Hybrid 3

Stunning functionality and sound.

I picked this up for an insane $1.00 on pluginboutique.com. If you ever see this come up on special, you must grab it. This is simply one of the best all-purpose synths out there today.

AIR Technology has been around for a long time; until recently, their plug-ins were only available to Pro Tools users (they make the default effect suite included with Pro Tools), but they have opened it up in recent years to other formats.

I expected this to fall along the lines of the instruments included with Pro Tools; professional, but outdated, bearing the imprint of circa-mid-2000's. But boy, was I wrong. Of course the presets are techno-centric, but they sound fantastic and serve as great starting points. I found myself sinking in and wasting many an hour digging in and even coming up with ideas.

What really sets this apart is the multitude of features. It reminds me a lot of Omnisphere, without being sample-based: dual oscillators that can be blended or turned on or off separately; a rich step-sequencer and arpeggiator; a rich selection of saturation for the filters and excellent in-line effects. I'm reminded that AIR used to be Wizoo, who made some of Steinberg's finest, long-lost synths, whose ethos still runs through Cubase today.

Not only this, it's insanely light on resources. I'm not sure that I could top out Cubase, running on a 2013 MacBook.

I could go on and on, but really, this is a tremendous, still totally relevant synth today, and worth every penny at full price, but it's shocking that one can pick this up for as little as one dollar. I urge anyone to check it out; it's the underrated secret deal of the decade.