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impOSCar2

Synth (Analogue / Subtractive / Additive) Plugin by GForce Software
MyKVRFAVORITE206WANT48
impOSCar impOSCar impOSCar
impOSCar2 by GForce Software is a Virtual Instrument Audio Plugin and a Software Application for macOS and Windows. It functions as a VST Plugin, an Audio Units Plugin and a Standalone Application.
Product
Version
2.0.3
Product
Version
2.5.5
Instrument
Formats
Sample Formats
Loads and/or Saves
WAV
Copy Protection
Serial Number
Important Note
Windows version is Standalone and VST only (no RTAS).
My KVR - Groups, Versions, & More
384 KVR members have added impOSCar2 to 38 My KVR groups 472 times.
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KVR Rank

Overall: 421   328   417

30-Day: 682; 7-Day: 653; Yesterday: 2324

impOSCar2 is the multi-award winning reimagination of the OSCar..

impOSCar2 is the successor to our multi-award winning impOSCar software subtractive and additive synthesis synthesizer. If you're not familiar with the impOSCar then you're in for a real treat. However, if you fell in love with it the first time around, be prepared to fall in love all over again.

impOSCar2 comes with a 1000+ Patch library featuring sounds created by original OSCar users including Billy Currie (Ultravox) Darren Price & Rick Smith (Underworld) & Paul Wiffen (the original OSCar sound designer and programmer for Stevie Wonder & Jean Michel Jarre).

While the original impOSCar was a component emulation of the rare and classic OSCar synthesizer with a few added features, such as polyphony and on-board effects, impOSCar2 soars to new sonic heights via steroid injections of innovative features and enhancements, each designed around the wishes of those musicians, programmers and producers who loved the original.

Since the original impOSCar release we've carefully compiled user feedback and over the course of eighteen months, in another true labour of love, we've incorporated the best of these within impOSCar2 creating a synth that positively oozes more character, more playability, more expression and more detailed sound sculpting opportunities than could have been imagined a few years ago.

Patch library
impOSCar2 contains a small mountain of patches created by OSCar & impOSCar luminaries including; Darren Price & Rick Smith (Underworld), I Monster, Paul Hartnol (Orbital), Billy Currie (Ultravox) and many more.

The original impOSCar patch library is also included together with the Billy Currie Signature Sounds. Both libraries have been enhanced to take advantage of the additional features such as aftertouch and extra LFO routing.

Three User Interface Sizes
impOSCar2 comes with small (840), medium (1024) & large (1600 pixel width) versions.

Multiple Unison Modes
One of the biggest sonic enhancements on impOSCar2 is Unison control. Simply put, the entire Unison Section helps take the classic OSCar sound to awe inspiring new heights.

Utilising the various Mono and Poly Unison modes allows the creation of anything from screaming-bastard Unison Leads right up to mammoth 8 Voice Poly Unison stacks with 16 note polyphony. Additionally enhancing the sonic possibilities the unison detune knob takes unison voice tuning from subtle to insane for the phatest sound ever to come out of a virtual synth. We didn't stop there either. A Unison Spread knob enables each unison voice to be spread across the stereo spectrum for bombastically spacious chords or leads. This, in conjunction with five Pan Modes and individual Note Spread, means impOSCar2 can be tailored to fit within a mix regardless of whether the remit is a tightly focussed patch or a super-spacious texture across a vast stereo spectrum. Finally in the Unison Section there's the ability to apply different glide times to each unison voice when using Portamento or Glissando – a wonderful feature borrowed from the classic OB-8.

Polyphonic and channel aftertouch
impOSCar2 receives both polyphonic and channel aftertouch and this, combined with the existing Velocity Response Controls, means that impOSCar2 is a vastly expressive instrument.

Chord Memory
Play a chord, memorise it and then transpose that chord across the keys.

Comprehensive Arpeggiator
And on the subject of the Arpeggiator, impOSCar2 now contains a vastly improved Arpeggiator which includes a Pitch/Play mode for pitch or note orders, together with -1, +1 & +2 Octave Shift selection as well as the usual Up, Down, Up & Down and Random note and Octave modes.

