Product Reviews by KVR Members
All reviews by x_bruce
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Oddity tries and completely nails the look and more importantly, the sound of the Arp Odyssey. The colored faux plastic tips on the sliders have even been reproduced. Interface wise Oddity is incredible, especially since it is in effect a model of a historic synthesizer.
Many do not remember the Arp synths the way they do the Moog but in their day they were the alternative, the Pepsi to Coca Cola, the Mac to PC. You get the idea.
Sound wise I sat there and remembered just how wonderful the Odyssey was. The character of the sound is different from Moog. It's a little thinner and more brittle. But it has features the Mini Moog didn't have.
The Oddity like it's namesake has the ability to play duophonically meaning you can create some interesting drone type leads. It was cutting edge in it's time and is still quite useful.
The filters sound great as does the sample and hold function. Need weird and wild sounds? This is one of the Oddity's best suits. The S&H is part of the LFO section which too can create expressive timbres.
The Arp sound is unique and once you hear and play this VSTi you will come to appreciate how flexible it really was. The most important aspect though is the logic to making sound and the interface is flawless. The Odyssey was a reasonably easy to program synth. So is Oddity.
The sound quality is incredible. There are many less expensive sounding synths that try to do what Oddity does. They sounded good but compared to Oddity...well, there is no comparison. Even the dirt has a pristine quality that translates well in a mix.
It's impossible to convey one's emotions in words. When I looked at Oddity I thought, 'wow! if this sounds close to the Odyssey I'll be impressed'.
Well, I'm impressed.
The level of detail is astonishing. Try this synth out, it may initally seem different but it is based on a classic, one who's sound you will hear trying the excellent presets.
Highly recommended.
Read ReviewMany do not remember the Arp synths the way they do the Moog but in their day they were the alternative, the Pepsi to Coca Cola, the Mac to PC. You get the idea.
Sound wise I sat there and remembered just how wonderful the Odyssey was. The character of the sound is different from Moog. It's a little thinner and more brittle. But it has features the Mini Moog didn't have.
The Oddity like it's namesake has the ability to play duophonically meaning you can create some interesting drone type leads. It was cutting edge in it's time and is still quite useful.
The filters sound great as does the sample and hold function. Need weird and wild sounds? This is one of the Oddity's best suits. The S&H is part of the LFO section which too can create expressive timbres.
The Arp sound is unique and once you hear and play this VSTi you will come to appreciate how flexible it really was. The most important aspect though is the logic to making sound and the interface is flawless. The Odyssey was a reasonably easy to program synth. So is Oddity.
The sound quality is incredible. There are many less expensive sounding synths that try to do what Oddity does. They sounded good but compared to Oddity...well, there is no comparison. Even the dirt has a pristine quality that translates well in a mix.
It's impossible to convey one's emotions in words. When I looked at Oddity I thought, 'wow! if this sounds close to the Odyssey I'll be impressed'.
Well, I'm impressed.
The level of detail is astonishing. Try this synth out, it may initally seem different but it is based on a classic, one who's sound you will hear trying the excellent presets.
Highly recommended.
Plex - Restructuring Synthesizer
Reviewed By x_bruce [all]
February 8th, 2003
Version reviewed: 1.0 on Windows
There seems to be a backlash against so-called 'large' companies and their products. N.I. experiences this problem as does Steinberg. In Steinberg's case some of their entries in the VSTi world have deserved negative attention.
Plex is different though. It is a 90's rompler workstation with the brain of a mad scientist. At times Plex sounds like the Wavestation's cousin.
Plex works with a bit more than 90 processed samples that work as data for various color coded segments of the instrument's character. Yellow = filter, Red = base sample and Green = Top component. The forth component is the simple but effective LFO and ADSR envelope areas.
Designed by Wolfgang Palm this instrument cleverly combines simplistic control while associating timbre and sound functions with colors on a interface that at first look seems daunting but is very simple. Read the manual, it is well written.
The principle of Plex's synthesis engine boils down to this; you have restructured waves as your virtual instrument's basic tonal character, it's color (or overtones) and it's physical characteristics. Restructured waves are based on traditional instruments, synths and a few novel but interesting artificial objects and for lack of a better way of saying it, realities.
The LFO is simple yet powerful and depending on how you construct your instrument can be anything from a simple lead to something wildly exotic. Plex is digital sounding due to some seemingly uninteresting samples, but looks decieve.
