M42 Nebula

M42 Nebula was the the first SynthEdit creation that really convinced me the platform had come of age. Except for some extreme individuals the following will be true; M42 is a wonderful, advanced pad and spacy sound synth.

Based on a soundfont oscillator and traditional oscillator through a signal chain of digital oscillator to filter, to amplitude filter, to mod envelope and into the interesting stuff - the LFO, Pulsar (a specialized arpeggiator) and finishing with a mod matrix. Replace the DCO on oscillaor 2 and put a soundfont front-end with nicely selected samples and followed by a effects engine featuring chorus, cross delay, pan controller, synth mixer and finally, the warp control which enables you to program functions to a x/y controller. Not to be forgotten, the global section allows for splits, layers and variable pitch control per oscillator.

I often have concerns about soundfonts. It's not that the format is bad, more that most sets I've heard are not well designed and often are a hodgepodge of sounds made as a "thrilling experience of REAL sounds". Fortunately, the set included with M42 are chosen for use within M42's thematic standard with high quality samples that bring out the most in M42's design.

Don't forget the non-sampled oscillator. It also has lots of character and a quality that lends itself to evocative sounds. Combined with the generous soundfont library and the modulations, arpeggiations and general synthesis capabilities available in M42 it is a testimant to good synth design.

More importantly, there is vision as to what a pad synth does. M42 is based on proven techniques in synth design with one hidden weapon, a generous set of presets by Tim Conrardy. In it's own way Tim's programming and mastery of M42 Nebula make this similar within context to synths like Albino, where a developer works in concert with a synth designer and sound programmer make for a synergism that makes learning and playing M42 Nebula vastly easier than the wealth of controls available.

At $45 this is a steal if:
* you actually enjoy pads, spacy sounds and overall capability in synthesis
* keep an open mind as to what this synth's purpose is
if you long for the synths of old where all sounds seemed possible and probably were

If a more established company's name was on it the price of $99 wouldn't be unexpected nor unreasonable. At $45 it's a killer synth.

I put M42 Nebula in the same special catagory of synths like Rhino, Albino or z3ta+. Yes, each is a monster synth whereas M42 is more focused on one area but it is priced suitably and is testimate to what a motivated SE developer and excellent patch designer can do when working together.

Note: M42 is not a harsh sounding synth and as such might not work for those looking to do industrial. Listen before buying. The demo is very good and will give you a good idea of what awaits you in the full version.

Highly recommeded!Read Review