Vectron, Pro-12, B2003 etc.. Help me to decide

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:24 am

Now that there is a chance to get full S&S pack at 98 euros, it sounds like a deal one should not miss.
But there are couple of things holding me back. I'm asking questions from myself, like do I really need these new synths? I already own M&M pack so that is not an option to me.
In the other hand I know absolutely nothing about synths, I'm just a guitar player. However, I use synths very intensively in my music. But things like how authentic clone synth X is from the original means nothing to me. I simply have no knowledge about synths or how they are working, neither I have no ear to all that 'classic' stuff. Only the sound matters to me and how that specific sound (= factory preset) suits to my music.
Then, I'm also thinking that how long I'll be able to use scope cards.. We all know that pci is dying. It may be that my current pc gets broken and I'm forced buy a new one. It's pretty sure that my multiple card configuration will not working anymore.

I'd be glad if you can help me deciding if I should buy this synth upgrade.
Can you describe what kind of sounds these synths produce? Is there any mp3 example where they are being used? I'd be more than interested in hearing them in action.

Vectron, what more I can do with it, in addition to vectron player I already have? I'd be interested in to get ambient style pads, and wondering if vectron would suit for that purpose.

I hope this writing makes any sense.

kensuguro · Post by **kensuguro** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:39 am

I would tend to eer towards recommending you to first look around for free VSTis that suit your purposes. Then, when you can't find a good one, or the quality is not good enough, the you can turn to the scope synths. There are many very good free VSTis, they're worth a check.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:08 am

Ken's idea may be an option. My experience with free vst instruments is not so good: whether they crashed my system or weren't good enough for what I wanted to achieve. Now I steer away from them for stability reasons.

The SnS bundle for 98 € is a great offer imo, the pro-12 is awesome, and so is B2003 and minimax! I went for it without hesitation and I have great new tools I'll use in my productions!

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:08 am

Thanks Ken
Your words reflects my own thoughts. Perhaps the excellence of scope synths would go wasted with me.
I have plenty of VSTi synths that I consider very usable. If not top quality, nonetheless they are giving sounds I like.

virtualstudio · Post by **virtualstudio** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:44 am

I think the b2003 is something complete different than all the other CW synths
http://www.cwaudio.de/download/demosoun ... danube.mp3

about the pro-12 I am waiting for it myself so I hope its good

do you have Vectron? because thats also somthing very special.
(edit) no you don't sorry should read better.)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: virtualstudio on 2005-12-15 08:48 ]</font>

Post by **garyb** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:07 am

the b2003 and pro12 are each worth the price of a scope card in themselves...REALLY good, imho, surprisingly good.

ooops, said to much about price......

Liquid Len · Post by **Liquid Len** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:02 am

Do you have ANY of the 'non-free' Creamware synths ? Minimax, Pro-One, Prodyssey, Pro-whatever-they're-calling-it-today, these synths to me are in a different class (both playability and sound quality) than any VSTis I've heard. From what you said about how you use synths, I suspect that you wouldn't have much time for the subletlies BETWEEN these creamware synths, but having just ONE of the biggies to work with is still an absolutely good thing to have in your recording setup IMO. If synths play a big part in your music, the sheer quality of any one of the mentioned plugins can only improve your mix. It's not so much that it's an 100% authentic clone (in fact, the Prodysey isn't), the approach taken to building sound in these synths gives their sounds a real CHARACTER, instead of a generic korg-roland-yamaha. So a synth line doesn't have to be loud in the mix to be noticeable and clear. The Minimax and Prodyssey tend to have so much character they often verge on sounding weird, their atmospheric sound will dominate the mix, while the Pro-One and Pro-12 are more smooth sounding.

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:21 am

the B2003 will make a great guitar effect (as already mentioned...)
Pro12 and Minimax are in the same league of sound (at least imho) - of course the synth engines are different, but both are dominated by an extremely smooth filter.

You can safely ignore the (full) Vectron - it's exactly the same thing as the Vectron Player regarding sounds (playing).
The difference is 'only' the ability to make custom presets, custom controllers (it's a modulation monster) and custom waveforms (from samples).
Since you describe yourself as 'not into tweaking' you won't benefit at all from it.

cheers, tom

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:35 am

Thanks everyone for your comments

The main use of synths in my music are chords, pads, athmospheric stuff.

