Poll: What is most important in a synth rack extension?

[rcbuse]

Pick your top 5, shape the future!

[ProfessaKaos]

You forgot - Quality of Presets and Overall Sound? As these are the sort of things I would look for, but it might just be me.

[rcbuse]

You forgot - Quality of Presets and Overall Sound? As these are the sort of things I would look for, but it might just be me.

Added, you can change your votes.

[TritoneAddiction]

For me it's hard to pin point it to a couple of specific things. It's more about the overall feel, but usually it has to pass these things for me to become one of my favorite synths:

Does it look fun/inspiring? Do I want to make music with it?
Very vague I know. It's more of a gut thing. For me that could mean anything from a cool GUI, unique features, ease of use, preferably all of them.
Sometimes you just know looking at it, "I don't want to make music with this thing".

I like synths that are quick and easy to get great sounds from, that goes for both big and small synths. I don't want to tweak around forever to get to a great sound. I'd rather have some limits and have almost every sound coming out of the synth sound interesting. I don't like having endless options if it requires you have to be an expert to figure out how to make great sounds with it. I'm a musician not a scientist.
Some of my favorites in this regard:

Expanse: Very complex with lots of options yet you have to do very little to get cool sounds from it.

Antidote: This is one of those synths that you have to work hard to make it sound bad. It's like the developer didn't put a bunch of extra stuff just to have extra stuff. They included what was good and necessary and threw away the stuff that you don't need.

Megasaur: One of my favorite smaller synths. It's just perfectly limited. There's only a few things to tweak and that makes you get on with writing music instead of wasting time turning knobs.

[Loque]

I had also voted for dev reputation or customer support, but my other votes seem to be more important and i just dont buy RE from non active devs or if they dont fix bugs.

[joeyluck]

You forgot - Quality of Presets and Overall Sound? As these are the sort of things I would look for, but it might just be me.

Added, you can change your votes.

Keep in mind that I think it resets the poll totals each time options are changed

[Carly(Poohbear)]

I thought the option "Accurate Emulation of Classic Synth" was a funny one, if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important, if it's not emulating a classic synth then this is not important.

[Electric-Metal]

I thought the option "Accurate Emulation of Classic Synth" was a funny one, if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important, if it's not emulating a classic synth then this is not important.

Indeed, a good point you made here

[joeyluck]

I thought the option "Accurate Emulation of Classic Synth" was a funny one, if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important, if it's not emulating a classic synth then this is not important.

Well you'd be surprised at the amount of synths and effects claiming to emulate that don't emulate well. Synths that pay homage to something by design and concept, but don't actually seek to faithfully emulate. And some customers don't mind. Some don't mind even if a developer uses misleading phrasing regrading emulation for something that was rather 'inspired by' more than it was accurately emulated.

In other words, if you're going to take on an emulation, go all out. Painstakingly emulate that classic.
Or instead, just make something new. So, yeah—I voted for this one

[odarmonix]

I've voted CPU/DSP usage, envelopes, modulation capabilities, unique features and CV modulation capabilities... but if I could only choose between two of these, then the two most important things for me would be envelopes and unique features.

Envelopes because I've become seriously addicted to tempo-syncable MSEGs ever since I tried Charlotte, Oberon and Zero currently are my two favorite RE synths for this reason alone (although there's obviously many other things I love them for as well). Such envelopes are perfect for those complex evolutive textures that I'm ALWAYS looking for, which I struggle to obtain with synths that barely have regular ADSR.

Unique features because I hate redundancy. I personally don't see the point in having 10 different subtractive synths that do the exact same things for example, regardless of any possible difference in oscillator/filter sound. I know I have no other choice than dealing with a bit of redundancy when I want an instrument for only one specific unique feature, but I still would rather avoid it as much as possible.

Another thing that hasn't been included in the poll options: PolyCV support and (if possible) separate audio and CV outputs for polyphony voices. Movement, VO-1 Viking Oscillator and Oberon are the only RE synths that come with such features ATM, some of the other big guys in the RE shop would really benefit from them IMO.

