Yes, but I stand corrected, and I have been able to improve my skill at using or selecting said synths, so a worth while discussion any who. IMO 64 bits do make a difference in certain types of repeated processing and or filtering situations. EG if you sample at 96k in a feedback loop then band pass filter you are working with much less of the 64 bit range than you might think. Not that it isn’t possible to get good sounds with 32bit, but the number of configurations that are possible increase the higher sample rate and bit depth. That is my opinion. Though yes, limits otherwise.
It’s floating point. Huge, huge dynamic range. Even at -100 db there is an enormous dynamic range in 32 float.
1 Like
Bear with my madness here, but I have a theory about why I find that modulars DO sound better TO ME. It is entirely subjective and dependent on my frame of reference.
When software modulars came along it completely changed the way I made music/experimented with audio. Modulars are always on. When I make music with them it always begins for me with the drone. I get a sound going and I am always listening to it. The rests, silences, melodies and harmonies come later (if at all!). When I used a DAW most of the time I was not listening to the sound. The transport was stopped and I was fiddling about looking for a vst, previewing presets, fiddling with sticking notes in the piano roll, drawing automation, etc etc. So now, when I make sounds/music, I hear what I am making constantly. I am happier and no longer frustrated with the software and things just sound better for reasons that go beyond the sound itself.
There can certainly be objective differences, or variations, which Bruce has explained in detail, but I think a lot of it, for ME, just comes out of the experience of creating everything from scratch every time and ‘deep’ listening to what I am hearing and how I am changing that sound.
7 Likes
That makes a lot of sense to me!
1 Like
That’s why I always have a coffee mug pressing keys on my Midi controller with Serum open in one channel.
4 Likes
However, many FM-synth flows result in exponential dynamics.
There are no free polyphonic modules in Cherry Audio - a small point, but one which made me make the move.
Yeah, I have yet to splurge on Cherry audio modules, but its definitely on the radar. Though I need to get the DAW first.
I think its interesting. It really comes down to the plugins. IE Dexter sounds great. Interestingly enough Dexter is implemented as a PM synth using wavetables(I thought it wouldn’t have been),however I suspect it is at a very high sample rate hence the quality. Though Valley doesn’t say what the sample rate is. However, Dexed for example which is a very high quality synth has a bit of an age to it, and is implemented in 24 bit. Dexed (asb2m10.github.io) FYI, Dexed was what got me back into synthesis having been turned off by the free software synths from seven years ago(Jeskola buzz), which I felt were never going to get high quality sounds after trying with them for years. The software has come a long way.
Definitely, there is a ton of amazing free offering now. Surge, Tal, Melda productions for effetcs, Dexed, Vital, the only paid stuff i use a lot is Arturia’s pigment, but besides i use 95 % of Free vsts that sound truly great !
I feel very self conscious posting this since a bunch of Aurturia folks are drinking at next table over, but I’m trying to like pigments but it just sounds … dunno thin? On the other hand Plasmonics from the mind of Brian Clevinger of Absynth fame (who coincidentally also lives here in France), consistently blows me away
Apropos of not much…
drinking at next table over
I was just thinking, “oh, what a colorful and evocative metaphor” and pondering about what exactly you might mean by it in this context when I realized you probably just meant it literally. You are in a public place where people can drink together and recognize that some Arturia folks are at the literal table next to you. IRL.
Odd how such a commonplace occurrence can so quickly become so unexpected. #thankscovid
For the sake of staying at least a little on topic… Absynth was by far my favorite synth during a previous incarnation of my learning-to-make-music-onna-computer life. I’m not really familiar with Plasmonics and didn’t realize it was from the same creator. That’s def worth a look. Thanks!
1 Like
The VA part is not the best, i have to agree, but it’s so versatile and has so many features, i truly enjoy it. But if i want a basic analog like sound, it might not be my first choice, i would go either to the TAL Noisemaker or to my Mother 32 if i’m not too lazy to set it up 
I confess that is the thing about Pigments that confuses me. On paper, with all of its features, it should sound amazing, but when I actually use it, it leaves me cold. I think Arturia should hire me
It is amazing how Absynth still holds it own after all these years, and now Plasmonics is really cool - and with both it is incredibly easy to find inspiring sounds.
Hi Drew,
Yeah, I live in Grenoble these days, so I see the Arturia folks quite often and I confess, sitting outside, having a beer while coding is kind of how I get things “done”
1 Like
The Arturia folks hard at work, no doubt discussing new features.
Apparently , it’s company policy to wear a company hoodie when interacting in public (all of those white ones…) 
I’ll add that I shamelessly wear my company’s hoodie in public
Company swag clothing is gross.
not all of us wear bespoke suits
Some of us can’t wear off the rack clothing with any modicum of comfort. EG I’m tall and thin. I can afford standardized bespoke clothing, but bespoke casual clothing costs an arm and a leg.
VSTs are actually only simulating FM-synthesis, and approximating it with wave tables.
If you go back to Chowning’s original paper & subsequent patent on FM synthesis, it has always been a digital algorithm. There’s no simulating FM in VSTs, they generally implement exactly the same algorithm used in the Yamaha DX7. The whole reason for FM was that it was a simple, efficient synthesis with almost limitless timbral possibilities.
If you use analog FM synthesis, or the simulation in Rack, it’s bit different. Partly because it isn’t implemented as a table lookup as Chowning’s algorithm does.
What does your last sentence mean? Are you saying that chowning did use wavetable synthesis, or that he did not?