Since there’s been some talk about the Deluge’s somewhat lackluster synth engine, as in some thinking that it’s no good, I figured I’d mention something about it here.
The presets don’t do it justice. I can agree that they’re a bit dull, some of them wanting to sound like those patches you’d expect - a deep bass, a 303 arp, a Moog lead, and so on. The Deluge doesn’t do this very well. If you’re looking at other VA synths, you’ll find those who do it better and you won’t have to look long.
At the same time, when I applied the Deluge’s filters and effects on samples, a lot of character just popped out, straight from the box. So I went to town yesterday and worked only on sound design with the synth engine, to see where it could take me if I disregarded the patched and just came up with ideas of my own.
I’d say the Deluge’s synth engine is great, but it’s not for everyone. Like the OP-1, it sounds shamelessly digital but has a tonality to it that suits itself very well for more abstract and broken stuff. You can’t make it sound like a solid replicant of a raw analog synth, nor can you get it close enough to Novation’s best VA offerings (to compare). Trying to take it to familiar territory, will probably leave you disappointed.
But trying to push it in that direction is selling it short, because once you apply the fx, filters and modulations on a clean patch from your own workshop and start to work with what’s at hand - and it’s a modulation beast, at that - you’ll find that it has lots of personality. But to find that, I’d say that doing your own sound design is essential. The patches are good for showcasing the synth’s features, but not where it can go, sonically.
If you’re a puritan and think Dave Smith’s moustache is worth to preserve in a museum once he’s gone, then the Deluge’s synth engine is not for you. Or if you’re into VA and you love your red Nords, then look elsewhere. If you dig the murkier digital domains, to which I count the OP-1, the MonoMachine and the Reface CS, then the Deluge might be for you.
I’m not saying it sounds like these three little gems (especially not the MonoMachine), but they all do something different with their digital engines and I think the Deluge does, too.