I'm having mixed feelings.
It's not an immediately approachable synth, that's not for sure. Took some time to figure out some basic things (like, plugging "time" into the dial instead of "+" lets you control the speed). I kind of bounced off the manual when I tried reading it; it feels weird to have a synth this advanced that opens up with trying to explain FM and additive synthesis, etc.
The noise in the demo is pretty seriously annoying for something that requires this much exploration to figure out. But putting that aside:
The sound isn't generally something I'm in love with. I've found some nice sweet spots but I'm not sure it's enough to convince me.
Pulses is kind of cool but also kind of a gimmick. There have been a few times I wanted two of them, so I could have a slow, broadband set of back-and-forth LFOs, but also a fast bunch of expo decays limited to a narrow range.
There have been a lot more times where I just wanted a couple more envelopes or LFOs (looping function generators would be perfect) and several times when I wanted VCAs to modulate modulation amounts. Also, a bit further range on the envelope high scale, and also a high scale control for the Partials amp output.
Aalto is one of my favorite softsynths for sure. What I love about it is, I can patch something I love to hear, from scratch, within seconds, and yet there's some depth there to explore. I bought Kaivo and Virta but don't feel the same about them, and barely use them. Sumu I think would be in the same boat.
It's not an immediately approachable synth, that's not for sure. Took some time to figure out some basic things (like, plugging "time" into the dial instead of "+" lets you control the speed). I kind of bounced off the manual when I tried reading it; it feels weird to have a synth this advanced that opens up with trying to explain FM and additive synthesis, etc.
The noise in the demo is pretty seriously annoying for something that requires this much exploration to figure out. But putting that aside:
The sound isn't generally something I'm in love with. I've found some nice sweet spots but I'm not sure it's enough to convince me.
Pulses is kind of cool but also kind of a gimmick. There have been a few times I wanted two of them, so I could have a slow, broadband set of back-and-forth LFOs, but also a fast bunch of expo decays limited to a narrow range.
There have been a lot more times where I just wanted a couple more envelopes or LFOs (looping function generators would be perfect) and several times when I wanted VCAs to modulate modulation amounts. Also, a bit further range on the envelope high scale, and also a high scale control for the Partials amp output.
Aalto is one of my favorite softsynths for sure. What I love about it is, I can patch something I love to hear, from scratch, within seconds, and yet there's some depth there to explore. I bought Kaivo and Virta but don't feel the same about them, and barely use them. Sumu I think would be in the same boat.
Statistics: Posted by foosnark — Wed May 15, 2024 3:25 am