I think ark is spot on on some of the things that are annoying on the wave. There are still other bits like not having syncable LFOs, or not being able to reset them with note on.
There are also limited mod destinations. For example you can't modulate osc mix with any of the LFOs. I usually use this a lot on my sounds.
otoh, the sound is imo pristine. It's by far the "best" digital sound I've ever heard on a synth. You can go at least 2 octaves higher than in any other synth I tried without getting nasty aliasing.
And the FM modulations are super well defined. You have to ear it in person and through good speakers to really appreciate the quality of its sound. Also, the transients are super fast and punchy. When you hear it through a PA you can really tell the difference to other VAs. It's just sharp and fast. Not mushy and boomy.
And it offers quite unique synthesis possibilities. James was talking about PM with samples and it's really something that should become standard in future synths. You can pick an e-piano sample. Just one sample, no layers or anything. Now you can PM a sine wave with this sample. this imparts the character and attack of the sample on the sine. Now you can modulate the amount of this modulation with velocity. So out of a simple static sample now you have an expressive sound you can play with. Of course that it'll never sound like a 200Mb rhodes multi sample on kontakt, but it opens the possibility of creating new and expressive sounds.
So I think this is the right synth to explore new hybrid sounds. It's also a pretty good VA and you can get simple FM sound from it, but I think it shines by blending all this together and creating new synthetic vibraphones or really nice wide layered string sounds that have both samples, osc and crazy modulations between them.
If you only want synthetic sounds then then the limited modulation capabilities don't make it such a strong contender. If clavia implements true wavetables and a mod matrix it'd become a dream synth...I'm still hoping this is what's taking them so long to come up with the new OS....fingers crossed!
