Haha I don’t know 
but thank you anyway 
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These are typically very very good. I never got on with the Model 72, but all the others are stellar. Not sure why… But oh man, this one sounds mega.
I seem to remember this topic came up with the Model 80. Ymmv (and you’re def not doing anything wrong), what it seems to be is the way it handles processing. If you load up something comparable like Repro-5, it will hover on a low CPU before you do anything. If you play 5 voices, it will go up to something like 20%, but play less and you use less CPU. Whereas the Softube one just sits there hogging those resources regardless of what you play. I’m not sure why it does this. The bad bit is for example, playing a bass part takes the same amount of juice as playing a poly chord. It’s almost like now we have ARM chips, synths are using more power so in some cases you’ll go back to needing to freeze & flatten tracks once you’ve got your notes down.
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I feel I have explained this poorly. So the tone selectors of the original CS-80 are like its factory presets. So what surprises me most is not that there’s variation in sound (which, as you say, could be explained by variances in age/analog/manufacturing), but that the actual settings themselves are so different. Compare:
STR1:
FLU1:
This isn’t “a little more attack” or “slightly less decay”. They’re just completely different shapes on the settings level.
I’m not sure how the original CS-80 wired up the tone selectors, but I would have thought in the worst case both these companies would have measured voltages to the various parameters to derive authentic settings. Instead it looks like at least one (maybe both?) patched them by ear and ended up with very different results.
It’s just surprising to me considering how many iconic CS-80 performances only used these factory presets. But maybe a moot point given most modern plugin users ignore the tone selector completely in favor of native patches, I imagine.
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What do we think folks, is this Softube maybe trying to get their own version of V collection on the market? Sort of in a “less but better” way maybe?
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Seems like Cherry Audio’s mission too, although their schtick also seems to be “here’s the lesser known counterpart to that popular synth everyone is copying” (see Wurlitzer 140 and Jupiter-6)
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Maybe. Though they’re gunning for effects, mixing and mastering paired with their hardware.
So I would imagine, they’ll always be stronger in the mixing and mastering area no matter.
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For what it’s worth, this switching between dual layering hasn’t been a nuisance for me.
Not that anyone asked 
but still.
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Trying the 20 day demo now, but will get it when next salary comes, just got tsar1 some days ago after seen you recomend it many times, and its my new favorite reverb now 
have all model synths now and heard softube are working on a big update for modular
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Lovely 
yeah, I use TSAR-1 on everything. I think it actually helps that it’s just one algorithm. Slap it on all your channels, and however you tweak it, you’ll always get a consistent sounding space but with variations. It’s bleeding brilliant.
And so’s this new CS-80 version. This one replaces my blanfor.ms tape synth from Spitfire. I can get the sounds I want from this one in that vein, and with more control. And I get to feel like I’m part of a legacy. Lovely days.
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Oof yeah, on the CPU stuff, it’s hitting about as hard as the Model 80 (which I also got a while back.) On my M1 it’s hovering at about 20%. As I say, a bit of freezing isn’t the end of the world, but they don’t exactly sip the resources these emus.
Quick question for those of you into this. Do you find the 1-1 emulations more fun/useful/helpful than a do-it-all thing like Diva?
As much as love all my Softube emulations. Thats all they will ever be sadly. I would love the real synths in my studio. I would give up everything for a working CS-80
I definitely prefer 1 to 1. You have to abide by the rules of the developer rather than making your setup overpowered. Once you have limitations that you are aware of then you can think like a composer. Arturia emulator II feels like this because you are planning out what samples to use rather than slapping on a D16 decimort ii emulator ii preset.
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Yeah that’s a good point. Somehow it can feel like navigating a maze in Diva, for all its sonic strengths. Impressive with the 77 is how simple it is, even compared to other emus.
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Totally. If a tool’s got more than three features, I’m out.
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Makes me feel fine about owning the Arturia version, though none of them sounded close to as cool as the real thing
me too, sometimes Arturia throws me off because they have a certain sheen to all of their products, but when it comes down to it they do sound good to my ears
It’s hard to tell when they all sound so different, and he has the vibrato on the actual CS-80 on. I feel like a bit more patch matching could’ve helped.
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I use their Tape MELLO-FI on almost all there VSTs to dirty it up.
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I’ve had that for a minute but just started really using it, it’s pretty good… I think arturia’s presentation sometimes doesn’t sync well with their sound when they put out vintage plugs… if they presented them more like the boutique devs do emulations they would probably be rated higher… cherry gets all the accolades these days but I prefer the arturia over-all…
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