Angelina

Everyone has certain sounds that they enjoy using. Some find the Mini Moog irresistable. For me it has been voices.

There is something about the voice that is evocative and commanding for leads and pads. At first I used samples of choirs, mellotrons, and synths that had decent synthesized voices. But I could never find a timbre I designed on a DX7 that sounding etherial, synthetic and yet very much like a human voice.

Well, I found a much better implementation of it in Angelina.

The design of Angelina is simple. There are four voices available in two pairs within a patch. You are able to morph between these two voice sets which have a distinct FM like sound, digital, crisp but very, very realistic.

In part this is because of the use of formants, giving the vocal sound a lifelike character. Each pair of formants consist of various ranges of the voice using "a, e, i, o, u" sounds to create a wide range of expressive timbres manipulated by the morph knobs or the Wavestationesque x-y pad. It is easy to design patches that center as a choir and mix out to individual voices.

Controls include Osc 1 and Osc 2 main volume and FM, Osc 2 has a detune control as well. Both oscillators have shape controls. The third oscillator is called Breath and creates a breathing type of sound, from a huff to sounds like exhalinig. Controls include mix and color.

Each envelope is graphically represented on a LCD readout style screen. Envelopes are six points with bezier points to curve segments. Each envelope is graphically editable as well as numerically or by clicking on buttons. Other controls include Granular, a type of slicing effect, Chorus, Reverb and Velocity Mod, enabling you to model most any synthetic choral or vocal timbres that are convincing whether a lead, choir or pad.

Angelina is a great pad machine. From Eno like stark voices to rousing choirs and shapeless angelic soundscapes.

Angelina is a steal at $39. It has many uses especially moody timbres.Read Review