If you're buying Plex as your virtual rompler keep looking. Plex is more than the sum of it's samples. They are constructs that come to iife when the patch is designed.
Great sounds can be made with Plex. It's samples are designed for synthesizing, not realism. Think of wavetable synths, would you judge the microWave based on the sound of it's wavetables? Similarly, why judge Plex by bland samples. It's not a sample playback synth!
Plex is unique and has a lovely sound.
Read ReviewPlex is different though. It is a 90's rompler workstation with the brain of a mad scientist. At times Plex sounds like the Wavestation's cousin.
Plex works with a bit more than 90 processed samples that work as data for various color coded segments of the instrument's character. Yellow = filter, Red = base sample and Green = Top component. The forth component is the simple but effective LFO and ADSR envelope areas.
Designed by Wolfgang Palm this instrument cleverly combines simplistic control while associating timbre and sound functions with colors on a interface that at first look seems daunting but is very simple. Read the manual, it is well written.
The principle of Plex's synthesis engine boils down to this; you have restructured waves as your virtual instrument's basic tonal character, it's color (or overtones) and it's physical characteristics. Restructured waves are based on traditional instruments, synths and a few novel but interesting artificial objects and for lack of a better way of saying it, realities.
The LFO is simple yet powerful and depending on how you construct your instrument can be anything from a simple lead to something wildly exotic. Plex is digital sounding due to some seemingly uninteresting samples, but looks decieve.
If you're buying Plex as your virtual rompler keep looking. Plex is more than the sum of it's samples. They are constructs that come to iife when the patch is designed.
Great sounds can be made with Plex. It's samples are designed for synthesizing, not realism. Think of wavetable synths, would you judge the microWave based on the sound of it's wavetables? Similarly, why judge Plex by bland samples. It's not a sample playback synth!
Plex is unique and has a lovely sound.
Space Synthesizer / Effect
Reviewed By x_bruce [all]
December 30th, 2002
Version reviewed: 1.x on Windows
Space Synth is somewhat of a one trick pony but it's trick is substantial. The main timbres produced by Space Synth are ambient, spacy sounds that fill sonic spaces quite nicely.
If you enjoy old school electronic/space music you will find Space Synth to be much your cup of tea. The interface is a bit difficult to get around and much of the sounds depend on the onboard effects, a lush chorus and delay.
The basic timbres are not terribly warm but work in a PPG Wave kind of cold way. As a synth the feature set is limited but not to the point of frustrating.
Bundled with the spate of effects the $39 cost is minimal and well worth the purchase.
Read ReviewIf you enjoy old school electronic/space music you will find Space Synth to be much your cup of tea. The interface is a bit difficult to get around and much of the sounds depend on the onboard effects, a lush chorus and delay.
The basic timbres are not terribly warm but work in a PPG Wave kind of cold way. As a synth the feature set is limited but not to the point of frustrating.
Bundled with the spate of effects the $39 cost is minimal and well worth the purchase.
Dynamo is in essence a stripped down version of Reaktor with the sound engine of Reaktor 2.3 (Reaktor is currently at 3.06) and the premium library that is also available for Reaktor.
There is good diversity in the synths you get and when first introduced Dynamo was a reasonable value. However in 2002 it is poor value as it is based on the older Reaktor engine and has minimal support, nor did Native Instruments live up to the promise of new ensembles. A few were released but for the most part what you bought was what you got.
Admittedly the quality of sound and the diversity of ensembles are good ranging from several drum and synth sequencers, a few excellent subtractive synths - in particular the Uranus ensemble which has a smooth and big sound. Also, the hints of sampling and granular sampling are at times spectacular if somewhat abstract.
If you find the package priced around $100 get it and known you will be able to upgrade to Reaktor Sessions which allows import of all Reaktor 3.x ensembles, effects and instruments.
For most people this will amount to a substantial upgrade and a most worthwhile one. Many Reaktor users put together preset synths and hardly ever get into the depths of programming it.
So consider Dynamo if you can find it on sale. It will give you a taste of the Reaktor sound from a couple years ago and provide you with a reasonable upgrade path to the much smarter designed update.
Otherwise pass on this package and look for one of the better software synths such as z3ta+ or Albino. They are better synths and have substantial feature sets.
Read ReviewThere is good diversity in the synths you get and when first introduced Dynamo was a reasonable value. However in 2002 it is poor value as it is based on the older Reaktor engine and has minimal support, nor did Native Instruments live up to the promise of new ensembles. A few were released but for the most part what you bought was what you got.
