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My experience so far with expansions for Falcon and PhasePlant

C

cedricm

Cédric
Falcon expansions cost $39 and include about 100-130 presets.
PhasePlant content banks cost $29 and include about 50 presets.

While I love EDM, I'm not really into dubstep/trance/techno and the like, so I mostly purchased cinematic-themed libraries so far.

PhasePlant
What I like about PhasePlant presets, is that they have a description, giving advice on how to use them: try chords, play this register, use the modwhell, ...
This is a feature I'd like UVI to copy, since for Falcon, there's only an overall Expansion description.

I purchased Animus, Suspension, Tremor
I'm deeply disappointed. Many presets are not great to bad, I don't think there's much value.

Of the three, Animus by Tom Wolfe is by far the best one, and the only one I can recommend.
It offers great textures and sequences.

Falcon
In my opinion, Falcon expansions are way better value than Kilohearts content banks. They cost $10 more, but they offer at least 2x the amount of presets of the content banks, and the quality is way, way better.

I got Cinematic Shades, Lofi Dreams, Plurality and Subculture Orchestra.

Cinematic shades is nothing short of fantastic, and there are great presets in all its categories (Atmosphere, Basses, Cinematics, Melodics, Pads, Sequences, Textures).

LoFi Dreams is ok, and it's probably great for people into this genre.
I'm underwhelmed by bass presets in general. LoFi has a few good ones.
Its "Acoustic Pianos" are fine for this genre.
IMO, Leads and Pads could be better.

Plurality
I have very mixed feelings about Plurality.
Simon Stockhausen is a genius and a brainy musician, and it shows.
What I love is that there are many presets that are fantastic soundscapes, textures.
And indeed, it is sold as a cinematic library. But there's very little that can be "played" (chords, etc).

On the opposite, there are preset such as Flutes / Glass Harps and so on.
There are paradoxical. They're presets that can't be instantly used in my opinion.
They're "brainy presets". To take advantage of them, one really has to take the time and experiment.
If you watch Simon's videos on his YouTube channel, he's often playing with the same sound for a few minutes, and it's both interesting and beautiful. I think that's how some of these presets are intended to be used.
Others remind of samples library and articulations that have to be experimented with.

Subculture
Subculture is very interesting.
First listening was a little disappointing: I created a "preset listener" project with very long notes, very short notes, chords, passage for pluck sounds and the like.
But subculture is intended to be used in a very specific and limited tone register.
So I'll have to listen again, taking its specificity into account.

If you have expansion / preset recommendations, or advice on how to use a certain preset, or pieces that highlight their qualities, don't hesitate to share them.

If you disagree with me and think I've been unfair, by all means do tell, if possible, with examples.
Click to read more...
 
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doctoremmet said:
The trick (and the true purpose) is to automate the parameters (many of them) in your DAW. That’s how Simon arrives at his great ambient soundscapes with just one patch ;)

So they need to be played, but not in the way you’d expect, i.e. not by a piano player.
Click to expand...
That's absolutely right.
Though some presets are, in my opinion, bad no matter the modwheel or the macros playing. Or I simply couldn't make them work for me.
 
I’ll add that I mostly purchase presets as a means of learning patching ideas from the masters. People like @Whywhy, @Empty Vessel, @tomwolfe, @Sound Author et al, who know their sounddesign tools inside out, and come in with an actual plan and view to what they set out to achieve with a certain soundset. That’s a bunch of fancy words for saying I like to steal their ideas.

Simon Stockhausen always delivers a cool PDF document when you buy his sounds over at www.patchpool.net - with the kind of description that really helps one grasp a patch, what it is intended to do and a little bit of how it was made. Howard Scarr’s Bazille Cookbook is another prime example of a very cool and detailed set of preset sound descriptions.
 
Indeed, learning from the expansions a big part of the reason I purchased them.

While UVI does offer nice documentations, they don't go into preset details. It would be great if Simon sent them patch documentation for the extensions he made for Falcon, to be included in an updated documentation.
 
