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All Reviews by bezza


By bezza
On 23rd June 2004
Version: 2 pre-re

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Big Tick Rhino

Describing a synth is not easy but imagine it's the late eighties, a DX7mk11 meets a Wavestation in a bar and go on to have kids - Rhino would be their youngest, most gifted offspring!

The sound of Rhino is the killer. Not analog, not digital as such. just a rich Rhino combination of everything.

Evolving sounds, hard sounds, metallic, crystaline, morphing, even emulative real world sounds.

A CPU hog - yes, but invest in Freeze and enjoy. So many great presets available and first class support - probably the best support out there.

** Since I wrote the above Rhino has found many more uses in my music. The sheer variety of sounds available and presets means it is really a very capable all rounder (especially if you invest in some of Daniel's excellent banks). Rhino can cover most bases very well -and I know that if I feel brave enough to tackle programming some of my own patches, I can go as deep and complex as I want!**
 
Last edited : 16th September 2004     

By bezza
On 15th October 2003
Version: 1.6

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Superwave Superwave P8

This is an exceptional VSTi - and I would say that if it cost money too. But it's a freebie.

Remember the early 80s, those thick, dark fizzing, resonant sounds loved by Ultravox, Numan, Humanm League etc.....well they are here. Remember those massive machines that cost a year's wages and broke your back when you carried them onto the stage - this is is the free, non-hernia version.

Immediate retro analogue pleasure - you will want to launch into renditions of "Are friends electric" or "Oxygene". But there's a place in today's music for this sound too.
 
    

By bezza
On 8th March 2003
Version: 2.0

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Rob Papen Albino

I am revising this review now I've had time to settle in with Albino 2.

I consider Albino 2 as a VA synth with a modern glossy sound. The grind and power you get with an analog machine is there but with a smoother feel to the sound. Whilst I use it heavily for arpeggiated lines and pulsing sounds the pads are excellent too.

The arpeggiattor in Albino 2 is excellent and inspirational in its own right. The new design is also superb.

However there exists a bug (which Peter knows about) with presets being forgotten in Cubase - so when you return to a project some of the sounds have changed! Annoying but I am sure it will be fixed soon (UPDATE _ new public beta version seems to have fixed this!!!) .

People compare Albino to the Virus - I don't know the Virus but I guess that must be a good synth too!

A slick modern approach to analog synthesis - with a stack of really excellent presets!
 
Last edited : 31st May 2004     

By bezza
On 31st July 2002
Version: ?

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Ultimate Sound Bank Plugsound Vol. 5: Synth

I've only had this for a couple of hours so this is an early days review. So far I am very pleased with the Plugsound vol 5 synth. Whilst it is essentially a preset synth there are facilities to alter the tone of the sounds (particularly the filter). The sound quality is excellent.

The GUI is pretty friendly, though there is room to make things a little clearer on-screen in future versions. Looks very similar to the forthcoming Atmosphere!

The sounds are what I bought the thing for and, on the whole I'm impressed. Some of the pads and filter sweep sounds are stunning - I can definitely hear Wavestation, M/T range and D50 in many sounds. The analog sounds are good but there are far too many (well over 100)bass sounds - great if you're into dance but I'm not. Many sound like filler material. If you are into dance I suspect you'll have some decent bass gear or samples anyway. I would have much preferred a load more pads and sweeps though! Some good voice sounds included, but I would have liked a few more treated choir-ish sounds without the tinlky bits.

There are 512 presets and (despite the overkill in the bass department) there is plenty of variety and you'll definitely find a fair few useful sounds. Even some of the texture fx sounds are quite good.

I have yet to really interrogate this product, but there are already a few things I think Plugsound could bear in mind.

Obviously the ability to load in new sounds would be nice.

They could make one instance of Plugsound 'truly' multitimbral (as on the PPG Wave VST) rather than launching different versions (I use Cubasis VST - you can only launch 4 VSTi's. Come on Steinberg!).

Perhaps the styling is a little odd - sort of fifties meets Ultravox!

Maybe a future Plugsound dedicated to voice and choir sounds and textures.

Overall, given the price of this program I think anyone who hankers after real synth sounds yet only wants limited tinkerability will be made up with Plugsound 5.
 
Last edited : 1st August 2002     
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