G-SONIQUE FM WAVE XR7 SYNAPSE CIRCUIT REVIEW

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT 

G-SONIQUE FM WAVE XR7 €26.90 REVIEW!

#VST #VirtualStudioTechnology #Virtual #Studio #Technology #Steinberg #DAW #Instruments #Effects #Electronic #Music #ElectronicMusic #ComputerMusic #MusicTechnology #FutureMusic #G #Sonique #GSonique #FM #Wave #XR7 #FMWaveXR7

Synapse Circuit brings you what appears to be a great new take on the FM synth... 

THE NEW WAVE...

The Yamaha DX7 is probably the most renowned FM synthesizer ever! I wasn't fortunate to own one. However, I did have the pleasure of using the DX7 in a few recording studios in my time; I did end up owning a TX7 for a while, which was the FM synthesis engine of the DX7 in a little black box (sans keyboard). What I loved about the DX7 FM synthesis was the harsh metallic sounds I got from it. A sheer joy to program for the music I was making at the time! The FM Wave XR7 could be the triumph that FM synth enthusiasts are looking for!

FM RAVE

There has been a wave of VST creators producing various FM synthesizers - some try to emulate the DX7 and others put a unique stamp on the subject. G-Sonique, from Slovakia, appear to have gone where no other FM synth creator has gone before… Let's take a look… Read on!

INTRODUCING THE… FM WAVE XR7 First of all, you'll be pleased to know that the FM Wave XR7 comes with 64-bit version in addition to the standard (32-bit). Then there are a multitude of waveforms that I thought were a set of additional sound banks/patches. Still, it didn't take me long to figure out how to import those waveforms into the front panel of the XR7.

Above: The back panel - knobs! Essentially, the XR7 has two interfaces a) front and b) back panels. The front is where you obviously load and/or manipulate the waveforms - 3 slots; whereas the back contains a bank of filters and a Ping-Pong delay! Nice!

It looks complex, but once you go through the presets you'll be able to understand what the knobs do. The best way to program a synth is to load a preset and change the parameters until a desired sound is arrived at. There is a tendency for musicians to rely on the presets of any synth and not to explore programming in any way and it's a shame.

AN INVITATION

The XR7 is an invitation to the world of sound sculpting! When you hear some of the presets you will be in awe! The patches are wide and varied; there are those lovely metallic bass instruments that I've come to know from my TX7. As you'd expect, there are great pads and leads. But the FX category takes the prize! I love the Sci-Fi aspect of Electronic music and the XR7 does not disappoint!

Sci-Fi movies and Electronic music goes hand in hand. When I go to the movies to watch a Sci-Fi blockbuster I get off on the sound effects more than the movie itself. I would come home, turn on my synths, try to recreate the sounds and incorporate them in my compositions.

The XR7 is going to empower and delight sounds designers for music and multimedia such as games and, of course, movies.

GUI AESTHETICS

G-Sonique have done a very nice job on the interface. The use of colour remains faithful to the DX7/TX7 black 'n’ green - it looks pleasantly familiar.

The parameters are laid out in a very logical manner; it's a very clean layout. Having a front and back panel is a very good idea, therefore you're not hit in the face with a bunch of knobs and waveforms all at once.

CONCLUSION

The FM Wave XR7 is a very unique FM synth that stands out in the sea of waves. Again, the presets are inspirational and they make me want to get programming straightway!

As a former owner of a TX7 module, I can tell you that I feel connected to the XR7. I can hear the patches that I created on the TX7 coming back.

The G-Sonique FM Wave XR7 is a beautifully programmed FM synth that brings something new to the table in being able to draw waveforms and import them. Furthermore, the waveforms can be tweaked to perfection by the altering the filters on the back panel. It's DX Heaven!

The FM Wave XR7 is a big synth for a very small price!

SCORE The G-Sonique FM Wave XR7 feels fresh yet familiar at the same time!

FM Wave XR7 scores a sound sculpting... Synapse Circuit Platinum!

You can purchase it here: FM Wave XR7

Enjoy! Thank you for reading!

Synapse Circuit / Blue Gene

K331 AUDIO SYNTHMASTER ONE SYNAPSE CIRCUIT REVIEW

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT 

K331 AUDIO SYNTHMASTER ONE $63.00 - SPRING SALE REVIEW!

#VST #VirtualStudioTechnology #Virtual #Studio #Technology #Steinberg #DAW #Instruments #Effects #Electronic #Music #ElectronicMusic #ComputerMusic #MusicTechnology #FutureMusic #K331 #Audio #K331Audio #SynthMaster #One #SynthmasterOne

Synapse Circuit has great pleasure in bringing you yet another great synth, and it's FREE! 

THE MASTER...

SynthMaster One is an easy to use wavetable synthesizer with an intuitive workflow. Although it shares the same engine with its bigger brother SynthMaster, it comes with new features like wavetable synthesis. With its simple layout, rich wavetable/waveform content and inspiring factory presets library, designing new sounds with SynthMaster One is a real joy. Read on!

Sometimes great VST synthesizers can be offputting for novices, and even some semi-professionals. A lot of Electronic Computer Technology Musicians just want to install an awesome VSTi (and effects) and start composing straightaway! Well, you can do this with K331 Audio’s Synthmaster One.

Synthmaster One comes with many waveforms and wavetables, as a result you can create amazing patches! You can also add your own! Synthmaster One comes with the most amazing presets you will ever hear on a VSTi! Beautiful analogue sounding patches for all types of Electronic genres.