Admittedly the quality of sound and the diversity of ensembles are good ranging from several drum and synth sequencers, a few excellent subtractive synths - in particular the Uranus ensemble which has a smooth and big sound. Also, the hints of sampling and granular sampling are at times spectacular if somewhat abstract.
If you find the package priced around $100 get it and known you will be able to upgrade to Reaktor Sessions which allows import of all Reaktor 3.x ensembles, effects and instruments.
For most people this will amount to a substantial upgrade and a most worthwhile one. Many Reaktor users put together preset synths and hardly ever get into the depths of programming it.
So consider Dynamo if you can find it on sale. It will give you a taste of the Reaktor sound from a couple years ago and provide you with a reasonable upgrade path to the much smarter designed update.
Otherwise pass on this package and look for one of the better software synths such as z3ta+ or Albino. They are better synths and have substantial feature sets.
Read the feature list, there are simply too many to discuss here. What we have is one of the most versitile, well designed and implemented VSTis of 2002 if not to date.
rgcAudio has a deservedly good reputation for sound quality and great customer service. This is important when dealing with z3ta+ as it is a programmers synth. It is even marketed as such and honestly to get the most out of z3ta+ you need to understand how you make sound on a synthesizer. But even if you don't there are 400 ready to go patches which cover a good array of sounds.
z3ta+ excels at motion type pads and effects sounds although it does an equally top notch job of leads and basses, it's also a terrific drum synth.
The features I most appreciate are the modulation matrix which is especially powerful when dealing with the LFO and filter options available in z3ta+. Taking into account the six oscillators all fully controllable it is easy to create more organic Wavestation like timbres including a different way of approaching wavesequencing.
The effects are also top quality with a very important compessor. You need one when you have a lot of sonic information happening. The reverbs are rich, the delays are stellar. And then there is the waveshaping capabilities available in a pop up window (on all 6 oscillators). You might wonder, 'does waveshaping really matter?' to which I'd say try playing a note while changing the waveform, you'll hear it right away.
Think of z3ta+ as a more digital take of rgc's Pentagon 1 - on steroids.
At $150 it is not a inexpensive synth but if you want high performance and almost limitless quality and options the only thing that comes close is VirSyn TERA at an even higher price tag.
Some other nice features:
arppegiator
x-y controller
fantastic interface
an all around synth with killer sound capabilities in all the major synthesis timbres
There are no bad points about z3ta+. Download the demo and be amazed.
Read ReviewrgcAudio has a deservedly good reputation for sound quality and great customer service. This is important when dealing with z3ta+ as it is a programmers synth. It is even marketed as such and honestly to get the most out of z3ta+ you need to understand how you make sound on a synthesizer. But even if you don't there are 400 ready to go patches which cover a good array of sounds.
z3ta+ excels at motion type pads and effects sounds although it does an equally top notch job of leads and basses, it's also a terrific drum synth.
The features I most appreciate are the modulation matrix which is especially powerful when dealing with the LFO and filter options available in z3ta+. Taking into account the six oscillators all fully controllable it is easy to create more organic Wavestation like timbres including a different way of approaching wavesequencing.
The effects are also top quality with a very important compessor. You need one when you have a lot of sonic information happening. The reverbs are rich, the delays are stellar. And then there is the waveshaping capabilities available in a pop up window (on all 6 oscillators). You might wonder, 'does waveshaping really matter?' to which I'd say try playing a note while changing the waveform, you'll hear it right away.
Think of z3ta+ as a more digital take of rgc's Pentagon 1 - on steroids.
At $150 it is not a inexpensive synth but if you want high performance and almost limitless quality and options the only thing that comes close is VirSyn TERA at an even higher price tag.
Some other nice features:
arppegiator
x-y controller
fantastic interface
an all around synth with killer sound capabilities in all the major synthesis timbres
There are no bad points about z3ta+. Download the demo and be amazed.
Synth 1 seemingly came out of nowhere. It is a simple but functional interface design that leaves some room for improvement. As it stands you can redesign background and text colors and resize the interface which are nice touches.
Sounds included are of all things General Midi however some are quaint. This is the first analog VA to include such a thing and they are not as uninteresting as one might think. There are 10 banks of 128 patches available and already resources for additonal patches here at K-v-R, get them, they will show off the instrument's capabilities more effectively.
