Product Reviews by KVR Members

Almost full marks from me - dropped 1 point from the GUI, but that's debatable as they went into such attention to detail that you can use your own backgrounds and sliders/knobs if you are that fussy. And it's easy to do it - I tried with some and it's a piece of cake - I've never done that type of thing before, but you just d/l the .bmps into the right folder, unlock the FX and edit in the workbench in one easy page. A stroke of genius.

Sounds - as basic as you want or as weird as you want. There are lots of different types of filters, mod FX, delays, dynamics (as multiband as you want too), sidechains, Eqs blah blah blah - there really isn't anything I can think of that isn't there. And almost all of them are very good quality - Possibly the Eq isn't up to the standards of things like Equium/firium, but for everyday use I find them up to the task - possibly I wouldn't use them at the final mix/master stage, but because the dynamics are so clean, you shouldn't really need Eq on your master (when you consider that if you want 10 multiband comp followed by a 15 multiband limiter you can have it - why should you need Eq?)
And the dynamics are good - they are more what I'd describe as clean rather than character - that was probably a deliberate policy to make them useable in any circumstance - if you want character comps then you have the ability to go into the workbench and add in your own subtle distortion or valve sim or Eq for the character.

Features - now has PDC, so no matter what host you use, Quantum will work with it. A totally modular setup - it has presets that are all very useable and cover the standard to the sublime, but if you want you can set up your own FX as in the SynthEdit style - building up FX blocks and chaining them together in any way you want (I do this with some trepidation, as you literally can do it in any order and connection that you want - so if you aren't sure what you're doing, you can explode your monitors with extreme ease!)

Presets - worth the purchase price on their own. Multifilter delays that can make a drumloop sound like a Tibetan Chime orchestra. Filtered overdrive that can make a standard bassline into a didgeridoo. Excellent guitar amps and FX, huge chorus, jet flanger etc etc etc. One of the newer presets that DB has included is a ducking delay - so very useful - can you think of any other delay that has that feature, and that can have its output also chorused, filtered, resonated, Eq'd and then limited just in case? Hmmmm?
And if it sounds a bit daunting editing your own FX block - you can do big variations on the presets by simply going in and editing the workbench settings without changing connections and it is made so easy - you almost don't need the manual, it's so intuitive for such a big idea.

VFM - might seem expensive, but for all those FX and the modular nature, it's a bargain. Collect all those as separates would cost several times the $299 and might not be as good quality!

Edit: Now V2 is out I had to add in some stuff.
SIDECHAINS! Might not sound incredible, but really is. You can make all of your own sidechained compressors (which are quickly catching on it seems). There's also a neat preset included which is a sidechain resonant filter . This is a good one to use if you're not sure how useful a sidechain can be. It use the input of a source channel (say a drumloop) to feed a filter to anything else. So you could use the loop to modulate a filter on a pad, or a vocal etc - exptrapolate that out, and you could make up a patch with some kind of vocoder that is modulated on a vocal with the loop as the source. You can use sidechains to have dynamic reverbs etc where the reverb decay time or level is fed from a copy of its own audio! Something like a reverb that is weaker on a strong signal (to avoid muddiness) but stronger on a weak signal (where it will be heard more easily. Or a reverb that has a big decay time on the strong snare hit, but shorter on the lesser hits, such as hats!

And the implementation of the sidechains is so easy. You load up 2 instances of the same FX; 1 on the source channel and one on the receiving channel, set 1 to send and 2 to receive within QFX. No more dicking around with quattro groups on Cubase. Now that has got to be a good thing. It means that QFX will be able to use sidechains in almost any host - even those that don't normally allow sidechaining.

And there are a couple of "premium FX". Hopefully this'll be developed further, because the new guitar amp Aura is a real beauty. It has very smooth overdrive, and the whole thing oozes quality and boxy cabinet sound. I've used it on drums and all sorts of things to good effect.

The whole V2 upgrade's alot smoother; it now feels like it's complete. No odd little glitches when loading FX with the host running, minor CPU improvements, slightly slinkier GUI - it feels like it's really come together in all the areas where it matters - the sound quality was always excellent

Probably the fullest-featured delay plugin around.

