Could be the most sonically versatile and powerful Computer Music synthesizer giveaway ever.
Computer Music Magazine, May 2019.
This leviathan of a synth offers up an infinitely deep sonic playground that puts many a paid-for plugin to shame.
Computer Music Magazine, June 2019.
Is this the final synth to rule them all?
(scalawag)
This is the best synth I own. Not sure how you make it sound so good.
(Jeff)
This is possibly the most value for money I've ever gotten out of a synth.
(Greenstorm33)
First impressions... WOW. Best GUI ever. Really like the concept The delay and reverb are good enough to be their own plugins. This is a fantastic product. A glimpse at the future.
(Scrubbing Monkeys)
The depths of this synth are insane.
(SoundPorn Review)
Fathom is a Beast Synth. I have not yet seen any other synth with the "leave one out" option for the oscillators.
(Peter:H)
I honestly feel that this is one of the best most fluid interfaces I’ve ever used, so intuitive!
(Killmaster)
This is a brilliant concept and implementation of a modular synth with lots of deep control. I love it.
(Duncan)
A logical, powerful, creative and musical soundcrafter. Beautifully made. Highly recommended.
(Connmach)
Just want to tell you how much I completely love the design of this instrument.
(Greg)
I got the Sonuus GM2 guitar audio-to-midi converter and Fathom is so far the best tracking synth I've used with it.
(glokraw KVRAF)
Won't be long now till you get some glowing reviews from Computer Music and other mags. I guarantee Fathom has a great future and will become a must have synth that’ll be up there with other independent synth developers such as KV331 Synthmaster.
(Matt)
I know I've said it before, but this has easily been the best value plugin purchase I've ever made, aside from maybe Reaper itself.
(willsavino)
The whole instrument feels fast and solid, so many possibilities in such an easy to use environment. Don't hesitate, this is a superb instrument, it certainly transcends anyone’s definition of a no-brainer aquisition.
(glokraw)
Using this synth just for EDM would be a huge waste of its potential.
(HiEnergy)
This is an amazing instrument.
(Yellowmix)
OK, this thing is officially my favorite 'digital' soft-synth right now. Having some time to wrap my head around it and get comfortable, I am really liking the workflow.
(braj)
Really love this synth and with every update getting better and better.
(Babbgr)
Fantastic synth. Very nice GUI.
(RCL)
Congratulations on the great progress you have made with Fathom Synth, it is quite a masterpiece and a great addition to the arsenal.
(IDiOSonic)
For some reason it seems more straight forward to use than other modular i have tried, maybe its the fact that details are auto-hidden, whereas others blow them in your face directly.
(Harris)
Awesome... bought :tu:
(BariKusBrainZ)
I tried the mono version and it seems easier for modular than others. I like the sound a lot, and the presets are cool. A lot of variety in sound. I really like the pad-like sound to it. It's gui is really, really, nice. If I were to play with modular this one would be it. It's a great starting point.
(Twal)
Supersaw pads, plucks and leads sound very epic.
(Distorted Horizon)
Just downloaded and started to play with mono version. Wow! Will probably get the pro version later tonight. Nice job. Edit: Bought. Seems like the synth is capable of much more than EDM focused projects.
(Musical Gym)
The GUI is quite nice.
(DJErmac)
Dude your dedication and responsiveness is phenomenal. Thanks so much for this awesome synth. I hesitate to make a request because so far you've been adding features before I know I want them.
(Natufian)
A very fine synth with a very promising future! Love the GUI.
(Benjamin)
Just wanted to say, that I like the sound of Fathom a lot and I enjoy the sound mangling opportunities!
(Wolfgang)
You're doing a great job, it's fantastic to see such an active development of the Fathom Synth!
(Lennie)
I've played with this more and I'm liking it more and more. There are certainly some quirks, but overall I think this has a lot of potential as a sound design tool. I haven't come across a crash yet. Keep up the good work.
