One of the most striking aspects of U-he Repro-5 is its ability to capture the rich, warm, and organic sound of the original Prophet-5. Through meticulous modeling and painstaking attention to detail, U-he has recreated the essence of this legendary analog synth. The oscillators deliver a remarkable range of tones, from lush pads to biting leads, all with a distinct vintage character. The filters are beautifully designed, with the low-pass and high-pass filters accurately mimicking the behavior and character of their hardware counterparts. Repro-5's sound quality is simply stunning, making it a standout choice for those seeking authentic vintage analog sounds.
U-he Repro-5 boasts a sleek and intuitive user interface, with an aesthetic reminiscent of vintage hardware. The control panel is laid out in a logical and straightforward manner, allowing users to dive into sound design without any unnecessary complications. Each module is presented with a clean and easily understandable interface, offering parameters that emulate the original Prophet-5's controls. The visual feedback provided by the plugin is excellent, making it a breeze to understand the signal flow and modulation routing. Overall, Repro-5's user interface strikes a perfect balance between simplicity and flexibility.
While U-he Repro-5 excels at emulating the Prophet-5, it also offers modern features that enhance its versatility. The plugin includes additional features not found on the original hardware, such as polyphonic unison mode, an extensive modulation matrix, and built-in effects. These additions expand the creative possibilities and enable users to push the boundaries of traditional analog synthesis. Whether you're looking to recreate classic sounds or craft unique and experimental patches, Repro-5 has you covered.
U-he Repro-5 ships with an extensive library of expertly crafted presets that showcase the plugin's capabilities across a wide range of genres. From vintage-inspired sounds to contemporary patches, the preset library provides an excellent starting point for exploration. Furthermore, Repro-5's sound design capabilities are exceptional. The combination of its powerful oscillators, filters, and modulation options allows users to create a vast array of sounds with ease. Whether you're a seasoned synthesist or a beginner, Repro-5 offers endless possibilities for sonic exploration and experimentation
U-he Repro-5 is a well-optimized plugin that delivers exceptional performance even on modest systems. It efficiently utilizes system resources without compromising sound quality or functionality. The plugin's CPU usage is impressively low, ensuring smooth playback and allowing multiple instances to be used in a project without overloading the system. The stability of the plugin is commendable, with no significant issues reported during extensive testing. U-he's commitment to quality and performance is evident in Repro-5.
U-he has fostered a vibrant and supportive community around their products, including Repro-5. The company provides regular updates, addressing bugs, and introducing new features based on user feedback. The online user community is active, with forums and
social media groups where users can share their experiences, ask questions, and exchange knowledge. Additionally, U-he offers comprehensive documentation, video tutorials, and a responsive customer support team, ensuring users have the necessary resources to make the most of their Repro-5 experience.
U-he Repro-5 is an exceptional synthesizer plugin that authentically captures the magic of the legendary Prophet-5. Its remarkable sound quality, intuitive user interface, versatility, and powerful sound design capabilities make it an indispensable tool for musicians and producers. The combination of vintage analog warmth and modern flexibility sets Repro-5 apart, allowing users to effortlessly create both classic sounds and cutting-edge patches. With its excellent performance and dedicated support, U-he Repro-5 is a must-have for anyone seeking the essence of vintage analog synthesis in a modern software instrument.
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The difference between McDSP HD vs Native plugins is fairly straightforward, though it can definitely cause some confusion when making a first-time purchase.
Our goal is to clear up any uncertainties, so you can make the right decision for your recording and mixing needs. First, we’ll need to further clarify the difference between native and DSP plugins.
Native plugins are those that run on a computer’s CPU — they’re powered by the host device. Certain plugin formats, like AAX for Pro Tools, are designed to run within a specific DAW. Another popular format, VST3, is a near ubiquitous plugin platform capable of being hosted by numerous DAWs. In the case of McDSP Native (as well as HD) plugins, included formats are AAX, AU, and VST3 for universal compatibility across DAWs and operating systems. They all run from the host computer and do not require an external DSP device.