Synthesis features
With regards synthesis features, impOSCar2 affords both additive and subtractive synthesis types but as you would expect we've made a plethora of additions that should keep even the most ardent synth programmer happy.

In the Oscillator section both oscillators now have independent pulse width control, for more control over the PWM and Rectangle Waveforms.

Ring modulation
Residing in the Mix Section, is a two-mode ring modulator which now helps you create a vast array of new textures from musical to subtle and to abstract and beyond.

Additional LFO modes
A completely new Aux Mod section has been grafted onto the instrument and offers destinations including Oscillator 2 Pitch, Osc1 Pulse Width, Osc2 Pulse Width, Osc1&2 Pulse Width, Filter Separation, Filter Resonance (Q), Oscillator Mix and Noise Mix. And when combined with LFO1 and/or the freshly added LFO2 and LFO Balance Controls, again, the net result is anything from complex modulated timbres to ever shifting organic sounding textures.

Features of 2.0 version:

  • Mono, duo and 4 polyphonic modes.
  • 2 Oscillators, 13 Waveforms.
  • Programmable Additive Wave Matrix.
  • Unique filter section: 9 filter types with Drive, Cutoff, Q and Separation.
  • Two Envelope Generators.
  • Mono, duo and polyphonic arpeggiator with 4 modes.
  • 5 Keyboard Triggering modes.
  • Extensive LFO section with sync.
  • 6 portamento modes.
  • Powerful Effects section.
  • Programmable Velocity responses.
  • MIDI Learn with storable CC maps.
  • A vast range of sonic possibilities.
  • 1000+ Patch library. Including sounds from many original OSCar users including Billy Currie (Ultravox), Mark Moore (S-Express) Rick Smith (Underworld), Lee Groves (Basement Jaxx, Terminalhead), Tim Dorney (Republica) and Paul Wiffen, original OSCar sound designer and OSCar programmer to Stevie Wonder & Jean Michel Jarre.

{See video at top of page}

Latest User Reviews

Average user rating of 4.67 from 18 reviews
impOSCar2

Reviewed By slowdrive [all]
March 16th, 2018
Version reviewed: V 1.1 UB on Mac

Phantastic sound, not easy to edit but good patches. Good for drum and bass. No tuning possible to 432 hertz f.e.

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impOSCar2

Reviewed By tibah [all]
November 26th, 2010
Version reviewed: 1.10 on Windows

I bought the impOSCar in the last deal that GForce was running for 3 weeks. Even if you didn't had the opportunity to get in in that period, I do believe that this synthesizer is a must-have for everyone that is looking for a synthesizer full of character. It's always good to remember that this plug-in was released 6-7 years ago and I really wished I would've discovered it earlier.

User Interface
The interface is based on the original hardware and you can get your head around it pretty easy. It's a single page interface, while you have to turn a knob to edit the user waves or enter the MIDI learn function of impOSCar. It's straight forward and fun to use.

Sound
The best part of impOSCar got to be the lovely sound. This synthesizer never sounds bad and truly shines, thanks to his own and unique character.

It's still considered one of the best analogue sounding synthesizers out, while the original OSCar was mainly digital, beside the filters. I don't really care for those topics and I probably will never touch a real OSCar since there are only like 2.000 pieces made. The only thing that matters is how it sounds and I do think that impOSCar is one of the best sounding plug-ins ever made. On top of that its very light on the CPU. 1-2% per instance on a little dated dual core system.

Features
The additive feature adds another flavour to impOSCar and gives it a wider range of sounds than any average subtractive synthesizer. The different LFO sync rates, like internal, clock or MIDI are useful to make some really nice modulations on different or unusual tempos. I really like slow filter modulations.

You can imagine the filter separation to be like 2 filters but it's hard to describe, how many different shapes you can get out of this feature, together with adding some nice drive to the filters too.

The 2 effects, chorus and delay, can sweeten up a sound in no time.

