Nice demo song! Beautiful sounds and nice melodies!

I've been working with Element a little bit and I'm trying to figure out if there's a way to invert Envelope 3? I wanted to use that to make the pitch of an OSC go up instead of down.

I managed to do this by using the VCF envelope with a negative Shape value, but to do this you have to sacrifice the filter.

The Element docs' description of the Shape parameter doesn't seem to match what I'm seeing on either the Filter Env or Env 3... (like, I don't think it should have inverted the envelope for VCF, but it seemed to have that effect).

There's an invert button on the mod matrix, haven't tried it, but maybe this does the trick?

(Thanks Jeezo and Solidtrax!)

You know what, I didn't even try that because I assumed it had only to do with the waveform. Will take a look tonight. Thanks!

EDIT: There are other ways to do what I'm looking for, like with a long attack on Env3 instead of a long decay. I've just been looking for ways to replicate patches from some of my hardware synths, and envelope inversion is something I've done on the Alpha Juno/MKS-50 many times. I compared Massive, Sylenth1, and Element on a feature-by-feature basis, only looking at parameters that my hardware synths use (MKS-50, MKS-70, MKS-30, MKS-80) and Element was the most functionally similar, although Massive was a close second. (The one thing I preferred about Massive is that its envelope is closest to the Alpha Juno/MKS-50's AADDSSR... Massive's envelopes are insanely configurable.)

It will be a while before I'm able to determine whether I can adequately reproduce the sound of those synths, but Element should give me almost everything I need to recreate the patches purely in terms of parameters.

I've been trying to figure out which synth Element reminds me of, it turns out that it reminds me of the Korg MonoPoly. The sound character is very similar. However, the MonoPoly does not introduce all of the noise that Element has. So to anyone that likes this synth, but not all of the noise that it introduces, the MonoPoly is a great option which I find is actually better since it's less expensive, and has a bit more options.

MonoPoly is great. I used to have an original hardware one. It didn't have midi though so I was only able to sync the arpeggiator to my TR-808 using a sync box my electronics buddy made for me. No memory presets either so the front man had to entertain the crowd while I manually reset patches between songs at our gigs. The fat bass sound was always worth the wait for them though.

This may be a dumb question, but how do you see if there are updates to Element? I'm still running the one that I installed upon release and was thinking if they've made bugfixes to it, I still can't hear the first note of an arpeggio.

Any updates would be in a Waves 9 update but not every plugin gets updated. They specify what plugins the updates are for. See below for the last two v9 updates from their site:

January 28th, 2013

Waves V9r9 installers include the following changes and bug fixes:

The new IR-Live plugin available separately, in Mercury, and in SoundGrid Pro, Prelude & Essentials bundles.

WaveShell VST2 on Mac 64-bit support.

January 3rd, 2013

Waves V9r8 installers include the following changes and bug fixes:

The new Element plugin and application available separately and in Mercury.

GTR & GTR Solo applications fixed memory corruption that could cause a crash.

Waves License Center missing fonts issue solved.

Thanks, looks like no updates on Element so far then.

Very nice.

(I'm still really liking the sound of Element.)

Still loving this synth too. I got FXPansion DCAM Synth Squad around same time when I bought this, but I've used Element almost exclusively since then. Have hardly used DCAM at all. Element is definately my current fave with PPG Wave v3.

We're being spoiled with great synths these days.

Most synths here are Element (six instances, sounds made from scratch). Drums are Arturia Spark and the deep housy chords starting in the middle are PPG Wave v3. I think I could've pulled a similar chord from Element tho.

Nice!

Really great.

Sorry if has already been covered, but i'm considering getting the plugin and i ws wondering if there is anything in this price range that compares to element. Im a noob in the synth department, but so far i have my juno g hardware synth and the digidesign one. I tried installing the free kontact player but haven't figured out how to import the free sound library yet. Is element a big step up from the free kontact?

Diva is in a similar price range and brings a lot more to the table in terms of features and soundquality

Element is currently going for 99, Diva is 179 (give or take currency differences, tax etc). No matter what you'll ask, someone (or most) will recommend Diva for you in this forum .

Soundwise I don't think there is another synth like Element, it's got quite a unique sound.

Novation V-station is 79 and has quite similar features, but the sound is not as lively. Steinberg Retrologue is 49 and it's a really good sounding synth, but different features.

It's all up to your preference in sound and character tho and how specific you are with the feauture set.

Diva is fantastic, and has some updates coming up that will take it to another level... but I'd hardly consider it a beginner synth. Element or even Sylenth1 are much better for someone just starting out, just because pretty much everything is right there in front of you.

Move on to Diva once you've mastered the basics.

Just looked this morning and Element can be purchased for $79 from an online store. That's a bit over 60 euros and a really good deal on such a good synth.

Only thing that Element doesn't really do is a supersaw kind of lead. With most VA synths today you can have multiple oscs in unison or stack oscs. Element has unison, but it's quite different and won't give you a spectrum filling fat lead. You can ofcourse do classic saw leads by detuning two oscillators and using some other tricks.

I tested Diva once but it used so much CPU that I just couldn't justify a purchase. The sound was good tho, but I like to do things realtime and rarely bounce anything before mixdown.

Where can you get it for $79. I've been running the demo and I think it sounds pretty decent ( i wigh i still had my juno 106) for that price it's hard to pass up. .

When your WUP has run out heh

Got to try this out and was very happy with it. I hope waves continues to bring vst instruments out.

Sent from my SCH-I535

I reported arp problems when this was first released, Element didn't play the first arpeggio note when set to up/down/rnd. I reported a tech support ticket, they couldn't reproduce it and I figured it must be the fact that I was still running 10.6.8 32bit. Just upgraded to 10.8.4 and it still does the same.

Am I really the only one out here with this problem?

Waves Element $39 sale today. Does it worth it? No time for demoing, tho. and actually have some VA hardware yet.

I hate the term no-brainer, but that is a definate no-brainer. I've loved this synth since I got it. There are people who don't like it tho, so it's all up to what you like.

Is that a typo? I see it's on sale for $89 direct from Waves. Cheapest I can find it is $75 at plugindiscounts.com

No typo., Waves is giving a $50 coupon for use today 27th June.

Everyone can get their own code:
http://www.waves.com/lp/june13/sign-up.html?ref=ytann

8a2e944f-3786-4408-aa53-64c4e95ce1ca

I do not have an answer for you there, as I haven't messed with the arp, but I do have a question. I've only been a Waves customer for a little over a year, and have already seen a couple of update licenses run out on some of my Waves plugins. I've only ever used the Waves V9 installer, and I've never signed up for WUP.

How are you getting updates for Element, and how does that work in the scope of Waves V9? Like if you download the latest V9 executable, will it update any Waves plugins you have installed, or does it only update plugins you're still covered for? Or is there some way you got an explicit Element update?

I used Element in my most recent track and was a little annoyed to discover that the synced LFO retriggers on every note-on. I was able to do what I wanted by dialing in the right speed on a free LFO, but kinda defeated the purpose of syncing as far as my needs went. :(

Side note: Combined with the $50 coupon they're sending out, that Waves sale today is pretty great. Just got the C4 compressor for $19.

I was asking the same question some time ago. The updates come with the latest installer, if there are any. I just installed the latest Element as I was installing a demo of RS56, but it seems it's still the same version.

I've been fine without the WUP so far and to be honest, I don't even want to think about it

Tempted by this for $39. Have installed the demo, but it hasn't installed a VST, and the Audio Unit plug seems to point to IDR instead. Anyone else having similar problems?