Poseidon : What is your final verdict?

RUST( i )K

Initially, there was quite a bit of mixed fanfare mixed and reverence for this app when it first hit.

I have not seen many people talking about it since the initial buzz.  I was surprised to see the comments that eluded to the app potentially changing the way they make music and similar refrains.

So- how goes it now?    Everyone still loving on this app?

I personally can't fully say yet.  I find myself thinking it is better than it is while I use it.   Until I use another app, feeling then the sound quality is lacking on Poseiden.  Sort of the old IProphet volume issues and inconsistencies.


What is your favorite feature or strong point of Poseiden?    

richardyot

Love it. I think it has its own sound and you can get some pretty strange noises out of it.

[Deleted User]

Like it - good sounds, arp and UI, but needs custom sample upload before I'll love it. Still get the odd crash, and wsh it didn't default to the same sample when opening too. 4 stars.

RUST( i )K

@richardyot said:

Love it. I think it has its own sound and you can get some pretty strange noises out of it.

@monzo said:

Like it - good sounds, arp and UI, but needs custom sample upload before I'll love it. Still get the odd crash, and wsh it didn't default to the same sample when opening too. 4 stars.

I wish the preset selection process was different.

Samples import would be amazing.


I also loved the recorder in Addictive synth.  I wish they would make that available. I'd pay for it.

JohnnyGoodyear

Hasn't seized my undivided attention, but glad to have it in the wardrobe.

RUST( i )K

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

Hasn't seized my undivided attention, but glad to have it in the wardrobe.

I agree.

Only thing is that when I start putting it side by side other apps of similar size(300+) and function, it really becomes more a Ike Behar pocket square than a Canali suit.

gkillmaster

damn, and ya'll talked me into buying it!                                                

Raised_Eyebrows

Absolutely full stop one of my favorite synths in iOS. Honestly, you can get a huge range of sounds JUST working with the plain 'init' spectral OSC (I've made like 15 patches just working from that) - even before you delve into the spectral stuff, Poseidon manages to be excitingly musical while still offering a range of unusual (non-'traditional' subtractive synthesis) options - playing with the 'Spectrum' tab (brightness/partials/phase lock/residual/etc), the way the osc is scanned (start points, speed, loop points, etc), the excellent sounding and weird filters, all lead me to exciting new places. Don't get me wrong, I love good ol' analog subtractive synthesis, but I do have hardware options for that - Poseidon is on some weird shit and I love it.

Oh, and most importantly - Poseidon comes with (IMO) the best sounding and most flexibly odd effects section on any iOS synth, and I treat that whole zone as part of the synthesis engine as well. The effects section - and synth in general - are definitely NOT designed with 'sweet spots' in mind. Parameter ranges are huge, and many settings sound super weird - but that flexibility allows for much more interesting and varied sounds, if you put the time in and get to know each setting. BEST OF ALL - virsyn synths have always been among the best in iOS land at modeling rich sounding/chewy overdrive/distortion/saturation, and I feel like said algorithms have reached their peak with Poseidon. Love it. The whole thing really feels like a self-contained 'instrument' to me, and it really rewards spending time with it. Also frankly dig the minimal interface, as I already know my way around it quite well - hugely prefer the flat look to the over-shmancy Nave/Cyclop approach. (I mean, it ain't beautiful, but it works).

One major note though - the presets pretty much suck. (to my taste, i know - not knocking whoever made em) The synth can be pushed to much more interesting places than the presets show, and they generally make the synth seem a lot more weedy/flimsy than it actually is capable of being. Anyway, will quit ranting, just love this damn thing - that said, sample resynthesis would take it to the next level. (On that note, Virsyn if you're reading, please please please add a sample playback oscillator to Tera - I fantasize about this constantly...)

JohnnyGoodyear

@Raised_Eyebrows said:

Anyway, will quit ranting, just love this damn thing - that said, sample resynthesis would take it to the next level. (On that note, Virsyn if you're reading, please please please add a sample playback oscillator to Tera - I fantasize about this constantly...)