Hopeful comments about ‘future updates’ of VIs and patches always make me giggle a little bit. Maybe I’m just an old cynic. But yes, that would be cool ;)
 
doctoremmet said:
The trick (and the true purpose) is to automate the parameters (many of them) in your DAW. That’s how Simon arrives at his great ambient soundscapes with just one patch ;)

So they need to be played, but not in the way you’d expect, i.e. not by a piano player.
Click to expand...
I agree, yet I prefer to record a performance, modifying the parameters in real time. It works for me.
 
cedricm said:
Falcon expansions cost $39 and include about 100-130 presets.
PhasePlant content banks cost $29 and include about 50 presets.

While I love EDM, I'm not really into dubstep/trance/techno and the like, so I mostly purchased cinematic-themed libraries so far.

PhasePlant
What I like about PhasePlant presets, is that they have a description, giving advice on how to use them: try chords, play this register, use the modwhell, ...
This is a feature I'd like UVI to copy, since for Falcon, there's only an overall Expansion description.

I purchased Animus, Suspension, Tremor
I'm deeply disappointed. Many presets are not great to bad, I don't think there's much value.

Of the three, Animus by Tom Wolfe is by far the best one, and the only one I can recommend.
It offers great textures and sequences.

Falcon
In my opinion, Falcon expansions are way better value than Kilohearts content banks. They cost $10 more, but they offer at least 2x the amount of presets of the content banks, and the quality is way, way better.

I got Cinematic Shades, Lofi Dreams, Plurality and Subculture Orchestra.

Cinematic shades is nothing short of fantastic, and there are great presets in all its categories (Atmosphere, Basses, Cinematics, Melodics, Pads, Sequences, Textures).

LoFi Dreams is ok, and it's probably great for people into this genre.
I'm underwhelmed by bass presets in general. LoFi has a few good ones.
It's "Acoustic Pianos" are fine for this genre.
IMO, Leads and Pads could be better.

Plurality
I have very mixed feelings about Plurality.
Simon Stockhausen is a genius and a brainy musician, and it shows.
What I love is that there are many presets that are fantastic soundscapes, textures.
And indeed, it is sold as a cinematic library. But there's very little that can be "played" (chords, etc).

On the opposite, there are preset such as Flutes / Glass Harps and so on.
There are paradoxical. They're presets that can't be instantly used in my opinion.
They're "brainy presets". To take advantage of them, one really has to take the time and experiment.
If you watch Simon's videos on his YouTube channel, he's often playing with the same sound for a few minutes, and it's both interesting and beautiful. I think that's how some of these presets are intended to be used.
Others remind of samples library and articulations that have to be experimented with.

Subculture
Subculture is very interesting.
First listening was a little disappointing: I created a "preset listener" project with very long notes, very short notes, chords, passage for pluck sounds and the like.
But subculture is intended to be used in a very specific and limited tone register.
So I'll have to listen again, taking its specificity into account.

If you have expansion / preset recommendations, or advice on how to use a certain preset, or pieces that highlight their qualities, don't hesitate to share them.

If you disagree with me and think I've been unfair, by all means do tell, if possible, with examples.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you meant in calling Subculture Orchestral niche, or as having a limited tonal register. It's on the bass side of things, but I find these patches extremely versatile in terms of mood and genre.

I recommend looking into some non-Uvi, third-party soundware for Falcon. There may not be a lot compared to some synths, but there are some amazing offerings.

Leap Into The Void has a good orchestral-based one, if you are interested in that. Triple Spiral Audio's Empty Fields is gorgeous.
 
cedricm said:
I purchased Animus, Suspension, Tremor
I'm deeply disappointed. Many presets are not great to bad, I don't think there's much value.

Of the three, Animus by Tom Wolfe is by far the best one, and the only one I can recommend.
It offers great textures and sequences.
Click to expand...
I have the KiloHearts subscription which includes all the official libraries for PhasePlant. For $10 it's a great way to test the product fully.

