Product Reviews by KVR Members

Uno Synth is amazing for the price. Even if it cost twice as much, it would still be a decent buy but for $200 it is ridiculously good. You can read about the features anywhere so I'll talk about the practical experience of using it.

The layout is very easy to work with, even if a few of the choices seem a bit strange. e.g. you get a knob for cutoff but not for resonance. The parameter matrix on the left side of the panel works as well as any, although I don't know why they didn't split the envelope line, like they did with the oscillators, so that you could edit both envelopes fully from the front panel. (EDIT: A firmware update has provided exactly this feature.) These are relatively minor things, though, because the fact is that it sounds so good that you'll be happy to put up with a few little issues.

Both oscillators are the same and the way they have set up the tuning parameter is very clever - you get fine tuning, in cents, just off-centre but as you turn the knob further, it starts to jump in semi-tones. You need to keep one oscillator at the root pitch if you want to detune between them but that seems a small price to pay for the convenience of a single tuning knob. The front panel only gives you access to the basic oscillator settings but you can delve deeper using the software editor (more on that in a minute). Once you get a bit of movement into the sound - via PWM or by modulating the wave shapes, which morph smoothly from one shape to the next - you can make some really fat timbres that sound like they've got a few extra unison voices stacked on them. It's very, very impressive.

The filter does it's job well enough without being particularly noteworthy. It's the oscillators that really make this machine shine. With Low-, Band- and High-Pass modes it offers plenty of versatility. There is also a delay built-in, which is handy for beefing up the sound a bit.

Uno has a row of "effects" buttons you can press to get vibrato, tremolo, etc. They only work while you are holding them down and, to be honest, I don't see much value in them. OTOH, both the arpeggiator and the sequencer are very handy. The arpeggiator is just what you'd expect, with a lot of different patterns to choose from. The sequencer is limited to 16 steps and the settings are stored with each patch. You can record in realtime (there is a metronome) or step time and you can add parameter changes to each step, like Elektron's P-locks or Korg's motion sequences. That makes the sequencer pretty powerful and something you might end up using more than you think you will.

The 27 key keyboard is a lot of fun to play with, way moreso than I expected. Sliding your fingers around a flat panel is a hoot. It would be even better if we could make the envelopes retrigger on each new note but the default behaviour is they don't when you play legato. You can also use Uno as a MIDI controller, either via USB or MIDI. I've used it to control both softsynths on my PC and other hardware instruments and it does a decent job. Even though Uno is monophonic, the keyboard isn't so you can play chords on other instruments.

The software editor is available as a standalone for PC, Mac and iOS and as a VSTi for PC and Mac. It gives you full access to all the synths parameters, expanding the synth's palette considerably. You can set the depth/levels of the "effects" buttons, add PWM and waveshape modulation to the oscillators and assign things to the mod wheel. It also lets you put names to the presets, so you can remember which preset does what. If you don't want to use the editor full-time, it's easy enough to set up presets with PWM and/or waveshape modulation already dialed in and work from there. You get 100 presets but 1-20 can't be overwritten, so you only get 80 user slots. So far I've only used half-a-dozen so I think 80 is plenty.

I bought Uno mostly because it was cheap but after six weeks or so with it, I think I'd still want one if it was $500. It's easy to use, it has enough features to keep you interested for a while and, above all, it sounds great. It has, for example, kept me entertained for much longer than MicroMonsta did and I'd probably have it over either a Korg Minilogue or Monologue. I'd definitely have it over any of Roland's vintage Boutique boxes (but not necessarily over the SE-02).

Let's get this out of the way first - I want to give this 3.5 stars but I can't do that, so please think of this as a 3.5 star review.

IMPRESSIONS

When I first saw the name "Go2", I didn't do what I was supposed to do and think of "go to synth", I thought of XTC's second album from 1978. Certainly looking at it's gigantic GUI, it doesn't feel anything like a go-to synth, either. That's not to say it isn't a handy addition to my sonic arsenal because it is definitely that. It's the only Rob Papen synth I've used so I can't comment on how it compares but I can tell you that it is very capable and seems particularly good for doing the harder, nastier sounds that I always look for. It is easy to take existing presets and turn them to your will or to start from scratch and make something useful quickly and painlessly. After going through the presets and tweaking them as I went, I ended up with a dozen good patches of my own in an hour or two, plus several dozen presets with favourite icons next to them (a handy feature of the preset browser).

I was really happy with all the patches I'd created and I was excited by the possibilities they presented to evolve our sound. In isolation they sounded rich and full but when I started to try and use them in mixes, I found it really hard to get them to sound as big and aggressive as they sounded on their own. In my first few attempts, I ended up using different synths instead of Go2, which was a little deflating.