The key takeaway here is that native plugins use your computer’s own processing power to operate — of course, this is in addition to all of the other tasks the computer must perform as well.
A McDSP HD plugin is one that can run off of DSP. Whenever you purchase a McDSP HD plugin, it’s capable of running either natively as an AAX, AU, or VST3 plugin, or off of DSP power as an AAX DSP plugin for Avid HDX systems. A standard McDSP Native plugin does not include the AAX DSP format.
It’s worth noting that HD and Native plugins are sonically equivalent, as both utilize identical algorithms. The primary difference is that McDSP HD plugins can be powered by the DSP chipset of a Pro Tools HDX system or device, to free up CPU resources for other tasks.
So then, what are the advantages of DSP plugins, and in what situations is it preferable to use DSP over native plugins?
By powering McDSP HD plugins with Avid DSP, you can actually record through complex plugin chains with near-zero latency. In order to achieve a similar result natively, you’d have to employ your DAW’s latency compensation, which typically bypasses any plugins that introduce latency beyond a point.
Latency is a direct byproduct of how powerful your CPU is. Low hardware buffer rates reduce latency, but many times at the cost of a sputtering CPU trying to keep up. This can introduce artifacts into the recording, if the computer doesn’t just refuse to record altogether. McDSP HD plugins, powered by an Avid DSP device, keep latency to a bare minimum — even when recording through a number of plugins.
For many engineers, the greatest advantage of DSP plugins is the ability to run dozens of plugin instances without taxing the system. Think about a single track in a session and how quickly the number of effects can rack up. Now multiple that by the total number of tracks, and you can imagine how it’s possible to eat up CPU space in a hurry. DSP plugins allow you to unload some of those intensive tasks to a dedicated piece of hardware, freeing up CPU space for additional native effects, virtual instruments, or whatever the mix calls for.
In most cases, using a combination of both native and DSP plugins is a means of managing resources efficiently in a recording and mixing system. With McDSP HD plugins, you have the option of running them natively or with DSP, so you can spread the processing load out more evenly across resources. Native versus DSP isn’t an either/or scenario, but rather a means of maximizing power within a music production environment.
McDSP native and HD plugins differ in the format in which they are designed to run. The native plugins are designed to run on computer systems using a standard host application DAW such as Cubase, Live, Reaper and so on, while the HD plugins are designed to run on Pro Tools HD and Venue systems only and unless you have that then you only need the Native version.
Source/Credit: https://producelikeapro.com/blog/mcdsp-hd-vs-native/
]]>Retaining a clean but musical sound quality it can provide 1000s of different variations of creativity and utility in your projects due to it's massive amount of modulation and outboard FX features.
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A run through the key parameters then into build 3 separate sounds into a mini Synthwave loop and discussion on why I think this is a really special synth plugin.
https://sound7.co.uk/products/HYPOLY
https://sound7.co.uk/products/trials
Both Windows and Mac compatible:
Windows:
VST2, VST3 32/64bit
Windows7 or higher
macOS:
VST2, VST3, AU 64bit only
OSX 10.12 or higher
Universal Binary 2 with native Apple M1 support.
It adopts a semi modular approach allowing you to swap out different oscillator, filters and envelope sections.
There's also a pre-filter section with different moduules for hi-pass filters or overdrive.
Each module is modelled on a particular 'vintage synth' from the Jupiter 8, Alpha Juno Roland Jupiter 6, Juno 60, Moog's Minimoog and Korg MS20
There's an effects section with Chorus/Phaser/Flanger, Delay, Reverb and Rotrary speaker emulation.
Extended options are present which allows individual voice detuning, envelope slop, and control over transients and oscillators restart amongst other things.
Modulation options are well presented with the usual LFO, Velocity, after touch but also some fairly complex mods available as sources or modifiers such as being able to add env + lfo together to create more unique mod sources.
Presets are aplenty with 1000's of sounds available both as part of the library and from many third party providers.
