Why I Like My Rev2

[Sacred Synthesis]

In the spirit of point-counterpoint, this seems to be a needed thread. 

There have been some serious criticisms of the Rev2 lately, and they might give the impression that it's a poor instrument in general.  And yet, YouTube has myriads of videos by enthusiastic Rev2 owners making wonderful music and sounds.  There's no doubt that many synthesists absolutely love this synthesizer as it is.  So, as an experienced user of the instrument, tell us why you like the Rev2. 

[maxter]

1. Waveshaping of every wave-shape, not just square PWM. (And very good, actually useful musical waveshapes at that)

2. The 4 extra mod-slots in the mod-matrix really make for that little "extra", on the P'08 I often "ran out" of mod-slots... "If only it had 2-3 more mod-slots..."

3. The Sub-oscillator, which in some cases means the difference between having to use 2 layers in stack mode (which means halving available voices). For such a "minor" add-on, it makes a ton of difference to me.

4. The added FX section. Not every FX is top notch, but it still adds much sonic possibility. And I really like the character of the stereo delay.

5. Larger and finer range on slop mode than the P'08 (if they haven't went back and fixed that one after the Rev2s, I don't know if they have)

[jg666]

I just instantly fell in love with the sounds you can make with it and still think the same.

[focusred]

It taught me to be more creative to workaround its several major flaws. 

[jok3r]

It's a dream for the gigging musician, especially playing in a band.

1. It's ability to split/layer enables me to play two sounds at once. That's pretty handy on stage.

2. Even if its DCOs don't have as much beef as the VCOs of a Prophet 5/6 (at least in my opinion), in a live situation you won't notice and it still sounds muuuuuch better than the virtual analog section of my Kronos. (Listened to an old recording last week, where I didn't have my Rev2 yet. The difference is like apples and oranges).

3. The integrated effects will suit most of your live needs. Yes, something like the three holy Strymon pedals will sound better, but you have to carry them around, too... and all that cables... ... after two seasons I got back to using the integrated effects for a gig I'm playing this week, just for simplifying my setup. I don't think anybody in the audience will notice the difference.

4. It can simulate basically any other analog synth... at least as much as the audience wouldn't notice. Even more so, when using all the VCM techniques. So you can create sounds for almost every song you want to play (playing in a cover band at the moment). Most of the sounds I need are simple sounds from all the hits of the 70s to late 80s and the Rev2 does the job really well.

5. If I want to do more complex sounds with a lot of modulation (at home), it is my go to synth also. Everybody can read the specs themselves, but the high a mount of modulators and mod slots are a dream. And you can double that when splitting or layering sounds. (16 voice model recommended)

6. I like the keybed very much. It's light enough to play very fast... but hard enough to still feel resistance.

7. I like that it has the wheels above the keybed. I know, that there are a lot of people out there, that want the wheels in the "right" place, but I love to have a 5-octave keyboard with a smaller form factor. And it doesn't weigh a ton. Even when putting it in the hard case, it's easy to carry it around with getting out of breath ;-)

8. The gated sequencer is very nice. Even if it has some bugs. ;-)

9. The extra outputs for layer B... I don't use this very often. But occasionally it became handy to mix them separately, e.g. when playing only bass timbres on the second layer.

10. Using the two layers hard panned left and right. Just as a lot of other users here, I like to have the possibility to create very large stereo sounds this way.

I will stop it here... all in all you will get a lot of analog synth for a medium price tag! I do not regret it. The only thing at the moment is: I don't know how prices are evolving around the world, but in Germany a new 16-voice model costs about 350€ more than when I bought mine. But still I don't think there is something better around in that price range. If I didn't have one, I would buy one.

[CPN37]

Like Jok3r also said, the keyboard split functionality for live use was the main draw for me (apart from it being an analogue polysynth from Sequential). I just find this SO useful in a live setting- and the ability then to store the patches with the splits in memory so I can easily call them up per song. Simple stuff but a feature that many other analogue polysynths like the Prophet 6 and of course the Prophet 5 don’t have.

[LPF83]

- Versatility...  From a sound design perspective, the Rev2 can recreate impressive recreations of a lot of other synth sounds.
- Tone...  There do not seem to be that many DCO based synths being made these days, most hardware seems to either use VCOs or fully digital oscillators.  So in that sense the Rev2 might be the closest thing to a modern Juno.  I like that the tone has that magic that Prophets are known for, but it's more precise and just different sounding than the P10 or P6.  I can understand why some want to simulate the sound of VCOs on the Rev2, but for me the difference in tone brought by DCOs fulfills a specific niche.
- Keyboard feel and size.. 61 keys, great overall feel
- Bi-timbrality, stack or split...  split keyboard setups just somehow inspire me to create musical situations I wouldn't otherwise create, and this is the only keyboard synth in my studio that does it.  I have a 61 key MIDI controller that I can split into zones and MIDI channels, so I could have a split with P10 on one side and OB-6 on the other for example, but it's all not as immediate as on the Rev2.
- FX.. I think the onboard FX sound good enough, though I wish I could select two per layer like the P6/OB6..  ok so I sort of snuck in a con in my list of pros
- Bang for buck..  Prices have increased slightly since I bought mine, but if someone is looking for  new analog poly for under $2k I think the Rev2 would be my recommendation, especially since the 8 voice can be upgraded to 16 later.