[Carly(Poohbear)]

I thought the option "Accurate Emulation of Classic Synth" was a funny one, if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important, if it's not emulating a classic synth then this is not important.

Well you'd be surprised at the amount of synths and effects claiming to emulate that don't emulate well. Synths that pay homage to something by design and concept, but don't actually seek to faithfully emulate. And some customers don't mind. Some don't mind even if a developer uses misleading phrasing regrading emulation for something that was rather 'inspired by' more than it was accurately emulated.

In other words, if you're going to take on an emulation, go all out. Painstakingly emulate that classic.
Or instead, just make something new. So, yeah—I voted for this one

Totally agree on what you have said there and we are on the same page hence "if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important" however as a question in this type of pole I find it funny one as:
If the RE is not emulating a classic synth this question won't even come to mind when evaluating the RE in question.
If it is emulating a classic synth then in away the rest of the question are irrelevant (or at least reordered to what is important) as we will be looking at the accuracy of the emulation.

[joeyluck]

I thought the option "Accurate Emulation of Classic Synth" was a funny one, if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important, if it's not emulating a classic synth then this is not important.

Well you'd be surprised at the amount of synths and effects claiming to emulate that don't emulate well. Synths that pay homage to something by design and concept, but don't actually seek to faithfully emulate. And some customers don't mind. Some don't mind even if a developer uses misleading phrasing regrading emulation for something that was rather 'inspired by' more than it was accurately emulated.

In other words, if you're going to take on an emulation, go all out. Painstakingly emulate that classic.
Or instead, just make something new. So, yeah—I voted for this one

Totally agree on what you have said there and we are on the same page hence "if the RE is emulating a classic synth then accuracy is very important" however as a question in this type of pole I find it funny one as:
If the RE is not emulating a classic synth this question won't even come to mind when evaluating the RE in question.
If it is emulating a classic synth then in away the rest of the question are irrelevant (or at least reordered to what is important) as we will be looking at the accuracy of the emulation.

Well I think with that reasoning you could strike many things from the list. If I'm looking at presets, of course I want them to be quality, etc.

As I mentioned, some people don't care if something is an accurate emulation. You would assume... But for instance not as many people cared that the Acid filter in the shop isn't an accurate emulation of the TB-303 filter. They pay homage to it with the look and name, they use words to suggest emulation, and it is very unlike a 303 filter in many ways. But it still has a good rating and the folks who like it are fine with what it is. That is an effect and not a synth, but serves as a good example here I think. Maybe that's not what the question is asking, but that is how I read it because it's one of those things that bugs me

[electrochoc (PRX-A)]

I would have voted at least twice for Oscillators! This is usually the first feature that will get my attention, and this is why I tend to be interested in having as many synthesis techniques as possible in my rack (subtractive, additive, FM, grain-based, original, etc.), or large and varied sets of waveforms in the oscillator section. And, sure, a great sound quality is always desirable.

The rest is important, but to a lesser extent... I will tend to use external devices if I'm not happy with what's on board, and I do that often in cases like filters, envelops, etc. As of effects themselves (reverb, chorus, etc.), I almost always use external effects anyway...

And I don't care for presets! At all! But I know that, overall, I'm in some kind of minority...

[michal22]

Latency.
I'm tired of calculation and offsetting parallel channel.
Propellerhead - give this basic function to your ecosystem!
I love the plug 0 samples delay now.

[manisnotabird]

Distinctiveness/character.

[deepndark]

Two most important things for me are the overall sound and of course the User Interface Funtional Layout. Because if these two are there, I can make great sounding music and also know what I'm doing. Antidote as example has these things right.

[Loque]

I am actually surprised that so many vote for CPU/DSP while at the same time they want awsome new high makemeahit sounds and comparing RE to Reaktor or similar CPU heavy VSTs.

