Square I

For the money (currently $35) I am sure that you cannot buy a better VSTi. This thing is really good for users wanting to enjoy the really phat subtractive synthesis. This thing has 3 oscillators (with a good variety of waveforms), loads of envelopes and LFOs (pitch, filter, amp), as well as effects to really beef up your sounds (chorus, delay, eq). The sounds you get out of it are really rich. The midi learn funtion in RGC synths is excellent too...just assign knobs on your controller to knobs on the VSTi at the click of a button!

What I like about this synth is that it is the "not so little" brother of Pentagon 1, so when you are ready for a more powerful synth you are instantly familiar with its controls. If you've tried Triangle 1 or 2...you will love this! Hopefully the GUI of Square 1 will be updated soon so that you have the option of a P1-type skin in the next version.

I recently downloaded the free Triangle 1 from RGC Audio, and liked it so much that I use it as my examples for synth-programming tutorials on my own site. I didn't quite have the money for Pentagon 1 yet, but since I was impressed by the sound of RGC's synth engine, I decided to buy the Square 1 until I could afford it's bigger sibling. I was quite pleasantly suprised. I expected a polyphonic Triangle, but the Square is much, much more. There is a deeper level to the synth thanks to knobs that can have two functions. For example, an aftertouch knob might double as a breath-controller knob. A nice touch, sort of reminding me of the old Oberheim synths. Unfortunately, this can make the interface a little confusing at first, but I'll soon become used to it. The sound this thing generates is certainly huge! Three oscillators and individual LFOs make for some mostrous, swirling pads. A happy suprise was the "Random Patch Generator", accessed by clicking on the "Square 1" logo. This had me creating "Dr. Who" sounds all night! The downloadable manual is complete and essential, as the Square is a complex synthesizer. It does a good job expaining all of the functions. The presets are good, and there are a lot of them. They remind me a lot of the presets in the synths from the late seventies/eighties, particularly those from the Prophets. And the customer service is the best I've ever seen. There was a problem with Share It accessing my E-mail, and though it wasn't even his fault, Rene had it fixed within the day! The price for Square has recently been lowered to $35, so that makes it hard to pass up! I've certainly bought some VSTis in boxes that sounded nowhere near this good for four times as much. As for stability, there has never, ever been even the tiniest problem with an RGC Audio product in my system, and the Square 1 is no exception. You have $35? Go get this synth.

A gem from RGC Audio:warm and rich sound ala Oberheim,
but is missing portamento (hope they add in the next version!).The actual price offer makes it absolutely the
VSTi with the best price-quality ratio!!!

You can check out my review of triangle 1 to get my feelings about the incredible quality of RGC plugins and their steller customer relations.

Square just multiplies the power.