I still like what Go2 does, though, so I started trying to find other uses for it. I don't think it's filter is great, it reminds me of the original LinPlug Cronox, so it's probably not going to be a great bassline machine. Eventually I discovered a role for it as a filler instrument, adding lots of grit between the bassline and lead parts. They are the kinds of parts you don't really notice until you mute them and realise how much they were adding to the sound. And for that it's great because it has a very different character to the V/As I normally work with, which complements, rather than competes with, the other parts in the song.

Go2's different way of creating sound is also very inspiring, which makes it good as a synth to play around with when you are looking for ideas for a song. Even if it never ended up in a final mix, I reckon it would still be $49 well spent, just for this. (Who can put a price in inspiration?).

DETAILS

There is a bit on a misnomer that it's a single oscillator synth but that's not strictly true, as there are two distinct waveforms which you morph together to create a richer, more complex waveform. You can also cross-modulate them - ring mod and FM are both possible. In practical terms, that makes it far more like a dual-osc synth and it makes sense to approach it as such. There is also a sub-osc so there is plenty to work with.

The oscillator works hand-in-hand with an X-Y pad, overlaid over the waveform "monitor", which you can record/animate to create big, moving sounds by controlling the morph of the two waveforms. Other parameters can also be assigned to X and Y for even more movement of the sound. This is amply demonstrated in the presets. It's easy to set up and a lot of fun to play with, which is where its inspirational aspect lies.

Beyond the distinctive oscillator, the rest of the synth is familiar and fairly standard. As I mentioned above, I don't think much of the filter but there is a nice distortion you can add at the Amp stage that makes the best of what's there. You get an LFO and three ADSR Envelopes. I like being able to choose between a graphical representation of the envelope and the more traditional knobs (my preference). There is a small mod matrix, a big arp/sequencer and four handy, decent quality effects available to further shape your sounds. Play modes include the usual poly, mono and unison (two or four voices) modes but add a good number of commonly used chords for one finger chord playing. It covers pretty much all the bases, I doubt anyone would feel like they needed more from it, as you can cover for the single LFO with the X-Y pad if you need to.

SUMMARY

Go2 is a good, solid synth with a distinctive character that is well suited to the harder style of music we make but also capable of doing a lot of other things well. It's easy to use, light enough on CPU and cheap for what it has to offer. It will never be my go-to synth, the GUI is way too big to use comfortably, but it's definitely worth having in your arsenal. Remember, it's 3.5 stars.

I can't believe this synth has no reviews, it's been around for ages. OK, so, in a word - amazeballs! I only bought it a few days ago but it's already my favourite V/A synth. I bought the non-pro version of Vacuum a few months ago. It's only $20 most places and it's a great little synth. My bandmate has had VacPro for a while and often sings it praises but it wasn't until we were working on a remix and he sent me some stems that I found out how good it really is. So I've been kind of using it for a while, waiting for another silly sale price, but I finally gave up and just bought it this week. It has not disappointed.

Sound

It's a two oscillator V/A synth with the usual trimmings. It also offers two layers, so you can double up on your sounds, like a Jupiter 8. The developers have used some fancy tube modelling algorithms or something that makes it the fattest, baddest sounding synth you can imagine. It oozes filth, great big wads of it. It's lush, it's phat, it's better than anything else I own at being a big, ol' synthesizer. Demoing the presets instantly took me back to the good old days of the 80s and 90s, when you'd buy a new synth, my ESQ-M came to mind first, and every preset sounded amazing and was full of potential for your songs. Each osc can do 4-part unison and you can "Double" the whole part, for a total of 16 oscillators per part, 32 overall.

At first glance it seems quite conventional but it's sonic range is bigger than I had expected. It does nice metallic sounds and it's hard sync has a richness to it that I really like. There are several points where you can add saturation/distortion in the signal path, which means you can make it as dirty as you like. I like. It has on-board effects that work well enough.

Usability

Everything is right there in front of you, it really couldn't be easier to use. OK, you can only see one part at a time but all the controls are there on the front panel for each part. The only part of the UI you may need to open is if you decide to use separate envelopes for each of the two filters. If you do, you need to toggle between them but if you use the same settings for each, then everything is on a single page.

Taking any of the excellent presets and tweaking them to your liking is as straightforward a process as I have ever come across. Everything is laid out logically and well labelled, it's very easy to find your way around. The GUI itself looks really cool, like a synth from the 70s that hasn't been all that well looked after. You can even add dust to the pots if you want! Even with all those controls, it manages to be slightly smaller than DUNE 2, but it doesn't look or feel crowded, none of the elements are too small and labels are easy to read. The arpeggiator is refreshingly simple - up, down, up-down and random modes with plenty of intervals and an on/off switch. There is a small, pop-up settings panel for global settings like pitch-bend range and MIDI set-up.

CPU use is very low. I can run a patch with all 32 oscillators going and the CPU meter in my host never goes above 9% in monophonic operation, and that's from a 4th Gen Core i5 in a Surface Pro 2. On a proper workstation it would hardly register. Playing overlapping 3 note chords takes it up to around 25%, which is perfectly acceptable for such a big sound. It even has an "Eco" mode which processes at a lower rate to reduce CPU use. I think it sounds fine in Eco mode and I wouldn't hesitate to use it if I needed to save some CPU cycles.

