Vengeance Producer Suite - Avenger synth [1.3.1 FM cross modulation out now]

[Guy Rowland]

EDIT 9/5/17 - Links to the 1.2.0 and then 1.3.1 updates are on page 3 of this thread.

This was actually announced some time ago as a work in progress, with the aim of a 2017 release, but there's now a lot more videos and information. Essentially it appears to be a does-it-all scalable synth with a non-exclusive emphasis on EDM, very much like Nexus 2 but with full control over everything and a broader range. Here's a wearingly long video going through some of the factory presets, but on the way gives a taste of the synthesis and effects options:



And here's a summary of the feature set:

• up to 8 OSC Modules:
each OSC with own V-Saw (Supersaw) (1-7 voices, 1-4 octs, pan spread)
each OSC with its own vibrato LFO (which can modulate every V-Saw (Supersaw) voice seperately)
each OSC with own Chorder (Note Stacker, Unison)
each OSC with additional Sub OSC model
each OSC can have its own synthesis model (see "GENERATORS" for details)
• OSC Transformation parameters:
Xcite (bending the waveform in any direction)
Formant (pulse with modulate any waveform)
Bit/Crush (Rate/Bit reduce any waveform)
Sync (easy sync mode with built in modulation env)
Volume / Pan / Transpose / Finetune / Random&Alternate Pitch
Noise Generator (level, noise color / noise rate reducer, stereo spread)
FM & AM (if you wish Alias free mode), FM source: countless basic waveforms, noise or own custom drawable shapes. Rate is syncable to semitones/octaves/7ths etc)
FFT editor for each OSC Module: Edit all spectral content in realtime, delete odd harmonics, boost octaves performs morphs or create custom filtersweeps
Randomizer
many FFT presets (organ overtone registers, crazy stuff etc...)
use our unique feature to randomly pulsate every band!
• up to 8 ARP Modules:
up / down / random / poly modes
editable note lengths and note transposes / velocities
each arp has up to 4 sub patterns (A B C D), means you can make complex melodies of 4x 32notes
hundreds of ARP presets
• up to 8 Step SQ Modules:
contour, decay, gate time, editable step lengths and velocity
perfectly synces Step SQ
Can be quickly used as TranceGate effect
does not click
stereo mode (L/R)
comes with many presets, even such as sidechain simulations, rhythmic gates etc...

• up to 8 Mod Envelope Modules:
free configurable envelopes, add as many points as you like
can also be in sync mode (quarter/triplet) to create moving and unique patterns
countless trigger modes, such as firt/last notes, arpeggio, bassdrum from drum SQ etc
can oneshot, loop, loop with release phase, ping pong etc...

• up to 8 Pitch Envelope Modules:
BiPolar Pitch envelope where you can add as many additional points as you like
sync and trigger modes like in the Mod Envelope
portamento modes: normal, poly, legato and poly legato (yes) with custom depth and portamento pitch curve
editable Pitchbend lag time

• up to 4 AMP Modules:
OSCs can be routet in different AMP Modules:
each AMP module has its own (analog) AHDSR envelope, but can be triggered from other env sources, such as MOD Envelope, too
spike parameter, which REALLY spikes this time. You have been warned!
volume / Pan / Keytrack
stereo spread parameter

• up to 4 FILTER Modules + Master Filter Module:
OSCs can be routet in different FILTER Modules
each FILTER module has its own (analog) AHDSR envelope, but can be triggered from other env sources, such as MOD Envelope, too
at the moment 47 Filtertypes, all basic filter types as well as analog filter, comb filter, talking/vowel filters, peakfilters, fm/crush, TB filter etc...
resonance type selectable: additive or volume compensated
each filter has Drive, Drive oversampled and a neat Comb filter

• up to 4 SHAPER Modules:
the Shaper modules add distortion (per voice!) for each osc which is routet into it
at the moment 17 unique distortion models
two pre distortion EQ bands to shape the distortion tone
stereo split mode
can be pre or post FILTER or AMP modules

• up to 4 LFO Modules:
17 LFO Shapes to chose from +3 freely drawable shapes
fade in / delay
change offset (y axis) phase (x axis)
countless trigger modes, such as firt/last notes, arpeggio, bassdrum from drum SQ etc
of course syncable (normal, triplet, dotted), with extra long LFO times

• Drum Sequencer:
dedicated drum sequencer for the drumkits with up to 16 bars
triplet or quarter mode
roll function for each note (x2, x3, x4 etc)
each note has velocity, pan, pitch or gate time
multiple selection tool: draw a box and select multiple notes, delete them, move them (with cursor arrows up/down/left/right) or st the velocity for all at once
many special modes: flip, reverse, mirror, copy/fill blocks etc