(Skyscape)
Any chance of a 32-bit Windows version?
(Zxant)
My entry, subject to last minute changes of course. A little traditional dance music number, expanding upon an unused idea I had laying around. I was waiting for the right synth to come along and the virtually unlimited possibilities of Fathom definitely fit the bill.
(generaldiomedes)
Just bought Fathom - it's absolutely brilliant!
(goldenanalog)
The new version works great and I really like the new wave table oscillator!
I'm looking forward to future updates, thanks again!
(Ivano)
This synth is absolutely fantastic - lovely morphing/moving sounds with the wavetable oscillator. Great work already, even if it's not finished yet.
(Mik82)
I am so happy with this synth, I can't stop fiddling with it.
(Babbgr)
You have made one of the most capable synths ever created! Thank you, and I wish you the best in further developments!
(David)
This plugin synth is major fun.
(ATN69)
Just bought your synth without first trying the demo. Fathom installation was clean and simple, and it works wonderfully. Good synth. Good idea. Good work.
(Vertion)
This is a fantastic synthesizer, and I'm still very excited where it's going. I've been playing all weekend with the Bezier curves and I don't think I've seen this in any other synth. It opens up a huge range of possibilities.
(Yellowmix)
I really enjoy this modular beast :D
(Yeager)
Its modular nature also reminds me of my first vst purchase about 12 years ago, which was the excellent KarmaFX, although your synth is much more varied in its scope of oscillators and also has a much nicer GUI etc.
(Doug)
I finally gave Fathom Pro synth a play today - gee, what lush, pretty and interesting sounds it can produce! Great job.
(Charles)
This is one of my favorite synths. It really inspires me to explore what it is capable of doing.
(Frostline)
You have something very special here with your Fathom Synthesizer. The discovery in sound is vast and musical at the same time. Congratulations on a remarkable instrument.
(Clifton)
I'm very impressed at how good Fathom can sound with just a couple elements in a simple patch.
(Teksonik)
I have to say this month was jammed with great tracks and that is a testament to the great sound of "Fathom" thanks for the hard work and effort you put in on one monster of a synth.
(Mjr5house)
Goodness gracious I'm getting some nice patches out of this synth. I'm struggling as to which direction to take. You won't be disappointed by this months submissions dev. The sound quality is gonna be great. A little work intensive and could use some workflow optimizations, but the synth delivers.
(functionform)
Just so you know. I have been checking out free synths as well as purchasing five synths. Fathom Synth is my absolute favorite!
(Paul S)
One of the most original modular synths ever!
(BlackWinny)
The whole instrument feels fast and solid, so many possibilities in such an easy to use environment. Fence-sitters or people investigating a new discovery, don't hesitate, this is a superb instrument, and with a free mono version, the CM release, and affordable Pro versions, it certainly transcends anyone’s definition of a no-brainer aquisition.
(glokraw)
I'm sure you hear this a lot, but Fathom is an excellent and game-changing soft synth. The depth of features and the incredible level of thoughtfulness in design, is unmatched, at least in my experience.
(Neil)
The number of controls in each module is almost mind boggling. I've yet to find a synth with this much fine tuning capability.
(Wagtunes)
The sound engine in Fathom is amazing.
(Rich)
Your synth is absolutely phenomenal.
(Liam)
I think Fathom is the best-sounding synth I've ever heard.
(SparkySpark)
Wow, Fathom has become a wicked little bitch of a synth! it's been awhile since i grabbed an update and 2.33, which i grabbed yesterday, is quite impressive.
(Larry)
I’ll tell you, I played with the CM version of Fathom and bought the full version a few days ago. This is a killer synth and an amazing value! It is better than synths costing 5X as much! If you haven’t bought a copy of Fathom, what are you waiting for. It is one of the best designed UIs I have ever seen. Investing in the Fathom platform is a no brainer. Just do it!
(tony10000)
Damn what an awesome synth!