2 delay lines, each with up to 4 taps. Almost all parameters assignable to its own LFO with a full choice of LFO wave types and speed. A fully resonant filter on each channel which will self oscillate and basically blow your monitors if you don't have a limiter in place! Auto tempo sync or free-running. Lowpass filter separate from the resonant filter. Distortion filter. Full midi with the pro version but VST automatable with the Standard. (But with a delay, how often are you going to edit most parameters anyway?)

Sound - top notch. Very very flexible - it can do quite full phasing and flanging due to the complete excess of LFOs available. It will even do multi-tone drones. It will do your basic echoes, slapbacks, multitap delays (up to 8 taps), tape echoes and all-out resonating dub megadelays, and it does them all well with good sonic reproduction of the delays, or destruction of the delays if you want it to.

Features - because of the distortion filter, you can make subtly deteriorating echoes, which when used with the Eq filter can make some highly realistic analogue style tape echoes. On top of that you can also LFO in some slight delay time changes to give you the wow and flutter effect.
The resonant filter is ideal for the dub delays - set to high resonace it screams - and you can use it exactly as you would with a mixing desk because of the automation. You simply flick the sustain button and the feedback is set to maximum on both channels - if you have a mild resonance, it will gently increase into the dub self-oscillating echo swell and carry on until you turn it off - the same effect as using a send FX on the same FX return channel. Mad Professor all in one button press! Other delays can resonate, but very few sound as pleasing to the ear as Ohmboyz. And even if you don't have the midi version, VST automation can control the sustain. You can automate the panning, which enables you to create pingpong delays in time with the tempo to whatever beatsync you want, or gently sweep the panning from side to side to get those circular-sounding delays (and of course you can do this on top of all the other stuff too) Or just have the panning completely random.
The LFOs are also good to stop delay-fatigue which can happen if you use long delays all temposynced - you put a very very light LFO onto the delay or tap tempos so that it subtly runs ahead and then behind the delay beat - excellent for moving hats to create a more humanised feel with slight timimng variations

Interface - I advise the standard version - you can get a "funky" skin, which is certainly artistic, but you won't have a clue what does what. With the standard one, everything is obvious, and it won't take long to get creative with it. A small but good feature is that when you don't turn on the 2nd delay line, it disappears off the screen, making it alot less cluttered.

Nobody should be without Ohmboyz.

Variable scores on this one, but mainly for specific features rather than its sound

Interface - To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the A, B, C, D knobs do - I think they are types of wave distortion - soft, hard clipping etc and maybe split into frequency bands. I'd like it to be clearer, but there are only a few knobs you basically just play until you've got the distortion you want by ear.

Presets - none. Id like some so that I could know what does what, but again, it's the kind of plug you just experiment with.

VFM - free

Stability - mostly excellent. It always works well until you turn on the oversampling - more often than not my system crashes when I use it - dunno why. But I'm happy enough without it.

Features - quite a big variation in the type of distortion you can get. It doesn't seem to do that lovely warm gentle overdrive, but will certainly scream with nasty distortion, and the subtle distortion is quite gentle (still identifiable as distortion rather than overdrive, but very musical). That's one of 2 main reasons why I like this one
It can be a real screamer, but in moderation, it won't swamp your mix and it's useable - some distortions just stand out too much even on mild settings for my liking - Nastyshaper can do both easily.
The other main reason is a follow on from the previous. I often use it on drum groups with almost no distortion and it works like an exciter. Subtle stereo distortion means you can add just a hint of crunch (like you could use limiting) to add the top sparkle, but it adds the stereo field, making it excellent for livening up tracks using mono drum samples. In fact I use Nastyshaper as an exciter more than as an out-and-out distortion effect. Not as extreme as something like Cyanide, but then you can't use Cyanide as an exciter. Also try it out on something like a 303 emulation - not all of those are that close to a 303, but you'll be pleasantly surprised what Nastyshaper does to basslines if you use it very subtly. Or any bass sound (doesn't have to be a 303)
When you do get it screaming, using the 4 pre knobs can alter the tone alot, giving you a fuller bassier sound, or a harsh scraping toppy sound. I don't play guitar, but imagine it is very useful as a guitar pedal because of this feature.

So that's it.... there's only so much you can say about a distortion FX. I prefer Nastyshaper over commercial ones simply because it has other uses and doesn't overdo it at low levels. It's certainly not a valve type of distortion, but isn't meant to be so it achieves its aims well. And it's easy on the eye too. It's become one of my stidio essentials - not always used, but appreciated when it is - for being simple and musically useable - not too many bells and whistles to get in the way, which is what a studio essential should be.