Excellent enthusiastic review, but as regards the fantasizing you might want to consider getting out more

Raised_Eyebrows

Haha OK, 'fantasizing constantly' actually is more like = 'occasionally going "man, i wish I could get my samples in here" while futzing around with Tera in bed.' I'm obviously mildly prone to overstatement.... (I mean, I AM still looking for that holy grail iOS non-DAW-styled chromatic sampler w/ good filters - but it's not like a life quest or nothin.)

Vorgon

I've come to realise that it's always about the presets for me. I don't have the type of mind that gets into synthesis. (bElieve me, I wish I did).
Poseidon is cool and fun: not having the first idea of how to really use it is something I've got over. But I wish I had your approach @Raised_Eyebrows 'cos you sir know your onions!

[Deleted User]

I've enjoyed the short amount of time of use so far. I find it far easier to program than some synths.

my only pet peeves are the favourites being already used and the presets really don't give the best impression.

As most here, would love to see wave import. If they don't include wave import, I would like to see some iap packs with better presets that use new wave sets.

knewspeak

Love this synth, but I'd love it more if it had sample import

JohnnyGoodyear

@Raised_Eyebrows said:

Haha OK, 'fantasizing constantly' actually is more like = 'occasionally going "man, i wish I could get my samples in here" while futzing around with Tera in bed.' I'm obviously mildly prone to overstatement.... (I mean, I AM still looking for that holy grail iOS non-DAW-styled chromatic sampler w/ good filters - but it's not like a life quest or nothin.)

I see Squire. Futzing around with Tera in bed. You young people and your appetites these days.

Vorgon

She's from Purley....

mrufino1

@gkillmaster said:
damn, and ya'll talked me into buying it!                                                

Well, some here didn't. Ha! This app just wasn't my thing.

JohnnyGoodyear

@Vorgon said:

She's from Purley....

I actually worked in Purley for about six months. Good and filthy memories from a particularly anodyne place (or was then anyway).

Raised_Eyebrows

Super slow day at work (aka I'm distracting myself from doing what I should be doing), so I noodled around a little and recorded a couple of patches I made - not 'better' than the factory presets or anything, but I think they show off a few different flavors of the synth; particularly, the cyborg 'organic-but-superdigital' sound I dig so much (reminds me of a number of hybrid synths, including the ESQ-1 and old Waldorf stuff). All sounds are direct from Poseidon to Audioshare - I mean, I will say that it sounds super awesome through my Eventide H9, but of course even a lowly Casio SK-1 sounds majestic through those algorithms.. anyway, enjoy.

JohnnyGoodyear

@Raised_Eyebrows 

1. A Death in the Empire  
2. The Resistance Rises in High Gloss  
3. Halls Awash with Threat Walking  
4. Teenagers High on Space War  
5. A Vision of Compromise 

Raised_Eyebrows

@JohnnyGoodyear said:

@Raised_Eyebrows 

1. A Death in the Empire  
2. The Resistance Rises in High Gloss  
3. Halls Awash with Threat Walking  
4. Teenagers High on Space War  
5. A Vision of Compromise 

OK, these are the best patch/track titles ever. Titling anything is pretty much my most hated task, so I'm officially JEALOUS. "Teenagers High on Space War" alone sounds like it would be a pretty excellent hyper-obscure 1983 cassette-only minimal wave album.

anickt

I think Poseidon has a unique character and is fun to use. It's always sounds "different" to my ear. 

MrNezumi

Final verdict? It seems a bit too soon to ask that. For right now, I love it. Easily in my top three synths. It is a breeze to program new patches, it sounds good to my ears and I love the arp/sequencer.

Brain

Poseidon is the latest synth that makes me yearn for an iPhone version! And I've never used it.

u0421793

I very much like it, and although haven’t touched it this week, last week it did occupy a lot of my time. I haven’t explored the presets beyond the one it comes up in, but the synthesis aspects are positively impressive and form a journey that pretty much goes the way I want it to, but surprises me beneficially along the way. It’s not the same old stuff at all. 

