Product Reviews by KVR Members

To me synthmaster is one of the best surprises I have ever found while researching vsti's and if you love prog rock you may find its the best vsti available and the cream of the crop for those of you who love progressive music.

Prog to me is a form of music that is transcendent and at the height of its glory days bands like Yes, ELP, Genesis and Pink Floyd would sell out large arenas and stadiums. Traveling in lavish private airplanes living the life of luxury staying at the finest of hotels all the while trying to escape the cameras and ignoring the press. People would dress up in clothes they made by hand to create fashion statements just to go see these extraordinary bands. It was a time that kids today have no clue about.

Now you are in luck because now you can do what I have dreamed of doing for decades and tap into presets/sounds that are dead ringers from the greatest music in progressive rocks past. If your at all impressed by great musicianship and song writing then these sounds and presets are something you likely have dreamed of playing and now thanks to KV331's SYNTHMASTER you can.

This software is downright affordable for all that it does.

Its always on sale if you read through KVR and are half aware of what is available to you and this is officially my new go to synth for everything from organs and mellotrons to leads and pads it does it all. I wouldn't use it for piano parts but I have sonar and the true amber piano for that.

Seriously where have you been if you haven't heard about synthmaster. It's been winning awards and accolades in computer music magazine as its synth of the year and BEAT magazine had it at number 3 but primarily for the other forms of music it excels at helping musicians create because powerful software like this is fully capable of being used for that awful EDM and trance music. Hey guys don't let that fool you this software does prog rock at a very high level. Seriously people if prog rock is your cup of tea the ability to play an instrument and create beautiful masterpieces takes a foundation of bread and butter sounds.

This software perfectly mimics the sounds as used by the pioneers of prog rock and fortunately for us dinosaurs that still love old school progressive rock and even the synthesizer excess of newer progressive heavy metal we can now tap into the sounds that were used by our musical genius heros.

Seriously this is one mean and powerful VSTI. Its been said its the one synth you'd want with you if you crash on a deserted island and can only have one to use. That statement is closer to the truth than not. After testing this synth I have put off plans to purchase other far more expensive alternatives.

There are plenty of organ sounds in this synth for usage with prog rock so I doubt I need to get another virtual organ but hey knowing me I probably will add that later on just for variety when I get more wealthy.

The lead synth tones on this synth are also top notch and as I develop an understanding of this software I will likely create numerous lead tones of my own but just for the Nori presets alone it is worth getting this synth.
How many synths can you say that about.

There are always going to be synth presets you don't like on any synth you invest in but thanks to the resident preset guru at KV331 named NORI I can say that this is the single most important software synth ever created for those of us who love progressive rock and metal. Just listen to those demos he created on soundcloud and it will be obvious to you.

It use to be, you would have to spend many thousands of dollars to go out and acquire the exact gear your keyboard heroes had used. Not anymore go to the website and listen to the sound cloud samples that Nori created and believe me when I say listening to these sounds he designed to emulate great prog rock songs with slight performance differences and that one listen will make you wonder what you can do with these sounds at your fingertips and trust me once you get a hold of them they will not disappoint.

This one piece of software gives you a lot of bang for the buck thanks to Mr. Nori Ubukata. You are the man. I was drawn to this wonderful software due to his perfect knock off demo sound clips that mimicked numerous sounds and songs from YES, Pink Floyd, UK, Genesis, King Crimson and ELP. He also did a preset bank of world instruments that is very promising as well.

G Forces minimonsta has a lot of Wakemans moog presets in it but its considerably more expensive and it doesn't offer you any mellotron, hammond organs or solina strings like synthmaster does while also knocking off the moog signature tones of wakeman and other synth greats.

If your into prog synthmaster can help you to get the sounds of these great bands of the past. If you want to use these presets as models of greatness to build off of and make your own signature sounds then tweaking this software is something you are going to want to learn how to do and it is an easy to tweak synth from the looks of things. I have a thing for using the controls of filters to try and get moogy and this synth lets me do that but what really is special is its organ patches in the art rock preset collection that Nori created.

As a fan of these progressive rock bands I am always researching the many choices for me to purchase from the numerous modeled synths available.

I was actually planning on buying several other synths that this one synth is replacing.

The sounds are amazing and if you want to free up some money to buy other things your band needs then this is one synth you can count on being your main go to synth and being worth more than you paid for it. Now the good news if your reading this now you can probably find it at a significant discount like it has been for the last month or so.

Why risk being disappointed folks a lot of those other synths people talk about are for dance and pop primarily this one is the choice for us progressive rockers. if you don't like the presets others create make your own the preset collcetions only cost you $15 each anyway.

Maybe in a month or so I will have more to report on this synth right now I am going to enjoy learning more and peering under the hood to try and figure out how Nori was able to design such amazing presets for this synth and get so damn close to the real thing that it could fool a prog rock lover like me.

Trust me if you guys love prog rock and your not buying synthmaster your going to be spending a lot more going a different direction, so why not just get this one first and see if I'm right you can always add others as you feel the need if you even feel the need to. It worked out that way for me and I bet you find it solves a lot of problems for you by providing more sounds that are useful and a part of the history of prog rock. You really can't find a better deal on a synth that covers so much ground for so little money.

Synthmaster is already the best choice for bargain conscious musicians that need to sound great and do so on a budget. I already use Sonar producer and will upgrade to x2 from x1 this week with what I saved not having to buy all those other synths I was thinking of getting. Its not like I'm unfamiliar with other synths on the market I have other synths to compare synthmaster to and if your familiar with Z3ta and other CW synths you know that they rock as well and I own VI one as well and synthmasters quality is every bit as good as those and then some simply because of the fact they have a top notch sound designer. Nori is probably the best in the industry. Keep that guy happy KV331 and get him busy designing more prog rock patches because that is what I want to see coming from you guys. I never dreamed one synth could do so much but I'm a major believer now. This is the one synth to rule them all.

Another thing to consider is that as affordable and powerful as this synth is, its likely to sell very well which means that all the top preset designers will be designing presets for it. From reading the forums here at KVR I have learned the history of this synths development and it looks like they regularly improve and upgrade it so those of us who want to back a winner are all going to want to support this company because it truly is the best bargain in virtual synthesizers out there and unless they have figured out a way to fool my ears it is one of, if not the best sounding synth out there FTM and certainly it is the most versatile for the money.