VST/AU plug-in instrument/effect round-up: Week 25
Five stars
An instrument that’s specifically designed for dubstep, a new effects processor from Rob Papen, a soundscape generator, a transient shaper and an analogue synth emulation. You’ll find them all here - click through for the details.
Also make sure you check out these regularly updated features.
The 17 best VST plug-in synths in the world today
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If you've got a new PC or Mac plug-in, make sure you let us know about it by emailing musicradar.pressreleases@futurenet.com with all the details.
NEXT: Sonivox Wobble
Sonivox Wobble
If you’re going to release a synth for dubstep production, you may as well go the whole hog and call it Wobble. It’s powered by a new spectral synthesis engine, sports a tempo-synced modulation generator and comes with more than 200 easily tweakable presets.
Rob Papen RP-Distort
Yes, RP is about to drop a distortion unit, but it promises to be far more than that. This is because it also features an analogue-modelled filter, compressor and widener, all of which can be re-ordered and switched on or off. You can modulate the controls using MIDI sources or one of the four-built in LFOs, too.
H G Fortune Scapes Wizard 2 Pro
The developer says from the outset that this isn’t an instrument that’s designed to be played like a regular synth. It generates soundscapes by triggering different samples that are assigned to keys: you can use the Lazy Sequencer to play its sets in sequence or at random with varying intervals of step lengths. There are myriad control options, too.
G-Sonique Transient Shaping System+
Designed to give your drums more ‘shape’, this new processor is endowed with both Long and Short transient controls, plus a saturation shaping knob for each. G-Sonique explains that this isn’t a dynamic processor that’s controlled by input levels - the sound is shaped by its own dynamics and transients.
Wok SAM
If you think this looks familiar, it’s because it’s inspired by Oberheim’s SEM analogue synth module. However, while it’s designed to capture said module’s sound and circuit instabilities, it adds polyphonic operation, more than one MIDI modulation source, an extra LFO for pitch and a noise oscillator.
Buy or download demo of Wok SAM
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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.