One of the most valuable things about KVR is the contact with developers and being able to see things develop and come to fruition. A brilliant example of this is Ethereal. The first version didn't have a welcoming GUI, the sound was sometimes glitchy and the CPU usage hopped about a bit. It always had potentially to grow and with version 2.0 it has come of age.
This synth does exactly what its name suggest but a lot more besides. Expansive and evolving sounds are its forte, though. With a very good set of initial sound choices (including user-definable), Frequency Modulation, Additive Wave options, two filters (each of 11 types, and assignable to any of 8 envelopes), drawable envelopes and internal effects it's a powerhouse of flexibility. There was no manual at the time of writing, so I will mark on the basis of the previous version's manual.
Some of the presets understandably showcase the more metallic timbres and complicated sounds and sound-effects it's possible to generate. But, it's a very simple task to get more conventional sound from it. What's most impressive though is the ability to generate genuinely useful textural and ambience-style sounds so very easily.
The change of GUI has done a lot for Ethereal. The envelope drawing can be a little fiddly, but certainly easy enough, and there are big improvements there in comparison to previous versions. The right-click pop-up menus are a little dark, however. CPU usage and stability is phenomenal really when it's considered alongside the output. A lot of the sounds don't require much polyphony and on my Athlon 1900+ even when they do, CPU usage is often only slightly above 10% - well worth it.
As for support, Jon at ConcreteFX is excellent. He's present here, extremely responsive to comments and bug reports and keen to improve the products all the time. Ethereal has turned into one of those synths that is worth exploring and rewards learning. If you're looking for something a bit different and need any kind of ambience or effects for your tracks, then this is a good instrument to try. Even if you're not, Ethereal does 'traditional' sounds too, making it extremely good value for money.
Preset "Angels" shows off Ethereal to its fullest - download the demo, switch to this preset, hold down a key... and wait... and wait. Awesome ;)