Read the specifications above. This seemingly standard synth with nice features but nothing earthshakingly new to add packs quite a punch. It's more on the digital side of analog meaning it's easier to get harsh sounds rather than lush analog. That hardly matters as the range of Synth 1 is huge. Great for leads, pads, effects - especially effect and some basses are all there and in a easy, fast interface that a novice could experiment with and get good sound.
What's missing? No footpedal sustain support, ocasional grainy and crackling sound while moving controls. There is a popup bar for each control, convienient but sometimes annoying as it stays active until you click elsewhere to dismiss it.
Download it, marvel at it's sonic character and go nuts filling up the remaining 896 patch locations. And don't forget the patches at K-v-R. If you need a starting place or just a more convincing idea of how good Synth 1 is load these presets.
Synth 1 does for VA analog/digital what Crystal did for exotic FM implementation. With these two, a lead synth like Triangle and a soft sampler found in most hosts these days you have an effective studio for next to nothing.
Although there is room for improvement Synth 1 beats many commercial synths for sound quality and character.
Read ReviewSounds included are of all things General Midi however some are quaint. This is the first analog VA to include such a thing and they are not as uninteresting as one might think. There are 10 banks of 128 patches available and already resources for additonal patches here at K-v-R, get them, they will show off the instrument's capabilities more effectively.
Read the specifications above. This seemingly standard synth with nice features but nothing earthshakingly new to add packs quite a punch. It's more on the digital side of analog meaning it's easier to get harsh sounds rather than lush analog. That hardly matters as the range of Synth 1 is huge. Great for leads, pads, effects - especially effect and some basses are all there and in a easy, fast interface that a novice could experiment with and get good sound.
What's missing? No footpedal sustain support, ocasional grainy and crackling sound while moving controls. There is a popup bar for each control, convienient but sometimes annoying as it stays active until you click elsewhere to dismiss it.
Download it, marvel at it's sonic character and go nuts filling up the remaining 896 patch locations. And don't forget the patches at K-v-R. If you need a starting place or just a more convincing idea of how good Synth 1 is load these presets.
Synth 1 does for VA analog/digital what Crystal did for exotic FM implementation. With these two, a lead synth like Triangle and a soft sampler found in most hosts these days you have an effective studio for next to nothing.
Although there is room for improvement Synth 1 beats many commercial synths for sound quality and character.
Everyone has certain sounds that they enjoy using. Some find the Mini Moog irresistable. For me it has been voices.
There is something about the voice that is evocative and commanding for leads and pads. At first I used samples of choirs, mellotrons, and synths that had decent synthesized voices. But I could never find a timbre I designed on a DX7 that sounding etherial, synthetic and yet very much like a human voice.
Well, I found a much better implementation of it in Angelina.
The design of Angelina is simple. There are four voices available in two pairs within a patch. You are able to morph between these two voice sets which have a distinct FM like sound, digital, crisp but very, very realistic.
In part this is because of the use of formants, giving the vocal sound a lifelike character. Each pair of formants consist of various ranges of the voice using "a, e, i, o, u" sounds to create a wide range of expressive timbres manipulated by the morph knobs or the Wavestationesque x-y pad. It is easy to design patches that center as a choir and mix out to individual voices.
Controls include Osc 1 and Osc 2 main volume and FM, Osc 2 has a detune control as well. Both oscillators have shape controls. The third oscillator is called Breath and creates a breathing type of sound, from a huff to sounds like exhalinig. Controls include mix and color.
Each envelope is graphically represented on a LCD readout style screen. Envelopes are six points with bezier points to curve segments. Each envelope is graphically editable as well as numerically or by clicking on buttons. Other controls include Granular, a type of slicing effect, Chorus, Reverb and Velocity Mod, enabling you to model most any synthetic choral or vocal timbres that are convincing whether a lead, choir or pad.
Angelina is a great pad machine. From Eno like stark voices to rousing choirs and shapeless angelic soundscapes.
Angelina is a steal at $39. It has many uses especially moody timbres.
Read ReviewThere is something about the voice that is evocative and commanding for leads and pads. At first I used samples of choirs, mellotrons, and synths that had decent synthesized voices. But I could never find a timbre I designed on a DX7 that sounding etherial, synthetic and yet very much like a human voice.
Well, I found a much better implementation of it in Angelina.
The design of Angelina is simple. There are four voices available in two pairs within a patch. You are able to morph between these two voice sets which have a distinct FM like sound, digital, crisp but very, very realistic.
