Wasp

This was one of my first synthesizers, so i´ll start with it:

User Interface
The GUI is easy to handle. The colours are more a matter of taste, but i like them and somehow they fit to the sound. The layout is well thought trough and there are no popup-menues where you don´t wear (or click) yourself out. Everything is right at hand. One weak point are the graphical envelopes: they´re a nice addon, but if you programm sounds with a bigger lenth, the envelopes vanish at the edge of the window. A plus point is the switchable fx-section.

Sound
It would describe the sound as more or less glamorous with a nice, brilliant shimmer. The sound is often very recognizeable, due to the filtermodes and the resonance. Personally i like both of the notchfilters for making brighter/ wider sounds. Also remarkable is the noise-osc. It´s not a normal noise, it´s very harsh and more FM or AM like. What bothers me is the fade in of the res, i think it becomes too quick too loud. Another problem is the env-speed. Good drums and percussion are hardly to achieve cause the envs are too slow and don´t give you enough punch, especially in lower registers. I think the strength of Wasp lies more in "metallic", stronger sounds (hard to describe) and/or in "strange" fx-patches.

Features
At first sight, Wasp seems not very extraordinary, but it offers a lot of options. It has FM, Ringmodulation, PW, Keytracking, Lfo-Sync, a sort of chorus and a distortion unit. The modulation-routings are in fact not numerous, but this forces you to plan your sound-design better. One thing i think to mention are the lfo-shapes: apart from the standard sine and square there are saw and noise (and what kind of noise!:-)) Furthermore Wasp offers a 7-band eq and three bread and butter fx-units: reverb, phaser and delay. The presets sound good and are quite useable, but personally i dislike the phaser-patches.

Documentation
The docs are very short and dry, so for a beginner they´re maybe not sufficient enough. For the more proficient users the manual offers no extra information.

Presets
Light and shadow here. Some fx and "wired"-presets are nice, but for me the distortion-unit is used too much. The pads are also good, but the drums and some leads are crap. As always i miss some of these "mellow-mood sounds". All in all i think the presets don´t show the full potential of the synth. I would add some classic fm (ringmod) presets (as possible) and/or more less "crude" patches.

Customer Support
I never used it, but the fl-homepage has a big forum with many users for well-founded assistance.

Value For Money
In my opinion the vfm is excellent. For the money you get a lot of soundpotential.

Stability
Wasp crashed sometimes in FL-Studio when i selected some presets in the fx-panel. When using a lot of fx (in my case, 1,3ghz, 256mbram) the cpu load can up to 15-20% with four voices. Normal patches use about 10% on an average.


Summary: Wasp is not a "neutral" synth. It has a well defined sound wich puts it in its own niche, so you like it or you like it not. I don´t know if it sounds like the hardware-pendant, but i recommend this synth to all who are looking for an extra sound possibility with easy programming.

Wasp is the first VSTi synth I purchased (2+ years ago) yet it is also the synth I've made tracks with most recently. For me this says a lot. I find it particularly good for bass, lead, and bizzare sound effect work. While it can handle pads too, I prefer the greater modulation flexibility and lower cpu usage of other synths.

For only two oscillators, it has a lot of sonic muscle: pulse-width modulation, "Dual" switch for detuned oscillator doubling, an exceptionally ugly (read "good") distortion circuit, ring modulation, and an FM knob.

In addition, it has a decent selection of onboard effects. The reverbs and paragraphic EQ are outstanding. The phasor and delay are frustrating because the presets can't be configured much.

Wasp's amplitude and filter ADSR envelopes deserve mention because they have a nice and crisp response. Attacks and decays are very sharp. This and the 24db/octave "LP Fat" filter are really good for punchy bass sounds. Also, as you change any of the knobs to alter the envelope shape, it is repesented graphically as well.

High marks for Wasp overall for the following reasons:
* Clean, punchy tone with a smooth LP filter.
* Great Interface (easy to program: all controls are visible on screen at once, and graphic display of envelopes)
* Great reverb and EQ.
* Very affordable

After buying SimSynth Live I went back online and bought Wasp. Image Line is still one of the few companies that offer DXi and VSTi versions along with the FL version for a single purchase. Wasp is a bit more complicated than SimSynth Live. The layout of the program is not quite as elegant but still not intimidating. Wasp gives a more aggressive sound that is enhanced by the inclusion of ring modulation, pulse width, FM, and distortion. It makes a decent bass synth, and can offer some interesting pads and leads. This is a must buy for anyone using FruityLoops, and a good buy for anyone wanting a simple synth that is more aggressive and still easy to program. It seems to have enough bite without taking too much space in the mix.

Robert

I got V1 of the Wasp VSTi free when ordering the Fruityloops generator version and I'm glad I did. I can now use this in my other hosts. It a very good 2 oscillator synth with effects (parametric eq, delay, reverb, distorsion and phaser)...powered by Smart Electronix and Ultrafunk so they are very good quality as is the synth engine being from image-line!

This synth is really good for loading up and creating nice sounding patches quickly.

This thing had a few bugs to start with but they soon ironed them out with a couple of service releases. It has a nice (Fruityloops style) GUI and is easy to use.

Good for the money....however, between this and RGC Square 1 for the same price - I think I would advice towards Square 1 which is currently going for $35 (about the same price) and has a lot of good features and an upgrade path to Pentagon 1 (which is the daddy) if you find you want more!!

What a wonderful synth for the money. It is very easy to program and the GUI increases the ease of use. It is a particularly pleasing VSTi to use. While the sounds are excellent, particularly bass and lead sounds, the pads leave a little to be desired (but only a little and can easily be fixed with some creative effect use).

My only real complaint isn't with the synth itself but a problem with installation. The original registration file sent to me crashed. After receiving e-mails from the developer, they informed me it was a compatibility problem with Netscape and proceeded to provide an alternative registration solution for me to use. Full marks for Customer Support!!!!! (This is why I deducted a few points for stability, the VSTi itself is fine!)

Download the demo and be surprised. It is certainly worth the effort to obtain this synth!