Another beauty from Ohmforce.

Features - it's a phaser on steroids. It has 4 independent phasers all switchable and volume-adjustable. Each one can have LFOs applied to pretty well every parameter, and ALL of the LFOs are independent (you're not just stuck to a limited number of LFOs that you have to use for more than one parameter!) which makes for 50 or more LFOs - I've never counted, but it's an immense number.
It has controls for the phase, several for tonal control and a bandpass filter, pan, speed, feedback - all the usual things, but the level of tonal control and the LFOs are what really make it stand out. You can tailor the frequencies to fit into your mix very accurately - most phasers just phase up and down the whole spectrum, but not Mobilohm - it has very precise tone control on each phaser, and then a global tone control. The LFOs make it useable as a general-purpose filter not just a phaser. You can get gated phasing, rhythms within the phase or the speed of the phasing itself. Set some of the parameter LFOs to extremes and your end sound bears no resemblance to the original - on a simple drumloop you can get huge booming kicks followed by high squealing snare resonant blips. Then randomise it and you have complete chaos.
And because there are 4 phaser circuits, you can use it to split the whole thing into 4 frequency bands to get it to sit in a mix - 1 for phasing lows, 1 for mids, 1 for high mids and 1 for highs - then switch the circuits in and out (automatable) change the rhythm of the LFOs and you can have a whole piece of song playing from just one source sound. It really has huge capabilities which many people I suspect only just touch on every now and then.
The other side is that you can actually use it as a standard phaser! Sounds lush and thick, or thin if you want it to. There is no type of sound that it can't be used on at some time. It has no audible glitches unless you program them in deliberately - another Ohmforce feature that's common - excellent audio quality.
It might be worth paying extra for the pro version with full midi - there are so many features that you may want to automate, it can be difficult with only VST automation (but another good one is that they allow you to specify the order of VST parameters priority - so if you can't automate what you want - go in and customize in the subedit page!) Plus you get more than 16bits with the Pro Mobilohm - though to my ears I'm perfectly happy with the 16bit limitation.

The reason I marked down the sound a little is that it can sound a little digital when used as a basic one channel phaser - it can sound lush and rich, but you generally have to use more channels to achieve that - but it's a very minor complaint - it can vary it's sound as much as you are prepared to put in programming effort.

Not for the faint-hearted if you're unsure about in-depth programming, but you can't go too far wrong by just turning knobs at random though. Flexibility=complex

I didn't give a great review of Frohmage, but now I can let rip with a review of the other Ohmforce plugins - As with all of theirs, they are flexible and very very distinctive. Haematohm is possibly one of their weirdest ones released - and I love it.

Sound - It's a frequency shifter - in practice it sounds like a pitch shifter but not quite. Basically if you put, say, a drum loop through it, it'll sound like the drums are being pitched up or down, but it's far more extreme than that, as it's shifting the actual frequencies in it to huge ranges away from normal up to KHz or down to double figure Hz. The difference you hear from a pitch shifter is that it retains the original quality of the sound much more than a pitch shifter would (sounds odd I know) - whereas if you pitch shifted a vocal it would sound like Smurfs, Haematohm retains the quality of the speech somehow - difficult to explain in words.
An added bonus is the delay which is fed back into the shifting. This means the delay can constantly rise or fall or both with the LFO - similar to what you get in some of the better h/w FX units. This can create weird alien landscapes or be useful in moderation with drums or hats to subtly alter their "pitch" and give a more human feel and sound. Or be used as a kind of chorus to vocals - In fact you could use it to double track a vocal line, but pitched down a little without all the hassle of either rerecording the vocal or time stretching/pitch shifting via a sampler. Not realistic if overdone though.

One trick Pony? On first hearing and some extreme FX, you might think so, but as mentioned above it has extremely useful real world applications that can save you an immense amount of time and effort over doing it the traditional way. One of its presets is called Human Touch (if I remember correctly) - try that out on drum lines or vocals and be surprised at how subtle but effective it is. Or you could feed a synth note into it and make what basically are arpeggios - musical if done right, or weirdly alien if not (which is good). You can control how much shift is introduced, how much delay, and how much the delay is shifted - marvellous.
It can also be a great master or group effect for the odd bit of weirdness - pitch up a whole group, or the song at the breakdown or end of an intro as a crescendo - or just use it on cheesey techno snare rolls - instant in-yer-face effect!

