Which would you keep? Polysynth sound comparison!

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After listening, I liked best

  • for lead: “first”
  • for bass and pad: “third”

What I think is that, if the attack of the lead played by the “third” was shorter, I might have liked this much better. It was too smooth and washed compared to the others, if this makes any sense.

So after opening the spoiler … Nord made the race :smiley:

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That was a nice blind test to take, thank you! I’ve been thinking about letting the Peak go but in this sound comparison I probably liked it the best. After listening to a lot of Prophet 12 demos in the past couple of weeks and watching my GAS for it grow, I was surprised I preferred the other two synths over it - especially on the first listening. Peak and Nord just sounded “more familiar” to my ears.

Having said that, I think it was more a case of the patches being different rather than one being ‘better’ than the others. A good example is the PW Lead. On first listening I thought the P12 was just downright thin and kinda weird, but after a couple of times that one also sounded good albeit fairly different in character.

My takeaway should probably be that “the best polysynth is the one you have” (you meaning me :smiley: ). Stop looking at anything else during these idle 15 minutes breaks I currently have too much of during the day…

Edit: Now I’ve got the riff you played with with the PW Lead stuck in my head! Gee, thanks! :rofl:

Always loved the old Nord leads. Classics.

Nord sounds special (especially on 1st and 3rd) … seems to be due to unison

Peak sounds “fuller” and P12 sounds “thinner”. That’s going to be a personal preference.

Personally: In an isolated setting, I’d say the Peak sounds better but in a mix I’d probably prefer the Prophet. I actually recently sold my Peak because I didn’t like trying to tame it’s fullness (it wasn’t the sound I was going for). I’ve looked at a P12 but for the price I’m drawn to the Micromonsta 2. I love my Nord Drum and would probably love a Nord synth as well.

So I’d probably keep the Nord unless the P12’s interface and sound really called to me. Now you just gotta figure out what you want to do :wink:

I thought all three sounded good, though the patches weren’t well matched. Might be better to try stuff with out the spread / unison stuff being so prominent.

Maybe workflow is a key point? Isn’t the P12 a bit of a mare, or at least takes a lot of getting used to? And how’s workflow on the Nord rack? I have a Peak, I know that’s pretty strong on the knobs and layout front.

What do we think the Nord is doing in Unison that gives it such a full / broad sound? (I agree it does sound nice!)

Ultimately, they all sound great, it’s just a matter of what fits best with you. And as always, getting to know the instrument really well so you can get the most out of it!