Modelonia

In a world inundated with Virtual Analog its refreshing to find a developer who's actually trying to invent new things rather than make carbon copies of the old stuff. I mean how many "phat" bass synths does anyone need ?
Modelonia is a gorgeous looking and sounding Vsti that tries to do something a little different.

USER INTERFACE
One of its many strong points, not flashy but very pleasing to the eye. Takes a bit of getting used to at first because its not laid out in the usual subtractive VA stylee.
But once you get your head round what Modelonia actually does the controls start to make sense and the interface reveals its charming clarity. Pretty much everything is midi learn-able at a mouse click and if you get lost theres a ? button which explains the layout.

SOUND
Its an acoustic modeling hybrid that combines string and a horn models in interesting ways to produce a wide range of very organic non electronic sounds. Its got a weirdly baroque nature that kinda sounds like Kraftwerk in renaissance Rome (that may not be historically accurate but you get my drift). You can make fairly convincing string and horn sounds if you want to but i've had hours of fun making mad, lively, organic sounds just messing around playing my midi guitar with CC footpedals controlling parameters in real time.
I compared it to Reaktors Steampipe , and although they are slightly similar Modelonia has a much wider range of possibilities and doesn't rely as heavily on huge reverbs to make it sound good ( although it does have one that comes in handy )

FEATURES
Its no jack of all trades, thank god. Modelonia does something slightly different and it does it really well.

DOCUMENTATION
Its there built into the skin if you need it , but you hardly do because its so much fun to just play with and find out for yourself.

PRESETS
Wide ranging and very good indeed. Theres also a 'sound wizard' section with basic starting points of various acoustic timbres.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Nusofting is about the right size for this kind of thing so support is personal and quick ( not that i've needed it ). Luigi and Paul are both good chaps of the highest order.

VALUE FOR MONEY
Recently discounted so a total bargain.

STABILTY
solid as a rock

IN CONCLUSION
Bloody marvelousRead Review