it is limited and inconvenient. If you want to use only one carrier and one operator it is fine, but when using more the problems start.

I agree that the buttons in the matrix are really sensitive, but remember if you're using an operator just for FM purposes you can also just turn down the volume of that operator (next to the noise mix button)

[eXode]

I would not recommend Zero for FM. The reason is the FM knobs are way to sensitive and therefore super aggressive- A workaround is to use the modifier knobs and the routing table, but it is limited and inconvenient. If you want to use only one carrier and one operator it is fine, but when using more the problems start.

Zero is perfectly fine.

You can turn down the level of the modulating operator (op mix), and also use the dedicated Mod or Vol envelopes that every operator has. There's plenty of subtlety to be had without even involving the modifier knobs or the routing table.

[jjpscott01]

Here's my breakdown of them...

Px7
This synth is a very good Dx7 clone. You'll have access to quite a bit of presets with this one (make sure to get the additional free Px7 presets from the Props site if you go this way). If you end up delving into creating your own sounds with it, there is a lot to tweak and it will take some time to learn what everything does. You can get some good stuff from this synth and its direct from the Props themselves. Overall...lots of classic fm sounds and plenty of tweak ability for down the road.

FM4
This is somewhat simpler variation on an FM synth, yet still pretty powerful. It has some really good preset sounds. It also has some additional features that Px7 (and the Dx7) didn't have..making it a more modern fm synth. I think it might be easier to create your own new sounds with this one as it has fewer operators and fewer algorithms to learn. While it's got less going on, it can still make some pretty powerful sounds as well. Overall..easier to learn to program.

Zero Hybrid Synth (since eXode mentioned it :] )
This is a powerhouse modern FM synth. This guy has become my go to synth as it's got an amazing sound and a beast of a feature set. This one has some seriously awesome sounds...it is also the most complex of the three to program. This is a very forward thinking synth that combines not only FM but some additive synthesis as well. You'd be doing yourself a disservice to not at least trial it. Overall it's the most feature rich of the three.

Px7 = the most preset sounds
FM4 = the easiest to program
Zero = the best feature set

Hope that helps some...

This... Summed up pretty perfectly

[dana]

PX7 has the brightness control that drastically changes the sound, the other two don't have that.

[satyr32]

I would not recommend Zero for FM. The reason is the FM knobs are way to sensitive and therefore super aggressive- A workaround is to use the modifier knobs and the routing table, but it is limited and inconvenient. If you want to use only one carrier and one operator it is fine, but when using more the problems start.

Zero is perfectly fine.

You can turn down the level of the modulating operator (op mix), and also use the dedicated Mod or Vol envelopes that every operator has. There's plenty of subtlety to be had without even involving the modifier knobs or the routing table.

Indeed you are right, I was too stupid to understand that you can use the individual level knobs
I vote for PX7 anyways.

[Leighbeater]

Got the Px7 for $50 when it was on sale...its hell lot of synth and patches for that..sounds great,very enjoyable to use
I haven't tried Zero, looks good..tried FM4 but wasn't for me

[Voyager]

About the FM4 many report cpu usage problems with that device.

I went to the reason shop and saw that the FM4 has updated to 1.1.0 and that it has fixed CPU-issue on Reason 7.1.

Still i don't know how recent this update is or if it's after the consumers reports. Can anyone confirm that cpu usage have been fixed ?

[GRIFTY]

i've never had a cpu issue with fm4

[Voyager]

i've never had a cpu issue with fm4

hi,

what cpu are you using ?

[GRIFTY]

holy crap i see what you mean now. i just put about ten of them out in a stress test and reason crashed

[GRIFTY]

i've never had a cpu issue with fm4

hi,

what cpu are you using ?

i'm using an AMD FX-8350 8 core clocking at 4.3 GHz

reason is allowed 95% of my cpu power

[Voyager]

Ok, actually i'm running a very old cpu nothing compare like yours. I'll try FM4 and see how my cpu handle it.

[rpowers9]

Mine still spikes,but not as much as it used to, or at least it feels like its improved. I'll have to try it on my laptop and update my post.

I have an AMD FX 8120 8 Core processor, 16 GB Ram.

I think if you trial it and it performs ok, its a great deal for the sale price.

[fieldframe]

I tried FM4 when it came out and wasn't too happy with the DSP performance. Still, with the generally positive reception it's gotten since then, I figured it was worth a $20 gamble to see if it's improved (it sure would be nice if RE updates triggered a new 24-hour try period, but that's another discussion).

Fortunately, I'm happy to say it's improved to the point where I made a song with several FM4s last night and had no trouble at all. While it's still not something I'd call light on CPU, it's no more demanding than, say, most Predator patches.

Overall, if you have a computer from the last few years (mine is a 2013 Core i7) and don't stick a dozen FM4s in a Combinator, you should be fine.

[GRIFTY]

Like I said; ten of them actually crashed reason on me. So be careful everybody

[fieldframe]

Like I said; ten of them actually crashed reason on me. So be careful everybody

This got me really curious, so I started a new Reason document, set it recording in an 8-bar loop, and just started piling on FM4s, selecting presets in order, and improvising.

I got to 10 without issue, so I kept going. By the time I was at 15 FM4s, I was spiking to 5 bars of DSP, but everything seemed stable, the worst thing being that my eight-bar loop was becoming a rather insane bit of music.

You can listen to it here if you're curious.