I quickly skimmed the three libraries you mentioned and didn't find them amazing either. I also agree the value is not great. 50 presets for $30 seems quite expensive.

I also skimmed the other included libraries and I actually found more stuff I liked in the factory presets. Like some of the pads by emptyvessel.
 
The Falcon preset packs are way better than the ones you get from Kilohearts.

Some of those Kilohearts ones are by youtube dudes who have a nice youtube presence but honestly, are not that skilled in sound design except Dan Gulch but I don't like Psi Trance. At least that's the explanation I'm making up for the garbage preset packs Phaseplant has. The other problem with the Phaseplant presets is that they are generally just for edm type stuff.

So it's a huge mistake for developers to pick up youtube people who have no actual commercial success outside of making how to videos as their foundation for creative work. They make really great mediocre stuff.

The presets are so bad in Phaseplant it does make me question how versatile it really is. Truth is most of my presets that I've made have an industrial synthetic feel that often doesn't fit the music I compose. It's a harsh sounding synth. I'm not sure if it's because I don't have any good examples to learn from or that it's they way the synth is. I'm leaning toward it's the synth.

The Falcon 2 presets are amazing though. Even the ones that are more for electronic are like 10x better than the Phaseplant ones. And they are made not by youtube hacks who don't really understand the instrument or sound design. They are made by people who either understand the instrument at a very deep level or have a real world track record for sound design or they are made in house and must be seriously vetted at a high level. Those presets falcon has get so much out of the instrument. The Voklm pack is one of my favorites because of how unique it is.

I don't have the Tom Wolf packs from Phaseplant but I'm not surprised if people find them better than everything Phaseplant has put forward because he's not some youtube dude they found. He's a well recognized sound designer.

It's a long rant but if you are looking to recruit talent on youtube, think about what the talent really is. It's making entertaining videos, so those people are great to recruit for walk through videos and things like that. They are professional video makers not musicians in most cases, though there are a few who went and had success first in their field before going youtube, that's a little different and more the exception.

The only Falcon pack I'm a little disappointed with that I own was the subculture orchestral. I thought I'd love it, but I like the original subculture a lot more.
 
liquidlino said:
I've got Inner Dimensions, Lo-fi Dreams, and Voklm. Inner dimensions has some great sounds, but they're all trapped behind sequences that don't have an off switch on the info label. I have to go and deep dive the tree and find them and turn them off.

Lo fi dreams. It's a very specific genre. Beautiful patches, but not something I think I will use too often.

Voklm. This is my favourite so far. Great atmospheres, pads and playable instruments. All based around the concept of using vocal samples as oscillators.

I also have vintage vault 3 with 11,500 presets. But they're all very samey samey. There's really only so much substractive classic synths can do. The FM suite is definitely the highlight of vintage vault. But it's great having all the other vintage synths too, I use lots of vv3 regularly in tracks.

Ultimately my favourite thing to do is make my own patches. Usually from scratch. Making sounds inspires a track. Playing presets doesn't often inspire a track.
Click to expand...
Volkm is on my radar, as well as other Falcon 2 preset packs, just waiting for the next sale.

Indeed, creating one's own patch is extremely rewarding.

Good patches from extensions are a major source of knowledge and ideas for one's own patch building, but also inspiration for music, sometimes a solution to writer's block.
 
Macrawn said:
The Falcon preset packs are way better than the ones you get from Kilohearts.
Click to expand...
Personally I don't think it's an issue with the synth itself, but rather that most PhasePlant presets have way too many effects.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it's just a natural tendency because it's so damn fun to use effects in PhasePlant, or maybe KiloHearts just insisted that's what they wanted to showcase.

BTW @Empty Vessel is not some random youtuber :)

I love how PhasePlant sounds, but I find there are some effects that do have a plastic digital quality to them. Like the Disperser which seems very popular in the presets.
 