In part this is because of the use of formants, giving the vocal sound a lifelike character. Each pair of formants consist of various ranges of the voice using "a, e, i, o, u" sounds to create a wide range of expressive timbres manipulated by the morph knobs or the Wavestationesque x-y pad. It is easy to design patches that center as a choir and mix out to individual voices.
Controls include Osc 1 and Osc 2 main volume and FM, Osc 2 has a detune control as well. Both oscillators have shape controls. The third oscillator is called Breath and creates a breathing type of sound, from a huff to sounds like exhalinig. Controls include mix and color.
Each envelope is graphically represented on a LCD readout style screen. Envelopes are six points with bezier points to curve segments. Each envelope is graphically editable as well as numerically or by clicking on buttons. Other controls include Granular, a type of slicing effect, Chorus, Reverb and Velocity Mod, enabling you to model most any synthetic choral or vocal timbres that are convincing whether a lead, choir or pad.
Angelina is a great pad machine. From Eno like stark voices to rousing choirs and shapeless angelic soundscapes.
Angelina is a steal at $39. It has many uses especially moody timbres.
update 1/27/04
TERA 2 is out and the improvements are massive, instead of faded out controls there are multiple interfaces including such standouts as formant, spectral, FM, analog synth and more. Think of them as templates that make the job of creating patches in this magnficent synth more direct and simpler than the 1.x interface. Beyond this the sound quality has actually improved, a feat in itself as this is one of the best sounding synthesizers to be found. There is more of everything yet it is easier to work in TERA 2. Without hesitation I can recommend this synthesizer as just about all you will need in synthesis. If you can afford the $230 street price this is the synth to start with and build from there.
I should also note, I have and like a lot of VSTis out there. There is a large spectrum of sounds and how to make them. While TERA 2 won't cover all, it will cover a lot of areas, some not yet touched by other synths. The review below is mostly specific although everything is much easier
VirSyn is perhaps the most flexible all around synth available . It is flexible - check out the stats at the top of the page. It sounds great and is exceptionally capable in it's routings through it's modulation matrix.
The interface is functional and mostly straight forward. The term modular refers to the sections of VirSyn Tera you actually use and what configuration you use them in. Smartly only the actual sections of the synth used are computed which is good because VirSyn Tera is somewhat CPU intensive.
On a test system of a Athlon XP1700 w/512 ram VirSyn Tera played 32 notes of polyphony using about 60% of CPU power.
There are around 800 (1200 in TERA 2) presets most being useful ranging from leads, basses and pads. There are few synth sounds Tera can not accomplish although with an additive oscillator it's really down to sample playback.
Drums sound great from electronic squelch to near realistic. The filters are well designed with an elegant sound that can get as rough and dirty as you like. Creating one oscillator pulse waves are but one of the luxuries to Tera's feature set. FM and a host of other synthesis forms are another. There is a nifty 12 channel, 64 step polyphonic step sequencer. This is part of a four page interface, 8D Access - 4 2d controls for fast user programmable synthesis changes, Synthese - the main window where all modules exist and are patched, Mix - a 16 channel mixer with excellent reverb and chorus models along and the step sequencer.
VirSyn Tera occupies the space between synth monsters like Reaktor and VSTis like Z3ta+ or Rhino. In TERA 1 I disagreed with those that compared it to Absynth. While taking different approaches TERA 2 meets Absynth head on although Absynth still owns the soundscape/exotic/otherwoldly timbres, especially with Absynth's 2.0 sample capabilities.
The manual is clear although you will need to spend time with it. Currently othing touches VirSyn TERA 2 for versitility.
Read ReviewTERA 2 is out and the improvements are massive, instead of faded out controls there are multiple interfaces including such standouts as formant, spectral, FM, analog synth and more. Think of them as templates that make the job of creating patches in this magnficent synth more direct and simpler than the 1.x interface. Beyond this the sound quality has actually improved, a feat in itself as this is one of the best sounding synthesizers to be found. There is more of everything yet it is easier to work in TERA 2. Without hesitation I can recommend this synthesizer as just about all you will need in synthesis. If you can afford the $230 street price this is the synth to start with and build from there.
I should also note, I have and like a lot of VSTis out there. There is a large spectrum of sounds and how to make them. While TERA 2 won't cover all, it will cover a lot of areas, some not yet touched by other synths. The review below is mostly specific although everything is much easier
VirSyn is perhaps the most flexible all around synth available . It is flexible - check out the stats at the top of the page. It sounds great and is exceptionally capable in it's routings through it's modulation matrix.
