Sanford Sound Design

Loved this plugin. So much I tended to overuse it. Had it for years but bought a new Win 11 PC and it seemed to not work consistently, very glitchy.

Of you have a Win PC using Win 7 you might like this a lot.

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One of the few free reverbs worth using, Sanford's core sound is unbeatable for short and medium length reverb sounds.

In particular its comprehensive early reflections section makes it indispensable for when early reflections really count. ER settings are important to tweak to your particular input source content, and the one-size-fits-all approach of most conventional reverbs make their early reflections almost useless. I've even used only its early reflections with the reverb all the way down to combine a different reverb with good early reflections, for when I want to use a different reverb.

Surgical ER, plus a great core sound that doesn't rely on noisy overdiffusion like most freebie 'verbs do, makes for a reverb I can't help but always come back to.

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Ok,
Just as any self respecting vsti synth whore should , I tried this baby when it popped up around KVR . Being a bit jaded with soft synths ( see aforementioned whore reference !)
I have to admit my expectations were low .

Pleasant suprize folks !!! If your not a big reader , then just go slap down your twenty five and get it . (get while it's so underpriced !!)
I don't usually hype like that , but it's sound is apart from the usual VA pack , and has lots of potential on top of that .



U.I.
A little dark,some controls a little smallish . The developer worked out a bug that caused problems for users with custom DPI settings very quickly once he was made aware of it.

Sound
This is why your sweaty fingers should be clicking and downloading the demo now . Try it , you'll like it!
Xenos has covered the tech details better than a less than average so-called "sound designer" like me ever could!!. ( and get his free patches whilst you are demoing , or your and idiot :-).


Features
Well about the only thing I could fault would be not having what any self respecting '80s poly type synth might want ... 5 or 6 point envelopes . I'm sure the developer wanted to keep it simple so good old adsr envelopes will do the trick . It's not like most of us know what to do with extra break point and ramp stages anyway ... maybe in a future version after an army of kvr'ers buy it ( subtle , subtle hint) that will increase time to tinker with it for leslie.

Documentation
Much better than most , but you gotta buy the synth to get it !!

Presets
Thats why you better spring for the $25 , so sound designers see the potential market and get busy . There are some 300 , which are good ! More from Xenos ( subtle hint !) would be great.

Customer support
Great , quick responses


Value for money;

Are you kidding ????


Stability

; ... I can only think that the developer must be unstable to sell this so cheap ............. and the instrument never caused any guff on my system.






OK get the demo , and , ...Then , ... of course you'll buy , ... then , ... you owe me !!!
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I shall do the honors of leaving the first KVR Cobalt review :). Frankly, I am rather suprised that no Cobalt owners wrote a review yet as Cobalt has been out for a while now. What you get for such a low price is WAY above and beyond what you would expect for something in Cobalt's price range. Personally, I feel that the quality of the current version (1.0) could easily compete with VST synths priced in the $49 - $99 range. Guys, this isn't fanboy rambling here...I'm one of the pickier reviewers and as a sound designer by trade, I have enough exposure to other synths on the market to have a clear understanding of how any given synth stands in comparison to its competition. If you lack funds but want decent toys, buy Cobalt for the steal price it goes for. One thing stands out with this synth. It only goes for about $25, but it is NOT some cheaply made piece of Synthedit junk. I recall that Leslie coded this puppy himself in Delphi.
On with the fine details.... The user interface is clean and very easy to navigate. Your oscillator, filter and modulation choices are all conveniently accessable via drop-down menus on Cobalt's single-page GUI.
The sound quality is very good and certainly has the character of those Korg DW series synths. You can dial in all manner of early to mid 80's Synth Pop type sounds that have the typical signature glassy quaility, thanks to the additional osc. waveforms. Cobalt is also very much capable of some rough and nasty sounds that would please musicians who specialize in Industrial, Hardstyle and other, edgy musical genres.
Features-wise, for the price, Cobalt excels. At this writing, there are about 26 oscillator choices. You have 2 LFO's that can modulate PWM (which ALL osc's have), osc pitch, filter cutoff and panning. For effects, you have a stero delay that also has a sync option. I would have liked to see dotted note values included, but for now you can work around that with careful settings in normal mode, though you would have to adjust accordingly depending on your song's tempo. The Chorus effect has its own character and the quality is actually quite good. Many synths in higher price brackets have a chorus effect that is just plain bad. Not so here. It even has a feedback option for decent stereo flanging. I think Leslie would do well to add a HP filter option to this effect so that you can use some wild flanging on a bass sound without the boominess you would get otherwise. There is one other feature that is missing in Cobalt that I think all the Trance/Techno guys would appreciate...adding "modwheel" to the modulation options for the filter. Maybe in a future update...
As far as the included presets go, the original factory set is a mixed bag. You have Leslies own, vintage-oriented sounds which are quite good and usable. Then you have a few of the other contributions which, though I liked personally, may not be very useful to more mainstream composers. Nonetheless, those presets make for a good creative whack upside the head for someone who likes to roll their own sounds. Nothing like thinking outside the box :). I recently contributed a new soundbank available on Leslie's website that would hopefully satisfy those with more standard personal tastes (though I got some wacky one's in there too, lol).
All in all, Cobalt is an excellent value for the money bound to please skinflints everywhere :). I recommend this synth both for seasoned professionals who already have the latest gear but need something quick and simple and for newbies on a tight budget looking for their first quality VST synth outside of what is offered within their DAW software.Read Review