Cherry Audio

I really like the filter in combination with the different drive settings. It reminds me a lot of an MS-20. You can build fat basses very quickly with Atomika and it sounds really nasty by nature. The only points of criticism and therefore a point deduction from my side: 1. the interface wastes too much space and 2. the phaser can't be mixed smoothly. But boy does this thing make noise;).

The original hardware was a preset machine, offering just 30 timbres that you had almost no ability to customise, but Cherry Audio have opened it up so you can patch it however you like, which unleashes a monster! On the face of it, it's just two layered monosynths, each with a single oscillator to work with. Without any cross-modulation, it's not as versatile as, say, a MiniMoog but it can hold it's own against pretty much anything from the era in terms of sheer balls.

Sound quality is great, as in really good. It's got that undefinable "something" you can hear in the best analogue emulations. The synth engines are identical and fairly basic. Their layout will be familiar to anyone who uses any other ARP synths. It is ultra-logical and so easy to get your head around. You'll be all over it in a few minutes.

One amazing thing I discovered is that, even though it's a really good effect, adding distortion ruins a patch as often as it improves it. Normally a bit of subtle tube distortion can really lift a patch but this thing has such a big sound that it doesn't need it. One of the things I like about the distortion effect, though, is how the TONE parameter allows you to really zone in on a specific frequency range. It works better than any other tone control on any other distortion I've used. It's really good.

Unusually for me, I read the manual. The synth has a few unique bits that I wanted to understand better, like the Resonators and Growl. It is so well written I ended up reading it from front to back, just for entertainment. The resonators were intended to simulate the resonant body of string and wind instruments. They are basically a series of notch filters you tune to taste. Growl is a fixed LFO that is used with aftertouch to simulate that kind of growl a sax player can get from his instrument.

Layers can be stacked or split, or you can use just one layer (the "Top" one). Some of the best presets use per-layer Arps, with different intervals, to create great syncopated rhythms. You can easily swap and copy layers within a patch, via a drop-down menu. I most often use the layers to get the same sound an octave up or down, as you might with a normal two osc synth.

The hardware was one of, if not the first commercial synth with aftertouch, proper polyphonic aftertouch, years before Yamaha's CS-80, and Cherry have taken full advantage, turning it into per note MPE. Other Cherry additions include an Arpeggiator per layer, SuperSaw mode for the oscillator and a mod matrix that gives you a lot more modulation flexibility. Six slots per layer may not sound like much but it's such a simple synth, it's all you're likely to need. You also get a suite of effects, which can be modulated via the MM, as well as up to 16 voice polyphony. Effects and the Arp can be per layer or global.

The only downside is the interface. It wastes a lot of screen space for no real benefit. I kind of understand why they did it that way, as the original didn't have any controls on the top surface, unlike most other synths. The thing I don't like about the way they have chosen to do it is that the actual synth controls are quite small, so you basically have to have the instrument taking up the full width of your screen, which is stupid for something so relatively simple. I think they could have been a bit smarter and exposed both layers in a more standard looking interface, one above the other, with the global controls and a smaller keyboard below that in a more 2D interface. But it's not a deal-breaker because the synth sounds so good and is still very easy to work with.

I've only been using this for a couple of days, so I'm not going to give it 5 stars just yet, but right now it's already a favourite, something I can see myself using a lot. If I still love it as much in a couple of months, I'll come back and give it an extra star. It's definitely worth your time to download the trial and give it a go for yourself. I'm confident you'll be impressed.

Having collected most of the Wurlitzer related VI:s available, including Keyscape with its great 140B, I bought the Wurlybird as soon as it was released. Not because I need another Wurly, you understand, but I'm captivated by the Wurlitzer sound character since the first time I heard it.

Unlike the previous reviewer, I've never laid my hands on a physical version of the instrument, so I don't judge them by how exactly they capture the finer nuances of a particular RL model. I rate them according to how they appeal to me; how inspiring they are for playing, improvising and songwriting.

With the preambles out of the way, here's my take on the good, the bad and the ugly of my Cherry Audio Wurlybird.

THE GOOD.

Without any fx, it sounds great out of that huge, pink box (see more below)! The basic sound is very clean and nuanced, I'd say almost polite, so if that is your ideal, go for it.

Judiciously applied to taste, the included FX rack lets you apply the usual suspects – comp, chorus, phaser, delay, verb, Leslie, EQ and so on.

A number of the many effected presets sound really nice, too, although there's also a heap of over-the-top, mangling presets, too.

One preset that caught my ear has a rather neutral sound, and with the Wurlitzer native "vibrato" (= tremolo) patched to the modwheel! It means that you can play with a straight tone and then gradually add vibrato, like when playing a guitar och cello. Interesting and, AFAIK, a unique feature of the Cherry Audio Wurlybird.

THE BAD.

The instrument is sample based (I assume with sample modelling, since the AU Component only takes up some 22MB, as does the freestanding app), but there is no way of tweaking the basic sound. Yes, you can add effects, but you can't tweak the internal action of the mechanics.

Even worse, from my point of view, you can't affect the acoustic noises of the mechanical parts, such as the hammer strike on the reed and the subsequent release. This, for me, is a fundamental omission, apparently a design decision to keep the modelling simple. One of my fav sampled Wurlies, built with the opposite philosophy, is the highly tweakable Waves' Electric 200, where I'm free to use the mechanism noises to add subtle – and not-so-subtle – percussive attack to the notes.

THE UGLY.

The skeuomorphic GUI is an abomination – a giant pink whale that covers a third of my 5k 27" monitor.

Yes, the 140B is a big instrument. But it doesn't follow that the GUI of a digital representation has to waste all that screen space. Even the sheet music stand is included, sticking up over the lid and stealing screen real estate for no reason.

Yes, the GUI is resizeable. But, in order to be able to read the miniscule text of the presets, I have to use the zero zoom setting.

As GUI:s go, dear friends at Cherry Audio, this one deserves an F.

Joachim Smith.

I have at least three other versions of the Wurlitzer piano from other manufacturers. Most of them suffer from a kind of "fuzziness" that I find to be inauthentic (I once owned the real deal). This one, however, has a clarity that I have been looking for. The pure Wurly is a great by itself, but the stomp boxes are well modeled and can bring out some great effects.

Huge Rush fan looking for THAT bass synth sound for a LONG time. Found it here. It's sounds convincing all the way down to the natural modulation you get from a Taurus. Easily created my Rush presets, but then discovered it's a pretty good lead synth, too.

Superb simulation of the original device.

With install through the new App Cherry Audio Sync it runs stable on PC and Mac.

Sounds beautiful. But here is a new level of wasted space with angles as well, more wood than synth.

Promising but could have been expanded on a lot more. WYSIWYG, no hidden tweaks.

Only 32 voices unlike the originals 72 (like the keyboard, another reason to hide it)
No detailed control of the 6 channel vibrato, per voice filters or the voice springs.
Could have been so much fun to look under the hood of this classic.

Why stop at only 2 added reverbs, stick to the original or add everything like distortion, chorus, phasers etc.

And why two VSTi? Could have been a lot more uasble with a keyboard split or different MIDI channels.

The sound is distinctive and unique like the rest of the Cherry Audio Synths, fantastic but...

Why the big keyboard when there is also a Ctr+k QWERTY keyboard?
They have made big keybeds and wasted space before but at least the controls were on one page.
An option to hide empty panels, wood and keyboards would be very welcome on all synths.