Product Reviews by KVR Members

When I first discovered Synth1 I was sceptical about its functionality due to the simplistic graphics on the VST's GUI and the rather clunky design of the controls. Now that I have spent a good hour or so toying with the parameters on different preset banks I now officially love this synth. First and foremost I have to say that the FM synthesis in Synth1 is more than capable of emulating the classic FM synthesis, making it comparable to that of any hardware synth legend of the 80s and 90s. Synth1 would be the perfect synth for all you lovers of oldschool EDM.

The waveforms generated from its oscillation units are solid, sturdy and make for virtually all leading roles in most electronic genres of music; particularly leads, pads, sequence notes, basslines and sweeping wave sounds residing in Synthpop, New Wave, Techno and Eurodance. Within 5 minutes of messing around with the filters and effects I was able to replicate so many classic sounds from numerous hit singles through the ages of synth; ranging from Europe's "The Final Countdown" epic polysynth, to Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" synth lead, to Toto's "Africa" synth pad and sequenced bell riff and so on. Eurodance comes easy to this synth due to the thickness of the sawtooth waves. Just get 'em wired up with a sequence tool and you're rolling :)

What's more is the impressive amount of variables on the control surface for a freeware synth, which in turn will provide producers with a sophisticated range of synthetic algorithms and choice of manipulative techniques to achieve the sound they want. The generous choice of controls and features will also give beginners in digital music composition an excellent opportunity to become familiar with a VST's inner workings and parameters without excessive limitations. There aren't many free synths out there with an equaliser unit built into the synth itself, as far as I'm aware anyway. Synth1 also has the bonus of enveloping strict low demands on CPU usage, benefiting musicians with even the most basic of motherboards in their computing system. Overall a must have for newbies and professionals alike.

My only recommendation to any first time users is for you to research Synth1 sound banks and grab as many as you desire from the internet (though Synth1's limit is 99 banks, so you may want to filter out any banks and/or sounds you don't need.) The factory bank is too comparable to that of a GM bank on a Yamaha keyboard which I didn't find particularly flattering. The secondary downside to this synth (although it is fairly minor) is that the preset browser is poorly constructed mapped on the GUI, however this overall does not ruin the experience of generating some cool sounds from this neat plugin.

Conclusively I think Ichiro Toda still has some patching to perform to make the experience of using this synth all the more worthwhile for producers. Other than that this synth would make a great substitute to virtually all pricey frequency modulator synths, particularly if you're on a low budget or simply looking for a synth that meets all your basic requirements for hobbyist or commercial production. My rating - 7/10.