A few weeks ago I was offered an nfr license of Synthmaster 2.5. Before I even installed it, I found out that Rob Lee makes and sells presets for it. From that moment on, I had a feeling this synth and I would get along just fine. Truth is, I admire Rob Lee, and he only makes presets for great synths. Incidentally, the nfr copy that I received of Synthmaster did not come with the free Rob Lee presets that customers of KV331Audio get when they purchase Synthmaster 2. For the purpose of this review, in regards to presets, I only have the stock presets to refer to. I haven't heard any of the Rob Lee ones (but I am sure they are stellar).

Many times, complaints about synths usually go along the lines of "There's not enough...". In Synthmaster, there's a lot of everything. Example: Most synths give you 8 to 24 slots in their modulation Matrix (if they have one to start with). Synthmaster has 86 slots. Also, it features many different types of modulation (some not found in many synths), and you get several of each type. This synth is semi-modular, which allows a bit more routing freedom than the average synth. It takes a little while to get accustomed to the interface and to all the different tabs. A basic understanding of synthesis is required to operate this synth and I wouldn't recommend it as a first synth. It ain't no V-Station in terms of ease of use. But for intermediate to advanced synthesists (or preset whores), this synth is a great choice. Of course, more features often translates to a more complex user interface and more intricate workflow.

The sound is great! The CPU usage is reasonable and on par with my other better sounding synths. It's somewhat of a Swiss army knife, and packs a lot of bang for the buck. I am not fond of the GUI. It doesn't really show off the quality of this synth. Ugly GUI's never stop me from using an instrument or effect, though. Sound comes first. The synthesis and modulation aspects of this synth is what stands out for me. I find the effects "ok" but this is the one area that could definitely be improved. If you own great effects, you'll be fine, but if you don't, be aware that you will get decent but not mind blowing effects in this synth. The filters sound good, but again, they are not up there with the very best. The arpeggiator on the other hand is great and has several advanced modes. You can even run 2 in parallel. The preset browser is great. My favorite type: 1 click to load a preset. A lot of the presets sound really good. Others are kind of average, but there are more good ones than bad ones. More work could have been put into matching all the volumes of the presets. Some sound quiet, others much louder, but nothing the turn of a button can't fix. Creating presets is fun. Exploring all the different possibilities is fun. The quality of the sound is very good. Happy to add this one to the arsenal. I have been playing with this synth for several weeks now and I feel like I have only scratched the surface. The manual is rather limited.

edit: There are now 3 free Rob Lee preset banks for all Synthmaster 2.5 users. I listened to them and they really show off the great sound this synth has. Many gems in there.

ok.

i've written several reviews here at kvraudio recently, almost all 10's. i'm writing about the plugins i USE, and therefore appreciate. so, just so you know where i'm coming from…

i've downloaded a LOT of demos lately, trying to find a (very) few plugins to use to make music. i deleted some long-used and very good synths to make room for new sounds (and, importantly, to challenge my work methods).

am new to synthmaster; i played with the demo...and now own the plugin (AND the rob lee soundbanks). so synthmaster passed my 'acid test', and joins my 3 other main synths (sylenth1, dune, and zebra).

more than anything else (architecture, the GUI, features, etc), i care about the SOUND. and synthmaster sounds amazing. there is depth and color in the sound; i love that, some plugins seem very flat, or grey, to me.

there are some great presets in the factory soundbank, and the rob lee banks are (as always) essential.

my biggest concern is the architecture; this synth is quite different from what i'm used to, and i need to make time (a full day or two) to really explore the GUI; it's a bit of a foreign language right now, so…will get to that.

meanwhile, i am really into preset tweaking. i need great starting points, and will then make changes to get what i want. am more into music-making than sound creation (a big subject here at kvraudio).

i did an entire track in synthmaster in the first hour, including drums, and was deeply impressed with it (am talking about the sound of the synth, not my playing…which was pretty good too, come to think of it...).

sounds blend well, yet retain enough personality to be 'heard'; that's a great thing, as i like lots of layers, and contrasting lines; getting a dense sound AND retaining clarity is a huge challenge, and i've worked with synths that don't do that well.

and playing synthmaster is a joy; it feels expressive, and reminds me of my hardware days (mostly, a roland XP-60).

so.

PROS
the SOUND.
the options (lots of parameters to tweak!)
a good preset library to start with.
great price.
64bit AU (altho it's listed as a 32bit plugin…).

CONS (minor, really)
the architecture: am a little lost right now. i hate manuals and prefer to explore on my own.
lack of soundbanks; programmers, get to work! we need more preset libraries for SM.

overall, this is one of the best plugins i've found in my search for 'new'…and i've already added it my default template in Logic.

I was given a NFR version of Synthmaster and I was a little overwhelmed when I first starting playing around with it ...

There's so many features and it takes a little while to get your head around it all.....

But I'm always interested in digging a little deeper when BT has done some of the sound programming and his work is the basis for many of the sounds I use in my professional work....Kudos as always to BT...

So I dug a little deeper and it's very - but I still prefer Zebra and Rapture as my main workhorses....

There's just something about the intangible "feel" of Zebra and Rapture that makes them right for me...

But Synthmaster would appeal to many people who want an affordable all in one solution...

