Software Alternatives & Reviews

Surge XT VS Pure Data

Compare Surge XT VS Pure Data and see what are their differences

Surge XT logo Surge XT

Open-source subtractive-hybrid synthesizer formerly sold commercially as Vember Audio Surge.

Pure Data logo Pure Data

Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical...
  • Surge XT Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31

Surge XT is an open-source hybrid synthesizer and the synth which started the Surge Synth Team project!

  • Pure Data Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-01-18

Surge XT videos

Free VST - Surge Synthesizer plugin

Pure Data videos

Introduction to Pure Data

More videos:

  • Review - Pure Data Guitar Pedal
  • Tutorial - How to Design Sound Art Installations with Pure Data (Part 1)

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Surge XT and Pure Data)
Email Marketing
100 100%
0% 0
3D
0 0%
100% 100
Work Management
100 100%
0% 0
Music Generation
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Surge XT and Pure Data. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Surge XT should be more popular than Pure Data. It has been mentiond 178 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Surge XT mentions (178)

  • Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
    Good stuff! I started getting in to this at the start of the year. Already had an old, dusty MicroKORG and MIDI interface to use it as a controller, but recently splashed out on a bigger controller as the Korg's tiny keys were hurting me - plus, I wanted something bigger to get better at piano! A couple of free soft synths I'd recommend are Surge XT, and Vital. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Obsolete (or not) DAW recommendations for windows 8?
    Https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ and https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ should work like a charm. Source: 10 months ago
  • Hi, I'm new
    To get the equivalent of a symphonic orchestra in your computer, the solution is basically money; you buy the instruments you need. In the case of synthesizers, things are much cheaper - if you put in the effort yourself. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ is excellent and could even be used if you wanted to make a more retro-style soundtrack. Source: 10 months ago
  • So is serum worth the money? Can someone ELI5 why I should buy it rather than use a free synth like synth one?
    Instead of Synth1, try https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ . It's pretty much better in every aspect except for the UI which is going to look a lot more daunting to you ;). Source: 11 months ago
  • These just appeared in my Facebook, anything to be excited about? I’m waiting on prices.
    For the DW-8000, check https://www.fullbucket.de/music/fb7999.html . Alternatively, https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ can use single-cycle waveforms (basically wavetables that don't change) which can get you close. Source: 11 months ago
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Pure Data mentions (37)

  • AI can now master your music
    For node based workflows, check out Max or Pure Data. https://cycling74.com/products/max https://puredata.info/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • New To Lighting Design, Looking for guidance
    Tools like Ossia Score, Chataigne and PureData (pd) can also help a ton in building interactive art and triggering other A/V software. Source: 12 months ago
  • WebPd 1.0.0 alpha released !
    WebPd is a highly modular compiler for audio programming language Pure Data allowing to run .pd patches on web pages. It converts the audio graph and processing objects from a patch into plain human-readable JavaScript or WebAssembly which can then be integrated directly into any web application. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Is there any alternative to sonic pi?
    You might also be interested in the very different Pure Data (http://puredata.info/) environment, which is also free and open-source. It uses a visual programming approach, which many people like but if you are already a programmer it might seem inconvenient in comparison. Source: about 1 year ago
  • Generating sine wave audio tone in kotlin/Java.
    Personally I got started with pure data, which is open source and a good place to learn DSP basics. I think there are even a few wrapper libraries for building things into apps (libpd, mobmuplat, to name a few). Source: about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Surge XT and Pure Data, you can also consider the following products

Vital - Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer with drag'n'drop modulation workflow and animated preview of the synth's inner workings where needed. Comes with many modulation sources (including audio-rate), MPE support and FX chain.

SuperCollider - A real time audio synthesis engine, and an object-oriented programming language specialised for...

Serum - VST for FL Studio, Ableton Live, and many other VST supported DAWs. Heavily utilized in EDM.

TouchDesigner - TouchDesigner is a visual development platform that equips you with the tools you need to create stunning realtime projects and rich user experiences.

ZynAddSubFX - ZynAddSubFX is an open source software synthesizer for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

VCV Rack - A cross-platform modular synthesizer.