Phonec

Don't let the SynthEdit tag make you shy away.

This is the best synth I've found in my hunt for quirky, warbling, and unusual "analog" sounding synths.

It doesn't work like any other VST I've used, mainly because it doesn't have the same features. But everything is very familiar in terms of usability.

Features:

Two audible OSC's, one sub OSC, one OSC dedicated to FM or high frequency modulation, 3 LFO's, 3 envelopes (with a dedicated amp and filter envelope, and one assignable), a simple arpeggiator, a simple assignable step sequencer, a funky glitchy delay section, and the wonderful "melt" knob.

There's everything you would want for pads, basses and leads. I haven't gotten many percussive sounds out of it, but mainly because I have spent all my time so far exploring wide slow sounds with it, but with the extensive modulation and FM capabilities, plucks and scrapes are quite possible.

The filters are quite peculiar. There are 4 different lowpass filters, the first sounds very normal, thick, full, but usual. The second adds more "phatness", If I'm not decieved it sounds like a tiny bit of chorus mixed into a "thicker" sounding filter (definitely fun!). The two others cover the "thinner" sounding lowpasses, possibly modeled off of -6db designs.

Sound:

Awesome! Warbling, digital, analog, buttery, classic, space-age, lo-fi, lots of adjectives to use!

The oscillators come out well, with the sub half way turned up it's already thick. Use an OSC on soft ramp an octave down for the perfect warm mid-layer, this is all with no effects or mods! Now add some subtle filter modulation from a slow LFO and a fast step sequencer, bring in some FM for the attack, and boom! Fat, warping inspiring sounds!

Made something too boring? Just turn up "melt" (a somewhat random lfo that affects pitch and filter that makes it sound like you're using a budget soviet synth while your neighbor switches his heavy appliances on and off).

The delay is very peculiar. You couldn't replace it with a simple pingpong. It suits the synth perfectly.

Ariston pointed out something I left out, which is when the gain is turned up it begins to warm the sound up, and then distort for extra character!!

UI:

Not photo realistic (ahh fresh air!). Everything you need to see is on the main page. Different routings for LFO's and envelopes are one click away.

The color scheme is nice, and it's immediately attractive.

Presets:

They sound great and do a good job showing the synth's "designed" sound. Classic "analogue" sounding arpeggiations and pads, as well as some basses and plucks. A decent amount of ground is covered, from vangelis style sweeps to video game chirps. So much more is possible by making your own sounds, and thankfully the presets touch on a lot of the possibilities, making it easy to learn. There is also the praised "default" patch!

Downsides:

No built in aliasing effects

Can't load your own waveforms

For me the only big downside is the waveform restriction. Maybe we could see this in a future version?

Overall:

I bought it at the intro price of $34 but I could see it being much much more despite its synthedit heritage.

For a lover of lo-fi, this is "my synth", so glad I found it!