VFM - I got it when they did $10 specials so it was an absolute bargain - now it's more realistically priced, so maybe you should test it out first - it's one you won't use regularly, but when you do it has no equal, especially if you want weird. So weigh those 2 things up.

Features - didn't give it 10/10 because it doesn't do everything you might want, but that's small fry compared to how individual it sounds when you do. It's not a studio essential, but if you like odd FX they don't come too much odder than this, but it's eminently useable.

I'm surprised there are no other reviews of Frohmage, so here goes...

I gave some conflicting marks to this one - it's free, therefore it's excellent value for money.

Documentation - as always Ohmforce provide manuals as a separate d/l and they are always good.

However - interface... Frohmage comes in only a "funky" skin, which I generally find to be utterly unfathomable; it's a shame they didn't release it in one of their sensible skins. If you haven't d/led the manual you'll likely have no idea what any of the knobs do.

Sound - the important bit for any filter - personally I don't like the character much. The blurb says you can get slow subtle filter sweeps - well I've never got one out of it. It will certainly scream in a distortion/overdrive kind of way and maybe that's why it's so poular - you seem to either love Frohmage or hate it. I'll catagorically state that I love every Ohmforce plugin I've got...they are geniuses, but I don't like Frohmage, so consequently I don't like QuadF either. They definitely have character, but I can't get what I call warm pleasant filtering out of them - I expected a filter that would do your standard synth filtering but also have the quirkiness that Ohmforce generally put into their plugins. I find only the quirkiness with no usefulness.
I'll amend that by saying that if you like distortion, you would probably find Frohmage right up your street - I can see uses for guitar treatment, in Industrial styles etc, but as with any filter it's almost 100% down to style and personal taste, and it's not mine.

It's certainly not a one trick pony, as you can vary the number of bands that it filters, but I find a lack of env following a big hindrance to any filter - makes it very difficult to use a filter as you would with a synth, which is what I want out of a filter.

Stability - rock solid.

Support - Ohmforce excel in this area.

I don't like to knock freebies nor Ohmforce (I love both!) but this one simply doesn't perform to what I expect of a filter. I just don't like the harshness it gives and I find it almost impossible to use it without destroying sonic quality of the source material. I would probably have given it great marks if it was labelled as a distortion/overdrive type of effect in fact.

But you should try it for yourself though - many users love this filter, and I can see why, if their tastes tend towards it's defined type of sound. But if you are expecting a synth-type filter then look elsewhere. I dabbled with using it as a guitar treatment, but I have other FX that are specialised in doing that, and I prefer their sound to Frohmage.

To defer some of my negativity though, Frohmage certainly has its own distinctive character (which is a mix of airy and nasty?) and should be praised for that. You like it or you don't and full marks to Ohmforce for providing that kind of plugin.

(Now I feel guilty for knocking it, but you can't like everything, eh?)

This is one of those synths that I've almost wiped off my hard drive, but always stayed my hand at the last key stroke for some reason.

It's fairly basic - after all, it's a freebie version done as a taster for the fuller featured bigger brother.
It's mono (no shame in that - monos are still very useful for leads and basses). There are no FX (for me this is no problem - I often feel FX mask the true character of a VSTi).

The reason I've nearly deleted it is because it seems to have not much middle ground - it's basically a very digital sounding synth - it's designed to be - but that can really be a problem with a monosynth - digital basslines just rarely cut it in a mix - with leads it's not such a problem, but LF is either very quiet and bland, or it screams out with digital nastiness. Either way, even with a lead, it's difficult to get it to sit in a mix happily.

You can tone down the nastiness, but then it seems to lose any character at all. Some of the obscure knobs can occasionally produce a really useable patch though - you can twiddle all of the knobs to no effect whatsoever, but just one knob will get the right sound - this is also another reason I nearly deleted it; The knob terminology is so ridiculously obscure, that I have no idea what most of them do. I like programming synths - I like complicated ones and I like programming from scratch - but I still have no idea what I'm doing with LF - just bad labelling IMO.

