New PIA VI's

[PatriotsBiker]

I've not been using synths for a couple years and knew little about them before that, so I will defer opinion offerings to those who do use them. Underneath my monthly voucher was this:

https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/p.../ds_thorn.html

I have not tried yet, but like I eluded to early, what would I know?

[musicman691]

Grabbed the demo about 6 hours ago. If you have no other synths then this isn't too bad sound-wise. If you have Arturia's Synclavier or Avenger this really won't add anything to your arsenal.


It's claim to fame seems to be harmonic synthesis with 3 oscillators. Working with the harmonics isn't easy as nothing in the gui subsection that deals with them is labeled on the x and y axis's. You really need to have the pdf manual up on your screen the first few times through. The way it works with the harmonics is a lot like a wavetable synth but there's no wavetables - it's all harmonics.


Because I am what PIA calls a heavy hitter I get a voucher code to get this at $99. Don't know yet if I'll pop for this or not as I need more time to explore it. But at full-boat of $199 it ain't worth it. And a lot of the presets have too slow an attack on the amplitude adsr. The fellow doing the demo that shows on the web page for Thorn is about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal and doesn't really showcase the harmonics and what can be done with them. He shows a very little bit of the harmonics editor but no sound plays when he shows the operations of said editor.


An I saying don't buy this?
No.
What I am saying is to grab the demo and really wring it out.
One more thing - be aware that the output levels of the various presets vary widely and can blow your ears out if not careful.

[TOM@METRO]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Grabbed the demo about 6 hours ago. If you have no other synths then this isn't too bad sound-wise. If you have Arturia's Synclavier or Avenger this really won't add anything to your arsenal.


It's claim to fame seems to be harmonic synthesis with 3 oscillators. Working with the harmonics isn't easy as nothing in the gui subsection that deals with them is labeled on the x and y axis's. You really need to have the pdf manual up on your screen the first few times through. The way it works with the harmonics is a lot like a wavetable synth but there's no wavetables - it's all harmonics.


Because I am what PIA calls a heavy hitter I get a voucher code to get this at $99. Don't know yet if I'll pop for this or not as I need more time to explore it. But at full-boat of $199 it ain't worth it. And a lot of the presets have too slow an attack on the amplitude adsr. The fellow doing the demo that shows on the web page for Thorn is about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal and doesn't really showcase the harmonics and what can be done with them. He shows a very little bit of the harmonics editor but no sound plays when he shows the operations of said editor.


An I saying don't buy this?
No.
What I am saying is to grab the demo and really wring it out.
One more thing - be aware that the output levels of the various presets vary widely and can blow your ears out if not careful.

Nice review. Thanks.

[Southsidemusic]

Yeeeaaaahhhh .... Not impressed! Maybe cause we have quite a few super nice hardware synths and all the VI we know of and as Jack said, if you have Avenger and or Serum or Dune3 etc this won’t make your day better.

Avenger for instance is quite an awesome tweaker and cost like $249 ish and worth every penny IMHO of course but if you want something cheaper but still fun then Spire or Synthmaster One are great options and less than half price.

[amagras]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

if you want something cheaper but still fun then Spire or Synthmaster One are great options and less than half price.

I was going to ask Jack how it compared to Synthmaster One which I have and like a lot. Thanks you two for the nice impressions!

[musicman691]

Addendum to earlier:
This can be a cpu hog - 4 note chords on some of the pads in a single instrument track on my 2012 cheesegrater in my profile eats up around 30+% of overall cpu as shown in PT's meter.


And if you switch pads while a sound is sustaining (and a lot of the sounds sustain whether through the initial sound or fx) you get all kinds of nasty artifacts that aren't due to like what would happen when switching sounds with a delay effect on. Which means if you want multiple sounds you have to use multiple instrument tracks and not rely on patch switching within Thorn itself. Given the aforementioned cpu usage ....


Can you say aae 9173?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by amagras

I was going to ask Jack how it compared to Synthmaster One which I have and like a lot. Thanks you two for the nice impressions!

Stay with Synthmaster One. If you feel compelled to get another synth if you don't already have it grab Synthmaster. You should be able to get it at a discounted price.


I though Arturia's Pigments was bad but this one ranks right down there

[amagras]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Stay with Synthmaster One. If you feel compelled to get another synth if you don't already have it grab Synthmaster. You should be able to get it at a discounted price.


I though Arturia's Pigments was bad but this one ranks right down there

Thanks, I like variety but I already have almost have every type of synthesis (from FM to Wavetables and from one dev or another) so I probably don't need it.
What I need is a good Hammond from Waves.

[PatriotsBiker]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Grabbed the demo about 6 hours ago. If you have no other synths then this isn't too bad sound-wise. If you have Arturia's Synclavier or Avenger this really won't add anything to your arsenal.


It's claim to fame seems to be harmonic synthesis with 3 oscillators. Working with the harmonics isn't easy as nothing in the gui subsection that deals with them is labeled on the x and y axis's. You really need to have the pdf manual up on your screen the first few times through. The way it works with the harmonics is a lot like a wavetable synth but there's no wavetables - it's all harmonics.


Because I am what PIA calls a heavy hitter I get a voucher code to get this at $99. Don't know yet if I'll pop for this or not as I need more time to explore it. But at full-boat of $199 it ain't worth it. And a lot of the presets have too slow an attack on the amplitude adsr. The fellow doing the demo that shows on the web page for Thorn is about as exciting as a bowl of oatmeal and doesn't really showcase the harmonics and what can be done with them. He shows a very little bit of the harmonics editor but no sound plays when he shows the operations of said editor.


An I saying don't buy this?
No.
What I am saying is to grab the demo and really wring it out.
One more thing - be aware that the output levels of the various presets vary widely and can blow your ears out if not careful.

Thank you yet again for another review. You've answered quite a few of my queries of the past few years and I very much appreciate it.

And of course, thanks to everyone - again.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by amagras

Thanks, I like variety but I already have almost have every type of synthesis (from FM to Wavetables and from one dev or another) so I probably don't need it.
What I need is a good Hammond from Waves.

I'd skip Waves for a B3 emulation. It's a shame NI discontinued B4-II; the tonewheel organs in Kontakt are a mere shadow of what the original was.

Have you taken a look at GSI's VB3-II? See here: https://www.genuinesoundware.com/?a=showproduct&b=44
100 eur; they don't show an amount in $US

Don't even think about the B3 emulation that Arturia has. I only have it because it's part of the V Collection 6 and I've only tried it to see if it had anything to offer and it doesn't.