The interface is functional and mostly straight forward. The term modular refers to the sections of VirSyn Tera you actually use and what configuration you use them in. Smartly only the actual sections of the synth used are computed which is good because VirSyn Tera is somewhat CPU intensive.
On a test system of a Athlon XP1700 w/512 ram VirSyn Tera played 32 notes of polyphony using about 60% of CPU power.
There are around 800 (1200 in TERA 2) presets most being useful ranging from leads, basses and pads. There are few synth sounds Tera can not accomplish although with an additive oscillator it's really down to sample playback.
Drums sound great from electronic squelch to near realistic. The filters are well designed with an elegant sound that can get as rough and dirty as you like. Creating one oscillator pulse waves are but one of the luxuries to Tera's feature set. FM and a host of other synthesis forms are another. There is a nifty 12 channel, 64 step polyphonic step sequencer. This is part of a four page interface, 8D Access - 4 2d controls for fast user programmable synthesis changes, Synthese - the main window where all modules exist and are patched, Mix - a 16 channel mixer with excellent reverb and chorus models along and the step sequencer.
VirSyn Tera occupies the space between synth monsters like Reaktor and VSTis like Z3ta+ or Rhino. In TERA 1 I disagreed with those that compared it to Absynth. While taking different approaches TERA 2 meets Absynth head on although Absynth still owns the soundscape/exotic/otherwoldly timbres, especially with Absynth's 2.0 sample capabilities.
The manual is clear although you will need to spend time with it. Currently othing touches VirSyn TERA 2 for versitility.
I wish reviewers would update their reviews, problems mentioned were fixed...
If you like the Mellotron M-Tron is THE VSTi to get.
Installation is simple, you even have choices whether not to install various tape libraries. Install all of them if you decide to buy M-Tron as they are all good. I got the two additional libraries with M-Tron. They too are worth the cost. In particular Volume 2 has a bunch of custom sets and Chamberlin samples as well.
I've read of problems with M-Tron and I do have an intermitant one, on D4/Eb4 the same note plays on two different patches. This is a bummer but the vast majority of patches do not exibit this behavior. Most of the performance news is good. On a Celeron 600 playing 5 notes I couldn't get CPU useage past 5 - 9% in Orion Pro and Cubase VST 5.1. The quality of sounds varies greatly, sometimes within the same set of samples.
This however is accurate as volume, tone and noise issues plagued Mellotrons and other tape based keyboards. The samples for M-Tron have been cleaned up while leaving the essential Mellotron sound intact.
Choirs, violins, piano! and a host of other 'tron samples are dead ringers for the original Mellotron.
Another restriction which is accurate to the Mellotron design is the sample length of 8 or less seconds. This is a good thing as it becomes too easy with traditional looped samples to play the Mellotron like any other traditional synth. The thing is the Mellotron was it's own unique instrument with it's own unique playing style. Patches range from 23 - 36 notes. These seeming restrictions are exactly how the real instrument was played. It is the details that make M-Tron so appealing.
There aren't many controls, attack and release faders, volume, general tone and pitch knobs and a multi purpose 3 way switch for different operation modes. It's a simple yet beautiful system and the closest one will come to a real Mellotron in mint condition.
A must buy for any fan of the Mellotron.
Read ReviewIf you like the Mellotron M-Tron is THE VSTi to get.
Installation is simple, you even have choices whether not to install various tape libraries. Install all of them if you decide to buy M-Tron as they are all good. I got the two additional libraries with M-Tron. They too are worth the cost. In particular Volume 2 has a bunch of custom sets and Chamberlin samples as well.
I've read of problems with M-Tron and I do have an intermitant one, on D4/Eb4 the same note plays on two different patches. This is a bummer but the vast majority of patches do not exibit this behavior. Most of the performance news is good. On a Celeron 600 playing 5 notes I couldn't get CPU useage past 5 - 9% in Orion Pro and Cubase VST 5.1. The quality of sounds varies greatly, sometimes within the same set of samples.
This however is accurate as volume, tone and noise issues plagued Mellotrons and other tape based keyboards. The samples for M-Tron have been cleaned up while leaving the essential Mellotron sound intact.
Choirs, violins, piano! and a host of other 'tron samples are dead ringers for the original Mellotron.
