daAlfa2k

I bought this a while ago but have largely neglected to break it oas I have been in host flux. i opened it live 4 and was really impressed. Just jamming thru the
presets bought up so many unusual and inspierd timbres.
It is also very easy to tweak the presets in a wonderful
compact (hello rgc...)gui. A VST bargain. good cpu usage.
Try the demo.Read Review

well I can't understand why everyone says this thing sounds so good.
I can hear the alaising noise a mile off and in fact I've not used the synth for ages - just had to pipe up when I was all these reviews saying how nice it sounds.

It sounds very digital, and definately not smooth - The FreeAlpha is like silk compared to DaAlpha2k.Read Review

In my view this is the best sounding of the Dash synths. It is a very good value considering the features. One thing I do like is the support and quick response of the programmers. daAlpha2K went through many updates as customers reported problem and submitted suggestions. The MIDI control assignment routine and importable wave forms keeps this synth in my quick access list. It is a very good value when used as a simple VA.Read Review

A great not-so little synth from Dash Synthesis, daAlpha2k
sounds like it looks: lush and great yet somehow decent.
The GUI is very nice and clear, the sound isn´t comparable with anything i´ve heard yet, it isn´t very sharp-edged, more misty, nebelous but still very powerfull.
Features - with extra wav-import for all three oscillators this is quite a powerfull synth but it´s focal points are basses, pads, percussive sounds and fx. Great and really usable ist the random sound generator; fx are good also.
The manual and generally the presentation (website) of Dash could be nicer (with sound design examples and PDF-Manuals), though - DashSynthesis sell here under worth, i feel.
The Support is very good as are Presets, with two banks of inspiring sounds (Check PPG Bass, Enigma or Sommer Voices).
In sum, this a very useful and musical synth which grows with every usage and it´s very affordable- give the demo a listen.Read Review

This synth is phenomenal! It produces nice, spacious leads sounds, thick fast and slow-attack pads, and plenty of trance/dance mumbo jumbo if that's yer thing.

It's reall easy to niggle around with and come up with some engaging presets. I'm no programming whiz myself, but still I managed to come up with ten useful and interesting sounds within an hour's of playing with it. It's that good! Also, the external wave load feature sounds tre cool, even though I've never loaded my own custom waves. I've just used the new ones that they've supplied. I turned the flute wave into my own mellotron patch and A/B'd with the M-Tron sound on Gmedia's website. Let's put it this way: I WAS gonna shell out $50 bucks for the M-Tron before I created this patch. 'Nuff said.

The GUI is small and extremely attractive. I hate clutter. Clutter makes me bleary-eyed. Out of all the VST's I own, this synth is probably the easiest on the eyes.

Customer support rules. In fact, I bought daAlfa2k on the day of the 2.0 release. They could have easily
charge me the 2.0 price. However they recognized that I came in right "under the wire" and charged me the previous version's price. I hear they're real swift with updates, too.

And much praise for the basic FX section, as fussing with another delay and chorus plug-in is always very time consuming. Nice to have these very quality sounding units tacked on. Well done Dash!Read Review

As a beta tester, I saw this plugin (or heard i guess) develope from the start. It certainly has come a long way, and the latest revision of it offers very rich authentic hardware sound, (I hate saying that because it seems too many VST's try to emulate hardware) but daAlfa2k holds its own as a rich unique sounding synth. Creamy pads, and hard basslines (if you tweak it right) are easy to attain. Only quirk for me is that it's a little steep on the processor usage. About 23 on my p3 500 box. Overall great synth for the price.Read Review

Caveat- I am a beta tester.
This is a nice synth, the 3 very flexible oscillators are the main strength, you get good internal waveforms with a wave control to shift them, great external waveforms and -joy of joys- I can add the wavs I have accumulated. There really is a wide range of sound available here and it would make a great workhorse for someone on a budget.
It's got 2 nice sounding filters, 2 regular ADSRs and a couple of simple lfos one for the pulse width.
I am left feeling I want more flexible modulation, I would try using an external lfo unit.
The sound out-of-the-box is pretty good, instant gratifaction :)
The GUI is reasonably intuitive if you read the simple manual anyone will get on with it. I like working in Orion and this is a good synth for anybody used to that. The supplied presets are very good too.
Sort-of criticism: I don't like add-on simple time-delay effects but considering the price the chorus and delay are a bonus I guess.Read Review

GUI is OK. CPU usage is OK.

The implementation of three sound-types of random patch generation is very cool. Very clever. Expect to see more developers adopting this route.

As for the sound...It's very different from most of the VSTis' out there. The sound is cozy and warm instead of knife-like sharp. When being used in a mix, it blends in. I think this characteristic empowers daAlfa2k a different yet very wide range of fitness for many kind of music genre.

Stability: Very stable within all my hosts.

V2.0 upgrade: A big leap forward with the ability to use custom wav, and also bundled with a selection of wav files to start with. This is a tasty new feature that vastly enriches the sound pallette of the synth.

Edited due to recent debate regarding the review policy and the new manual. As a beta-tester, at first I wasn't really impressed by the sound, but it grows on me as I dig in and put daAlfa2k into actual use. I've put quite some commercially purchased plugs aside, whilst daAlfa2k has become one of the few most favorate plugins of mine in the mean time.Read Review

To preface, I am a DASH beta tester, but I believe that this is a great synth anyway. this synth has a very smooth sound to it, and is capable of a very large pallette of sounds. Version 2.0 adds mono waveform support, so you can create an even greater amount of sounds from a very reasonable priced package. William is committed to updating this synth and is already talking about the improvements he has in mind for 2.1. This is the kind of support that I wish all softsynth companies had. This version sports an improved GUI and 12 MB of extra waveforms to keep you busy with. This synth will do some amazing evolving pads and ambient textures- along with some very convincing juno sounds. Vith 2.0 a great synth has become even better.


This is a very good synth. Nice, intuitive GUI, great sound and good presets. So far this has been a very stable synth for me and I can always find a place for it in my songs. I recently Purchased the Steinberg Model E which is about 1/2 the synth for 4 times the money.

The synth has built in effects which further extend the already large sonic pallete. The range of sounds offered by this synth is on par with the best out there.
Highly recommended!Read Review