There’s nothing on the email I received that says it’s private.
And even if it did I’d still post it.
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I’m being flogged with e-mails from Modal for this Webinar and that one and an invitation to rewatch the old Webinar again, Argon8, CraftSynth, and i don’t know what-all. And i’ve never bought anything from Modal, i just registered once with them. So it’s good to get extra notices here too. 
It’s all good.
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The module looks interesting but I’m waiting to see how they’ve reduced the buttons / added more shift functions to compensate
Plus I think I bough a lot of wavetable synths on iOS lately and need to use them.
More of the encoders are push encoders, which I actually prefer. If the module had have been out at the same time as the original kb, I’d have actually bought the module instead for that reason.
I’m super interested in what a “2.0” firmware could bring to the Argon8.
I feel they made many smart decisions with this synth, and that gives me confidence that they will make more good decisions. But I don’t want to get too hyped as we’ve all been stung by building up our own expectations.
Still after using this synth a lot, here’s my best guess at what we may see, and I’ve put these in the order most likely:
-
A few more filter models. I think this is very likely (90%)
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More effects. It already has a lot, but I bet they add more (80%)
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EG improvements - longer times, curves, and looping (70%)
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Increased volume on output and effects (50%)
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I really want a smooth random LFO. The stepped random is well done, but sometimes you want smooth transitions (20%)
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LFO1 now goes as fast as LFO2 (10%)
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I want to disable the “edit all envelopes” switch. I activate it accidentally often because holding the mod eg button is tough to stop doing when it works on other assignment buttons (5%)
Best regards,
Gino
3 Likes
Remember when you bought a synth with a feature set that stayed for the life of the synth, and you’d be lucky if they just fixed any bugs along the way? 
I’d be happy if they fixed the really uneven gain staging, increased the max reverb tail length, and fixed the stability (I often get bad boots).
Regards new features, more mod sources, destinations, and slots would be very welcome, as would being able to route to the filter/amount on a per oscillator basis.
I really hope they don’t fill it with more effects at the detriment of processing power elsewhere. Effects can always be added outside of the synth, modulation not so much. I’d rather they add more synthesis features than effects.
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So i plan to buy one. What are the sound territory the Argon8 shine ?
How do you feel the Low End quality is ?
Low end is surprisingly punchy and weighty.
As for what it shines at, for me that’s a tough question. I think saying it shines in one area would suggest it doesn’t do so well in others, and to be fair, it’s quite a good all rounder. While I wouldn’t really reach for it for squelchy acid lines, or big detuned supersaws, I do find it equally as good for lush evolving pads, as I do for bass, lead, and pluck/bell type sounds.
It naturally sounds very organic for a digital wavetable synth.
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Good call. I’m very happy with the capability of the synth as-is, so giving it more engine enhancements would be awesome.
I also see the bad boots from time to time, but have not had any crashes that I can recall when its up and running.
@William_WiLD - I’d say it’s solid for leads, pads, and basses, but excels a bit more at evolving pads overall (esp when you throw in the sequencer, and modulating effects slowly with LFO1).
I really like this video by snth4ever, as it shows a lot of diversity. He specializes in ambient, and says he’s really enjoying the synth so far.
Best regards,
Gino
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Not surprising with wavetable sound synthesis
THANKS
Good to know it’s solid overall sounding
From the webinar page:
“With Firmware v2.0, ARGON8 gets even more exciting. The new polyphonic step sequencer mode, a new gain structure, improved envelopes, full MPE support and much more help creative musicians and sound designers to create their signature sounds.”
7 Likes
Sounds awesome, I wonder if the new gain structure has any negative impact on the engine otherwise or if it’s a pure win? I ask because why would it be coming now instead of at launch?
Good stuff. I hope some more mod slots are in the works. Besides the envelopes and the gain, that would be the only other improvement I could think of (don’t really use the sequencer or the effects much).
@Hawk
I’m really glad they decided to revisit the issues with gain. Would love it, if it’s a pure win. Hope they address the effects volume too.
@metalfalcon
Exactly. Even a few extra mod slots will make a huge difference. As for the sequencer I had a sense they would upgrade it, because it’s a differentiator for the synth. However, like you, I find that I don’t use it. Maybe I’ll try it again if they add some cool stuff.
I use the effects, and will use them more if they don’t steal volume.
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I think it was rushed out of the door wasn’t it? I remember reading somewhere that they had a later launch date planned, and that got scuppered when the Hydra got announced and they wanted to grab some market share given the similarities.
I can’t remember if that was someone speculating in a post, or from the horse’s mouth so to speak, so take it with a grain of salt.
I received my Argon8M today; oh what a difference! You may recall I hated the Argon8 for a number of the above reasons, in particular the clunky UI, volume issues and terrible envelopes. So I sold it. But I really liked the sound! So I tempted fate and bought the module and it is SO much better!! Even though they’ve down-sized the front panel, and there’s much more clicking involved, the UI now actually makes sense and is way faster imho than the original. The module itself is a very very nice and solid build, it’s much smaller than the keys and sits behind a keystep perfectly. Note that I haven’t downloaded the new v 2.0 firmware which came out today, so my first impressions are really against the Argon8 only. Sounds like they’ve made progress with the envelopes and volume issues, so looking forward to see what’s been improved. In short, the module is great!
From the 2.0 manual (found this by accident via the support zendesk website): https://www.modalelectronics.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/argon8_MANUAL_v2.pdf
Firmware 2.0 introduced a revised gain structure, for advanced output level adjustments: The
Gain Boost setting applies to all patches and increases the average output level.
It also increased the range of the Patch Gain control, allowing you to balance even the
quietest patches, and dramatically improved the audio quality while decreasing noise floor, so
adding gain from external sources won’t introduce unwanted noise.
Because ARGON8 employs a limiter as the final stage before output in its audio signal path,
headroom for dynamics might be reduced as a result of higher gain levels.
Note: The main outputs on Argon are designed to output Line Level signals, so existing
patches that are already close to the maximum output level will not become dramatically
louder with this update.
• Patch Gain: Per-patch gain adjustment for balancing patches relative to each other.
Values in the range 0-100 should be transparent to use on any patch that needs it,
moving the control past 100 can begin to saturate the limiter on some patches. Note that
this can be used creatively.
• Gain Boost: Global gain boost that increases average output level, there are 3 settings:
Off - full dynamic range
Normal - boost to output volume (Default Setting)
Saturate - a large boost to output volume, potentially saturating the internal limiter. You
may notice that dynamic range is reduced with this setting on, although this has creative
uses.
Gain boost setting will be saved automatically
• Headphone Volume: Headphone output volume can vary dramatically depending on
which model of headphones is connected. This global control adjusts the output range of
the headphone out to compensate for this variance and prevent unsafe listening levels.
• Main Volume: Master output volume of the synth, post limiter. Controls the output
volume of both the headphone out and the main outputs. For best signal to noise, set
this to 127.
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The update just dropped!
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Is there a way to audition/play sounds from the module itself without a midi controller? I’d like to be able to mess around and create patches with it on the sofa while watching TV.
The sequencer has a play button that works on it’s own so yes.
1 Like