Pentagon I

All I can say is wow. I read a lot of people comparing Pentagon 1 to Pro-52 and PPG 2v. I have the luxury of comparing. Bottom line, different synths, unfair comparison.

Which is better? None, but I like the Pentagon 1 more than the Pro-52 because P1 has a great sound that ranges from Moog/Oberheim to Supernova/Virus territory. The PPG 2v shouldn't even be compared.

The flexibile, modern meets classic theme isn't groundbreaking as a synth. It really reminds me of a Nova II I used to work with. Both featured creamy sounding, fat basses, interesting pads and great leads (P1 wins here, the Nova II was more polite, P1 is both polite and rips in ways the Novations don't).

The presets are very good at demonstrating what the Pentagon 1 can do. I think I understand why people love this synth. It is easy to use.

I know there are a lot of extras in this synth but the simple fact is the most important editing functions are right in front of your face. Th newe interface functionally brilliant.

The U/I is easy to see, not too big, skinable and the sound... I'm not a big analog freak but the P1 really captures the feel and character when such a sound is desired. The FM addition makes for some great hybrid timbres. Again, this reminds me a lot of the Novation synths.

I use a fairly old system that's underpowered. I doubt I'll be able to get more than 12 notes of polyphony out of the Pentagon but that's ok because the timbres I'll be using will mostly be pads and basses, maybe occasional melody lines.

Note to Orion users, I had 6 instances running with fairly intense patches and the P1 worked fine with a 70 - 85% load. In Cubase it was a bit better.

System used:
Celeron 600, 384 mb ram, 40 gig HD, not a high end system.

So for those of you concerned, test this synth first. At $99 it is a bargain.Read Review