This synth can be so many things - from cold,brittle and digital to FAT,warm and "analogish" - and there's a lot of territory in between - with a multitude of programming options every step of the way...

Read the specs and then check out the demo....But take your time and dig in a little.....

The sheer power of Synthmaster is overwhelming and if you can get your head around it all,it's a bit of a mind blower....

At first, I essentially ignored Synthmaster simply due to the name. Silly, yes. But, to me, the name is a little cheesy (reminds me of comic book action heroes or power rangers) so I wasn't expecting much.

How I was incredibly wrong.


This is one of the single most feature packed synthesizers available today. It rivals U-he Zebra2 in this matter; Synthmaster is a 'swiss army knife' of synths.


The UI is layed out in a manner that I found easy with which to work, I had little problems upon initial run on sculpting a sound with this synth. There are multiple skins (color combination themes) from which to chose too (click the 'Settings' button below the logo) that I found super useful.

The GUI, however is static in dimensions. So I will say, I wish there was the ability to increase and decrease the GUI size but this feature isn't a deal breaker for me.


The Preset browser is fantastic! I wish other synths included this sort of feature, one can click on Sound type (Lead, Bass, Pad, etc) and then on various sound/timbre attributes (Saw, Legato, Lofi, Wavetable, etc) to narrow sound selection. Wonderful.

Speaking of which, the included sound bank is rather well made. The included sound bank seems geared more towards Electronic dance music (House, Trance, Dubstep, etc). However, other genres (Chillout, Pop, even Reggae) are included.

The real interesting feature is the developer's promise of included MORE presets in the form of Genre-based Expansions at no additional cost. The first one is already released by Rob Lee (House/EDM set) and it sounds very good. These are song-usable sounds; no need to to sift through a hundred patches that are 'cool' on their own but don't fit in a mix. These fit nicely in a song.

I also enjoy the powerful Arpeggiator that works like a trancegate (tempo synced).


I'm not even hitting on the ginormous amount of synthesis types, combinations, and selections in which to design sounds. You will have to see it to believe it. It reminds me of the V.A.S.T. synthesis on Kurzweil Workstations.


However, Not all is good for me. I noticed in Synapse Audio Orion that there are timing issues for me with the arp. I tried different buffer sizes, MIDI PPQ Resolutions, Enabling PDC, etc but nothing could completely resolve this issue. In Cockos Reaper, however, I did *NOT* experience this issue. Solid as a rock there and probably in every other Host but in Orion.

Not sure if it is an Orion issue or a Synthmaster issue at this point (It would seem Orion), but one worth mentioning.

I should also probably mention this synth sounds like a digital synth to me.. well, 'of course!' you say.. it runs on a computer! What I mean is, the sound quality is clear and bright but a little thin ...still yet rich; Synthmaster reminds me of Waldorf synthesizers in this regard - it blends well in layers and plays well with other synthesizers.

I'd give Synthmaster an 8.5/10 if I could. While there are a few things I'd like to see (timing issue resolved, more filter choices, GUI resize), this is an interesting synth with deep synthesis possibilities and a suite of well designed sounds. It is very worth it to try this one for a spin.

This review comes as personal and as a request from Bulent creator of synthmaster.

sound..

To begin i must say i enjoyed working with this synth cos of the multiple osc/filter choices.

the raw waveforms sound good and clean but i still find that they need the occasional beefing up to make them sound huge and fat.. but all in all the big selection of osc's and waveforms makes up for this.

i can easily make fat sounding basses and organic chords.

i found my self spending more time on the additive oscillators than the rest cos of the simplicity of the implementation.

but still the huge amount of sampled waveforms on the "basic" oscillators give the opportunity of some amazing diverse sound pallet.

modulation..

this thing can do almost anything.... you can practically send anything anywhere and its also very simple to work with the modulation matrix. sometimes simplicity is the key of producing the best sounds.. but also having a huge amount of modulation slots and destinations gives room for creating some incredible sounds.

filters..

The filter section is excellent.. it doesn't have 100 different filters types to choose from but the one that are there are very good, clean, and sound very close to analog like.

i love the dedicated slope in the filters.

the ability to envelope control the drive/gain with choices of pre/after/within the filter is just some smart coding.

all in all good and workable filters that produce clean and alias free filtering.

gui..

gui when first looked is clean and easy on the eyes.. but this is the only part i kinda felt lost in.

it does have lots of menu and selections.. the are thousands of options to mangle sounds but it gets kinda confusing some times.. i tend to prefer single window synths but this is not applicable in synthmaster since it incorporates a huge amount of options.

the guy is not for the beginner.. but when used to it its fast and easy to navigate through the different pages.

fx section..

the effects are good..

i specially find the distortion very good and gives in some rather weak waveforms that extra punch and fatness without sacrificing sound quality.

ensemble is also a good one.

i find the use of compressors in the main fx section to be useless it doesn't really offer anything special.. but its good to have.

the reverb although has lots of tweaking options over the space and overall sound and also add some modulation options.. it just doesn't sound very good compared to some other free/payed alternatives.

but with conjunction of the delay and ensemble its usable.

overall..

