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THOR: a God for Beginners
Hey, I want to sing the praises of Thor for a minute. I know it didn't get many votes in the recent poll, but as a beginner I have to say I am floored by it! And here's why:
First, and maybe foremostly, THE MANUAL! It is, for me, the clearest, most concise and informative compendium I have so far encountered. It leaves no definition to chance, including the ubiquitous LFO! For me it was a primer about synthesis.
THE SOUND! Of course, these things are subjective, but for once the hype seems to be true. The sound is extremely rich and variable. And it comes with a thousand presets. So a newbie can have a great time while he/she figures out how the thing works.
THE LAYOUT! The graphics are lovely and straightforward. A beginner can really see that synthesis is made up of oscillators, filters, envelopes (local and global), mixer, shaper, etc and their positions in the synthesis flow. And the use of expandable sections puts all the controls at your fingertips, creating the magical effect that all the parameters are on one screen.
THE KNOBS! There was a thread recently on the poor quality of adjustments on iOS devices. Well, Thor seems to have made the best of it. By swiping sideways (and the more you swipe the more accurate your adjustment) Thor avoids the "covering of the dial with your finger" syndrome, and the value does not change when you lift your finger!
THE LEARNING CURVE! IMO, for a beginner, the combination of manual and layout allows one to experiment with each component module at a time in a very intuitive way and then explore the effects of combining modules. Again the graphics are first rate in helping to understand the flow.
THE ROUTING!? Well, I must say the routing screen is a little beyond me, but I am imagining that if you know anything (and maybe one day I will) that this is also very clear and easy to navigate. And the same screen is shared with a sequencer/arp that I was able to figure out in a couple of minutes (after reading the manual).
THE KEYBOARD! X axis sensitive, easily adjustable and expandable AND a master volume control (something missing or hard to find on a lot of synths I have fooled with) also, other basic controls, like portamento, chorus and delay, polyphony, etc on the keybd screen.
And finally, THE PRICE. $14.99!
Could you ask for anything more? Please tell me, I know it can't be perfect. But I mean, for a beginner it takes something pretty complex and makes it pretty darn easy to work on. I know the desktop version is well received and I did discover Thor on this forum (as I have discovered most things!) but I think, for a beginner who wants a bit of a challenge this synth is ideal. And beginner's need all the help they can get!!
Comments
Was just using it today!
I think Thor didn’t get many votes because it has been around for I’m guessing close to 10 years and there are tons of patches for it. Volt got voted on because, well it’s very new and patches are needed!! I personally don’t like Thor, I think it’s because it reminds me of using Reason 5 when I used it. Use what you want! It’s an iPad don’t use what people tell you to use. Thor is very flexible and you’ll learn a lot and not need to buy any more apps for a while.
I love Thor, wish it would get AU support..the iOS version has a few less options routing wise then in reason,but it is a great synth!!!!! AU please!!!!
Second this +1
And then Europa both AU please
Thanks for this, as a beginner I’ve been holding off buying tons of synths and getting lost. Looks like Thor could be my next purchase.
What are the presets like? Being a newb I could do with some good ones/variety.
Syntorial is superb for learning synths too if you’re still looking for training related. Haven’t been at it long but learnt a lot already in a short time with it.
In the other thread you searched for some junge DnB material/technique - Google loopmaster, they have a Thor dnb preset pack. These will show how much capable the hammer is of this genre. You can import these patches for Thor win/Mac also for iOS.
Edit. What the heck. Here the link
https://www.loopmasters.com/products/1138-DnB-Synths-Thor
@david_2017 You’re a legend
Haha, i was in the same place
I bought these for 8€ I think. Never regret. The presets are superb. I am always amazed what can be achieved when you know which knob to twist (or when you are a knob-magician).
The midi files are cool too.
(caution OT: Sugar Bytes Cyclop. May be you want to watch some videos too)
@david_2017 /anyone
Can these patches be downloaded from loopmaster direct to an iOS device or is it pc/Mac only to actually get the patches?
I don't really remember. But I imported them with dropbox I think. But i am not sure.
You can use the "open in..." function, but this is a pain to import one by one, I got it all at once, but how!?!? Maybe with iTunes file sharing thingy. Sorry. I don't remember
It’s ok I’ll hack it when I’ve more time. If I could give you audiobusGold I would
Also check out Gordon Reid's series of tutorials Thor Demystified.
cool! Never heard of that. Looks interesting
https://www.propellerheads.se/blog/thor-demystified-1-the-analogue-oscillator
The thing I love about Thor (aside from being a Swiss Army Knife of synths) is the ability to swap presets with Reason. It's nice to be able to make my own patches anywhere and come back to the desktop with some new ideas. I wish Korg could make iPolysix and iMono/Poly compatible with their Rack Extensions like they do with the Legacy Collection. But that's a whole different topic.
No AU - that's a bummer.
Why is Thor better than Kauldron?
Sure. But why is Thor better than Kauldron?
Why is Thor missing from AppStore (in Propellerhead’s lineup)?
Thor was my main modular synth for years until model 15 came out. But I still use it from time to time. The sound is fabulous and the possibilities endless.
Thor was a nightmare when I first started on iOS music making. It was one of the early apps I bought after being told how good it was. Problem was it had a horrible bug that only seemed to affect me!
How ever I tried, I could not get Thor to load without occasionally making a loud noise and then my iPad switched off sound until I restarted it! This was a right nightmare!
I did report it, but received no reply. I discussed it on here, but people always think you are mad, stupid or both when you report a problem they don’t have
So that was it for my adventures with Thor. iOS 8 Thor had this intermittent problem. iOS 9, 10 and a few updates of Thor itself and yes, still happening.
Finally sometime in iOS 11, it stopped. Why? No idea! But by this point, I could not use it anymore because I was always waiting for that noise again. What it was all about I will probably never know (shrugs)
While Kauldron is 'cool' it like many other synths it falls short in the modulation department
I mean it's 'software' so why limit the number of LFOs and Envelopes? And why limit LFO waves to being bi-polar when uni-polar is also very handy option to have to avoid values 'wobbling around 0(ie. -1 -- +1) and give them an option to go 0-1(uni-polar).
And what's the deal with not being able to control the start-phase and/or polarity of the Oscillators and LFOs?
And when will we get iOS synths come with step/modulation-sequencers ie. 'custom' LFO-Waves' built-in?
I've spent way too much time with Alcheny in Logic Pro X and it's modulation options and it's kinda annoying to see many of the nice sounding iOS synths being 'crippled' with limited modulation capabilities.
Sure I could use ApeMatrix but please, let's vote for ApeMaterix getting the XLFO from the Mood synth as an optional modulation source / LFO-Wave and also allow the LFO's in ApeMatrix to be triggered/reset with midi-notes for added performance playability.
I need some new 'toys' for sure
I had the same problem with Xequence actually when it first came out. I was the only one having a problem with saves on app restart on my ipad 10.5. Thankfully, the dev agreed to tweak it so it wouldn't happen anymore. I felt like it was a bug fix just for me, which was cool
Yeah the dev for Xequence seems very helpful
New free Thor like vst.
https://www.synthanatomy.com/2020/04/thewavewarden-odin-2-free-thor-like-synth-plugin-for-pc-mac-linux.html
Nice, I wonder if it loads Thor presets . Curious about Propelerhead reaction...
For anyone interested, here's a link to the online manual:
https://www.reasonstudios.com/products/thor/manual/
Nice one! Thanks @Jumpercollins
There's a great Gordon (Synthesizer secrets) Reid tutorial on Thor as well.
I wish it wasn't abandoned as it's a nice synth.