Product Reviews by KVR Members

Purity is Purty!

Note: This is going to be a revised and condensed version of the review I posted on the forums here: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=391435&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=107

Purity has recently been reduced to $49 USD, with prices adjusted for UK and EU residents. With this new, enticing price point, is Purity worth another look? In short: Absolutely.

Ease of Use

Purity has a GUI that is just shy of 750x600 pixels, with its editing pages taking up the lion's share of screen real estate. The result is a tall GUI with almost all of its editing parameters on a single page. To put this into perspective, the Korg M1's GUI is roughly 795x455 pixels - about 100 pixels shorter - with the majority of its editing features spread over 3 pages, squished to one side, and sandwiched between a keyboard and mode select switches, making for an even more cramped user interface than its pixel width and height suggest. This makes Purity comparatively easier to use, along with the fact that it doesn't use the Korg-specific jargon of the M1 such as "EG Time", "EG Int" and "Time Polarity" - which, as an old Roland guy, prompted me to look at the manual more than once - and rather sticks to calling things by simpler, more universal names.

Sound

It's hard to describe Purity's sound in less than 10,000 characters. It's clean, well-equalized, and production-ready. The acoustic instruments sound like a high quality 90's sound module, and can rival the likes of my Roland XP-30, while the synth leads, basses and pads are on par with any software VA available.

Purity features a Korg-like "Combi" mode, where up to 16 layers (or 32 total waveforms) can be linked together to create enormously detailed sounds. When combined with its extremely low CPU footprint, its arpeggiator, and even an onboard sequencer that gives you up to 4 measures to work with, it is a deceptively powerful synthesizer that is capable of producing some incredibly complex pads, phrases and rhythms (or even all three at once in a single Combi!)

The sample quality itself is stellar, with very little in the way of errors or artifacts. It's obvious why they called this synth "Purity" - because everything has been polished to a pristine and very usable shine. If, like me, you are frustrated by modern samples, sample tuning and offset issues, you will be happy to know that Purity has almost none of that (barring the GM sitar, which has a small problem with sample timing in the lower ranges).

Conclusion

For fifty dollars, you get a synth that feels like a genuine workstation, with sounds covering all musical genres, and an arpeggiator and sequencer that would make any virtual analog enthusiast weep. I've resisted the urge to make P-puns long enough; now I leave you with this: Purity is nearly Purrfect.