SOUND ON SOUND
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The Virus TI promises to bridge the divide between hardware and software instruments, and create a world of Total Integration, while still offering the classic Virus sound. Is it a hard reality, or have Access gone totally soft?
Granular synthesis is the core technology behind the latest time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms, but it can also be used to generate extraordinary evolving soundscapes. We explain how the process works and show you how to get the best from the software that uses it.
We finish our in-depth examination of Korg's new mega-workstation, taking in the remaining synth engines, the sampler, the KARMA algorithms and the onboard sequencer, and draw our conclusions about it...
Alongside Bob Moog, Don Buchla is one of the founding fathers of synthesis, and yet much less is known of him and his instruments. With this two-part review of Buchla's latest synth, and a history of some of his pioneering work, we hope to redress the balance...
For over 15 years, Korg have produced the world's most successful workstation synths, and the OASYS is their new £5400 flagship, their attempt to take the concept to the next level. In the first instalment of our two-part in-depth test, we assess how they have fared...
We test two hot new plug-ins: Camel Audio's Camel Space (PC VST & Mac OS X AU) and TC Electronic's DVR2 (Mac/PC Powercore).
Basement Arts Frantic, Cakewalk Z3TA+, and Progress Software Soup get the install treatment.
Part 2: We conclude our review of Roland's fabulous new rackmount synth, and look at the built-in VC1 and VC2 cards, which respectively convert the V-Synth XT into a fully functioning D50 and a powerful vocal-processing synth.
Every major sequencer manufacturer now sells software synths for use with their recording applications, but MOTU's MX4 had not been out long before an updated version was announced. We find out whether v2 was worth the wait...
Native's sound design software is back, and with v5, you have more control over your instruments than ever — offering fully user-definable looks, the ability to construct your own modules from scratch, and an improved library. We get patching...
Part 1: The V-Synth repackaged Roland's groundbreaking Variphrase technology, creating a powerful new kind of sample-based synthesis. Now there's a rackmount V-Synth, and (as you'll discover in Part 1 of our two-part review) it's more powerful than the first...
Forget completely flexible software synthesis — what everyone wants, it seems, is emulations of 35-year-old monophonic analogue synths! We check out the latest modelled Minimoog, and see how it compares to the original hardware.
Xpress Keyboards features cut-down versions of NI's B4 tonewheel organ emulation, Pro 53 Prophet 5 emulation and FM7 DX-alike.
The Fantom X is Roland's best-ever workstation, but it has suffered from one or two annoying omissions, such as the ability to import Roland's own sample format. We explore the Fantom Xr rack module and ask if the v2 OS and editing software provide the solutions?
Although we only reviewed this Minimoog-emulating software instrument four months ago, Arturia have now thoroughly redesigned it, taking into account many of the points made in the original SOS review. So let's take a second look...
Completing the quartet of vintage synth emulations they began with Moog Modular V, Arturia's latest plug-in aims to reproduce the sound of the greatest semi-modular of them all, ARP's 2600. We see how it fares up against the original...
Having built their reputation on knob-heavy modular synths, British manufacturer Analogue Systems surprise everyone by bringing out a menu-driven additive synthesis module! But don't worry — the optional expander is covered with things to tweak and turn...
I want to buy a 'knobby' synth because I am fed up of setting up sounds with a data wheel. I also want a very analogue sound...
At £1099, the Xa is the most affordable keyboard in the Fantom range. But, inevitably, features have been removed to make it such a bargain. Have Roland thrown out the works from the workstation?
Yamaha's original Motif Rack was a fine-sounding, well-specified synth module, but it suffered from MIDI timing problems when reviewed in SOS. Two years on, we put the follow-up Motif Rack ES to the test...