At first I thought I’d like sample import, but on further thought, I’d say it shouldn’t even have the samples it does have. I think the weak point is the initial starting wavetables, and it’d be better if it had a way of not having fixed wavetables so much as stochastically generating them from within (as well as having a set of fairly orthogonal predictable simplistic ones, as it already does). There’s pretty much no reason really for it to depend on a sonic piece of the outside world as the initial conditions, they’re going to be unrecognisable pretty soon anyway. I think external sample import would turn out to be a red herring.

JohnnyGoodyear

@Raised_Eyebrows said:

 "Teenagers High on Space War" alone sounds like it would be a pretty excellent hyper-obscure 1983 cassette-only minimal wave album.

It please me that you are familiar with my back catalog

I like naming patches. One summer when I first arrived in Manhattan a thousand years ago I was given 1488 color swatches just after Memorial Day and told to name them all by Labor Day ("Autumn Night" "Diesel Blue"). All I remember pretty much was a lack of air conditioning, a lot of coffee and eventually bourbon madness. 

eustressor

@u0421793 said:

I very much like it ...

At first I thought I’d like sample import, but on further thought, I’d say it shouldn’t even have the samples it does have. I think the weak point is the initial starting wavetables, and it’d be better if it had a way of not having fixed wavetables so much as stochastically generating them from within (as well as having a set of fairly orthogonal predictable simplistic ones, as it already does). There’s pretty much no reason really for it to depend on a sonic piece of the outside world as the initial conditions, they’re going to be unrecognisable pretty soon anyway. I think external sample import would turn out to be a red herring.

Very interesting perspective ... hadn't even thought of that, but listening to @Raised_Eyebrows patches, I can honestly say I have no idea what the original soundform was on any of them ... Were they all based on the same sample, or different samples? Why not generate wave forms mathematically or geometrically?

Of course, this is synthesis, so I have no idea what I'm talking about, but still. Hmmm.

BTW, thanks for sharing those sounds @Raised_Eyebrows - really nice and pretty diverse. Poseidon doesn't seem to be all this or all that, more of a "what you make of it" kind of affair ... do use Mr. Goodyear's patch names if possible - pure genius

Raised_Eyebrows

@eustressor said:

@u0421793 said:

I very much like it ...

At first I thought I’d like sample import, but on further thought, I’d say it shouldn’t even have the samples it does have. I think the weak point is the initial starting wavetables, and it’d be better if it had a way of not having fixed wavetables so much as stochastically generating them from within (as well as having a set of fairly orthogonal predictable simplistic ones, as it already does). There’s pretty much no reason really for it to depend on a sonic piece of the outside world as the initial conditions, they’re going to be unrecognisable pretty soon anyway. I think external sample import would turn out to be a red herring.

Very interesting perspective ... hadn't even thought of that, but listening to @Raised_Eyebrows patches, I can honestly say I have no idea what the original soundform was on any of them ... Were they all based on the same sample, or different samples? Why not generate wave forms mathematically or geometrically?

Of course, this is synthesis, so I have no idea what I'm talking about, but still. Hmmm.

BTW, thanks for sharing those sounds @Raised_Eyebrows - really nice and pretty diverse. Poseidon doesn't seem to be all this or all that, more of a "what you make of it" kind of affair ... do use Mr. Goodyear's patch names if possible - pure genius

Thanks for the kind words - I'm sure a wider range of stuff could be pulled out of there, these just happened to be the sort of sounds I like. Anyway, forgot to mention a really important thing about those patches - all of them just use the 'init' waveform, except for the 5th, which uses the 'DX piano' one.

I actually agree that many of the included waveforms are (for me) novel (at best) to useless (at worst) - I find other parts of the engine much more interesting. If I DID use sample import, it would likely just be for very short/simple raw waveforms/wavetables, not so much for long or complex/'realistic' stuff. 

RUST( i )K

I did discover that as usual with Virsyn apps the app is super stable and light on the CPU.

Although, it is a bit heavy memory wise, but, I used it while running 4 other output apps in Audiobus.

That's a plus for anyone on the fence as I am on this app.

Ben

@Raised_Eyebrows: Can you tell me where to find this wonderful "init" feature that you speak of and what does it allow you to do? I'm typically a preset guy but I do like to noodle. Nice work on those patches. 

KING

Synth>Init Sound..

Tones4Christ

Anymore soundcloud clips anyone?