Dreadbox Nymphes Synthesizer Review

[@michaelkonomos]

Man this is the ultimate demo of this device and I have watched many. Voice, video quality, flow of the whole thing, and the insights discussed were so helpful. Made it much more appealing than some other meh demos

[@jdjk7]

I don't know why this channel isn't more popular. I enjoy the thorough walkthrough of the synth that doesn't assume you have the manual open following along. Or that the viewer is such a synth aficionado that the demonstrator can skip over some of the more basic elements, like how different knobs have different sweet spots and useful ranges.

[@Bloom_Music]

Thanks, glad you enjoy it! I'm going to be able to increase the frequency of videos I'm putting out a bit, so hopefully the channel will see some good growth in the future!

[@scottsweatshirt9753]

Donald is the man. All the way back to the Caroline Kilobyte and Fairfield Circuitry Shallow Water reviews. You’ve carved your own niche in a crowded Synthesizer marketplace of ideas. No small feat! Keep pounding.

[@calcairecamhi]

20:37 loved the effect, I even checked if it wasn't my screen going to winter sleep jaja Your editing, the video quality, the review in itself, the clarity of you voice. Everything is an example. Thanks for the hardwork :)

[@vytispuronas]

Very informative review and it sounds great too, thank you very much!

[@AtticusBleep]

Just a great review and great sound programming!

[@glottis5]

These are insanely cheap right now, Dreadbox is selling imperfect ones for 350 Euros, and since the USD and Euro are now at par, that's almost half of the original price of $600

[@watchaddicts1213]

Great show. Likely you’ve discovered by now that T. Shoebridge (his software up in Cherry Audio store) overcame the only POS mod problem, not to mention providing visual feedback of ALL parameter settings. Great synth! I own it. You’re helping me to understand it. Thanks! Mark Hopefully Dreadbox have or will implement your requested firmware functionality. RE: TRI Mode. Dumb remark by me, but…you can’t Tune the voices, but then, I guess Chord Mode helps one to forget the lack of Minimoog-type ISC tuning.

[@RikMaxSpeed]

Nice balanced review - thank you.

[@MilesAwayOfficial]

Great review man :)

[@studiobischof]

I like the pace and background soundtracks in your videos. No hurry - time for everything :) May I ask how the Nyphes and Super 8 differ in character for you, since you know both?

[@Bloom_Music]

Oooh, that's an interesting question. It's been a while since I've used Super 8 because I've gone to an all hardware setup. But, based on memory, Super 8 is more clean sounding compared to Nymphes's more aggressively "vintage analog" sound. You can get to that sound with Super 8, but it takes a little work. Nymphes just has that mojo by default. One place that Super 8 wins handily though is ease of interface and modulation routing. That's one area where software has a huge advantage. But you can make beautiful sounds with either of these instruments. The big question is, would you be satisfied mousing around on a software synth, or do you need to get your hands on some hardware!?

[@studiobischof]

@@Bloom_Music Thanks for the detailed answer! The Nymphes really has that mojo baked in :) Btw. for more control with hardware synths and software synths I use the Electra One. It really helps to bring some synths to more direct control...

[@Bloom_Music]

@@studiobischof Woah... How have I never known that thing existed?! It is officially on my wish list! Thanks!

[@studiobischof]

@@Bloom_Music They are a nice little company and community - Martin always pushes new features :) At the moment they suffer from the chip crisis but you can get on a waiting list...

[@MikeJayMusic]

Another great video. I love a Synth with 2 LFO’s.

[@esmoroglu]

With Tim Shoebridge’s software, the UX is also brilliant now. What I wish would be a seperate power, not from USB, even though the splitter is great.

[@OllieA11]

Sound Wise, the nymphes sounds very similar to the polysix to my ears over the juno. Both have a similar feature set but the VCO and mono output seems to lend itself more to the korg

[@Bloom_Music]

Good point! The layout is very Roland-y, but VCO vs DCO is a clear distinction!

[@TROGULAR10000]

Re that thing about the presets versus slider position they could at least have a button that toggles between the preset and the fader positions. Or a single diode over each slider that lights up to tell you the position of the preset when you reach it.

[@Bloom_Music]

Agreed. Physical controls not matching a synth's settings has been a thing ever since presets were invented, but there are definitely methods that can lessen the pain.

[@dylanrodene1595]

I know this is an old video but how did you make the drums in the intro?

[@Bloom_Music]

No, I’m not much of a drum designer! The drums in all of my videos are from random sample packs I’ve purchased over the years.