I liked it.. ALLOT.. its definitely going to be used heavily in my minimal techno and prog house tracks.

the semi modular approach on that synth is well executed and gives lots of room for experimentation.

i think this synth is really for the enthusiast patch maker not only cos of its huge amount of sound sculpting abilities but also cos it can produce some truly great and fat sounds.

i would not recommend it to the physical sound makers but mostly on the dance/ambient/drum and bass producer.

in the beginning it does look intimidating and its easy to get lost but after some time its very easy and simple to work with.

i give it a 9 just cos its huge amount of menu and options makes its cumbersome to work out of the box.. it has a learning curve although not a long one but its not for the noob user that will find him self just browsing the presets. but if you give it some time to learn it.. it will deliver and deliver some awesome results.

special thanx to Bulent and the kv331 team.

All I can say is I just wish I had this before I bought the slew of synths I have. It covers all the bases nicely and the list of preset makers reads like a "who's who" of heavyweight programmers. This and Zebra are my two favorite synths. I'm just starting to get into programming via the book "How to Make a Sound" and Howard Scar's Virus tutorial, and from what I've learned so far, I see vast and infinite possibilities with Synthmaster. It comes with a very thorough 41 page "quick start" guide which is really comprehensive. At this stage of my life, I'm mostly into ambient music, and there are plenty of great pads and dreamscapes and leads to choose from. Bulent and the guys hit a home run with this one. I am using this on a Win XP 32 bit machine and haven't experienced the slightest hiccup.

If you're just starting out, get this one before you buy anything else and I think you'll find that you won't need much else. Like I said I wish this had been available a few years ago as I could have saved my self a boatload of time and money.

I've been approached about reviewing this synth, presumably because of my other numerous reviews on here. Will I gush as usual? ;) Synthmaster isn't something I particularly would have bought at the moment, seeing as I've spent a huge amount of money on my DAW setup recently and pretty much have everything I need and way more ;). However, if I were just starting out and needed a high value, high-quality way of covering pretty much the entire synthesis spectrum, I would probably go for Synthmaster.

First up the name tells us that Synthmaster pretty much does everything, and with additive, subtractive, vector and wave sequencing, unison (available both in the oscillator, or as a multiplying of the entire synth line including filters, with variable spread of pitch, filter cutoff, ect), AM, PM, PWM, FM, sync, audio input processing, and a healthy range of what are very high quality effects and MORE all available and combinable, I feel the name is justly deserved. This all works on a dual layer principle per patch, and each layer has two oscillators and two filters, all the ENVs and LFO modulation you could ever need, and even four modulation oscillators for each audio oscilllaor pair, meaning you can set up FM and similar functions without the fuss of connecting oscillators. All of these oscillators have all the waveshapes you could ask for, and you can bring in your own as single cycle waveforms or.SFZs!

I was disappointed to see little in the way of timbral morphing in the oscillators - PWM is for the square/pulse wave only, and the vector and wavetable oscillators are powered by crossfading, with no spectral morphing options between waveforms *(see note below). There are plenty of ways around this, as you have plenty of oscillator mangling power via the modulation oscillators, but I am a fan of being able to "animate" an oscillator right off the bat, before the modulation magic happens. Other than this, the oscillators have every single parameter you'd possibly need, and you won't go wanting in that regard. Particularly nice is ability to dampen high frequencies with an LPF before you've even got to the filter, and add pitch "slop" without having to set up a random LFO.

Tone quality of the oscillators is very present and well balanced across the spectrum, with the only real aliasing happening right at the very top of the range, in ultra-treble pitches. Clearly this isn't a problem as nobody creates riffs at stupidly high pitches such as these. This brings us on to the filters.

Each oscillator gets two filters, and they're some of the most well spec'ed and complete filtering solutions I've seen! Analogue-style (Moog ladder emulation) and digital-style (razor accurate) filtering is available in almost every filter mode you've heard of, you can change filter slopes smoothly, morph between filter modes, set up double "two in one" filters for dual-peak sounds and super complex filter profiles... Then there's drive and distortion, which can be customised with a designable transfer curve and placed before, after, or IN(!?) the filter. The latter tends to produce extreme sounds which are very interesting to me, and this is a very esoteric and desirable option to have!

The filters sound great - among the best you'll hear. My only gripe is that I couldn't find a way to do filter FM, but I'm pointing this out as a way of saying, this is pretty much the only hole in an otherwise perfect set of filters. And with all the other audio rate mangling going on in the oscillators, it's no biggie. The analogue filters in particular have a pleasing "life" to them, without going overboard in instability. The way the resonance backs off near the fundamental, avoiding those horrible "eoowwwWHUMP"s you get in simpler filters makes me happy. It's tedious callibrating filtersweep ranges so the rez doesn't crash into the first harmonics, so it's good to see this taken care of. Combined with the snappy and flexible envelopes and built in configurable overdrive/fuzz of the filters, a wide range of filter sounds from punchy to fizzley, clean to ripped open, are possible at the filter section. The ground these filters cover is simply huge! The distortions are musically useful, and quite inspiring in themselves, as well!

I'm not going to dissect every parameter in the synth, but rest assured, every other part of it is oozing the same quality and configurability. Overall the end result is a very professional sound which is versatile and dependable enough at extreme settings to be your only synth.

