MonoOne

This is one of those synths that I just had to do a review for because it gives me so many mixed feeling.

First off - it is really really basic - there are hardly any mod options, and not much of anything to speak of. It has a nice GUI, but it's never going to be a synth that has you scratching your head on how to program it - it's just too cut down and underdeveloped.

BUT ..... This odd little synth (which I guess was someones first dabblings in synth development) has the best sounding oscillators of any VSTi's I own!

Really and truly - the oscillators are beautiful - they are meaty and fat, and have the full spectrum in there. They could be from a Moog or an OSCar! They are the most analogue oscillators I have heard on any VSTi - no trace of thin-ness, weediness, or nasty brightness. The problem is, there is nothing much you can do with them in terms of a real synth and modulation options.

I wholeheartedly recommend that you d/l this baby and then put it through a plugin filter, or even a hardware filter. My problem was that I don't overmuch like most plugin filters - Waldorf are getting better at it, and I quite like the Phatsync bundled with Cubase 5.1, but the rest leave me cold. I haven't heard the new quad Frohmage from OhmForce yet, so maybe that is one good option for these oscillators. It cries out for more functions and it could be a beast - I love, love, love those oscillators and can think of loads of good VSTi's that would be incredible with these oscillators - imagine something like Crystal with these huge OSCar-like oscillators! (gulp)

So overall, the synth is hardly credible as a VSTi because it doesn't do anything, but play those oscillators even with no filter on them, and it just takes you back to VCO heaven in the 60s and 70s - better than all new ones by far, and they need no Eq - why then don't they make this into a real synth? It puzzles me no end.

Had to write a review for this homely beast! At first I thought this was somebody's idea of a joke but since it was weird and different I spent some time with it and after connecting it to Multilens have come up with subtle sinusoidal phasing sounds that turn my head inside out. Love the GUI. Looks like a cross between a DIY effects box and a Mothers of Invention album cover. Not much apparent variation in tone colors, but play with it and see what you can find. My ratings take the price of this thing into account. Thanks, SC!