(Jimmy D)
As mentioned I hold Fathom as the second best synth I have, after Omnisphere. It is above things like Zebra, Dune, Massive, just to mention a few. I really like the Interface and the modular build of sound.
(Rumdrum)
My investment in Fathom begins to look better than my Vanguard portfolio!
(Biscotto)
Fathom makes Tuesday afternoon feel like Friday night.
(glokraw)
Keep up the great work because this is by far the best Synth on the market and will become the standard of the future.
(Andre)
This thing sounds out of this world good.
(codec_spurt)
Hi Fathom,
it's me again. I just have to let You know that I am totally blown away by Fathom. I haven't been this excited about creating sounds since I bought a DX7 back in 1986.
I didn't realise I was so fed up with synths crammed with presets that all sound the same.
With Fathom I can do whatever I want, with such precision and it all sounds fantastic. This was exactly what I needed to spark me creativity again, I can't put it away.
It's all working beautifully on my Macbook Pro and I haven't had any errors (I am using your support mail after all) I have a few ideas on how to improve the workflow a little but I'll get back to You on that.
Thank you for this!
Peter R.
Sweden
Fathom,
With your synth I ended up using far less effects than in any other OSC round since I have started with OSC, because everything is already there in Fathom to control the sound as you like.
And your synth offers feature I haven't seen in any other synth yet. Especially the wavetable Oscillator is fun to play with.
Why the hell the "skip" dial is not to be found in any other synth?!
And now OSC 109 is over, I have to admit that I think I have only scratched 30% of Fathoms features...I haven't even touched mulit stage envelopes at all...can't believe that.
On top of all that you're one of the most responsive and community aware developers I have seen ever! Thumbs up!!!!
] Peter:H [
Can't say enough good about Fathom! It was a purchase I never regret. And I've purchased a lot of VSTi based synths over the years. Many of them are really quite regrettable one trick ponies.
Fathom is a powerhouse and the sound is truly stellar.
Cheers,
Beau
Personally, Fathom is one of my top 5 favorite soft-synths and I even think it beats many of the synths that have been mentioned in this thread in some key ways.
The 2D wavetable morphing is super unique and only recently getting anything even approaching competition from Hive's wavetable features (and Hive isn't fully modular like Fathom is).
I also absolutely love the FFT approach for its oscillator engine, it allows for greater sound design potential and it sounds great to my ears.
For me the per voice distortion is actually the star of the show, not trying to emulate a specific analog synth but turning the unique quality of analog oscillators, i.e. semi-periodic waveforms into an entire set of parameters baked into the oscillator to be used alongside all of the fun wavetable shenanigans.
It's also worth noting how much of a blessing the Bezier curve wave drawing is for someone who wants to make wavetables from scratch additively.
I would even go as far as to say this is a rival to Zebra and MPowerSynth, even the complexity of the individual modules blows me away. Don't sell this synth short.
Sinthoid
I Installed a free version of Fathom Synth via the Computer Music Magazine. And then I discovered what an incredible give-away this is. So I had to grab the full version including some preset packs.
In fact, the Fathom Synth is my favorite synth. It is extremely powerful and sounds totally outstanding. It is worth every penny. Thanks for this fantastic contribution.
Martin
As a sometimes sound designer, sometimes composer, sometimes engineer, and compulsive “Sound Hound”, I own a huge array of sound engines. Upon seeing a promo for Seaweed Audio’s “Fathom” synth plugin, I decided to give it a try. Having dived into it for a while now, I have to say Fathom is an incredible bargain with stellar capabilities and an approach to sound creation that is very unique.
In addition to producing some incredible sounds from an impressive library of presets that covers a wide range of sonic territory, Fathom has a number of usability features which enable very quick editing or creation of presets that go very deep into its sound design capabilities.
