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All Reviews by Shy


By Shy
On 16th May 2007
Version: 1.8

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Tone2 FireBird

FireBird is a synth I had been looking at for a long time and was very interested in. Loved its easy to use yet powerful features/sound shaping possbilities. But something was missing for me. The sound just wasn't quite as nice as I wanted it to be. I always thought "gee, this synth just doesn't sound as good as it should, it's almost there, but not quite." Well, this issue has been fixed, big time.

FireBird+ is a huge improvement over the previous versions sound quality wise. The filters have been seriously upgraded, the overall sound is much better, and this synth is absolutely among the very best sounding software synths ever made.

As I already said, something I really love about this synth is the fact that it's really not hard to understand and it's quick to program, yet the sound design possibilities are remarkably broad thanks to the HCM synthesis approach. It's just really fun to work with. I seriously can't say the word "fun" when it comes to tweaking some other synths I like. FireBird+ is one of the very few that are powerful as well as fun to program.

If you're into synthesis in general and are looking for a synth that can give you the possibility to produce sound in a different way and that can give you powerful, mean sounds, lush sounds, windy sounds, organ sounds, and unique sounds you don't hear from anything else, you really shouldn't miss it.


Edit:

with the v1.8 update, the sound quality has improved immensely! It retains its basic character but it sounds quite different, which does have a downside: you might not get the character you want from a few of your old patches. But the upside...it sounds absolutely incredible. I can now say it's one of my top two favorite digital synthesizers, the other being Nord Lead 2X.

More new filters have been added and existing filters have been improved. The selection of filters in FireBird+ is broad and allows truly huge diversity. Also, high quality reverbs have been added. They are seriously good sounding and usable!

Do yourself a favor, download and try this amazing synth. After that, you might very well stop searching for that lush sound you're after.
 
Last edited : 16th August 2007     

By Shy
On 19th March 2007
Version: 2.1

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Tone2 BiFilter2

Tone2 seriously upgraded BiFilter and released BiFilter2 which is a big improvement over the previous version, and I just had to get it.
I was seriously considering getting the Sherman Filterbank 2 hardware because quite simply I couldn't find a good enough software filtering solution, but now it will be long before I do.

One question may arise: why didn't I get Tone2's FilterBank2? The answer is simple, BiFilter2's big focus is on filtering and distortion features, just what I needed.

Now what do I care about first and foremost? The SOUND. This filter plugin is absolutely fabulous. The sound is first of all very balanced! You actually get what you expect to get and the controls change the sound how you expect it to be changed, a quality that's seriously lacking in most filtering solutions. And the sound itself is absolutely lovely! I'm so satisfied by the terrific sound quality of this, and that's the first time I can remember thinking that about a software filtering solution.

The filter types are extensive and the selection is most likely going to grow. You can get very, very many kinds of filtering with it, and all at uncompromised quality. Every filter type is superbly done.

The distortion features are terrific and can add a great character to the sound without ruining it. You can have it very subtle or extreme, and even the most extreme drive percentage is usable. The character of the distortions is just something else, they're all very sweet, actually have purposes and are seriously usable.

The only thing I would like it to have is an ADSR generator.

In conclusion, this is a very flexible yet very easy to use, fantastic sounding filter plugin. I love it and recommend you to try it.
 
Last edited : 19th March 2007     
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