Documentation
PDF in 6 different languages to get you started, while I still think you can just dive into this synthesizer to explore it the best.

Presets
500 presets in the factory of impOSCar with some sounds made by a guy that made sounds for Jean Michel Jarre, if I'm correct. Plenty of others to download from the GForce site and KVR's Bank & Patches section. I do have to say that I like the factory sounds a lot, but impOSCar is just that much fun to play with that you always will find yourself tweaking it.

Customer Support
I purchased it via PayPal which was obviously supported by the GForce shop, but after some e-mails and a manual payment to their PayPal I had my impOSCar waiting for me in my account. I also read that some people had issues with the installer under Win7 64bit and Dave (from GForce) did uploaded the single files so they could pass the installer, so the support really seems to be decent.

Value For Money
Like I said, I did get in in a deal period and so it was one of the best purchases ever, but even the original price is still a real bargain, considering you like the flavour of impOSCar.

Stability
Not one single crash in 3 weeks.

Summary

A truly sweet synthesizer with some sweet filters and character. It's just that much fun to play around with it and get lost for hours and in the same time the simplicity is raising creativity, becoming more and more a part of my sound and productions.
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impOSCar2

Reviewed By BLynx [all]
December 2nd, 2008
Version reviewed: 1.0.1 on Windows

The impOSCar is a landmark on VSTi synths, and probably the one closest do delivering the "analog sound" most of us seek. However, it's not exactly an analog emulation per se, because the original OSCar had digital oscillators.

The basic sound is very pure and warm, rich in harmonics and very clean, but under the hood we'll find that the oscillators also support additive synthesis - something you don't get on your everyday VSTi. This is very useful for harsh sounds, synthetic bells, experimental noise and for advanced sound design. The thing with the oscillators is that they have that full-range-but-not-icepicky sound so rare in synths today - it is a colour of its own, like Eddie Van Halen used to say, a "brown" sound...

The next stop is the "Drive" feature - something I abuse on my day-to-day music making. But, just like the original, it doesn't distort the sound - it is merely an overdrive to change the harmonic response. Very useful for thick basses and leads, and the reason I don't care about the lack of an "Unisson" option.

The filters are also at an league of its own. The Separation knob is unique to this design, and splits your filter in two, giving you more control over ressonance. The basic 24db/oct lowpass is turned with two 12db/oct filters, for example . You can also crank the Q knob and use Separation to turn a bandpass (or lowpass+bandpass, or whatever) into a very rich formant filter.

Other than that, the interface is very easy to use after you get a grasp of it. I'd reccoment this software to anyone trying to learn analog synthesis, because everything is at your face, and harder features are very inviting to experimentation. The patch library contains a large number of quality sounds, and the manual explains the harder functions in detail.

Summing these three main features I must say that, in my opinion, this is the best sounding VSTi ever written.
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impOSCar2

Reviewed By rvltion909@yahoo.com [all]
December 23rd, 2007
Version reviewed: current on Windows

OK I downloaded the demo of this badboy 2 years ago when I was 1st getting into VST and played around with it, monitoring via headphones and was blown away! (This thing sounds like my vintage hardware synth). I was recently looking to add an other gem to my arsenal and again came across its great ratings and downloaded the demo again and again was blown away (this time monitoring through some M-Audio BX5a's). I bit the bullet and bought it.

UI: One of the great things about this synth for me is its simplicity. All the parameters are on one page (what you see is what you get). About 90% of all the parameter are controllable by CC# too, which can be "revealed" with the turn of a knob. Perfect little size with the ability to "hide" the keyboard too. I suggest you plug in, map some cc#'s to your midi knobs and have at it. You're pretty much up and running out of the box.

Sound: This is where this BEAST shines. The filter is quite simply amazing and capable of the nastiest lows and most piercing highs. They've done a great job of making this thing sound authentic. So much so that I checked my monitors at one point because it sounded as if I may have ripped them. After fiddling around with the "drive" knob on the UI I soon found out that this "rusty" sort of "broken tube" sound slowly disappeared as I adjusted the amount. It's sound quality is outstanding. Dont take my word for it...or for that matter the words from the all the famous folks who use it (Trent Reznor, Crystal Method, BT, etc). Do yourself a favor and download the demo.


