33 thoughts on “Synclavier Regen Hands On Demo”

1. Wavetable combined with OSC-FM and Wavefolder is much more easy to use, but name alone will sell some units. Like Ziv mentioned, most people can try this with various Synclavier-Plugins an other FM/Additive-Plugins. The layout let me ask various “why should i use this” questions.

2. Very cool. If they can implement the resynthesis feature and have a relatively painless way of importing audio, I think this could be truly incredible. As it is, it’s really cool.

3. Looks like someone taped a phone to a cheap AKAI midi controller…Sounds OK if you like digital additive and resynth, but $2500 for this? You would have to really need this in hardware form (as so many VSTs can do similar) and even then, the controls look very limited, why touch sliders? may as well just use a touch screen?) This on an iPad or as a VST seems like a much better proposition, maybe that will follow!

4. “can import sounds from the app”
   so its basically the app + multisamples for 2.500$
   ouch

5. ‘liquid like” – i.e. rubber membrane switches.

   this is so disappointing. it’s the ugliest box imaginable from the most iconic Synth designers of the 20th century.

   “Phone in a box” is dead on.

   sounds are good, like a Synclavier should; but the rest is depressingly bad.

   1. drawing wavetables & drawing spectra seems kind of retro when you can just freeze a sample into a grain under your fingertips these days?

      1. are you thinking of fairlight? Synclavier is 2-op FM and sample resynthesis – which was a lot of fiddly work folks asking for it probably don’t realize. If I bought Synclavier Go in a box, it would have to be more like a C-15, than a drum machine. desktop boxes are a mess.

         1. I meant the additive thing …

            1. depends on what you want to achieve. I have no interest in computers, recording or production techniques. i only like to play. the more immediate the instrument is the better. I should have stuck with the piano, but I like the textures, and exploration of electronic music. making songs and producing content is for other folks. so drawing waves, or sampling stuff is not in my future. the only computer work I do anymore is modify Mutable code for use in Prologue.

   2. It has those TV remote kind of button.

6. It just lacks that big knob, doesn’t it?

7. The one thing the last decade has shown us is that well laid out physical controls make an incredible difference when it comes to programming a synth. The Waldorf Iridium has 56 knobs along with a relatively large configurable touch screen. The design makes it easy to use.

   This device doesn’t share that immediacy. Everything requires tapping a silicone button or two, and the industrial design is off. The text is too large; Tuning|Chorus|Effects run into each other in the Timbre section. The horizontal strip of buttons on the extreme right is designed for right-handed users (approximately 10% of the population are lefties), same goes for the Swiper control strip — it forces the user to use their left hand for swiping and the right for button mashing.

   All in all, the design doesn’t seem to have received any rigorous review from someone with solid synth design experience and that’s going to take away from sales dramatically. That’s a pity.

8. For some, this is the company that created the Synclavier. For me, this is the company that sold a single knob to control their iOS app for 399 dollars.

   1. nothing wrong with the Knob if you’re a Synclavier fan – it’s only money; the real issue is it doesn’t work right with this thing.

9. The good synths are already made … Now we just copy and add some “improvement’s” to make it different . Akai MPC One … Electron Digitakt … Deluge … Old stuff like Korg M3 workstation with Radias board … Roland Sp404 … 2500 $ for what ?

   Old stuff are cheaper and better … And not to mention Vsti … Now with a MacBook Air you have tones of good Vsti (emulation of old Keyboard too ) and very good DAWs to work with…

   1. indeed. modernity is lacking is in original thought. the only ‘new’ idea I’ve seen for decades is the Prologue user SDK. even though sandboxing a user in your product for fun and profit isn’t new, producing a one on synth product is new. it takes programming a synth to a new level – one might say the first real level of programming; not ‘presetting’ a limited fixed architecture.

      Arturia mechanical synth is in a similar category, although its uses are more limited.

10. I like the unusual take on synthesis, especially FM on samples, re synthesis & layering – it sounds different. I even find the quirky design of the box appealing.

    But the poor controls, menu-diving, lack of a touch screen, and high price tag are simply too much. A Waldorf Iridium beats this hands down unfortunately.

11. Heh, all this griping! Its a 2022 Synclavier minus keys. It’ll fit in a backpack. That’s amazing. Even if you have casual flagship money for such gear, you’ll still need some patience.

    Yes, the GUI is somewhat lacking, but you either like digging in or you’ll want an editor. Maybe it shouldn’t need one for $2499, but it also doesn’t need a touchscreen that adds $1K+ more to the price. An editor would remove a lot of that stink. The GUI has clunky aspects, but also a few nice ones, like the data entry slider with up/down buttons on the ends.

    The demos are impressive, so resynthesis or not, the sound is superior. Powerful DSP has outstripped woodshedding, where you sweat your way to awesomeness. That leaves it up to you to find a controller you like. Manufacturers are keen on everything BUT inviting keybeds. The profit is in modules and accessories.

    1. Why would adding a touch screen add $1k to the price?
       The MPC One has a touch screen and the whole thing cost me £600 new.

12. Yeah, I know it has subtractive and sample, but Synclavier Go iOS is just 28 bucks.

    1. I have Synclavier Go and tbh there are dozens of iOS synths that I find more useful at less than $28 FWIW

13. I’m not even 6 minutes into this thing.. but why does it take at least 2 full swipes to move a parameter from min to max on the “swiper”?

    Shouldn’t it take exactly 1 full swipe?!

14. Great Syntehsis Engine. Terrifying Interface.

15. Looks like a project that started decades ago and was finished today without taking notes from what was happening around all this time …. some wonderful sounds and features in there, packed in a horrible user interface/box (for 2022) … and at that price …. i am happier with some of my Reaktor ensembles that give me more features, better sounds, ease of use and at a logical price point.

16. it needs to do resynthesis… thats the next thing, imho

    its like granular but with more way more control and resolution

17. btw – its probably difficult for these massively lauded companies to avoid the kind of hubris which gives birth to a UI such as this

    1. Probably because the bosses from yesteryear are still guiding the UI/UX development process.

18. Terrible UI, whoever designed this must have never used an electronic instrument.

19. Between Arturia and Synclavier Go, I am having a very hard time justifying spending $2,500 on this thing — especially considering what a mess it’s UI/UX is. Did they do any kind of field testing at all? Send out sample machines out among the professionals for feedback before deciding on this design? Couldn’t they have teamed up to adopted Synclavier Go or Arturia’s Synclavier V as a remote controller for this box?

    On one hand, I am thrilled to see the Synclav reborn in hardware again (I lusted after this machine for years); on the other, it really strikes me as too little, too late. Late ’70s digital tech that cost as much as a decent house, cutting edge for its day, having been long surpassed by superior products in in the form of VST plugins that cost as little as, well, $0.00.

    I do love using my copy of Arturia’s Synclavier V, it is a great plug-in, and it has a ton of presets too.

20. The ipad version is not very easy to use, but this has the dumbest layout and data entry options i’ve seen in a while.

21. This costs 1% of the price of a full blown Synclavier back in the day. Just sayin’

22. Synclavier could add a HDMI out, so one can connect to a external video monitor. Why spend all that money to go blind.

23. Fortunately there are some decent polyphonic aftertouch keyboards to connect to this; though I wish Sequential would bring back the Prophet T8 keybed which was used in the original.

    With luck the Fatar/Iridium polyphonic aftertouch keybed will become a popular option in synths.