[@hristiangeorgiev5236]

Great review. Probably my favorite so far. I have one question. I hear click noises in the attack when some quieter patch is being played especially with a slower attack and I hear this in every demo if this synth but apparently no one is bothered by this. Can you please comment on this matter. Thanks.

[@Bloom_Music]

Yes, there is definitely VCA clicking going on. You can hear it clearly on several of the patches in the beginning of my Sounds Only video. Usually, the oscillator will mask it, but it is audible any time the filter is closed and the attack is short. Using unison voice modes emphasizes the problem, as you'll have stacked, louder clicks. This is very similar to the clicking that caused an uproar with the Minilogue. However, with the Minilogue, it was very easy to use the amp attack to dial it out without having an audible impact to the dynamics of the patch. With the Nymphes, by the time you set the attack high enough to eliminate the click, you'll have an obviously slow attack phase, not suitable for percussive or punchy patches. To prevent it, you'll have to keep the filter open at the beginning of the sound so the oscillators mask it.

[@RJ1J]

I presume this review is using firmware 2?

[@Bloom_Music]

No, this was filmed and released before they announced the new firmware, unfortunately.

[@bojack-horseman]

"there are 2 envelopes" there's actually 12, each voice has it's own amp+filter envelope that's why it's true poly not paraphonic

[@Bloom_Music]

While not technically wrong, this is like me saying, "I'll meet you in an hour", and you saying, "actually, you'll meet me in 3,600 seconds". There's a reason we say things a certain way. In the case of polyphonic synthesizer architecture, it's common practice to state specs *per voice*. It can get very confusing if you don't. For example, if I say, "the Nymphes has 1 VCO, 1 poly LFO and 1 mono LFO", you not only know the total number of oscillators, but how they are allocated across the voices. Whereas, if I said, "the Nymphes has 13 oscillators", you have zero information about the architecture of the synth.

[@aihalloweendailyceleb7139]

Thought we would see a 101 remake based on the layout that is suggesting that. As more demos I hear as more it gets obvious that Nymphes is everything but a versatile sounding synthesizer. I'm afraid this box is overpriced for what it delivers never mind the analog design. You get one good sounding patch that is repeated accross every demo and every other sound evolves around that patch. Once you made 5 songs you'd run out of ideas and sell it. I'd gladly pay something on top getting myself a versatile synth that is going to keep me busy for not just a half an hour as I would be with the nymphes. Even one of the new Roland boutique synth is delivering so much more in terms of sounds and yet they compete very well in analog comparison. Thus, you're not even getting a advantage on the analog poly design of the nymphes. A moog subharmonicon is just 120.-- more and it kills the nymphes on every level.

[@Bloom_Music]

Intersting perspective. I think a lot of the reason you hear very similar patches being made is because people are excited to use this as a cheap Juno alternative, so we're all making very Juno-y patches. It can definitely do other things, but you don't really buy something like this to make bass patches. You lost me at Subharmonicon, though. That's more money for a single, objectively less complex voice. 🤷‍♂

[@leftmono1016]

Nothing like a Subharmonicon is it? I love my Subharmonicon and I’d quite like a Nymphes.

[@robohasse997]

2 mins in and ive heard at least twice now that this is a six oscillator analog sunth in an affordable package. GET TO IT!

[@Bloom_Music]

Hello, consumer of free, high quality content. If you’re not interested in the intro, you are free to jump to any part of the review using the content timestamp links conveniently located in the description. There is also a link to a No Talking version of the review, both in the description and as a card at the very beginning of this video. If none of those options adequately appease your attention span, I’m sure there’s another Nymphes video better suited to you. Maybe something with a surprised face and a head exploding emoji in the thumbnail.

[@robohasse997]

@@Bloom_Music I'm guessing you took something personally. There is redundancy (go back and listen) up to the 2 min mark to invoke a comment on it. w/o needing to clump me in with one who prefers content marketed with emojis etc. which could not be further from the truth. The rest of your video was great, nice to see folks with **thick skin** providing content on youtube which revolves around community and the feedback it provides. keep it up! hope the double asterisks pushes your buttons less than the all caps apparently did.

[@jdjk7]

Jeeez. Complain harder, guy. I assume you don't act this entitled in person, but the least you could do when engaging with an almost twenty-three (23) minute long video is to entertain a two (2) minute long introduction containing one (1) redundant line. I assume that you aren't providing any form of direct financial compensation to our friend Donald here for him to make demo videos for you, so I don't see what ground you have to snarkily nag, bitch and whine about your very minor displeasure.

[@NathanChisholm041]

Surely oscillators aren't that hard to make nor expensive to make shove all off them in! lol Anyway, I've just picked one up to go with my Typhon for DAWless jams and its awesome!