Visually, Synthmaster looks sleek and sexy. WYSIWYG displays for waveforms, filter profiles, envelopes and 2D envelopes, etc, are everywhere, laid out in a common-sensical way. Being new to the synth I found it all a bit overwhelming at first, since there are lots of pages and options crammed into each page, but I can easily imagine how the logical layout would soon become second nature. The modulation matrix felt a bit clunky with it's drop down menu leading off into a maze of options, but it is organized as well as it could be, and it's hardly it's fault - there are TONS of parameters on offer, and these seem to be growing as the synth is in active development with users playing an important part in that development. As far as I can see, pretty much every parameter can be modulated or automated, an impressive feat! To greatly tame this little modulation menu maze, matrix slots can actually be sorted via a few different ways - a very cool idea to add to the workflow streamlining. I also loved the option to switch each LFO between uni- and bi-polar, this makes, for example, pitch trills easier to set up.

In a funny way, Synthmaster could be Zebra's sister in a parallel universe. It covers the same huge ground, wide parameter range, and confident sound, yet operates on a completely different philosophy both in terms of workflow and sound. In this regard, I somewhat prefer, and am more used to Zebra's approach, but I can't dock points for this, because it's a matter of taste. Synthmaster and Zebra play in the same league, but play somewhat different games. If you didn't get on well with Zebra but was wooed by it's power, I'd especially recommend this behemonth of a synth!

This is one of the most powerful and versatile multi-purpose non-modular softsynths available, and for the asking price, it's a steal! If I didn't already have a ridiculous amount of synths in my VSTi folder, I would have bought this a while ago by now. Despite this, I can easily imagine Synthmaster working it's way into my production process, in part due to those lovely filters, and the possibility of using samples as oscillators.

* - EDIT: As of reading the review the developer is looking into ways to impliment some kind of timbral morphing and/or modulation at the oscillator level.

Probably because I already reviewed some other products here, KV331 asked me to review their new synth master. Well not only it was a pleasure but also a nice surprise. Read on !
I've been doing some electronic music for a while and like most of you I guess, I've been strugling not to have this shinny metallic sound associated with in-the-box mix and VSTs comared to analogue instruments and mixes.
Fortunately since a while now, it seems that developpers get it right : alchemy, sylenth1, OP-X seem to get it right. Let's end up the suspence here : SynthMaster IS one of them. It sounds great, and the presets in the box are very good already. If that's your intended use, go for the demo, and have a listen, you probably won't regret it.
Now, let's get into programming. Let me get that straight : SynthMaster was wisely named. The first times you try to program anything with it, you feel a bit like trying to fly a spaceship to the moon without even having a car driving licence. It's seriously scary. But when you start looking at the feature set, you understand why. You ARE actually flying a spaceship ! From the factsheet : "SynthMaster 2.5 has more than 650 modulation targets and 95 modulation sources...". No need to elaborate right ? But that's not only about quantity : the filters really sound fantastic, especially the analog-modeled ones
So, depending on what you want to do and how deep you want to get involved with a particular VST, it might or might not be the right choice for you, but in any case, it's definitely worth a try, and a few hours of your time.

If you were to ask me for an example of a soft synth that 'grew up' here on KVR Audio, my first pick would be: Synthmaster. If you were to ask me to name a versatile, reasonably-priced soft synth, again I would say: Synthmaster. but I'd be doing both you, and Synthmaster, a disservice to leave it at that.

Synthmaster is literally the 'Swiss Army Knife' of soft synths. What immediately comes to mind in comparison to Synthmaster is the Korg Kronos. It contains a wealth of different things, thanks to a relentless, pro-active developer who seems to live here at KVR-the Number of revisions that Synthmaster has gone through borders on the absurd, but to great benefit to both the software itself, as well as those of us who love it...over the months, implemented feature requests, refinements, 'fixes', etc. have made it more stable, easier to work with, more versatile, better sounding...virtually ALL areas of Synthmaster have been addressed that would make it one's go-to tool.

My #1 question when it comes to any synth, hardware or software, is how does it sound? It can sound superb; but that's almost a paradoxical question when talking about Synthmaster, because it can sound like almost anything that you want it to sound like, since it uses several significantly different technologies. It can sound sterile and cold, warm and fuzzy...At it's core, Synthmaster has a number of oscillator types which can run concurrently; coupled with a large selection of filters, and filter types; many envelope configurations and modulation options....it is capable of being CPU efficient, and can also overload your computer if you ask it to do too much, which you can. You are given so much with Synthmaster...

And again: It can sound superb.

I think that Synthmaster is one of the best software synthesizer options available for the user that wants to limit the size of his or her toolbox, in order to specialize/get the most out of what they have-Quite frankly: If there is a more versatile, great-sounding soft synth out there, that is constantly refined and improved by an approachable developer here at KVR (kv331), I am unaware.

10/10 all around.

KV331 Audio: SynthMaster 2 review

First off I have to say this synth is brilliant and my new “1st out of the tool box” synth, its both easy to use for noobs, intermediates (like myself) or Pro’s, the first impression on the GUI when you load it up is it reminds you of NI’s Absynth as the default view is a big presets window – this is a good thing, you can choose from different options to get to the type of sounds you’re looking for such as Instrument Type, Attributes, Music Style and Author, I love this sort of setup as you can choose your Music Style (such as DubStep) and you get all the sounds that are good for that music style, there is also option to browse an online library of presets which is great and appears to be free, unlike other synths that require subscription to the library or charge for presets, they play upon clicking them too, no need to be redirected to download from websites.