Summary

Vacuum Pro is a truly amazing analogue modelled synth. I hate using the word but it definitely has what people refer to as that "warmth" you get from classic analogue synths. Of course, none of those old things ever allowed you to stack 32 detuned oscillators on top of one another, so Vacuum Pro takes it to a level no classic hardware could hope to match. It's big and fat and fuzzy and mean and nasty and I absolutely love it.

I've had this for a couple of months now and it still impresses me every time I load it up and start playing with it. I don't think it's sound will suit everyone but if you like to experiment you might find Substance strangely compelling. Its workflow is also refreshingly different and shows incredible attention to detail. It really is a joy to dive in deeper and deeper to precisely tailor the sound to your needs or liking. It's sound is of the highest quality - putting it into a mix instantly makes it sound slicker and more professional.

Installation
Substance is a Kontakt sample library with a custom front-end. It works in the free Kontakt Player so you don't need to spend extra to get it up and running. Output have their own assistance app but if you have NI's Native Access, I'd recommend that you install and activate through that so that all your content goes to the same place as the NI stuff. Either way, though, it's pretty straightforward. You'll need about 4.5GB of free space to fit it all into. Once it's installed and activated, you load Kontakt (or the free player) into your host software and you can select and load Substance from Kontakt's browser.

Overview
In essence, Substance has three layers of samples that each run through their own filters, modulation and effects. The front panel is deceptively simple, hiding a wealth of features, with an emphasis on rhythm. The simplified front panel hides a full-featured synth engine with filters, ADSR envelopes, LFO and multiple effects for each layer and for the overall patch. Four Macro controls on the front panel can be set to multiple parameters each, which means you can make changes to the timbre without having to dig into the the rest of the GUI, which is accessed via a row of tabs across the top. There is also a very powerful and flexible arpeggiator that really makes things pump.

Unsurprisingly, given the focus on rhythm, most of the sounds that come out of Substance are rhythmical phrases, powered by the LFOs and arp. There is everything from percussive noise loops to groovy bass guitar, with lots of quirkiness built in. Of course, it does quite a few standard synth rhythms, too, so you can use it for bread and butter stuff as well as the fancy bits and pieces. Each of the three parts tend to play different rhythms that overlay one another to create complex, evolving rhythms.

Usability
Using a sample-driven instrument like Substance is a very different experience to your average V/A synth or even to a ROMpler. This can lead to some very different results in a remarkably short time. It's incredibly inspiring and I think it is bound to change your sound, almost certainly for the better. You can spend hours just playing with the presets, which cover a lot of sonic territory. All up there are 81 different samples sets, arranged in nine groups of nine, for you to use as starting points. it's like having 81 oscillator waveforms to choose from in a 3 osc synth.

Although the emphasis is firmly on rhythms and basslines, there are some amazing pads and great orchestral atmospheres that would be perfect for film scores and the like. Sometimes the macros have a big effect, other times they don't but you can always go in and make your own changes quickly and easily. It's all very straightforward, logically laid out and easy to navigate. Once you start playing with the arp and rhythm tabs, you can lose yourself for hours. I find it a joy to use and I manage to find something for it to do in pretty much every new piece I work on.

Because it runs inside Kontakt, CPU use is higher than you might expect from a sample-driven instrument but it's still not too bad. The UI is a handy size for me, which means it might be a little small for some. The preset browser allows you to use multiple tags to finesse your list and get to similar sounds easily. You get 300 presets with the instrument and new presets you make are added to the end of the list (there are no banks).

Summary
Substance takes a different approach and is all the better for it. Every part of it feels beautifully crafted by people with an intimate understanding of the production process. It's absolutely made for musicians and producers who want to do something fresh and different. It's uniqueness means it is not going to replace anything you are currently using, it is going to add something new and amazing to your sonic arsenal. Whilst it's not cheap, it is still an absolute bargain. If you're in a bit of a creative rut, this is just the tool to inspire you to pull yourself out of it and get on with making music.

I bought this because it was going for $69 + postage, which made it hard to go past. It sounds exactly like the hardware K-Station I used to own but is much, much easier to use. The GUI is very well thought-out and looks slick, too.
What I really like about this synth is that, like Korg's software, it has excellent sound quality but is not over-burdened with a million features that get in the way of getting the most from it. it is very easy to get really good sounds from its three fat oscillators and silky smooth filter. The effects are handy and offer more than you might expect, given the lack of fine control.
There are a lot of presets but not much imagination has gone into naming them. I'm not a preset person so I haven't really listened to many of them But this synth is so easy to use your time is much better spent doing your own thing.
Overall it is a well-balanced package with high quality components [oscillators and filter] with enough features to let you do a lot with them. At full-price it was a little expensive but for $69, you'd be crazy not to take the plunge.