Hello
I would like please somebody to explain to me the philosophy and the starting concept of Vital?
Thanks for your reply
All the best
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Every synth has it’s own unique features, but they can be classified into different classes (i.e. Vital is a subtractive wavetable synth, which is the same as Serum). From this you can get an idea of what kind of sound a synth is capable of (a simple subtractive synth would have trouble recreating ROM synth sounds).
A common method of creating more complex sounds on synths is to use modulations. Digital synths these days are getting more and more versatile on modulations. Vital is centered around being able to easily modulate sounds.
I’m not exactly what you are asking when you say philosophy, but here we go. Vital is a free synth, so I see it as more a contribution to the community of music production. If you look into the past, Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, didn’t patent it because he believed it was for everyone, and patenting it to earn money would just be out of greed for money. I kind of see a similarity here for Vital - Vital could easily be a commercial synth. It could easily go for over a hundred dollars. But it didn’t, and instead it’s going to greatly benefit the music production world.
As for starting out for Vital, it’s probably one of the best synths to learn sound design. It is centered around visualizing as much as it can. One impediment I had back when I was learning sound design was I didn’t exactly know what was going on underneath; I just knew it worked. A vast majority of analog synths do not show what is going on underneath. In fact, the DX7 has a tiny little screen which makes it a real pain (in my opinion, others may vary) to create sounds with.
If you really want to dive in to sound design right away, there’s nothing stopping you. That’s how I began. It’s just that you can’t set your expectations high because if you just begin sound design, there’s a chance you might not get the sounds you want. Watch all of the Youtube videos you can about subtractive synthesis (the more you know, the easier everything gets. And don’t just limit yourself to subtractive). Ask questions in forums - blog posts on the internet can work, but people have that extra charm.
tl;dr - The more knowledge the better, be patient in everything, don’t be afraid to ask simple questions.
Hope this points you in the right direction
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Hello snfk
Thank you for the time you spent answering me.
I am very sensitive to what you have written and would like to soberly congratulate you on your “philosophy” or your approach to music which honors you.
First, I will buy your version for $ 25, hoping that then upgrading to the Pro version will not be too complicated?
All the best
Another software synthesizer at which you should take a serious look is VCV Rack. This is a simulated modular synthesizer where you make the architecture yourself. Also there are virtual oscilloscopes and frequency analyzers you can use to see what the various modules are doing to your sound. There are even simple wavetable modules that might help you get a mental model about what Vital accomplishes. In truth, both should be important arrows in your musical quiver.
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You will get a “discount” towards the upgrade ( info from reading other posts)
edit: that is, off all the value you have spend already.
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Excellent post.
I saw prerelease promos for Vital on youtube channels I follow. I respect the people who host those channels and they were all impressed with it. Something about it really appealed to me.
I saw an approachable instrument. Its flat design was just “right.” It was capable of creating complex sounds with a friendly and creative drag and drop routing system.
I liked that a free version was offered, but I oped for the Pro Version.
Vital will appeal to a wide range of users in various styles of music. I hope it works and is developed further.
All of these factors and perhaps others speak to a philosophy that values sound creation and community. I like that. I’m not sure I could give the philosophy a name, maybe one will develop over time.
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I know exactly what you mean - it’s like a pocket calculator that will do your calculus homework for you.
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Great words.
I agree with your words and I will very soon also buy the Pro version.
I hope that many presets will be created because sometimes it is very useful !!
All the best
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The Presets are a mixed bag. Some are excellent others not as appealing to me but they all show off what the instrument can do. I got the pro version because I wanted to show some respect for the effort and wanted the unlimited TTWT feature.
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The same for me!! 