Another restriction which is accurate to the Mellotron design is the sample length of 8 or less seconds. This is a good thing as it becomes too easy with traditional looped samples to play the Mellotron like any other traditional synth. The thing is the Mellotron was it's own unique instrument with it's own unique playing style. Patches range from 23 - 36 notes. These seeming restrictions are exactly how the real instrument was played. It is the details that make M-Tron so appealing.
There aren't many controls, attack and release faders, volume, general tone and pitch knobs and a multi purpose 3 way switch for different operation modes. It's a simple yet beautiful system and the closest one will come to a real Mellotron in mint condition.
A must buy for any fan of the Mellotron.
Sonik Synth
Reviewed By x_bruce [all]
June 28th, 2002
Version reviewed: 2.0 on Windows
UPDATE, Sonik Synth 2
Fixed are the interface issues, in fact, the new interface is stunning and tremendously functional. Sonik Synth 2 is not a simple upgrade, it is a comprehensive exploration of areas, especially synthesis, which was not the focus of SS1.
While there are some overlapping sections, the samples are new and improved, the sound quality is astonishingly good for a product at this price point.
Sonik Synth 2 is a no-brainer for any user, from home setups to major studios. Products like Sonik Synth 2 are developed to find sounds to use that are ready to go, and the programming of sounds are excellent. Need a Moog sound? It's there, need an Arp, Oberhiem, PPG Wave, you name it, it's there. But so are wonderful pianos, strings, basses and a large distribution of drums.
Furthermore, the interface based on the SampleTank 2 engine, absolutely the best upgrade of a product I've seen ...period. And now, you have control over multiple envelopes from amplitude to filters, modulation and effects. This is a synth now, not a very good sample playback unit it used to be. Featured are, MULTI patches that demonstrate the capabilities of Sonik Synth 2 and the vast sound design engine, challenging top quality samplers with a 8 gigabyte library of high quality that challenge more targeted synths like Atmosphere for the number of samples that enable the user to not only develop pads aplenty, and they are plenty to be sure, but because of the new engine, synthesis capabilities, even better effects than the already impressive SampleTank 1, which are still dynamic and wonderful sounding, you now have a living, breathing synthesizer in Sonik Synth 2. If you can't find a patch, particularly in the synth side of the arena, you aren't looking hard, nor using the available functions for locating sounds.
I am and probably will always be a pad freak and SS2 does not let down. Nor does it let down in synth lead, bass or "real" instruments with a huge showing of the Sonic Reality library of bread and butter sounds. Consider that Sonic Synth 1 had a plethora of sounds, mostly in the meat and potatos range.
With a healthy 3 plus gigabyte library in Sonic Synth 1 people raved about it's usefulness, myself included (see below). But this time out, the samples have more 'oomph' and are open to more articulations which allow for realistic playing.
Another excellent feature about the new all-purpose sample set, leaning heavily, but far from exclusively, on synths this time out, still has everything you need for modern recordings. It isn't a complete Orchestra, but MIROSLAV PHILHARMONIK should fill that bill and SampleTank 2 has another 8 gigabytes of data focusing more on the "real" instruments, but still hitting on all product points with a truly beautiful thing, two completely different libraries that have minimal splill-over, and in sections with similar timbres, there are very different, yet pleasing timbres in these similar areas.
A fantastic buy and must have synth!
Like almost everyone else there is little to fault in Sonic Synth. The engine, Sampletank LE has a difficult color scheme of black print on red which is hard to see at times. Because it is the LE version there is a single stereo output and four voice multitimbrality. Since Sonic Synth is so light on processor resources it's easy to open many instances for multiple audio outs.
The sounds can be manipulated using four controls programmed by Sonic Synth. The type of controls vary between patches so one patch might have filter frequency, resonance, pitch and touch settings while another might have attack, decay, filter cutoff and pitch. There are four programmable effects slots that can be used with one of 28 different effects ranging from reverb, delay and chorus to Lo-fi, many BPM effects and even AM and FM filtering.
Sonic Synth comes with 2 gigabytes of samples in over 500 patches. When using other's sample based timbres I am happy when 30% of the patches sound good. Here almost everything sounds great although for my tastes I might not use 10-15%. For me this is outstanding value for money. Sound programming and quality are excellent.
I come from a create your own sounds way of thinking and initially was skeptical of all the favorable reviews. Recently I decided to go all software and needed something with good overall sounds. Sonic Synth filled the bill. In fact it went far beyond my expectations.