• powerful routing system:
add new modules and re-arrange the order the signal passes the modules for each OSC
apply send FX
graphic routing help system: rightclick on a module in the OSC routing diagram lets a cross-hair apear, to show you where this module is located in the GUI

• unique new Modmatrix system:
"Drag and Drop" creation of ModMatrix entries. Just drag a source and drop it to any target you want on the GUI
"grouped" mod matrix. Means you can change all modmatrix assigments with 1 click to a LFO assignment for example
"+" (additive) or "%" (percentage) modes
lag parameter. Smoothens the modulation, giving it inertia (for wha wha etc...)
cool new mod sources, such as PORTAMENTO glide (for example open the filter with the glide movement)
almost everything in VPS Avenger can be connected and modulated

• MACRO Controllers:
All Factory presets are pre-routet with cool modulations on these Macro Controllers
3 Macro knobs
2 Macro buttons

• up to 6 free routable FX busses:
4 Insert FX Racks with 8 FX slots each
Send FX Rack
Master FX Rack
like in your DAW you can route the FX into each other
You can route past the Master FX bus. For example can everything be compressed and limited on the Master Bus, except the Bassdrum, which will be dry routet to the output
at the moment 30 FX types: Delay, ArtsAcoustic Reverb, Trashverb, V-Verb, Room Sim, Impulse Response Reverb (with new IRs!), Gated Rev, Flanger, Chorus, Phaser, Multimod, Ministop (Tapestop!), Minichain (Sidechain), Bitcrusher, Distotion, Fuzzbox, Multiband Dist, Vinylizer, Waveshaper, Limiter, Compressor, Stereo Matrix, 4Band Equalizer, Multiband Limiter, Vintage Chorus, Vintage Flanger, Vintage Phaser, Rotary Simulation, Ensemble ARP, Ensemble 330
each FX type comes with many many presets.

• Wavetable Envelope / Editor:
specialized envelope for all wavetables
can oneshot, pingpong, loop. Global or per voice
"wobble" pattern generator. Unique new system, which lets you multiply, revese or flip the envelope with a pattern
Fade in / outs, zoom, normalize, reverse for wavetables

• further features:
Mixer Page: all busses and tracks at once for mixing and levelling
keyzones / velzones: create complex key and velocity zones with fade ins/outs for each OSC / drums
support for MIDI foot pedals, breath controller etc. For example: with one click assign your expression pedal to move the modwheel or the sustain pedal to control the release / any other parameter
global shuffle factor: All shuffles (ARP, StepSQ, DrumSQ etc) are linked to each other
parameter lock: lock your shuffle, volume or filter settings during preset change
powerful UNDO function: whatever you did, it can be UNDOne with 1 click
real monophonic mode: multiple notes wont kill your original now when released. You will notice this immediately when playing
Tooltips explaining each parameter (can be turned off)
customizable INIT preset
navigate with cursor keys through the library
export your current OSC shape with 1 click. Whenever you created new and cool waveforms you can add them into your library as a new OSC shape.

• Graphic / Librarian / Browser:
easy to use preset selector, Favourites, own expansions (with icons)
Tag Cloud for every preset... tag based seach system
File Browser for importing own drums, multisamples, shapes or wavetables
VPS Avenger will come with at least 500 high quality presets from all genres
GUI open for skinning
runs ultra smoothly in 60hz
resizable skin in realtime - just resize it like a Windows window (if supported by host)
everything is displayed in realtime, the waveform changes, the knob modulations etc. The presets come to life visually.




OSC GENERATORS:

• classic VA Synthesesis
regular synthesis with saw, square, sine, noise, tri etc...

• Oscillator Shapes:
You can import and convert ANY 1 cycle waveform sample into an Oscillator shape. Once the waveform is imported, you can transform it in every direction possible, 100% alias free.
there are thousands of hand selected shapes to chose from in VPS Avengers factory library. Many emulate the shapes of classic gear or complex digital shapes, dubstep screams, real instruments etc...

• Freeform:
You can freely draw your own OSC shapes. Use a pencil or draw lines, use smoothening parameters or normalize, fade in/outs as help to create every shape you can imagine.

• Wavetable Synthesis:
if you stack up to 128 Oscillator Shapes you will have a Wavetable. Wavetables can be morphed seamleassy and have their own powerful editor and morphing envelopes
VPS Avengers factory library will come with more than 500 top notch wavetables, ranging from all kind of synthesis tricks, vocals, harmonic/disharmonic spectrals, FM or real instrument morphs. Of yourse you can load and create your
own wavetables.