Pier said:
Honestly, I'm not sure if it's just a natural tendency because it's so damn fun to use effects in PhasePlant, or maybe KiloHearts just insisted that's what they wanted to showcase.
Click to expand...
It's partly design and partly marketing I think. One of the main selling points for PP lies in the multiband/multichannel FX, so there is a natural temptation to stack them up. It is amusing to go through some of them turning half the effects off to find they either make little tangible difference or actually improve the sounds.

You also get the same vicious/virtuous circle effect you get with Serum and, now, Vital. Serum got a rep for being good at brostep because it does the sandpaper-your-ears sound or the uncanny-valley acoustics of future bass in a fairly clean way, which seems to be a requirement for current pop styles (and will probably go out of fashion real fast at some point in the future). So, people buy the synth for that and choose presets that bolster that image so it seems all you've got are those brostep and bass music presets. And what you don't get are a lot of very playable presets but a whole lot of one-finger wubwub presets.

With Phase Plant this also isn't helped by a lack of standard MIDI CC input lanes: basically modwheel, velocity, pressure and er....that's it. That doesn't really lend itself to more organic sounds, which further pushes it into the territory of heavy-LFO presets that are kinda impressive in short bursts but aren't that useful as instruments. Falcon OTOH is very much geared up for creating more complete instruments. And Serum is more flexible than PP when it comes to MIDI control.
 
Pier said:
Personally I don't think it's an issue with the synth itself, but rather that most PhasePlant presets have way too many effects.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it's just a natural tendency because it's so damn fun to use effects in PhasePlant, or maybe KiloHearts just insisted that's what they wanted to showcase.

BTW @Empty Vessel is not some random youtuber :)

I love how PhasePlant sounds, but I find there are some effects that do have a plastic digital quality to them. Like the Disperser which seems very popular in the presets.
Click to expand...
You are making a good point. I was over generalizing about the youtubers.

I think you are right about the effects. I'm looking down at my feet right now as I got a little carried away with the disperser on some of my own presets.

I don't own the wolf pack but my favorite one that I own is the pack called Tremor by Arovane. He's getting the sounds I want to make.
 
gamma-ut said:
With Phase Plant this also isn't helped by a lack of standard MIDI CC input lanes: basically modwheel, velocity, pressure and er....that's it. That doesn't really lend itself to more organic sounds, which further pushes it into the territory of heavy-LFO presets that are kinda impressive in short bursts but aren't that useful as instruments. Falcon OTOH is very much geared up for creating more complete instruments. And Serum is more flexible than PP when it comes to MIDI control.
Click to expand...
The idea is that instead of using Midi CCs you'd use the macros for that.

You can right click on the macro knob, and then midi learn with any CC you'd like.

1638734751886.png

So now you can browse the presets and tweak the macros much like you'd tweak the XY performance things in Zebra, but without having to ever leave the preset browser. Even use the mouse if one prefers that.

In my case, since I'm using Bitwig, these macros are automatically mapped to my knobs.

1638735047317.png

I know Ableton Live has a similar feature. I wrote this mini tutorial on how to set it up.

Not sure about Cubase and Logic, but I think Studio One has a similar feature called macros.


so50_mixing_channel_editor_macro_ctrl.png
 
Pier said:
The idea is that instead of using Midi CCs you'd use the macros for that.

You can right click on the macro knob, and then midi learn with any CC you'd like.

1638734751886.png

So now you can browse the presets and tweak the macros much like you'd tweak the XY performance things in Zebra, but without having to ever leave the preset browser. Even use the mouse if one prefers that.

In my case, since I'm using Bitwig, these macros are automatically mapped to my knobs.

1638735047317.png

I know Ableton Live has a similar feature. I wrote this mini tutorial on how to set it up.

Not sure about Cubase and Logic, but I think Studio One has a similar feature called macros.


so50_mixing_channel_editor_macro_ctrl.png
Click to expand...
Studio One does indeed.
 
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