FAW recently reduced the price for Circle to 49€ / 69$, which was a reason for me again to try it. It's the go-to-synth for one of my friends and that also made more sense to me after demoing it the 3rd time.

Let me just say, I don't really like synths with sub-pages. The traditional mod-matrix is also a work-flow killer to me. Circle is meant to keep the flow while creating sounds. Along with Twin2 and Surge, it may have the most intuitive GUI that I ever worked with.

The factory sounds are holding some goodies, but overall they are not the main coefficient for getting Circle. It's meant to dive into and to play around with the drag'n'drop capabilities to come up with sounds that would include much complex programming in other synths. It's great for people that don't have a specific sound in mind or are still beginners to synthesis in general, since you can already get a preview of what a modulation would do by holding one source modulation dot over a target slot.

CPU can be intense and also, development was quite dead for a while and just recently continued again, as far as I can tell. This could be a great sign for the future of this synth, regarding bugs and better performance handling.

Since I mainly work in Reason, I use most of my plug-ins for creating samples and importing them into Reason or to create multi-samples for Reason's samplers, so the CPU usage it not that important to me, but I know it is for others.

It works without issues in REAPER and the demo of Chainer. Not so much in EnergyXT, since I couldn't access the bottom tabs (Sounds, Keyboard, Settings etc.) inside of it.

Overall, with the new price, a great work-flow and the huge fun-factor, Circle combines all aspects that I care for in a synth, that invites to create and not making it a dull process.

Its not often I do reviews on synths, but when I do you better believe there is a good reason for it. This gem of a vst is like a hidden jewel that sparks a luster with the best of them, unfortunately hidden in the folds behind all the rest. I have always been a modular/ semi-modular buff and believe me when I say it this thing is powerful! In some cases maybe a little TOO powerful! So with that said lets get on with a review shall we?

I will start off by saying this synth offers everything you need to get the kind of sounds you want to make. However once you get to that point you will discover you can do a lot more with the sound (and trust me you will) due to the semi-modular routing capabilities the synth offers you. At first when I heard about the use of circles to route parts of the synth together I thought to myself this sounds gimmicky. Then I saw for myself what they meant. This is the real deal! This thing can make lush and exotic pads, moving sounds, insane effect all with ease. Of course all the simple stuff is there to get out of it easily. I will warn you though, the sound quality is really good. I advise anyone that plays with this with headphones please do so at a moderate level. THIS THING ROARS! One of my favorite waveable synths (AND ITS SEMI-MODULAR)

User Interface: 9/10
I give it a 9. Its thoughtfully laid out, easy to use and everything is there begging you to play with it!

Sound: 10/10
It roars and can do it all! You can choose from 4 oscillators (also noise oscillation & Sub Oscillation for analouge) and choose via analouge or waveable from each oscillators. This thing can produce some really convincing analouge sounds but has the ability to go beyond however you see fit! You also have the choice of 110 waveable waveforms which offers a cross fade to further change the shape of the waveform in question. If you can't get the sound you want out of this thing DON'T BLAME THE SYNTH! =)

Features: 10/10
The only limits to this I can see is from the user in question. You basically route what you want, where you want, with whatever you want. With what you may ask? Well for one there are 5 slots which contain an Envelope, LFO and Sequencer (to choose from for each of 5 slots) which of course you can route anything too. From effects to oscillators, to filters anything the mad scientist within you desires! Whats even more cool it shows you in real time the movements you set it to do. For instance if you have a moving sound with a slow attack and long release on the envelope a circle will show you from start to finish (granted you sustain a note) the progress of the sound. That is very helpful as you get a real time visual of what your sound is doing. You can also choose from a single or dual filter. Having a dual filter enables you to split up oscillators to 2 separate filters. There is also another 2 sections which includes a Mouth Filter(vowel style filtering), Parametric & Shelving EQ, Overdrive, Fuzz distortion, bit crusher and ring modulation (in both sections respectively). Circle also contains 7 high quality effects, phaser, reverb, echo, double echo, ping pong echo, chorus, panner. There is also a feedback knob with the ability to tune! All tweakable & assignable modular style! All this with an up to 32 note polyphony and 32 voice unison. Legato is available as well! It even comes with a stand alone version!

Documentation: 10/10
Everything is there and easy to understand granted you possess the ability to read =P

Presets: 10/10
Presets show what this thing is capable of! Some really awesome sounds right out of the box. It proves skies the limit with this thing!

Customer Support: 10/10
I never had to use it so that is a 10 in my book!

Value For The Money: 9/10
It gets a 9 out of 10 granted that what it does it does amazingly well. It can be argued however that they are synths for the same money or less that are just as good as it. I know what your thinking, a synth like Albino offers a lot of value for the money and may boast attributes that are not in Circle. However its all a matter of preference and what YOU want out of your money. Even though other synths use different synthesis methods its all how you want to play the game and trust me Circle is ALL GAME!

Stability: 10/10

Rock solid for me never crashed, however the synth has left me mentally unstable due to unknown realms I have been traveling with it! =P

Conclusion:

I would recommend this synth for those who really want to get creative and down and dirty when it comes to sound design. Its easy enough for novices but powerful enough to entertain the elite! My only con for this synth is you better have one heck of a computer to use it. It can be CPU extensive! So if your computer is a pansy tell it how much you hate it for that and that it won't work out between the two of you and leave it for a better computer! Download the demo grab a 6 pack and give the neighbors hell with this beauty! They deserve it! =)