GUI
Me? Again, I am not what you would call an out and out expert in VST. However, I do like to get stuck in and alter the preset sounds to create my own unique take on them (the presets). I don’t understand people who would just use the presets as they are. Oh, well… Anyway, the Synthmaster One user interface is not only aesthetically pleasing but I find that it lends itself to tweaking the parameters. The interface is very inviting to those who, like me, just want to experiment and intuitively tweak the settings to create the desired sound. I am sort of old school in that when I used to have hardware synths I had to learn to program them pretty quickly to get the most out of them. I only had a few Kawai synths, and boy, did I program the heck out of them! I was so good at get the most out of these Kawai synths (K1 & K4) that people thought I was using more expensive synths! Synthmaster One takes me back to the days when I intuitively understood what I was doing when creating new synth patches!

FX Above: K331 Audio Synthmaster One working inside the MAGIX Music Maker 2017 Premium DAW flawlessly! It has some wonderful onboard effects, distortion, EQ, compression, chorus, delay, and reverb. These effects really go that extra mile in giving a patch a certain sweetness that just delights your ears!

I have to hand it to K331 Audio for creating this cost effective - more so because it is currently discounted in a Spring Sale!

DESIGNER
As simple as the interface is, the seasoned professional sound designer would get mileage out of Synthmaster One and then some! I don’t meet Synth Master’s very often, but when I do it never ceases to amaze me what they can do in the name of synthesizing sounds! In fact, it was such a Synth Master who got me into Electronic music in the first place! All this Synth Master needed was a white lab coat!

I think he would have created divine sounding patches if he were around today!

CONCLUSION
Synthmaster One is a phenomenal VSTi for the money - the current sale makes it even more so! There is no excuse for boring formulaic Electronic music! Seriously, have you ever gone to a Trance, EDM, or Industrial event? As a former music journalist, I can tell you that attending these events were seldom fully enjoyable. There may have been one or two bands/artists on the billing worth listening to, the rest were terrible clones. I think some of these lacklustre artists/bands could up their game with Synthmaster One! I really mean that! I would love to hear what an Electronic band like Front 242 would do with Synthmaster One! Front 242, these guys are like what the Rolling Stones is to Rock music; they can give these young pretenders a run for the money any day of the week!

Anyway, enough bitching! I love Synthmaster One! It is a fantastic synth and it, along with some of the recent synths that I have reviewed of late, makes me want to start composing again!

If you are serious about producing music and/or sound design then you NEED Synthmaster One yesterday! Get it now while it is on sale!

SCORE
This one is a no-brainer! The interface is on point! The range of sounds is plentiful! If you have a sound in your head Synthmaster One will synthesize it for you in all its glory!

Synthmaster One scores an astounding... Synapse Circuit Platinum!

You can purchase it here: K331 Audio Synthmaster One

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading! Synapse Circuit / Blue Gene

NOIZEFIELD BOUNCE SYNAPSE CIRCUIT REVIEW

 SYNAPSE CIRCUIT 

NOIZEFIELD BOUNCE $FREE REVIEW!

#VST #VirtualStudioTechnology #Virtual #Studio #Technology #Steinberg #DAW #Instruments #Effects #Electronic #Music #ElectronicMusic #ComputerMusic #MusicTechnology #FutureMusic #Noizefield #Bounce

Synapse Circuit has great pleasure in bringing you yet another great synth, and it's FREE! 

MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE

Bounce is a 6 oscillators subtractive synthesizer… OK, whatever that means… Ha ha! But seriously… It is designed for EDM, House, Future House, Dance, Melbourne Bounce, Trance and Dubstep other styles of Electronic music. In other words, the preset sounds are geared towards the genres mentioned above. The truth is that you can tweak the oscillators and other parameters to create your own unique patches. Read on!

For the technically minded, look below. If you are not technically minded then look below!

6 oscillators (Four oscillators with 32 waveforms each and two oscillators are wavedraw

oscillators), inclusive Phase, FM and RM and XMod.

Sync option for the osc 1-4.

Multimode - Filter (LP,HP,BP).

Noise generator (White Noise).

4 Envelopes (One amp and three modulation envelopes (Pitch/Filter/FM).

2 tempo-synced LFOs.

Effects: Chorus, Equalizer, Decimator, Reverb, Fatner.

Portamento for gliding sounds.

Do not worry if, as a novice, that the above means little or nothing to you. It is more important to get in there have mess around. That’s how you learn! I created a patch by fooling around, saved it and recalled it.

Above: The saving and retrieval of a patch. Oh, when you save a patch (a synth sound) based on one of the presets, you can’t revert back to the original sound. In order to revert to the original sound you have to reload the Bounce. This is a minor irritation that doesn’t spoil the whole deal. Also, whatever you have named the new sound that you have created does not show up on the interface. Odd! So, that’s two minor irritants. SCORE
If not for the two minor irritations I would have liked to have given Bounce a possible Platinum. The interface looks good, the parameters can be easily modified to create new and compelling sounds, and it presented no problems in that it did not cause the MAGIX Music Maker DAW (digital audio workstation), used for the test, to crash. It is well programmed.

Bounce scores a super Synapse Circuit Gold!

You can download it here: Noizefield Bounce

Enjoy!

Thank you for reading! Synapse Circuit / Blue Gene