Pizza with the Lot
The first time I opened this I had a double take … hang on … I’ve seen this before… it’s Steinberg’s Halion. Given Halion has been around since 2001 I thought oooh that’s a bit cheeky. Then uh oh hope I don’t have to teach this because Avid has started to bundle Falcon 2 with Pro Tools, where it’s going to be a vast leap from Structure Free.
Deep Breath – it’s not quite the same thing. The interface is similar but it’s a one user synthesiser with sampling – where Halion is a multi-user sampler that has taken on synthesis. I’ll explain…
… and there is also a MOTU tool available called Mach 5 that looks suspiciously like Falcon’s dad – it’s unclear why these near identical wares are in competition but it probably involves petulance and grumps.
As always there are terms to learn, but they are not unfamiliar. Each sound is part of a keygroup, which are arranged across the notes of a layer. Layers stack in a program, which is one instrument in the orchestration provided by Falcon. There’s a similar stack of modulation sources that can be applied to each of these levels. You will see that the interface is all about digging down into this stack and building sounds upward like LEGO.
Halion and Kontakt have only just added wavetables while Falcon has quite a zoo of sound generators: virtual analogue, a simple FM, physical pluck & drum, wavetable and additive synthesis – but unfortunately not additive re-synthesis. There are sample granular and stretch modules from IRCAM which make ‘cloudy’ sounds but you’re still going to use Padshop2 or Alchemy for clean sounding instruments.
There’s a fair few effects included in the software, most of which would be in the DAW anyway, apart from filters which have a good range of types (xpander, moog, formant etc.) But having the internal modulation stack makes internal effects worthwhile. There’s also a section for ‘events’ which are complex modifications of incoming MIDI data to make strums, riffs and micro tuning. You can even program treatments in Lua if you’re that kind of person.
Given this complexity it’s no surprise that online forums are full of confused owners and myths. Music tools have a pathway, a story about how they operate, especially the virtual analogues. Good design hides complexity by dividing this story into chapters. But Falcon is one of those tools that puts it all in your face up front. It need not be complicated if you use only the elements that are required and ignore the interface noise.
SAVING and LOADING
Falcon saves patches as links to existing samples – ‘save’ makes relative links and ‘save as’ makes absolute links. If you are a single user that should be OK, so long as you don’t move things around, but I would be worried about this in a collaborative environment. Halion samples can be bundled with the patch and macro interface, and called up by a database – even distributed to other users as packages. In Kontakt you can also make monolithic files with everything compressed in one place – easiest solution. If you are working with other Falcon owners you will need to decide on a filing system.
Falcon can load SFZ files, but no other common multi sample formats. SFZ is a reasonable choice but the dystopian landscape of formats continues to piss me off (and I think many others) – there is a case to get all the programmers in a room and starve them until they get their shit together.
Again I’m left thinking how the compact interface of Kontakt provides so much control in such little space. Kontakt might provide a smaller range of toys but they are the essential toys, with very little fluff. Kontakt doesn’t have granular samples, or IRCAM stretch, or stacked modulators – but it does have its own stretching and effects and filters which given the MIDI control in a standard DAW can be used to create very similar effects. You have to examine each element in Falcon and ask what advantage it would bring to you.
For pure synthesis Alchemy wins and is going to win for a long time yet, so you Logic owners can relax. If Avid pulls their head out of their arse and bundles Falcon long term, it’ll be the first contemporary instrument that Pro Tools has had in years. As for Steinberg, Padshop 2 is a killer instrument. Now wed it with Halion and for God sake tidy up this crazy scary interface.
Falcon is often compared to Omnisphere, possibly on the basis that the two are elaborate and have samples or that Omnisphere was once ‘powered’ by UVI software. But that was a while ago. Omnisphere is an extensive ROMpler with its built in library foremost. You can’t load multi-samples, there’s no wavetables or additive sounds and most of the creative action is in the effects chain. While you can buy UVI sounds you don’t really need to, Falcon has more raw generative power, multi samples, and IRCAM sample playback.