This synth has wayyyy more control and parameters than any normal synth, it has 2 x Layers that control the synths main components, half In one layer and half in the other, there are 4 x Oscillators in total (2 per layer) with 4 x Modulators, 4 x Envelopes, 3 x FX, 2 x LFO, 2 x Multistage, 1 x Key scaling, 1 x Arp, 2 x Filters and 2 x 2D options per layer, each component has so many parameters and options its unreal, It has loads of different waveforms for the oscillator’s including ones from classic hardware synths like Roland, Korg, Moog synths etc, way more scope than your average soft synth, infact Iam gunna have to get the manual out to learn how to use some of the stuff on it!!

It has a decent built in effects panel for your presets, consisting of Vocoder, Chorus, Echo, Reverb, Compression, Tremolo, Layer FX Routing, Layer Sends and Global Effects Routing. Each one has many options to play with and the quality of the effects are top drawer. There is also a Preset window which allows you to enter details about your sounds, you can also see comments or descriptions of built in sounds.
The panel on the right of the synth contains the global settings and Matrix windows, here you have pairs of what appears to be Triggers & Sends. You can also set a global ‘quality’ level so if your PC hasn’t got much punch you can leave it on ‘draft’ but if you have the power you can punch it up a few notches…I love this. There is also a Global ‘Tune’ knob so you can tune it with any other instruments you might be using.

The sounds on this synth are top dollar, very clean and crisp with punch, it’s amazing how good VST’s can sound these days, when you play really low notes where other synths sound like farts this doesn’t, it really does produce hardware like results. The CPU hit is minimal too using about 10-20% of my 1.8Ghz AMD Turion CPU.

My review doesn’t really do it justice, go and download a demo from their website now, you will be very impressed, I will be looking out for other KV331 products from now on.

I was asked by the developers to review SynthMaster. After spending a couple of weeks with the plugin, I have still only scratched the surface. This is my honest review of my impressions, but I'd strongly encourage you to try the demo version and form your own opinion. I don't think SynthMaster is really intended for those people who are totally new to synthesis; it's too complex to grasp immediately if you don't at least know the basics. Overall, I found it to have a really cool sound, and it's definitely a keeper.

INTERFACE
I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of SynthMaster's interface. It takes a page or two out of Native Instruments' book - the preset browser and page switcher at the top of the interface remind me of Absynth. If SynthMaster is your first synth, the interface might be a little intimidating - but, to be fair, SynthMaster has more features than you can shake a stick at, and it would have been impossible for any developer to pack it all onto a single coherent page. I'm told that SynthMaster includes a skin designer, if you're so inclined - I didn't try it, though, so I can't speak to its usefulness. The default design is useable and reasonably attractive, if rather plain.

SOUND
SynthMaster sounded quite good to my ears. Its output is bright, clean, loud, and "flat" (in the good way). I felt that it had an appealing harmonic sparkle to it.

FEATURES
WOW! In terms of sheer power, SynthMaster absolutely crushes every other synthesizer I own. Most synthesizers limit themselves to one or two synthesis techniques (subtractive, wavetable, additive, etc.), but SynthMaster does it all. There are two "layers" in a SynthMaster patch, and each layer has two oscillators, making this a four-osc synth. Each osc can be set to use a different technique - single-waveform, additive, wavetable (a.k.a wavescan), vector (four waveforms and a joystick), or audio input. On top of that, the collection of single-cycle waveforms that comes with SynthMaster is ridiculously extensive, comprising all sorts of basic and exotic shapes. In the additive, vector and wavetable synth modes, you could spend the rest of your natural life mixing and matching waveforms before importing your own, which SynthMaster lets you do. Each layer packs four dedicated modulation oscillators for FM, phase, and ring mod.

I especially love the wavetable synthesis, because you can individually set up to 16 waveforms to cycle through. In "basic" mode, each oscillator also has a dedicated tone knob (low-pass filter), stereo width, and up to 8 voices of unison! Excellent.

The filters are no less brilliant, and they have become my favorites overnight. The analog ladder filter, in particular, has a really pleasing character, especially at high resonance - it almost sounds like a formant filter, and I love formants. The filters have a "digital" algorithm too, which is functionally identical to the analog emulation, but with intentionally less character. It goes without saying that the filters are multi-mode (low-pass, high-pass, band-pass), including a few modes I've never seen before.

The number of modulation options available in SynthMaster borders on insane. It packs a colossal modulation matrix. MIDI learn is a snap, and you can quickly set up modulation routings by right-clicking on the controls. Each layer has four standard-issue ADSR envelopes, a pair of "2D envelopes" (which I didn't get a chance to try, but I certainly haven't seen on any other synth), a pair of flexible multi-stage envelopes, a pair of LFOs, and a key scaler.

I confess I didn't get a chance to go very deeply into the FX - some of the presets used them, though, and they sounded fine to me, especially the on-board reverb. SynthMaster packs more effects than any other synth I own except for my personal gold standard, Predator. FX parameters can be modulated too, so overall it seems that you get a very useful and good-sounding FX section.

