Why Surge XT is a fantastic free synth... and how to use it

[@randydarklight]

I was a beta tester back then. I never understood why he stopped developing synths. He was years ahead of u-he in terms of technology.

[@CuriousPassenger]

He is one of the lead developers of Bitwig Studio where he continues to develop synths. BWS is ahead of competition too.

[@davidpetersonharvey]

It's worth mentioning to those new to creating their own sound that they can use the included sound as a starting point. Great video!

[@carlosmspk]

Personally, for me, this was kind of my downfall. It's best to slowly experiment and understand what does what. The included sounds are usually really complex and intimidating

[@mr_whyy]

Is this not always the case ? I mean that's what presets are for... "presets"...

[@markalexwhite]

Using Vital for months - now 'shelved' since I installed Surge XT last week! The number of presets sold me! ;-)

[@mads_12]

I also did the same, I enjoy vital, but i feel like this one feels a lot less overwhelming since its all on one screen. Vital would kinda hurt my brain with all the screens but its still a great synth.

[@beyondalldreams]

​@@mads_12 Actually surge is much more advanced.

[@ihaveagoddamnplanarthur]

​@@mads_12i feel more like the opposite this looks very complicated and busy while vital is very clean

[@teldrah]

@beyondalldreams interestingly, I still found Surge more intuitive. Vital can be a bit overwhelming with all the different pages.

[@teldrah]

This synth is absolutely insane. Incredible amount of features but still very intuitive.

[@LanceMillerSeattle]

I just installed this. I've been a musician for 30 years, I know what this can do, I know its free. All the interfaces for filters/oscillators etc are intuitive enough. I just needed to know what button to push to start sound. The first two beginner videos I see basically say it's free it's powerful a dozen times without telling me how to just "play".

[@sonisphere098]

The manual literally has a heading called “playing your first note”, might be a good place to start

[@hdrew1246]

Hello :)) ik you've probably figured by now but if not go to the thingy and click menu in the bottom right then workflow then virtual keyboard :)))

[@ppp1364ppp]

I don't understand why serum costs that much and this one is free. the sound quality is incredible. I have tried both serum and Vital. I can say the sound quality is insane for a free vts

[@teldrah]

Nothing against Serum but it does feel a bit like a ripoff at this point with both Vital and Surge being incredible, free options.

[@davelanciani-dimaensionx]

I have yet to really deep-dive into the controls of this great synth. I've only used some of the presets so far, with great results.

[@tye829]

Love this synth. I found it kind of overwhelming at first even as someone who owns a hardware analog synth, but what I did was favorited a bunch of the presets that I liked, and then I tried my best to recreate them on my own starting from the init. Not so much that I was trying to copy them exactly, more just I found it was a helpful way to learn my way around the synth. Still, I come back to vids like this from time to time

[@leinexkeith291]

The best synth along Vital

[@keyboardtek]

I tried installing it three times. There is no trace of the .dll driver needed to make it a function VST instrument. The one sentence installation instructions claim it only has a VST3 driver. No trace of it in my VST folder. Any idea how to get it to be found by my Cubase sequencer?

[@cxtxlessi]

Don’t know about cubase, but I had no problems installing and using it in fl studio

[@oddyolynx5854]

due to licensing restrictions (Steinberg) there is no VST2, it can only be released as a VST3 and CLAP plugin (also LV2) it's possible to build the VST2 locally if one has the VST2_SDK

[@simpson6700]

in the setup you can see it installs to "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Surge Synth Team\" "C:\Program Files\Surge Synth Team\Surge XT\" and "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Surge Synth Team\SurgeXTData" really stupid that you can't change it. the only things i put on C is stuff that i don't mind disappearing when i reinstall windows, so this is really annoying.

[@keyboardtek]

Thanks for the reply. I will have to try downloading the installer again. I must have gotten a corrupted installer as it showed no indication of where it would install.

[@simpson6700]

@@keyboardtek in the window just before hitting install it tells you in a text box.

[@chaosevolution]

Gonna give this a try.

[@devearts7636]

Wow. Welcome to 2023 Surge😮

[@satishbabu3686]

Unable to get even a peep out of this application, although it looks gorgeous and appears to have abundant functionality. The manual does not mention anything making a sound. There is a reason why most programming languages start off with a "Hello world!" program which is a minimum viable functionality demonstration. Can someone mention how I can get it to play a note? Thanks in advance!

[@dj426]

Top left Options > select your output device > Test if it make sounds (change device untill it make sound) > change sample rate (44.1 or 48), if you getting unpleasant noise, rise your buffer size from 480 to 1024.

[@JB9000x]

If you want virtual keyboard: Menu (bottom right), Workflow

[@Doomunit604]

great one !! did not know it free nowadays !!

[@mitsbtw5894]

Anyone know what preset i can use for that opium type synth(serum)

[@sawtooth808]

It may not be as pretty as Pigments 5, but it can definitely go head to head against it, and hold its own.

[@ParaParaPartyCrow]

Is a MIDI required or are there other ways to generate the input? I thought its entirely virtual...

[@luzbiensuave]

Yeah, like with most VSTi. You can either use a MIDI keyboard or the virtual MIDI piano rolls that most DAWs have 😊

[@carlosmspk]

@@luzbiensuave You can also use external "exciters" but I've never messed with those

[@matwardmusic]

Go to menu and show virtual keyboard

[@Volksinformant]

The ingenious thing is the wide range of functions. And that's not all: Surge XT is an open source project, which means that it will outlast any proprietary instrument and software.

[@djdex8945]

How do you get the external midi keyboard working with it?

[@markalexwhite]

Plug the keyboard midi into the USB on the computer and it should be picked up by the software. Don't forget to turn on the keyboard and the computer! ;-)

[@sawtooth808]

@@markalexwhite 🤭

[@mannanarula2077]

can u synthesize drums using surge

[@Jesselikesmen]

I think so there are some presets

[@jerrybriardy]

I have no idea how he is gettng sounds out of this thing. Test is working. I know it is producing sound but nothing else works. This is extremely frustrating.

[@dj426]

Click on setting or option > set your audio output until it make test sound > alt + k to bring up virtual keyboard (change sample rate (44.1 or 48), if you getting unpleasant noise, rise your buffer size from 480 to 1024.)

[@DylanTheRinger1]

It feels like a free version of serum

[@martinitarecords.gt97]

How do i open it from ableton?

[@bringmebacklights]

agree very good

[@frictionless]

Beast!

[@dariostank]

hey guys

[@murdatainment]

I just want to turn off the oscillator that's all I want to do smh

[@McGyver008]

Why did you "forget" to mention, that there are 2 "scenes" available, each with the 3 oscillators?!?!? That would have been an essential information .... I hiope, you will upload a correction at least for the scenes. BTW... if you forget such important details, how complete is your video at all....?!?!?!?

[@MsHofmannsJut]

0:32

[@jive499]

great little top level overview. thank you