Sure, i expect the devs to highly optimize their code and i am sure a lot of them do it. But good quality, lots of oscilators, FX, unisone and 32 voice polyphonie with other unique stuff has its price. Otherwise we can stick with thin sound quality and IDTs or Romplers.

[stratatonic]

I am actually surprised that so many vote for CPU/DSP while at the same time they want awsome new high makemeahit sounds ...

When Sylenth came out, everyone was floored at how good and fat it sounded - while using little CPU resources.

I'm more surprised that Preset Quality isn't higher. Doesn't every one take the synth for a test drive when they get it?
A quick run down of the capabilities shown off in the presets inspire you to: A- start working on tunes immediately B- start exploring the synth creating useful tweaks of presets or rolling your own, imo

[frog974new]

i vote CPU/DSP and both modulation stuff ^^ ...
i hope developpers don't forgive the core of Reason and why it come famous : the modularity and capility to manage as we want device with low dsp and let us to be creative .

a big all-in synth , that's not why i expect from developpers ,

[fieldframe]

I am actually surprised that so many vote for CPU/DSP while at the same time they want awsome new high makemeahit sounds ...

When Sylenth came out, everyone was floored at how good and fat it sounded - while using little CPU resources.

I'm more surprised that Preset Quality isn't higher. Doesn't every one take the synth for a test drive when they get it?
A quick run down of the capabilities shown off in the presets inspire you to: A- start working on tunes immediately B- start exploring the synth creating useful tweaks of presets or rolling your own, imo

I think there's a certain slight elitism that a lot of us tend to look at presets with... and then we use them anyway. I wasn't originally going to vote for presets, but I decided to be honest with myself and give presets a vote.

[Skullture]

I like the outcome of this poll. Unique features and overall sound quality are the most important aspects for all I care.
Regarding the high CPU usage, if Props were to introduce a freezing function this could be solved you know. Hopefully we'd see such a feature in Reason 9.2.

[rcbuse]

I like the outcome of this poll. Unique features and overall sound quality are the most important aspects for all I care.
Regarding the high CPU usage, if Props were to introduce a freezing function this could be solved you know. Hopefully we'd see such a feature in Reason 9.2.

Yea, I'm surprised to see VST ports so low. I guess my perception was wrong in that most people just want Serum and Sylenth ports. Perhaps those are just the most vocal.

[Skullture]

I like the outcome of this poll. Unique features and overall sound quality are the most important aspects for all I care.
Regarding the high CPU usage, if Props were to introduce a freezing function this could be solved you know. Hopefully we'd see such a feature in Reason 9.2.

Yea, I'm surprised to see VST ports so low. I guess my perception was wrong in that most people just want Serum and Sylenth ports. Perhaps those are just the most vocal.

Nobody needs a replica of a popular VST. We just need to have it sound huge. The last 3 mayor synth releases (nostromo, legend, expanse) in the Propshop are definitely in this category.

[stratatonic]

I am actually surprised that so many vote for CPU/DSP while at the same time they want awsome new high makemeahit sounds ...

When Sylenth came out, everyone was floored at how good and fat it sounded - while using little CPU resources.

I'm more surprised that Preset Quality isn't higher. Doesn't every one take the synth for a test drive when they get it?
A quick run down of the capabilities shown off in the presets inspire you to: A- start working on tunes immediately B- start exploring the synth creating useful tweaks of presets or rolling your own, imo

I think there's a certain slight elitism that a lot of us tend to look at presets with... and then we use them anyway. I wasn't originally going to vote for presets, but I decided to be honest with myself and give presets a vote.

Is there a certain slight elitism? I hadn't noticed. Anyways, I would rather see a synth with less than a hundred killer useful presets that show off the capabilities of the synth, rather than a thousand poorly designed presets.

[GRIFTY]

I think number of presets AND preset quality are really important. TBH I'm not much of a sound designer and having a good jumping off point is beneficial