DOCS
The manual is all business - concise, easy to understand, and strictly a reference - it's totally devoid of theory, contributing to SynthMaster's "not for newbies" vibe. It's filled with screen shots, which is a plus. I found it pretty useful for learning my way around SynthMaster's interface.

PRESETS
I didn't spend much time using the presets, because the synth itself offers so many things to play with. I scanned through them briefly, though, and although I don't think the preset collection is anywhere near as good as Predator's, it clearly demonstrates SynthMaster's versatility. I enjoyed the fact that each preset can have up to 8 Kore-style macro knobs.

SUPPORT
I didn't need any. But as I was approached on KVR for this review, I can only assume that KV331's developers are active members here, and they DO have their own support forum.

VALUE FOR MONEY
You're getting an enormous amount of raw power for a price which can only be described as VERY reasonable. If you want to go very deep into sound design and spend long hours generating all manner of crazy tones, you really couldn't go wrong with SynthMaster. Obviously, you can get relatively simple sounds out of it, but its near-infinite depth invites deep tweaking, and it was clearly designed with that in mind. It might not be the best choice for those who prefer to work quickly.

STABILITY
I wish I could say SynthMaster is rock-solid stable, but it still appears to be rather buggy, and it crashed for me several times. That being said, I was hosting it inside the notoriously crash-prone Ableton Live 8 (the latest beta, no less), so it's quite likely that the crashes were Live's fault and not SynthMaster's. I have no doubt that KV331 will work to resolve these issues, though. Definitely try the demo version before you buy.

I've been watching SM's development for qite a while. On the first look it could seem like another "look at me, I can do anything!" kind of synth, but there is something cool about it. It uses classical synthetiser "methods" but by it's own very inspirational way.

User Interface 9/10
You need to get used to, but it happens in every "bigger" synth. Pretty clean setup if you consider it's solid structure semi modular with so many features. Unusual thing to see in synthetiser like that is this cool "NI-like" preset browser with sorting. Mod matrix is in front of you all the time, which is a good thing and if you like more "modular-ish" approach, you can route modulations by left clicking on buttons, wich is really comfy... This velocity curve is nice detail too. All around nice and user friendly interface.
If any bad thing, then that these pop-up rolling menus need to be "collapsable". With so many waveforms and modulations, you need a lot of scrolling especially on smaller screens. Also some minor UI bug appear once in a while, but SM is in active development, so I'm not worried about this at all.

Sound 9/10
There it get's interesting. Out of the box, SM sounds airy, light, a bit digital-ish with little VA flavour. Cool already, but while messing with it you start to notice this "little" interesting features like editable OSC drift, editable distortion in filters, in ensemble FX, filters in bit reductions......... and then you get it. Normally designers would set some sweetpoints in this setings and let you live with character they made. SM doesn't limit you like that and lets you kind of build it's character on your own. In my opinion that's where it differs. Expecially the filters are really fun to mess with. Still a tiny bit harsh to my taste, but nicely shapable and editable.
I think SM suits mainly that "glassy" kind of ambiental plucks and some energetic but light distorted grooves.
Downsides are fact, that you need to find that sweet spots, which can take a while. Not much of that "analog thicknes" right away....and the volume levels. You need to watch it all the time, becouse SM always keeps adding new ellements to the sound (like unisono voices, distortions) without any normalization. Also onboard unisono could be a little smoother. But it's really small glitches considering how you can shape it. :)

Features 10/10
...and there it gets mental. (in a good way :) ) A really big toy!
Talked about filters already. You can distort them by custom shape and change slope continuously (!!!). Then some other types. Classic digital, formant, combinator etc... Then OSCs. Huge amount of waveforms (some rally nice vintage wavefomrs here), ability to import your own as sfz or just add new "one cycle wavs" to the folder... Good sounding multi operator FM, AM, phase distortion, little additive engine. Morphing between waveforms is fun... Modulations are huge. Additive, multyplying. The number of sources and targets is mindblowing. Modulating even by unisono index? Really? :D I don't like apregiators that much, but thisone is amazing! Multistage envelopes, 2D envelopes (yep, as wierd as you've just imagined it, but "complexing" fun), keytscalers, cool versatile LFO's, saving presets for every module... You name it. All that in 2 layers and with some sweet FX for polishing per instance... It's may be the most featured "solid structure" synth I've ever touched. And as far as I love Zebra-like semimodulars, sometimes you just want to have some "rich" fun right away with not so much "engineering" in the way. You don't get much better synths for that than SM.

Documentation 10/10
Manual is clear, edited by user base and it covers the synth well. Sometime it uses picture of older version, but nothing confusing. I like how it explains all import options to the oscilator.

Value for money and presets 10/10
Absolutely. Demo it and see for yourself. Good to be synth geek to really apriciate your investment, but even beginners will love SM, becouse presets are amazing. Made by people that you see in the area for a long time. All kind of styles, all sorted, nice sounding. In some synths presets need lot of editing to become contemporary. Not the case here. Preset users will be entertained for qite a wihle, especially thanks to in-synth online exchange. :)

Stability 9/10
Cool. Before 2.5 I remember SM was a really buggy. It's far better now. Really stable and usable. Not a single crash. Only bad thing there would be the CPU usage when using global unisono. Even relatively small indexes can raise CPU load a lot. This could make SM bit limited for some users. Also few minor bugs here or there, but I'm sure these will be fixed as Kv33l does lot's of updates.

