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Scanned Synth Pro
Reviewed By Juanjo [all]
July 9th, 2007
Version reviewed: 1.07 on Windows
There are workhorse synths that can do a lot of useful things. Then there are specialized synths that can do a couple of useful things remarkably well. And then there are innovative synths that break new ground and can do some things that most others can't.
ScannedSynth Pro belongs to the latter category without a doubt. It implements a fairly recent (late 90s I believe) synthesis method called scanned synthesis to generate a wide range of pretty original, unheard of, timbres which makes it excel at flavoured basses, leads and pads, out-of-the-ordinary resonances and weird and rare fx. In short: it won't be your workhorse bread&butter synth, but it can easily become your go-to synth when you need something "different".
But above all, what I like the most about SSP is that it offers a fairly fresh and complex synthesis method packed in a self-explanatory and very easy to use gui that encourages tweaking and creativity: it doesn't even try to offer lots of modulation possiblities or a gazillion of parameters, yet it's rich enough to keep you busy for quite a while and achieves a nearly perfect balance between functionality and ease of use.
Along with Tone2's Firebird this is a breath of fresh air in the current vst world of "my-mod-matrix-is-bigger-than-yours" and "my-synth-does-71-different-synthesis-methods-all-at-the-same-time". These 2 synths hide a remarkable complexity and a fairly deep sonic palette behind a deceptively simple, functional and fun to use gui.
User Interface
SSP's gui is a pretty self-explanatory paged affair with relatively few controls per page, which allows for big, clearly labelled controls and a very comfortable "in-place" modulation approach (no mod matrix here!). It also offers a nice midi learn and a couple of very useful tricks, such as the ability to show the value of any control permanently on screen.
I actually preferred the skin used while in beta (by Amoebe I think) to the default one in the current comercial version, but since the gui is skinnable there will probably be other nice skins in the future.
Sound
As mentioned before, it ranges from gorgeous to out-of-this-world and it's capable of very original and different timbres by taking full advantage of its unique synthesis method. This is another thing I love about SSP: the main focus is on the actual synthesis, and the filters and effects are there to enhance the great timbres, not to hide a boring sound.
Features
Again it's not a workhorse but it offers a nice range of sonic possibilities along with a couple of very nifty features (independent poly and master filters, psycho button...) and one of the best randomisation schemes in the business. The randomisation alone makes its free counterpart (ScannedSynth Mini) quite a powerful beast in its own right.
Documentation
Nicely written, to-the-point manual with links to deeper technical explanations of the synthesis method. You could actually fire up SSP and start tweaking here and there without knowing much about it and still get nice results, but a quick read of the manual provides the extra knowledge that you'll need to take full advantage of it.
Presets
Well, with more than 200 presets provided there's going to be a bit of redundancy and I'm actually left with the slight impression that sometimes they only scratch the surface of what's possible with this synth, but being a novel synthesis method this is kinda expected. Still, the provided presets offer a lot of good starting points and there are quite a few AWESOME ones in there. And with the superb randomisation scheme, they could have provided 16 presets and you could still get great results out of the synth in no time.
Customer support
I've had no support inquiries yet, but everytime I've dealt with the dev behind Humanoid Sound Systems (John Proctor) he's come across as very responsive and an all around good guy.
Value for money
If you want a workhorse synth or a virtual analog, this is not your best option. However if you are after something a bit different this is certainly one of the best options out there. Being a novel synthesis approach the dev could easily ask more money for it, yet still he offers a free version and he's selling the comercial one at a popular price. You could do waaay worse with your money.
Stability
I did some betatesting for this synth and it has come a long way since the first betas. I've had no crashes whatsoever with the comercial version, and apart from the gui consuming a bit of cpu (particularly the synthesis page) the synth is very solid and performs well. No complains here.
Overall imho this is one of the synths of the year. Not much else to say really.Read Review
ScannedSynth Pro belongs to the latter category without a doubt. It implements a fairly recent (late 90s I believe) synthesis method called scanned synthesis to generate a wide range of pretty original, unheard of, timbres which makes it excel at flavoured basses, leads and pads, out-of-the-ordinary resonances and weird and rare fx. In short: it won't be your workhorse bread&butter synth, but it can easily become your go-to synth when you need something "different".
But above all, what I like the most about SSP is that it offers a fairly fresh and complex synthesis method packed in a self-explanatory and very easy to use gui that encourages tweaking and creativity: it doesn't even try to offer lots of modulation possiblities or a gazillion of parameters, yet it's rich enough to keep you busy for quite a while and achieves a nearly perfect balance between functionality and ease of use.
Along with Tone2's Firebird this is a breath of fresh air in the current vst world of "my-mod-matrix-is-bigger-than-yours" and "my-synth-does-71-different-synthesis-methods-all-at-the-same-time". These 2 synths hide a remarkable complexity and a fairly deep sonic palette behind a deceptively simple, functional and fun to use gui.
User Interface
SSP's gui is a pretty self-explanatory paged affair with relatively few controls per page, which allows for big, clearly labelled controls and a very comfortable "in-place" modulation approach (no mod matrix here!). It also offers a nice midi learn and a couple of very useful tricks, such as the ability to show the value of any control permanently on screen.
I actually preferred the skin used while in beta (by Amoebe I think) to the default one in the current comercial version, but since the gui is skinnable there will probably be other nice skins in the future.
Sound
As mentioned before, it ranges from gorgeous to out-of-this-world and it's capable of very original and different timbres by taking full advantage of its unique synthesis method. This is another thing I love about SSP: the main focus is on the actual synthesis, and the filters and effects are there to enhance the great timbres, not to hide a boring sound.
Features
Again it's not a workhorse but it offers a nice range of sonic possibilities along with a couple of very nifty features (independent poly and master filters, psycho button...) and one of the best randomisation schemes in the business. The randomisation alone makes its free counterpart (ScannedSynth Mini) quite a powerful beast in its own right.
Documentation
Nicely written, to-the-point manual with links to deeper technical explanations of the synthesis method. You could actually fire up SSP and start tweaking here and there without knowing much about it and still get nice results, but a quick read of the manual provides the extra knowledge that you'll need to take full advantage of it.
Presets
Well, with more than 200 presets provided there's going to be a bit of redundancy and I'm actually left with the slight impression that sometimes they only scratch the surface of what's possible with this synth, but being a novel synthesis method this is kinda expected. Still, the provided presets offer a lot of good starting points and there are quite a few AWESOME ones in there. And with the superb randomisation scheme, they could have provided 16 presets and you could still get great results out of the synth in no time.
Customer support
I've had no support inquiries yet, but everytime I've dealt with the dev behind Humanoid Sound Systems (John Proctor) he's come across as very responsive and an all around good guy.
Value for money
If you want a workhorse synth or a virtual analog, this is not your best option. However if you are after something a bit different this is certainly one of the best options out there. Being a novel synthesis approach the dev could easily ask more money for it, yet still he offers a free version and he's selling the comercial one at a popular price. You could do waaay worse with your money.
Stability
I did some betatesting for this synth and it has come a long way since the first betas. I've had no crashes whatsoever with the comercial version, and apart from the gui consuming a bit of cpu (particularly the synthesis page) the synth is very solid and performs well. No complains here.
Overall imho this is one of the synths of the year. Not much else to say really.Read Review