As a Kontakt and VSampler user I do not lack for the capacity to create my own instruments but I can say without hesitation that Sonic Synth has so many useful sounds and of great quality, that I can not imagine a majority of users not finding this excellent collection useful. Having a large variety of useful timbres that are substantially editable is of tremendous value to me not to mention cost effective.
Customer support is incredible, not just for problems but keeping users informed. Huge bang for the buck and a real time saver. In a word, brilliant!
Read ReviewFixed are the interface issues, in fact, the new interface is stunning and tremendously functional. Sonik Synth 2 is not a simple upgrade, it is a comprehensive exploration of areas, especially synthesis, which was not the focus of SS1.
While there are some overlapping sections, the samples are new and improved, the sound quality is astonishingly good for a product at this price point.
Sonik Synth 2 is a no-brainer for any user, from home setups to major studios. Products like Sonik Synth 2 are developed to find sounds to use that are ready to go, and the programming of sounds are excellent. Need a Moog sound? It's there, need an Arp, Oberhiem, PPG Wave, you name it, it's there. But so are wonderful pianos, strings, basses and a large distribution of drums.
Furthermore, the interface based on the SampleTank 2 engine, absolutely the best upgrade of a product I've seen ...period. And now, you have control over multiple envelopes from amplitude to filters, modulation and effects. This is a synth now, not a very good sample playback unit it used to be. Featured are, MULTI patches that demonstrate the capabilities of Sonik Synth 2 and the vast sound design engine, challenging top quality samplers with a 8 gigabyte library of high quality that challenge more targeted synths like Atmosphere for the number of samples that enable the user to not only develop pads aplenty, and they are plenty to be sure, but because of the new engine, synthesis capabilities, even better effects than the already impressive SampleTank 1, which are still dynamic and wonderful sounding, you now have a living, breathing synthesizer in Sonik Synth 2. If you can't find a patch, particularly in the synth side of the arena, you aren't looking hard, nor using the available functions for locating sounds.
I am and probably will always be a pad freak and SS2 does not let down. Nor does it let down in synth lead, bass or "real" instruments with a huge showing of the Sonic Reality library of bread and butter sounds. Consider that Sonic Synth 1 had a plethora of sounds, mostly in the meat and potatos range.
With a healthy 3 plus gigabyte library in Sonic Synth 1 people raved about it's usefulness, myself included (see below). But this time out, the samples have more 'oomph' and are open to more articulations which allow for realistic playing.
Another excellent feature about the new all-purpose sample set, leaning heavily, but far from exclusively, on synths this time out, still has everything you need for modern recordings. It isn't a complete Orchestra, but MIROSLAV PHILHARMONIK should fill that bill and SampleTank 2 has another 8 gigabytes of data focusing more on the "real" instruments, but still hitting on all product points with a truly beautiful thing, two completely different libraries that have minimal splill-over, and in sections with similar timbres, there are very different, yet pleasing timbres in these similar areas.
A fantastic buy and must have synth!
Like almost everyone else there is little to fault in Sonic Synth. The engine, Sampletank LE has a difficult color scheme of black print on red which is hard to see at times. Because it is the LE version there is a single stereo output and four voice multitimbrality. Since Sonic Synth is so light on processor resources it's easy to open many instances for multiple audio outs.
The sounds can be manipulated using four controls programmed by Sonic Synth. The type of controls vary between patches so one patch might have filter frequency, resonance, pitch and touch settings while another might have attack, decay, filter cutoff and pitch. There are four programmable effects slots that can be used with one of 28 different effects ranging from reverb, delay and chorus to Lo-fi, many BPM effects and even AM and FM filtering.
Sonic Synth comes with 2 gigabytes of samples in over 500 patches. When using other's sample based timbres I am happy when 30% of the patches sound good. Here almost everything sounds great although for my tastes I might not use 10-15%. For me this is outstanding value for money. Sound programming and quality are excellent.
I come from a create your own sounds way of thinking and initially was skeptical of all the favorable reviews. Recently I decided to go all software and needed something with good overall sounds. Sonic Synth filled the bill. In fact it went far beyond my expectations.
As a Kontakt and VSampler user I do not lack for the capacity to create my own instruments but I can say without hesitation that Sonic Synth has so many useful sounds and of great quality, that I can not imagine a majority of users not finding this excellent collection useful. Having a large variety of useful timbres that are substantially editable is of tremendous value to me not to mention cost effective.
Customer support is incredible, not just for problems but keeping users informed. Huge bang for the buck and a real time saver. In a word, brilliant!