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SynthMaster 2
Reviewed By rectus_dominus [all]
December 25th, 2009
Version reviewed: 2.0.3.1. on Windows
I thought I write a review of my favourite synth. It is mature enough for a review. (Version 2)
I didn't know that it'll become my fave. When I first tried it was just the potential I was liking. I tried to be fair and honest as possible:
Synthmaster welcomes me with a clean, modern user interface. Knobs can be controlled with mouse wheel, modulations can be set in moments, and I can reach every page easily. I'd say that the 2 layers feel somewhat separated. The feel itself is hands-on and ergonomic, but you can't always see what's going on because of the many pages.
The sound is unique. The wavesequencer can make deeply moving ambient/soundtrack pads. You just need to select and set the wavetables and you're ready to go. There are hundreds of waveforms to choose from, finely constructed experimental ones from Galbanum, and the whole vintage muz3um set from fr4ncesco. There's an additive generator module, which speaks for itself. It can be used to made vintage sounds, and thick leads. The envelopes can be fast enough for decent drums, presets been made as drumkits.
There are a number of filters, I won't list them. It's a good thing that there are more filter parameters, and a wider knob range for them. That way it offers more control, and you can make interesting sounds with them.
Featurewise, for me it has a step sequencer, and a really advanced arpeggiator. Usable and intuitive. For experienced sound designers, there's microtuning. The effects are mediocre, they'll get an overhaul soon. There are a number of customizable modulators, some of them can be additional oscillators.
Synthmaster can do FM in many ways, and it offers really flexible modulation possibilities. You just need some time to discover them.
The audio input is going to be activated soon; it'll be able to modulate your existing stuff.
I haven't really read the documentation to be honest. I didn't need to. I took a look on it and remember that there was a long one. :P
Let's be clear, Synthmaster has partial presets for each module, too. They worth more I think. You can quickly construct sounds with these. There aren't, and can't be enough in my humble opinion.
The full presets are somewhat average. Lots are evolved from individual feature testing of the sound designers. I'd like to see more bread'n butter sounds, in case a musician wants to quickly arrange something.
There are spectacular chilly sounds and agressive leads. Synthmaster can do good sounding hypersaws and the preset developers discovered it. There are usable drums, and some effects from mars.
SM2 has a pretty cool preset browser, similar to Kore. It is prepared for a massive amount of sounds.
There's a KVR forum, e-mail support. The customer support is excellent. The developer is a great guy. Curious, open, and enthusiastic. 3 traits for a good dev. Nearly instant response to everything, and determined to help. Quick bugfixing. Open to your ideas, the synth itself is gradually increasing and improving.
Great value for the money, although I got it for free as I was a beta tester (yay). A must have if you don't have a wavetable synth at home, and worth considering if you'd like to reach more in the digital domain. It is a good all-round synth with lots to offer.
On my system, it is 98% stable. There are some small issues, and they are patched quickly. The Jupiter 8V demo crashed my Reaper more times.Read Review
I didn't know that it'll become my fave. When I first tried it was just the potential I was liking. I tried to be fair and honest as possible:
Synthmaster welcomes me with a clean, modern user interface. Knobs can be controlled with mouse wheel, modulations can be set in moments, and I can reach every page easily. I'd say that the 2 layers feel somewhat separated. The feel itself is hands-on and ergonomic, but you can't always see what's going on because of the many pages.
The sound is unique. The wavesequencer can make deeply moving ambient/soundtrack pads. You just need to select and set the wavetables and you're ready to go. There are hundreds of waveforms to choose from, finely constructed experimental ones from Galbanum, and the whole vintage muz3um set from fr4ncesco. There's an additive generator module, which speaks for itself. It can be used to made vintage sounds, and thick leads. The envelopes can be fast enough for decent drums, presets been made as drumkits.
There are a number of filters, I won't list them. It's a good thing that there are more filter parameters, and a wider knob range for them. That way it offers more control, and you can make interesting sounds with them.
Featurewise, for me it has a step sequencer, and a really advanced arpeggiator. Usable and intuitive. For experienced sound designers, there's microtuning. The effects are mediocre, they'll get an overhaul soon. There are a number of customizable modulators, some of them can be additional oscillators.
Synthmaster can do FM in many ways, and it offers really flexible modulation possibilities. You just need some time to discover them.
The audio input is going to be activated soon; it'll be able to modulate your existing stuff.
I haven't really read the documentation to be honest. I didn't need to. I took a look on it and remember that there was a long one. :P
Let's be clear, Synthmaster has partial presets for each module, too. They worth more I think. You can quickly construct sounds with these. There aren't, and can't be enough in my humble opinion.
The full presets are somewhat average. Lots are evolved from individual feature testing of the sound designers. I'd like to see more bread'n butter sounds, in case a musician wants to quickly arrange something.
There are spectacular chilly sounds and agressive leads. Synthmaster can do good sounding hypersaws and the preset developers discovered it. There are usable drums, and some effects from mars.
SM2 has a pretty cool preset browser, similar to Kore. It is prepared for a massive amount of sounds.
There's a KVR forum, e-mail support. The customer support is excellent. The developer is a great guy. Curious, open, and enthusiastic. 3 traits for a good dev. Nearly instant response to everything, and determined to help. Quick bugfixing. Open to your ideas, the synth itself is gradually increasing and improving.
Great value for the money, although I got it for free as I was a beta tester (yay). A must have if you don't have a wavetable synth at home, and worth considering if you'd like to reach more in the digital domain. It is a good all-round synth with lots to offer.
On my system, it is 98% stable. There are some small issues, and they are patched quickly. The Jupiter 8V demo crashed my Reaper more times.Read Review