I've still got LF because just on the odd occasion you want a bit of real noise and crunch - well it can do that quite well. In fact, I'd say LF is more suited to making industrial sounds, and if that is your style maybe it's a good synth to own. I can imagine the full version with more features could be quite useful, but LF is so "only just there" that I have never investigated it. Basically for the usual dancey stuff or pop or accoustic and most probably for rock, I don't think LF has alot of use. Grungey electro, industrial experimental then go for it - it's free anyway so what's to lose?

I really don't like to knock freebies, but this one rarely does anything for me - I only keep it because once in every 30 or so songs - I find some kind of use for it (and I'm a sad synth collector - I find it very difficult to get rid of 'em)

As freebies go, especially as SynthEdit synths go, this is up there with the best. Not necessarily in terms of features (it has some limitations), but in terms of sound. Played purely with 1 or 2 voices, it's fairly ordinary. BUT ... some people consider the extra detuned oscillators as a gimmick ... well, it may be, but the point is that most other VSTis don't offer this facility, and when used, it makes SuperwaveP8 a very strong-sounding dominant synth.

Basically it has 6 extra voices (identical to the main oscillator) but all detunable by independent amounts - and you can do this with both oscillators - so it makes for a huge amount of oscillators (14!) and a wide thick soupy sound - very "analogue". When you consider that some big analogue patches used detuned VCOs and PWM and chorus to make the distinctively analogue sound, then these extra "Superwaves" aren't cheating - they are offering you a classic analogue trick that standard synths don't offer.

A very good set of patches to start off with, all of which identify what type of sound easily - you want a Jarre sound or a Numan or Van Halen pad, then it's labelled. No gimmicks - it just shows you what it's capable of.

I especially like the sync sound - it can squeal sharply and also be used subtly and musically - the 2nd oscillator can sweep from a good set of mod options from envelope, LFO, midi or whatever - in fact the whole modulation set is very flexible - not possibly set out as well as it could be in the GUI, but there are alot of options there.

The GUI - I have some problems with it, but overall it is well thought out and obvious - it looks like a real synth should in most aspects, so it is easy to program. Filters are set apart from envelopes and LFOs and modulation options - you really can't find it too difficult to tweak even if you are new to synth programming.

FX - nothing amazing, but sound an integral part of the patch unlike many other VSTis. You can argue whether VSTis should or shouldn't have FX, but this one works well - simple delays that don't overpower the patch.

It's not a do-everything synth by any means, but if you like fat analogue sounds (especially pads) then SWP8 is better than many commercial synths. Capable of basses (similar in a way to the Juno sound - big flabby bass useful for some styles,but not others). Good for leads and some special FX.

There are some problems such as not being able to latch LFOs to song position (i.e it won't restart the LFO at the start of a bar - it freewheels) but this is more a Sythedit problem than a SWP8 problem.

There are some Synthedit synths out there that are weird and wonderful, but often unusable. Some are useable but bland. SWP8 is both useable and flexible. You could replace some bog-standard analogue h/w synths with SWP8. A problem is that it's so fat sometimes that it overpowers your mix - 14 DCOs is not always good so use sparingly.

One of the better Synthedit creations- very very useable.

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.

A useful synth if you are maybe new to analogue synth clones, and want some fat-ish sounds, but this one really fails to inspire me.

It's one of the older analogue clones, and it really shows. It's also not cheap - for what you get, in fact it's very expensive. The filters don't sound anything like any Moog I've ever played on, and the actual oscillators themselves are not that big, which was a character of Moogs.

If you want to learn about analogue synths then this is not one to learn on - they insisted on using the arcane terminology of Moogs, which I could accept, if they made it sound like one! But it doesn't. It only looks a bit like one.

Admittedly you can get some lovely pads, and occasionally some pleasing leads, and even some powerful basses, but it really doesn't have an awful lot of character to be worth the asking price. Many free VSTis that are given away nowadays have a wider range of sound and are more authentic than Model-e.

You can get lots of banks of sounds for it, but when you d/l them and play through them all, it soon becomes apparent that they sound very similar - that's because the range of Model-e isn't very wide. The envelopes are slow, which precludes most twangs and blips, although you can get the odd boing from it. The modulation options are limited, and the stupid terminology won't help if you are new to synths.

But it's not all bad - it's just that newer VSTi's have overtaken it by a long way, and some of the new clones have got the character of the old synths better - this one didn't really capture anything of the old Moogs. It's useable, but they need to drop the price a long way to get many sales I would think.