• Resample:
Basically this is a wavetable editor, this Synthesis mode lets you cycle through long wave files, to explore microscopic grains as an OSC source.

• Multisamples:
Each of VPS Avengers 8 Oscillators can also be a Multisample player. With our new "Sample Stacker" feature you can layer up to 4 multisamples in each OSC module with 1 click. VPS Avenger comes with a huge library of 500+ multisamples, ranging from
pianos & organs, synths, real instruments, voices etc. Furthermore there are 2 special Sample Sources: Attack Clicks and Organic Noises which are great layer additions.

• Drumkits:
This are real drumkits with their own drum edit page and a exclusive new Drum Sequencer. VPS Avenger comes with more than 128 Drumkits from all possible genres, while each drumkit holds 12 perfectly mixed and matches
drumsamples. Furthermore each drumkit has its own Drum Sequencer pattern. You can Change the Kits or the Pattern seperately, which gives you endless combinations. Of course you can create your own kits by filling it with normal drum samples.

There's a long KVR thread discussing it with developer input http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 1&t=467127 . No firm price or release date yet, but they seem to suggest around the 199 euro price point.

It might just have to be done.

[Guy Rowland]

Here's some more tutorial videos

OSC section



Resizing the GUI



FFT Spectrum Filter

[woodsdenis]

Probably the most feature laden synth to be released , always the issue is stability and CPU use. Its like the dev decided to put everything he wanted in it, and why not.

[Guy Rowland]

One nice feature is that it's all scalable. So if you just use one oscillator and reverb, I think the CPU hit will be near zero. You only processor-pay for the stuff you use, I think.

[woodsdenis]

If you look at the processor load in the vids its not outrageous, he does have a relatively fast machine though.

[Guy Rowland]

One new video, on the amp and filter sections:



I have to say, I'm getting extremely impressed with what I see and hear - I thoroughly recommend the Oscillator video linked in the 2nd post as a good starting point to get a feel for its breadth. It's the first serious rival to Omnisphere I think, though that statement needs qualification. They will both occupy different spaces really, with Omni more skewed to cinematic and hybrid organic sounds, and Avenger to electronica, EDM etc, although both can do either. But what they share is a huge diversity of both source material and manipulation - and a way of organising sounds that is from the right century (astonishingly, this is still uncommon).

I'm finding the UI really interesting, as its a different approach from Omni. I've always liked Omni conceptually, a clean interface where you drill down for details in each section. It works great. Avenger is about seeing everything all at once, then using tabs to focus on a specific area. To that end I think Avenger will need all the screen real estate it can get. I feel minded to get to know this synth, it'll be interesting to see if it is as quick or indeed quicker to use than Omni in practice. I like some of the ideas like drag and drop for modulation, quick and easy front panel reordering of signal flow etc.

Oh, and I love that there's a whole drum section in there too, with a pattern editor, and easy swapping of kits and kit elements (crucially, I understand there's also to be separate outputs).

[Guy Rowland]

Here's the drums. To me, this is golden - a simple, easy to use step sequencer integrated into the drum software, so its easy to change everything from effects to pitch to anything on a note by note basis. What he doesn't mention in the video is that there will also be provision to route every element to any output.

Would be nice to see this expanded to cover broader territory beyond electronic basic kit elements, but as is it'll be very useful to me.

[Guy Rowland]

Mod Matrix and LFO demo:

[Guy Rowland]

A slew more. This does look phenomenally well conceived and executed.

[Guy Rowland]

I'm keeping going with this, clearly. FX section, again pretty mind-blowing stuff.

[TheUnfinished]

As I mentioned to you elsewhere, Guy... I think this is a potentially terrific synth if you haven't already got all this covered elsewhere. Which I suspect most people into softsynths will have.

If you want to pare that all down to using just one synth (instead of using Spire, Serum, Massive, Sylenth, etc.), then it'll work nicely. It's got some extra bells and whistles if you want them, and the process seems pretty intuitive.

Plus, the presets will make the EDM crowd wee themselves silly.

[Guy Rowland]

I sort of don't feel I have this covered - I do own Massive which I've never liked, but none of the others. I kind of see this as an electronic-focused Omnisphere. I suppose this is where I see it being a really useful addition:

1. Breadth. Every section of the synth seems to be hugely wide-ranging - Oscillators / Wavetables / Samples, modulation, Arp, step sequencer, drum sequencer, vast FX section, pretty much everything seems to have pretty much everything. They seem to have thrown in almost everything under one hood.

