Madrona Labs Sumu

[martiu]

it seems good for game and movie sound design, FX stuff also, kind of a weird experimental sounds, dont forget to put xfer OTT on top of it at 100%

[Dostoyevsky]

Despite the "loyalty discount", the studio bundle's price remains higher than buying each product separately. I'll pass, Randy.

[dayjob]

Despite the "loyalty discount", the studio bundle's price remains higher than buying each product separately. I'll pass, Randy.

on the madrona forum he said they are sorting out the bundle thing since it's a mess, generally.

[kraster]

Despite the "loyalty discount", the studio bundle's price remains higher than buying each product separately. I'll pass, Randy.

on the madrona forum he said they are sorting out the bundle thing since it's a mess, generally.

There was another post where he clarified.

Virta, Kaivo and Aalto are worth a 20% discount each. Aaltoverb doesn't count.

NFR licences don't count.

So the least you could get the Sumu for via the bundle is 151 if you own all the other plugins.

So the cheapest way is to buy the introductory discount.

It might be worth it if you want Aaltoverb as well as Sumu. A 13 dollar saving.

[dayjob]

Despite the "loyalty discount", the studio bundle's price remains higher than buying each product separately. I'll pass, Randy.

on the madrona forum he said they are sorting out the bundle thing since it's a mess, generally.

There was another post where he clarified.

Virta, Kaivo and Aalto are worth a 20% discount each. Aaltoverb doesn't count.

NFR licences don't count.

So the least you could get the Sumu for via the bundle is 151 if you own all the other plugins.

So the cheapest way is to buy the introductory discount.

It might be worth it if you want Aaltoverb as well as Sumu. A 13 dollar saving.

yep. here's the forum post if anyone needs it.

[masterhiggins]

Still complete shit excuse for people who've purchased everything else, but whatever. It's not useful enough for me at $129. Best of luck to him though.

[ChiTown24]

The problem with the bundle system is not just the fact it's not giving *any* discount for NFR/EDU licenses, it's that the bundle price is calculated as if you don't own them *at all* - and calculates a price as if you were buying those licences all over again. Which, obviously, is dumb as hell.

You own the licenses, Madronalabs received money for them, seems like a really strange take not to give *any* discount on the bundled licenses (additional to what you already own) VS buying individually, and surely it must be some kind of bug (which shouldn't have got past preliminary testing) when the bundle price doesn't even recognise NFR/EDU licenses as existing at all, thus charging you all over again for them. Seriously ?

As for Sumu, I'll have to try the demo myself but the audio demos have been very meh. Even at the intro price. Is the pricing set by how much development time he put into it ? Because the end product isn't, to my ears, sounding like it should be commanding the flagship price ($180 full price) of the madronalabs lineup. YMMV.

[kraster]

As for Sumu, I'll have to try the demo myself but the audio demos have been very meh. Even at the intro price. Is the pricing set by how much development time he put into it ? Because the end product isn't, to my ears, sounding like it should be commanding the flagship price ($180 full price) of the madronalabs lineup. YMMV.

It's definitely a weird synth. In terms of usage I can't see it fulfilling any particular role for me, personally.

Any kind of musical patches are probably better achieved using something else.

But, it really is one of the most fascinating plugins I've ever used. It really produces some really really weird sounds.

I agree with others that say that it needs more bread and butter functionality to make it more practical as something you'd reach for on a regular basis. A few extra envelopes, LFOs and/or inverter/attenuator style additions would be great.

It feels a little too wild at the moment.

But I really am kind of in love with it all the same!

[MrJubbly]

I agree with some of the members' comments here.

This plugin and even some of the other offerings from this developer do seem very intriguing. However, I'm not sure how practically useful they would be for me personally.

Madrona Labs seem more geared towards the sound designer community, rather than to musicians?

The demos I've watched/listened to are impressive for the more unorthodox type of sounds which they are showcasing. I just don't think I'd be able to get much use out of these generally, in terms of making more traditional music.

Perhaps, these are intended to cater towards a more experimental, avante-garde crowd?

But whatever the case, I do think that it's healthy to have such original developers like this, creating more unique software. I'll keep an eye on their developments and perhaps give them a try in the future.

[vertibration]

Well, I think Sumu is more so a "lets see what a synth could do with partials?", rather than something functional in the traditional sense. Seems like more of an experimental synth. I dont wanna use the word toy, but I cant think of a word to describe the synth other than something you just sit around and play with to make weird sounds, but dont actually use it in a musical sense. Im sure you can do a whole ton of great music with it, but for the pricepoint, even discounted, its a tough sell tbh

[martiu]

Aaron Funk will love this synth, Richard Devine also.

[ChiTown24]

Aaron Funk will love this synth, Richard Devine also.

if your business model is to sell to pros who own everything and anything even slightly out of the ordinary .... prepare to go out of business. you're gonna have to appeal (by that I mean come up with a compelling price-/-function ratio) to ordinary people. that's who butters your bread.

at full price, this is nearly double the price of Aalto (99 vs 179) ... i'd love to know how randy decided Sumu was a $179 (full price) vst, especially when contrasted against the rest of the lineup. i hope it isn't because he spent more time/effort developing it.

[martiu]

Well Randy is not developing your typical butter for your bread instruments, Kaivo and Aalto are not conventional synths, Sumu is no exception.
I personally enjoy exploring new sounds and for me Randy is top developer for sound designers.

[foosnark]

For everyone complaining that there's not enough "innovation" in the synth world: this is what innovation looks like.

It's unconventional! It's novel! It's actually something interesting and exciting!

Not your cup of tea, personally? That's OK. This is the risk taken when you make something that's not mainstream... whether it's music or a musical instrument. Randy didn't set out to make something that everyone on KVR would love.

But some of you are close to "this isn't useful for music", and pushing a false dichotomy between "sound designers" and "musicians." And that's the kind of thing I expect to see over at TalkBass from the 75-year-olds who only play "Mustang Sally" and "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Margaritaville" on a Fender P with tortoiseshell pickguard and who just can't understand these young whippersnappers with their 5+ strings and their jazz solos and their djent and their pedalboards.

[edit: I want to make sure I don't come off too ageist there, don't mean to imply that all Boomers are like this. Some of them are worse! But some of them are very cool. My dad's in that age range and is the one who got me hooked on synths and weird music in the first place.]

Personally I'll take Sumu, and Myth (another one to get similar treatment but the thread is much more... septic) over any and all emulations of 70s synths and yet another wavetable-with-27-filter-models and so on.

And what I'll make with these two weird cousins is music.

[Jonathan Shepherd]

Man, I loves me some Madrona Labs but this thing is body slamming my CPU through multiple brick walls before I even realize it. The sound is great though. Argh.