Any update in the making?

Virtual instruments
1

Just wondering because the recent version seems to be years old. It already is a very good synth, but there are improvements I could think of, like:

  • it tends to be noisy. When Level is set to about 0 or slightly more, the effects introduce a lot of unwanted noise (even with resonance set to zero, which is mentioned in the manual). But even when I reduce Level to like -6db, chords in certain octaves have an unpleasant noise to them, although the sound is actually not loud enough in my DAW.
  • it should have a control to set the oscillators’ phase to a fixed point of the wave (whatever the punchiest is), currently they seem to be free-running, which leads to inconsistent attack sounds and reduces Retrologue’s suitability for percussion and other “attack sounds”.
  • a basic EQ (e.g. low and high like on a stereo, plus one parametric band with q for stressing any frequency one wishes)
  • an additional independent envelope for pitch modulation or noise (Attack and Decay would do I suppose)
  • a delay knob for the LFO’s
  • sine as sub-oscillator waveform (so far I often use one of the main oscillators as a sub for that reason, which of course is not ideal)

I would really appreciate an update to this wonderful understatement synth :slight_smile:

2 Likes
2

Is this board dead? So what’s the point of it? Making sure potential customers spend their money elsewhere? :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like
3

I noticed today that the irritating noise seems to happen only when I use both oscillators and mostly when playing chords on the 3rd and 4th octaves. It has nothing to do with level or volume, and as soon as I switch off one oscillator, the sound is clear, even if I turn up the volume.
It seems to be about the interaction of the two oscillators when using semitone and fine detune.
Is it a bug? That is really the major issue that keeps me from buying it as it sounds really awful…

4

These are all valid requests… update? :wink:

I did not notice the noise at all.

I’d add an Analog Chorus / Ensemble and Phaser effect as well to improve the retro vibe.

5

Does that mean you can reproduce the noise as well now or not?

I first thought it might have to do with the sampling rate of my DAW, but that was not the case…

Ensemble would be nice, yes, like on old Korg synths.

6

I almost forgot I had Retrologue!

Ever since I got TALs Juno, it just kinda works so well.
But one thing I remember was that Retrologue had a zippery unsmooth filter curve response.
I may remember some other niggles that you allude to… but it has been awhile. Having too many synths is not always good LOL

7

No, I can not reporduce this problem.

Also, I did not notice any serious zipper stepping behaviour on Retrolouge. It is properly smoothed.
Can you show me a sound example?

8

No, unfortunately I can’t because the demo has expired :stuck_out_tongue:

9

Seems there is a new version now, I wonder if the noise is gone.
They seem to have implemented some of the things suggested in this thread, which is really cool :slight_smile: Thank you, Steinberg :slight_smile:

But USB eLicenser? Really?

10

Trying the v2 demo, very very good :slight_smile:

Strange. As I increase amp env vel sensitivity in mono mode with trigger mode set to resume, there is an increasingly loud blip sound, regardless of attack time. When amp env vel sensitivity is set to zero, there is no blip at all.

11

When you select the Upgrade option on the Buy page the “Additional USB E-Licenser Required” part goes away.

So can anyone please clarify. If you upgrade from Retrologue version 1 to version 2 can you keep using the soft e-licenser or do you have to purchase a hardware USB dongle ?

It appears that if you buy Retrologue version 2 new a USB dongle is required. Check the Buy page to see what I mean when selecting the new/upgrade options.

12

Hi all,

The specs on the shop page had to be corrected. Retrologue 2 is as the first version protected by the soft eLicenser. No USB dongle is needed.

13

Thanks for clarifying.

14

Thank you for clarifying that Matthias. I have the soft e-licenser and Retrologue version1 installed on this computer which is my old studio computer. Would I be able to install the soft e-licenser and Retrologue version 2 upgrade on my new studio computer without an issue ?

15

The upgrade requires the Retrologue 1 licence installed in the eLicenser Center on your new system since the license will be replaced.

16

There is a thread on KVR where some users describe certain issues regarding the user interface (waveform selection) and also the sound (weak, lacks bottom, strange saw waveform)…

17

Ok thanks. Sorry to be thick. So I would install the elicenser on my new system, then install Retrologue version 1 then install the upgrade to version 2 ? Is that correct ? Will I have to deactivate my version 1 license at the “My Steinberg” page first ?

18

They should check the manual about Filter KeyCenter and Keyfollow settings…

19

Does it have a scalable user interface by now? Last time I checked it was rather small on a big monitor, and the graphics quality was mediocre.

20

There might be few little issues:

  1. When changing the osc mode, like from single to multi, the waveform sometimes gets changed, for instance from saw to sine

  2. Even with free-running operators, there is quite some attack bump in multi mode; I am not sure it is deliberate or a bug, though; either way, on another message board several people complained about it

  3. Sometimes the value readouts disappear; what seems to fix that is switching to another plugin’s gui and then back to Retrologue 2

  4. I don’t know why the tube distortion effect is selected on most patches including the init patch even; I noticed aliasing on high notes because of that effect; interestingly, the aliasing is gone when selecting off in the distortion menu; it seems that the distortion amount knob is not 100% effective because even when turning it to zero, merely having the tube effect selected causes aliasing and generally an inferior sound quality

  5. When one has set the release to a very high value and hits a key, one can’t kill that note by turning down the release, unlike on most other synths; the note has to fade by itself, which can feel like an eternity;

  6. A few controls hardly react to the mouse wheel, the cutoff for instance, which means a whole lot of scrolling; Waves have done a great job on their Element 2, where the speed of the scroll wheel determines the increase in value in a very user-friendly way

1 Like