VectorSector

A long time ago, I owned a Sequential Prophet VS keyboard for a couple of years. I sold it because I got fed up with OS bugs and a troublesome keyboard. For instance, if the synth wasn’t placed absolutely flat, the case would twist and as a result the keyboard would send aftertouch all by itself!

But I’ve missed the unique sound of the VS ever since, and so I was very happy to discover that General Vibe, the somewhat enigmatic company behind VectorSector, was releasing a Mac OS X version and at the very reasonable price of 129 USD.

First of all – does it sound exactly like a VS?

I don’t know, exactly. Sorry, it was too long ago…

Does it sound good?

Emphatically, yes!

And it really does sound very much like what I remember from my hardware VS, including all the factory patches.

Interestingly, General Vibe has come up with some rather witty alias names for the original patch names, presumably for copyright reasons. For example, the original patch #44 Anahorn has been renamed HubertHoratioHornblower, and #03 Volkanik is Vesuvian in the VectorSector version.

The bad news is that most of the parameters, except the wave numbers, use different denominations compared to the original VS. So, you can’t simply type in the values from old VS patch sheets and there’s no way of dumping sysex into VectorSector.

Also slightly disappointing, the Doubling feature of the VS is missing, as well as the rather natty arpeggiator.

However, VectorSector is not a great CPU hog and on my 1.3 GHz G4, I could easily invoke two instances of the instrument, effectively emulating the doubling feature. Can you spell F-A-T?

One feature that would have been very handy is a way of soloing the 127 waveforms that are identified only by numbers 0–126. The VS had a special program for auditioning waves using the joystick while disregarding filters, effects and envelopes. Something similar should have been simple to implement and would have made it so much easier to find the right sound building blocks.

And sadly, there’s no MIDI learn feature. So, you can’t move the virtual joystick in realtime from a MIDI controller – velocity, pressure, mod wheel and keyboard position are the only available external controllers in the modulation matrix.

Surprisingly, there’s no documentation at all with the download. The rather sparse website has some basic information on the synthesis principle, with a five months old promise of ”more info soon”. I’m not holding my breath.

Happily, the excellent original Sequential manual is available as a free PDF download at www.retrosynth.com/docs/pvs/index.html. Apart from making for interesting reading about what was a truly groundbreaking synth, it gives a thorough and pedagogic tour of the programming of the VS.

However, the General Vibe VectorSector isn’t very hard to get to grips with, if you have a smattering of programming experience. Just changing a couple of waves and tweaking the filter settings will quickly give you new and surprising sounds.

And, to recap, the VectorSector really sounds great to my ears. It’s quickly become one of my favourite VIs and it’s strange that it hasn’t created more of a stir in the communities, considering that the hardware VS is a sought after, cult status item. Download the demo and give it a spin – it has a unique sound, with a huge palette of colours.Read Review