2. The UI. Seems very well conceived, simple dragging and dropping seems very appealing. In theory, very quick to work with and yet extremely tweakable.

3. Modular. Not in the sense of patch cables, but in the sense of you build the size of synth you need.

4. Browser. Not that it's been specifically touched on in a video yet, but it has tags. Still astonishing how rare that is, and finding a specific sound quickly is accordingly not as easy as it should be all too often. I'm also optimistic that it will avoid the over-tagging in Omni, and keep things more generically useful.

5. Drum sequencer. This is a biggie for me. I'm still looking for the perfect sequencer / sounds hybrid. This will be focused on commercial stuff, but given that it looks very well designed - I'd be interested in this as a standalone product in fact, its inexplicably rate to combine sounds with sequencing. But this goes much further - not only can you automate sample parameters alongside more conventional DAW chores, it's the prospect of combining it with other synth parts that is really interesting - either being able to design your own kit elements with oscillators to sit alongside the samples, or sideschain a bass from a bass drum or far more specific and esoteric things.

6. Sep outputs for everything - especially important for (5)

7. Sounds good from what Ive heard. Yes, focused on EDM which it nails perfectly (would be nice to retire Nexus), and I'm hoping we'll hear more of it's analogue and cinematic sides and they prove to be up to scratch also.

I suppose I'm not so interested in specialised synths. It takes ages to learn a synth in my experience, so I look for stuff that can do a lot, that I know how to use and can turn to and get results for a broad range of stuff. I think there's huge gains in putting all this stuff under the one roof.

[Guy Rowland]

Just was reminded of one great example of where their all out assault on attention to detail plus features. In the drum sequencer, you can set the impact point of any sample, so handclaps will always be in time at any tempo, or reverse samples all perfectly align. That's the kind of thing I'm seeing again and again - it seems to be incredibly musician-focused.

[Guy Rowland]

Oh, and right on cue, the preset browser.

[Guy Rowland]

This is the one I've been waiting for (there's a ton of other videos I haven't linked on the Vengeance YouTube channel). Individual outs, enough for every drum plus 5 other outputs.



It's been befuddling me for years how few choices there are for drum samplers that also have sequencers. Avenger looks like a really good option simply as a drum machine. There's lots of really interesting things you can do internally with the fx, modulation etc, but having separate bussing is still essential imo.

[Erik]

Thanx Guy !
Looks and sounds very promissing, though I tend to stay away from "usine à gaz"* all-in-one solution type of VSTi nowadays -guess I'm becoming too lazy and old to start from scratch.
Like you, I'm looking for a step sequencer that could deliver nice patterns with whatever sounds I feed it with and with almost no hassle.

*gas factory : french way to say a big and convoluted and complex system difficult to manipulate and/or to learn.

[dadek]

it does sound great, but i'm fairly well covered at this point.
what would make me by into it, was if Matt, TheUnfinished, started to release sound sets for it.

[Guy Rowland]

I don't know if Matt's gonna be convinced, but it should be a very good product for 3rd party sets - a huge amount of versatility obviously, but (for once) also a good library manager. I'd like to see people really making the most of this synth - the factory library will I strongly suspect be skewed towards modern EDM, leaving all sorts of scope and possibilities. I'd LOVE to see expansions entirely focused on drums, for example, especially when it's possible to design your own kit elements from scratch as oscillators and have them routed to the drum sequencer. And - of course - more focus on the analogue era stuff (which I'm told it handles very well, though there's been little public focus on it so far).

BTW, the developer said yesterday:

it wont be (soft) elicenser, its a keyfile / serial protection by us

[Guy Rowland]

For those fellow analogue-heads who were sick of the modern EDM skew in the videos, this is a quick showcase at how Avenger performs at the olde end of synthesis:



December 1 for release, apparently, expected price 199 euros.

[Guy Rowland]

Release date confirmed as December 1st - 3 days from now.

Price 199 Euros inc VAT for Europeans. 3 expansions available at launch for 65 euros each - EDM 1, Future/Chill, Trap/Moombah, expansions include Patches, Drumkits & Sequences, Multisamples, Shapes and Wavetables. December sale of 20% off both synth and expansions.

[woodsdenis]

Did you spot any demo info? asked on the KVR but no response.

[Guy Rowland]

Did you spot any demo info? asked on the KVR but no response.

No, not sure either. One other useful bit of info though - three authorizations per purchase.

[Muziksculp]

Two Days to go !

[Guy Rowland]

(Yes there will be a demo, just read)

[woodsdenis]

(Yes there will be a demo, just read)

Tx seems as if the demo is down at the moment as they have server problems.