I know B2003 would be plenty of use for me.
How are the others, minimax, Pro12 how they exactly sound like? Are they better for leads, basses, or what? Are they for modern sounds?
In my mind there are some biased images of cheesy sounds from some 80's heavy rock bands, thats not exactly what I want from the synths

Lima · Post by **Lima** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:57 am

Today I've played Minimax for the first time, and I was very surprised by its veratility: beautiful leads, basses, fx... The sound is big, and how many presets!
Pro-12 is another beast, the first thing I've got in my mind when I've listened to it was "WOW! This isn't digital at all!!!".

Personally, as first impression, I prefer the minimoog for the mono synth and the pro-12 for the poly ones.

They are also simple to program (if compared to some other like the vectron for example) so I could suggest to start from one of these two

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:59 am

no need to repeat that Obie riff from 'Jump!'

what is a 'modern' sound anyway ?

imho there is no such thing at all - Shroomz recently posted an example from a friend performed on a Hartmann Neuron that could as well have been by Vince Clark on some Casios.
The Wavelength OP8 synth can sound almost exactly like a C64 SID.

A completely dry sawtooth will probably sound 'modern' simply for the fact that users in the 80s were so proud of their new digital fx boxes that they forgot about the (beauty of the) dry sound at all...

cheers, Tom

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 12:50 pm

On 2005-12-15 11:59, astroman wrote:
no need to repeat that Obie riff from 'Jump!'

Hehe, exactly what I thought

I'm hoping to make my purchase before the christmas offer ends. I have yet couple of days left to wait and see if a lightning hits me from the sky, hehe

skwawks · Post by **skwawks** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:38 pm

What I've found with the creamware synths is that although there is a fair bit of tweaking involved in replacing vst's that I've been using in a song ,getting the sounds into a similar space and all that,I always do it and give it a high priority to get them there cos they just sound better .
If I'm doing a new song or putting a new synth part in an old song I go straight to the creamware synths . The only vst that has survived so far here is da'organ because it has some sounds that I really like but I'm pretty sure that the b2003 will be the first choice whenever I come to do a new organ part [speaking as a bass player

]
Cheers
Paul
P.S. now where is that new creamware sampler , maybe I should ditch my wav samples and start buying akai sample disks Hmm ?

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:41 pm

Uh, I think the upgrade is not that. I believe it is one of either:

none -> SS or MM in v4.5
SS v4.0 -> ss v4.5
MM v4.0 -> MM v4.5

I think people have sort of got the wrong impression about the upgrade from some of the statements in the threads.

Shroomz~> · Post by **Shroomz~>** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:10 pm

Don't bring me into this Astro. I specifically said when I posted that track that I didn't personally like it & was purely posting it as an example of the Neuron's 'Sound', which I'd been sent by a friend. Pretty irrelivant, but anyway, don't bring me into your arguments on the basis of that track if you don't mind .. thanks

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 6:48 pm

ok, I admit that I hypothetically assumed your friend considers this as 'modern' in one or the other way...
The track itself really doesn't matter, but it could have happened 20 years ago today - it's a perfect example for the nonsense of 'modern' sound, 'innovative' sounds and all those bloated definitions.

My impression is honest and in case it's not clear: I do like Casios (a lot) and I like Vince Clark, no matter if people consider this synthie pop kitsch...

cheers, Tom

Stige · Post by **Stige** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 2:36 am

On 2005-12-16 16:41, ScofieldKid wrote:

Uh, I think the upgrade is not that. I believe it is one of either:

none -> SS or MM in v4.5
SS v4.0 -> ss v4.5
MM v4.0 -> MM v4.5

I think people have sort of got the wrong impression about the upgrade from some of the statements in the threads.

Oh, but that wouldn't make sense..?
If you haven't bought anything, you can get full package of your choice?
If you have bought one of the packs, you are not entitled to choose?
Just sounds a bit dim to me.
However, my M&M pack is registered to xtc card already. My Pulsar2 with I/O is still free

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 3:15 pm

Stige,

Yeah, it is a bit odd. If they hadn't taken the 0-pack case, then it probably would have made sense. But I guess they were being generous.

Anyway, it does end up getting anyone who wants to, up to a level where they have a whole lot of stuff, in fact almost everything. So it's pretty good from that point of view. S&S is really the high value item though, so that's what people on the board here mostly recommend.