“Still undoubtedly one of the most powerful synths on the market and the new updates help highlight this”: Minimal Audio Current 2.0 review

What is it?

Minimal Audio's Current is already one of the most powerful softsynths on the market and has just been updated to v2. It's a free update to existing users, but does it have enough extras to make this multi-engined beast of a synth – with one of the best modulation systems and effects racks out there – a must-have synth for you? Current thinking? Yes indeed.

Minimal Audio's original plan with Current v1 was to make it subscription only. However, after the negative reaction to that news – and that's an understatement – the company made it available as a perpetual license for the not inconsiderable sum of $199, all while keeping it as part of its $15/month subscription plan, which grants access to the whole Minimal Audio ecosphere.

To our minds, all of that palaver rather overshadowed the launch and clouded the fact that this really is a stunning synth – engines alone, you are looking at a top-tier supercar. It features a couple of spectral wavetable oscillators, a granular oscillator and a sampler, plus a sub oscillator and two multimode filters that can be run in series or parallel.

The modulation is something else too, with a row of nine sources featuring drop-down menus to select one of four different modulators which you can edit in detail once selected. Then simply drag to a modulation destination and you're done. So good so far.

Performance

Before Minimal Audio released Current, it had already gotten itself a pretty good reputation for its creative effects. Titles like its Ripple Phase, Fuse Compressor, Cluster Delay and Morph EQ were already out there in the wild and doing their thing, so Minimal Audio decided to up the ante with Current and include these individual pro effects in the synth's effects rack. So as good as those engines and modulation are, it's these effects that really set Current apart and make it one of the most creative synths out there.

The synth is packed with in-your-face electronic sounds and is almost shouting a bit too loudly on the EDM score, but when you take into account what you can do with those engines, the modulation and their associated effects – not to mention how easy all of this is to do – Current already stands tall in the world of softsynths, subscription or not.

Which leads nicely to this latest major update. The first big addition is the new Play View that puts whatever sound you have dialled in onto an X-Y pad with a couple of icons to drag around the interface and change predefined parameters and macros as you do.

It looks incredibly pretty, with the backdrop changing depending on the preset category you have selected (Current has 10 of these), and the main engines used in the preset are listed so you can jump to them or switch them in and out.

However, beyond that there doesn't seem to be much else you can do – like change the parameter the dual X-Y controls are controlling for example. That said, it is aimed at all levels of user so really, it's all about changing sounds in real time – the usual obvious filter parameters and more unusual macro ones – and for that it does a good enough job.

More exciting is Wave Shifter, a new effect for the already fulsome rack. This is a frequency shifting effect with FM, AM and Ring Modulation and can be very dramatic – as can most MA effects. Its effect is hard to describe but it's like an ultra creative EQ and distortion plugin, focusing on specific parts of the frequency spectrum and basically messing them up. You'll love it if you like taking your sounds to extremes, and it works very well with modulation to add movement to whatever bite you want to introduce.

And talking of modulation, the matrix now gets a separate popup screen so you get a bigger picture of the overall modulation and are able to set levels, destinations, envelopes and more all from one place – a very useful addition to one of our favourite Current features. A new mixer panel is a more obviously required addition as it lets you solo and set levels for the four Current engines and sub oscillator.

These are the main additions but there are a few more including better browsing (including a new 'Stream Pack View') for the Minimal Audio store where you can buy extra presets, wavetables and more, and there's also an extra viewing mode for the wavetable oscillators plus a few other tweaks and additions.

Verdict

While there's a lot to love about this 2.0 update, we're not sure if it warrants a whole point – although we have just reviewed the massive .5 update to SynthMaster so our opinion is probably slightly skewed. That said, it is a completely free update for v1 owners and should make Current a more tempting proposition for everyone else, so you can't really argue with it, nor split hairs on the numbers. Either way Current is still undoubtedly one of the most powerful synths on the market and the new updates help highlight this. The Minimal Audio subscription service is also one of the better ones, with a rent-to-own model that looks pretty fair, so if you are thinking about Current, or any other MA plugins, this might be a good way to dip your toe into the Minimal Audio universe.

MusicRadar verdict: As a free update, Current v2 is a no brainer for v1 users, and the fabulous Wave Shifter effect and great-looking Play View alone make it an even more attractive proposition for everyone else, even at the relatively high asking price.

Hands-on demos

Minimal Audio

Current 2.0 Overview - YouTube

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Specifications

• Multi-engine softsynth with pro level Minimal Audio effects rack.
• Four engines (two wavetable, granular and sample) plus sub oscillator.
• Dual morphing filters with 50 modes.
• Effects rack featuring nine MA effects.
• Arpeggiator, chord generator.
• Over 400 presets, 170 wavetables and 800 samples.
• VST2, VST3, AU and AAX compatible.
• CONTACT: Minimal Audio