XILS-lab

Warm and full of character. It's a great "analog synth" type of instrument, with good modulation options and the ability to blend more than one waveform in each oscillator. It has it's own character - it cuts through a mix, but isn't "Painfully bright". It's very stable and easy to use, and has lots of great presets to get you started :).

Several decades ago, I had the privilege of playing a little on Yamaha's flagship, the CS-80. The price made it impossible to buy, but in connection with a recording session, I was given access to a copy for a few days. My experience was the CS-80's musical softness, an almost magical shimmer while at the same time it could be somewhat brutal, especially certain bass sounds.

There are several nice software emulations of the CS-80 - but there is some harshness in some bread and butter sounds in most of them. When XILS-Labs' version came out, I downloaded the trial version and fell in love with it immediately. Almost perfect!

In short - this is IMHO currently probably the best emulation of a CS-80, especially when it comes to the typical shimmering sound. Unfortunately, it's not that cheap (but significantly more affordable than the original!), but if you're looking for the typical CS 80 sound, you should definitely lend it an ear.

So some final thoughts - very nice GUI, crystal clear, five stars.

But the positive also comes with a price in terms of computing power. I have a pretty sharp Mac Pro, but if you don't have plenty of RAM and a good processor you should definitely test before buying.

Perfect analog sounding synthesizer. Easy installation and licensing.
Very good sounding presets. Lots of modulation elements.

The PolyMoog is probably best known as the synth in Gary Numan's Cars and as a core of many of Prince's songs. Therefore, of course, a comparison between software and hardware becomes inevitable. There, Xils Labs has succeeded exceptionally well - above all with the luster that was in the original. So the grade cannot be anything other than superb.

StiX is a slightly different virtual drum machine that basically has all the well-known sounds from all the classic machines. The sound source is both sampled and digitally created and sounds really good - which is perhaps most important. You can program both via pads, keys and in a graphical interface. Since the plugin offers a plethora of possibilities, it may not be primarily intended for the absolute beginner. The ones I would wish were a stand-alone mostly to be able to work with the sounds before working in a DAW.

KaoX offers a fantastic emulation of classic FM synthesis. First of all - very good sound! In addition, a smart interface for programming your own sounds. Highly recommended.

Bought it, downloaded it, then tried to install it. Never seen so much messing about, generating accounts with other companies. Finally told it wasn't able to use elicencer when after purchase it said I could. Maybe one day I'll get around to licencing it. Used to own a VCS3, should have kept it.

I remember when I saw Jean Michel Jarre's famous convert in Houston in the mid 80s where he had that amazing laser harp. I was just blown away by the fantastic sound of that harp. Later on I learned that the sound was generated from a synth by the Italian company ELKA called Synthex.

The Synthex was one of those synths of my dreams. Just like the RFS Kobol and the EMS VCS 3.

Today many of those dreams became real thanks to the invention of software synthesizers.

Thanks to XILS-Lab I now have an amazing emulation of both the kobol and the VCS 3 in PolyKB II and XILS 3.

And now - also the Synthex.

Yes, it's true. XILS-Lab already had the Syn'X. And even though it's an emu of the original hardware it's so full of additional features so it got a bit to far form the original - IMO.

Although the miniSyn'X also has added features it's much more true to the original.

The sound of the miniSyn'X is absolutely amazing. And I think the miniSyn'X, just as the original, is very unique sounding.

One don't have to be a sound designer or a synth expert to use it. There are, of course, all the great factory presets. But on top of that - it's ridiculously easy to create one's own sounds with miniSyn'X.

XILS-Lab added an awesome feature called Smart Load. It's a little of AI that helps creating patches. The only eventual drawback of this function would be that it's very addictive. I always wonder what other cool sound will there be if I hit the button once more.

Additional to that there's also a more classic randomizer.

I found miniSyn'X pretty soft on the CPU, It loads fast too.

However some presets (pads) can be fairly heavy on the CPU when played on the higher end in double mode.

Worth mentioning here is that the miniSyn'X has 3 modes. Single, Double and split.

There are also some nice hotkeys that makes it easier to mannage the synth.

Something that I appreciate a lot since I don't really like to work with the mouse.

I'm not the tech guy. I approach and use synthesizers from an instrumentalist's and a musician's point of view.

So, for me the ammount of oscilators and LOF's is of less interest then how it sounds.

And it do really sounds lovely and unique. Especially the basses and leads.

And of course...Yes among the presets there is THAT Laser Harp Sound .