Features: Like I said its simplicity is one of my favorite things about this synth but its got some cool little bells and whistles like "user wave creation" and a decent set of quality basic effects.

Presets: 500+ quality presets. You cant beat that.

Value For Money: This is one of THE BEST value purchases I've made. Its overall quality far outweighs its price. Very reasonable indeed.

Stability: Also a TOP selling point to me. It works like a charm in Ableton. Its CPU use is GREAT for the sound that it produces (i've never seen it go above 4% with one instance-I run a Conroe 2.13 over clocked to 2.8G). Its never crashed or given any weird pops/clicks/graphical errors, etc.

So all in all...Im very glad I made this purchase. It has stood the test of time. Check the forum, the recent 2007 reviews, the countless "pro" opinions on this synth...its just the shit. Its capable of lots of bread and butter and quite capable of creating unique sounds.

From soaring poly-pads to squelching, distorted hellish sounds it packs POWER. You can almost feel the voltage. This f*cker SCREAMS!!!
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impOSCar2

Reviewed By sockofgold [all]
August 14th, 2007
Version reviewed: 1.15 on Windows

Wow. When I read the review for this thing, I thought, "No way this 4-year old soft synth could be that good!" Oh, how I was wrong. Never before I received such joy just from playing a synth. I don't even need to put it in a song. Just open it up, and rock some chords on this thing, and before I know it, I am smiling like a baby. It is absolutely breathtaking. It can do everything, although I find it best for keys and pads, rather than basses. It can do good basses, but its abilities are somewhat wasted. Like driving a Ferari to the grocery store.

UI:
It can be a little confusing at first, but you wouldn't believe how well the manual clears it up. Without the manual, I would probably give it a 6.

Sound:
I can't even do it justice with words. Just try the demo, and then when it starts making horrendous, disturbing noises (the copy protection on the demo slowly increases the noise level in the background until it becomes deafening), but it. Best beal on the planet.

Features:
It's not Absynth or Massive, but I am not going to dock any points for not cramming it full of features. It has what it needs, and uses it all well. The filters are... geez, I'm speechless just thinking about it.

Documentation:
As mentioned before, the manual clears up any questions you may have about the UI, so I give it a 10.

Presets:
I am not much of a preset user, but it does come with a lot, and they show off its extreme might very well. Also, in the newest update (not in the demo) there is a much better preset browser built into it, so that is very nice.

Customer Support:
I am giving a 10 for the addition of the preset browser. It was something that obviously a lot of people wanted, so the updated the synth to have one. Plus, they seem to be owned by M-Audio now, so you can't go wrong there (I think).

Value For Money:
If there was an infinity symbol available instead of a 10, I would give it infinity. If you buy one synth, buy this one.

Stability:
Has not crashed yet. I did have some weird issues running multiple instances, but as far as I can tell, I fixed that when I updated to the latest version.
Read Review

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Comments & Discussion for GForce Software impOSCar2

Discussion
Discussion: Active
PUSHA
PUSHA
6 August 2012 at 1:09pm

LOVE IT

medicineman
medicineman
5 November 2013 at 10:39am

Price mentioned is not correct (at least not in Europe).

From their website :

£139.99 including VAT.

In Euros that about 166,5 € (almost the double !!!)

snigelx
snigelx
5 November 2013 at 7:27pm

Thanks Mr Arkadin for the Fresh mix lifters. Appreciate your sharing. Haven't made it all the way through 171!! but after dropping a few into a current project to see how they sit, I like! Cheers.

PS - Not sure which of these are updates, because I didn't have this bank before now, so I speak for the first 30 or so patches I checked out from the beginning of the browser list.

gruust
gruust
16 November 2022 at 11:00am

Is there any way to save user presets in my user folder on Windows? (and such that the presets browser finds them?).

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