One of my favorite features is Seaweed Audio’s “Dynamic Link” method of assigning internal parameters to the host DAW’s Host Automation system. No more scrolling through a list of hundreds of available internal parameters - often with names that differ from the names used in the GUI - to find the parameter you wish to automate! This is the slickest system for setting up Host Automation I’ve seen.
Another “feature” I really appreciate is the User’s Manual which is very complete and clear and easy to understand, but also contains an impressive amount of pretty detailed technical info on how Fathom works “under the hood”. While this may not be of great interest to the casual user (but beware, casual user, as you may learn some very useful stuff if you read the details), it will be greatly appreciated by those users of a more technical persuasion who like to dive in deep and create their own unique sounds.
Kudos to Seaweed Audio for creating this wicked little engine – and selling it at such an attractive price!
--Lawrence Hall (a.k.a. Cosmic Pothole)
So I fire the synth up and I'm faced with what is probably the most gorgeous GUI I've encountered. Let's see how easy it is to make a new preset, save it, reload it. Does it work?
Oh yeah. Took me a while to figure out because my eyesight is a bit off at the moment and I just kind of missed it. But it was there. And it worked perfectly. This is kind of the main and most important criteria for me with a new synth. I put up with all kinds of nonsense from old faves like SQ8L that don't remember the presets on recall in Ableton Live (what a nighmare that is!), but for a new synth, this is a must.
Making up the preset was super easy. So much information presented so efficiently. Super powerful. I was waiting for a catch. I got something fairly complex going quite quickly and I'm no sound designer. On top of that it was really fun and a different kind of paradigm to what I'm used to with other synths. It was more like operating the modular routing system on a DAW, like Energy XT2.
So much power on offer and so quick to put it all together. All wrapped up in a top of the class GUI design. I'm going to be buying the Pro version soon. https://www.fathomsynth.com/buy
Then I'll probably get the Vector version later.
This thing sounds out of this world good. It's super quick to program. It straddles the line between old familiar concepts to anyone who has programmed a synth before, with new futuristic and streamlined operation. I'm still waiting for the catch.
Then I found out you can change the GUI and the ones provided look really great. I don't know who is designing this, but it's a level above everything else out there to my eyes (and brain). I can honestly say I've not had a synth grab me so much in the last few years. The dev seems pretty cool as well, wanting to create something amazing but accessible. The presets were very good but I didn't dig deep. I'd like to see what other people who know what they are doing can come up with.
Very tweakable, very quick, very fun, sounding great.
I wouldn't even care if it wasn't the best sounding thing on the planet - the user experience is such a joy - but it's not lacking in that department either.
My time is very limited these days. I know what I like.
I like to take the time to revisit old classics like Octopus and Spectral and all the rest. Any new synth has to bring something really special to the table. So far, I really can't fault this synth at all.
The low price of the Pro version allows me to buy in quickly to the ecosystem. And when I start using it in earnest (which I'm sure I will) that 100 + bucks will seem like a bargain to get the best out of this little monster beauty.
This is a very unique kind of synth, both in its design and its look. It's not trying too hard. It's not trying to be something it's not. It knows what it is but doesn't flaunt it. It's understated, even. Everything says you a dealing with something of serious class here.
That is my initial impression anyway.
Usually with these types of things (and I've played with a few) you connect stuff up and it either doesn't work or it sounds horrible. I get the impression a lot of hard work has gone in to this stuff making sense when the end user hooks things up (even an idiot like me that doesn't know what he's doing). Very drastic changes can be made quite quickly. It just makes a lot of sense to someone with a bit of programming experience (ok, I'm not a total idiot).
I have to admit the GUI was what drew me in to this synth in the first place. But every step of the way on the journey I keep getting that little bit of 'something' that puts a smile on my face. It might be the sounds, it might be the interface, it might even be the pricing structure!
I'm basing all of this on just a few hours spent playing with it. But it's already made my Top 10 of all time greatest synths ever! And that's a tight squeeze.
codec_spurt