Diva regularly makes our top 10 synth lists in various guises and we did a video review here:
Usage wise the panels are laid out well, easily accessible and the GUI offering various UI scaling so their'll be something to suit all monitors and screen spaces.
Diva absolutely sings, there's an organic authenticity to it's sound that's hard to match in other synths. Often at times, especially on higher quality settings (Diva offers different quality levels) you'd be hard pressed to spot the software sound in a A vs B blind test. Some aliasing in the higher registers particularly on lower settings but it's well developed and only apparently under the most extremes of pitch. Outside the range of what you'd be using in any project.
Is U-he Diva Any good? Overall it's a superbly well-rounded synthesizer. Capable of some truly excellent sounds and offers a lot of value for money. It'd do very well as a centre stage synth offering a wide breadth and depth of sonic ability from bread and butter to esoteric.
If you're a master of modulation matrixes and thrive in a black hole of evolving sound scapes then you may want to look elsewhere but for everything else Diva is hard to ignore.
Then check out our SOUND SHOP for some of our own presets. If you're into Trance check out our Diva Trance presets as well as our article on the best external sources for Trance presets where Diva is sure to feature
All in all - this is a superb synth both in audio quality and usability.
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We take U-he Diva Synth out for an auditory spin and try and answer the one question, how good does Diva sound?
U-he DIVA seems just like any other synth. But scratch beneath the surface, one begins to realise there are significant details that separate Diva from the virtual synth crowd.
First off, the fully customizable mix & match upper panel. Every component (OSC section, filter, etc.) can be swapped out with different options. If you're wondering what synths Diva emulates well the OSC section for example, comes in four flavors: Triple-VCO inspired by the Mini-Moog), DCO, Alpha Juno, and two Dual VCO options offering some extras. The same goes for the filter & envelope sections that, again, come in different flavors "inspired" by classic synths. Essentially, you can create a "hybrid" synth the consists of your favorite modules from different synths creating an entirely new breed.
Extra bonuses include a nice tab driven GUI that makes navigating the finer parts of DIVA and extra bells and whistles a breeze. There's even a scope to provide you with visual feedback of your generated sound.
I'll go so far to say that DIVA's sound is, the closest means to achieving an analog sound via the digital realm.
A simple scanning of the many presets (more on that later) will reveal the many sonic possibilities of DIVA, as well as just how amazing it sounds. What I believe is giving DIVA it's unique, analogue charm is that it processes every note in real time much the same way the analogue circuits of a hardware synth operate.
By programming the synth in this manner, it's possible to encounter those analogue "oddities" many hardware synth lovers say that virtual synths lack.
This rich, real-time processing does come at the cost of CPU. While the last update to DIVA has greatly minimised the CPU hit, you will still find certain rack combinations in conjunction with having the playback quality set to its highest setting (Divine) can result in some playback issues due to CPU constraints.
However, this can be offset easily by lowering the quality down a notch or by choosing best for the Offline Bouncing option and then freezing your track. Having said all that, the sheer sound quality of DIVA is worth the hit–without question.
The preset browser is straightforward and allows the user to enter comments about the selected patch or even hide a preset that will never be a part of their arsenal.
Whatever your stance on presets/patches is, one can't help but take notice that 98% of all of DIVA's included presets are inspirational to say the least. Remember the first time you scanned through Massive's presets only to be disappointed one after the next? That's not the case with DIVA's patch library.
So, if you're looking for some inspiration to get a sound started or simply need a quick patch to use temporarily in your arrangement, DIVA has you covered.
The Verdict Synths are a dime a dozen, and only a handful really stand out as being worth your time and money. For £155 inc free updates, a passionate developer at the helm, DIVA is certainly a synthesizer to be reckoned with.
Sure the it can be a bit of a CPU hog at times–but once you've experienced the vast sonic range, capabilities and audio quality of DIVA, you won't really worry about the CPU hit, in fact your main worry will be, how can I load more instances.
In our next article we'll be looking at how to use u-he Diva in music production