EDIT: About CPU, there is second unisono engine inside each OSC which is much more efficient, so don't worry, I was just blind. :)

Conclusion: All around really cool monster with nice clean shapable sound, lot of features, lot's of great presets and reeeeealy fun to make sounds with. If you lack a bit of "fresh feel" to your production, there's one for you. :) And what's important, it's in active development with nice and friendly user base. (as opposite to one really famous synth out there :p) Author is really keen to help and concetrates on every single issue, so I guess it'll get even better and better.

Btw tip: Filter KeyTracking is set to 100% by default, which I like, but it's not comon, usually it's 0 and beginers could be little confused by filter behaviour then...

Synthmaster 2.5 is an excellent synthesizer hybrid offering a wide variety of synthesis options.

The sound quality is amazing, and the gui does a nice job of making it easy to tweak your sound and provide visual feedback.

The presets are excellent, and the onboard Reverb is very rich.

It has been very stable so far.

The online preset browser is a welcome addition :)

Check out the demo for sure, you will fall in love with this synth.

There are many wonderful things you will discover when you start scrolling through the presets.

I was amazed at the filters, they were very musical and deep sounding, tweaking them was an inspiration in itself.

The GUI colors are a nice feature as well.

The CPU usage seemed to be very acceptable on an intel i7 machine.

I thought I write a review of my favourite synth. It is mature enough for a review. (Version 2)
I didn't know that it'll become my fave. When I first tried it was just the potential I was liking. I tried to be fair and honest as possible:

Synthmaster welcomes me with a clean, modern user interface. Knobs can be controlled with mouse wheel, modulations can be set in moments, and I can reach every page easily. I'd say that the 2 layers feel somewhat separated. The feel itself is hands-on and ergonomic, but you can't always see what's going on because of the many pages.

The sound is unique. The wavesequencer can make deeply moving ambient/soundtrack pads. You just need to select and set the wavetables and you're ready to go. There are hundreds of waveforms to choose from, finely constructed experimental ones from Galbanum, and the whole vintage muz3um set from fr4ncesco. There's an additive generator module, which speaks for itself. It can be used to made vintage sounds, and thick leads. The envelopes can be fast enough for decent drums, presets been made as drumkits.
There are a number of filters, I won't list them. It's a good thing that there are more filter parameters, and a wider knob range for them. That way it offers more control, and you can make interesting sounds with them.


Featurewise, for me it has a step sequencer, and a really advanced arpeggiator. Usable and intuitive. For experienced sound designers, there's microtuning. The effects are mediocre, they'll get an overhaul soon. There are a number of customizable modulators, some of them can be additional oscillators.
Synthmaster can do FM in many ways, and it offers really flexible modulation possibilities. You just need some time to discover them.
The audio input is going to be activated soon; it'll be able to modulate your existing stuff.

I haven't really read the documentation to be honest. I didn't need to. I took a look on it and remember that there was a long one. :P

Let's be clear, Synthmaster has partial presets for each module, too. They worth more I think. You can quickly construct sounds with these. There aren't, and can't be enough in my humble opinion.
The full presets are somewhat average. Lots are evolved from individual feature testing of the sound designers. I'd like to see more bread'n butter sounds, in case a musician wants to quickly arrange something.
There are spectacular chilly sounds and agressive leads. Synthmaster can do good sounding hypersaws and the preset developers discovered it. There are usable drums, and some effects from mars.
SM2 has a pretty cool preset browser, similar to Kore. It is prepared for a massive amount of sounds.

There's a KVR forum, e-mail support. The customer support is excellent. The developer is a great guy. Curious, open, and enthusiastic. 3 traits for a good dev. Nearly instant response to everything, and determined to help. Quick bugfixing. Open to your ideas, the synth itself is gradually increasing and improving.

Great value for the money, although I got it for free as I was a beta tester (yay). A must have if you don't have a wavetable synth at home, and worth considering if you'd like to reach more in the digital domain. It is a good all-round synth with lots to offer.

On my system, it is 98% stable. There are some small issues, and they are patched quickly. The Jupiter 8V demo crashed my Reaper more times.

Synthmaster is a really great synthesizer, and it comes at a very reasonable price at $99 as well. It has a great sonic character to it that doesn't give that feeling of "heard this before" when you hear it. Considering the endless possibilities of such a feature-packed synth, it would be easy to find the multi-page GUI daunting at first glace, but a second glance after a few minutes of tinkering will demonstrate that the layout is to an advantage. It makes programming the multiple synthesis types easy.

The sound is wonderful and can be as warm and fuzzy or as cool and harsh as you like. I found that the patches I have used so far sit nicely in a mix and it stands on its own against more expensive commercial synths. It is nice that such a versatile synth that can be both thick and thin, and the amount of control over the sound the user has works in favor of its usefulness in a mix instead of against the mix like some newer overblown commercial synths hitting the market these days that want to dominate tracks regardless of the actual output volume.

The features are heavy, but using them couldn't be easier. This is in part due to the clear and easy layout of each page of the GUI. Everything is big, and easy to navigate.

Synthmaster is both a great addition for pros and a probably the best option for the hobby musicians wanting to get out of presetville and get heavier into programming patches. A pro will appreciate the features and functionality of the depth of the synth's capabilities, but a novice programmer (like me) will find that learning to program from scratch is made very easy thanks to the layout, and also the wonderful tutorials included in the presets that are set-up in a way so users that wish to settle down and learn synthesis can get first hand response of what different things on this synth, or really any synth, (that has both the basic functions and parameters and the more complex parameters) can do. This synth would be my first recommendation to those looking to dive deeper into patch programming. It really is the master that can teach willing students how to program synths.

Its $99 value has been tripled in terms of what this synth has been worth for me considering the understanding of synthesis in general it has given me and these lessons have translated into great results when working with other synthesizers in my arsenal.

The sound is great, complimented nicely by the wonderful filters on Synthmaster, and the effects are decent enough. However, it is the arpeggiator and step sequencer that are quite excellent standouts, and considering that I normally ignore those functions on synths in favor of my host's capabilities in that area (Project5), this is quite a compliment.

I would like to see some more of the effects that aren't quite as common on every other synths as well...these programmers seem quite capable to pull of some interesting stuff, as this synth well demonstrates...so the future does seem bright in that area.

There are a few kinks that pop up concerning its stability, but nothing too serious to hamper its use, and the commitment by the developers has shown that every kink gets ironed out.

I'd say the only other drawback is in the presets. The ones that are there mostly sound good and they do the synth justice in terms of sonic capability, but leave a lot to be desired in terms of actual usability. After the wow factor of some of the more outlandish presets wear off, it is easy to be wanting a more rounded bread and butter selection to work with (this problem seems to be more and more common these days with the newer feature-laden synths). While programming couldn't be easier on Synthmaster, a great set of presets are now considered a requirement these days in terms of softsynths and this one in particular could be better served with more, and more in the bread and butter sounds.

All in all, Synthmaster certainly does live up to its namesake. Great sound, great features, and a great price make this a nice addition to any arsenal, and it stands out as the must have synth for newbies and novices that want to go deeper into programming synthesizers than the usual preset tweaking. Highly recommended!

+++ This review was given for Synthmaster V1. Much is changed in V2; much improved - not only do I still stand in praise of the original, V2 improvement is an enourmous accomplishment by KV331Audio. Phoenomenal plugin allround+++

Coming to grips with so many different kinds of synthesis so easily could not have been made simpler. SynthMaster is a fat, fat feature packed plugin that has reignited an excitement about synthesis for me in a way I haven't felt since I first discovered VSTs.

...and it's all because of control. From your choice of simple subtractive, additive, phase distortion, AM, or FM synthesis (or ALL at once), the very aptly named SynthMaster is at heart a sound designer's synth. And even though it's robust mechanical specs avow a remarkably cultured and highly adaptable instrument, it's the meld of this immense power with a clear and functionally brilliant workflow that elevates Synthmaster high above its peers.

It takes NO time to find your way around SynthMaster. In fact, if you are already lightly familiar with synthesis, then you probably know this synth inside-out before you've even used it. This means that you can comfortably indulge in the business of sound design in courting and unimpeding fashion.

So where would you start? At the simplest functional level, each one of the three OSC's comes with 8 voices tweaked by a rich compliment of controls that include unerring phase, tone, and harmonic adjustment, syncing options, and a flattering equalisation scale - all tamed by highly flexible envelopes that should make for some pretty rich patches own their own, well before you've started toying with the cross-modulation and effects features that exponetially multiply SynthMaster's potential.

And if I had to choose a synth to begin exploring the product of cross modulating synthesis then this would be it. AM, FM and phase distortion synthesis are masterfully covered in SynthMaster - by their ease of induction and intuitive exposition; easily THE greatest strength of this plugin. These are arguably the most challenging kinds of synthesis, but because of the way SynthMaster accomodates them, the level of control provided, and the ease in exploring and manipulating tone and timbre feels... absolute.

Another highlighting feature of SynthMaster lies in its paragraphic EQ - 5 configurations possible for 8 bands, with each band having 18 possible distortion algorithms. Lots more fun to be had here. The 3 filters available are equally impressive with just as many options in distortion and 3 selective configurations that can shape each OSC individually or in combination.

The effects section leaves little wanting from a chorus/flanger, delay, vibrato, tremelo and 8 algorithm reverb. Oh yeah... there's also 2 step pattern sequencers, an arpreggiator, and a vocoder that functions with internal and external audio input. More features please? SynthMaster will also operate as an effect plugin, allowing use of it's unique temperment with other audio sources... or as a standalone.

Automatability in SynthMaster is yet another fantastic feature. Whether through assignable internal LFO's, the host, or MIDI, the synth is fully configurable and supportive of automation.

So shaping sound in SynthMaster pretty much comes down to one's imagination. What I feel makes it really special is the way it shepards the user into trying complex new things while still being able to maintain a firm grip on everything that's happening. The degree to which one can temper sound design in SynthMaster will accomodate even the most discerning tastes, and I still can't stress enough on the ease with which it operates. It also happens to be very CPU friendly, and in that price range, absolutely has no competition in my opinion.