Solcito Música

Todo lo que hace Gustavo con Solcito Música es una muestra de talento que permite a los músicos expandir su universo de herramientas.

Like all Solcito Plugins, Toom is a stable and serious Plugin. The Interface is well designed, so everybody should understand the workflow. Thanks to the 2 different synthesis methods (VA and Phase Modulation) it delivers a wide range of really good sounding, hard hitting kicks. At least you can even use it for some bass. The GUI is resizeable, I wish Gustavo would do this for Arido too.

And to all Synth-Newbies:
Take a look at Solcitos great "Synteacher A" app for learning analog synthesis.

Old plugin with the same boring set of features, right? I though the same but it has such a handy user interface and a huge sound! Absolutely love it.
The nagging screen is a bit annoying but even so...

I'll keep this brief. Being on fixed income, I, unfortunately, am perpetually low on funds. One of my favourite software synths of all time, which I no longer possess, was Sylenth1. I'd stopped writing music for a few years but just recently dived back into it. Out of curiosity, I sought out synths that were similar to Sylenth1. To my surprise, there are quite a few free 64-bit/step sequencer/note arpeggiator synths out there, some better than others in the sounds and programming department. While all the ones i tried out had their merits, I find that SuperTron 4 not only comes close to offering what Sylenth1 does but it sounds fantastic doing it., and that's probably due to its analog circuitry. The presets alone are a blast, especially the Bach one. Highly recommended if you're into pulsating, percolating, punchy synths.

This is one of my favorite plugins from KVR Developer Challenge 2012.

GUI - quite good looking but most important, clear and self explanatory.

Sound - now here is where it really got me. As a concept it pretty simple, a filter, a stereo field control, some noise and a (what seems to be) compressor/ clipper, but when you put all those together the result is impressive.

I love how this sounds on drums, it gives instant punch and character. The usual computer drum, a bit sterile and with too much separation between elements, suddenly glue together and give the impression of a single instrument.

On guitars, the filter cut around the "1970" setting most of the unwanted frequencies.

CPU usage - on my system seems to be quite easy on CPU and memory, and I use a mid priced laptop.

Grab it and use it, it's one of the few "vintage warmifier" plugins that adds a useful quality to the sound. Very musical, very intuitive.

Cons - well, not that it affects me, but no Mac version.

This is some of the best freeware I have come across so far this year.

It contains 64 presets which have been programmed with care. Just playing around with them feels like a Berlin School album done and dusted right there.

It features two oscillators that can be turned on/off, with a choice of 6 waveforms (noise, pulse, square, triangle, saw, and sinewave)

The two filters can be set to high, low or bandpass, and one can also choose the input of each oscillator on each of the filters.

The sequencer interface is laid out nicely, but I would have preferred to have more than two octaves to work with. Another drawback is that the sequencer only has 16 steps, I would like to be able to make longer sequences. But a big plus is that each sequence contains 4 scenes which one can cycle between either manually or automatically, to make variations inside the groove. Add to that an envelope trigger which makes further variations of the sequence possible. It is also possible to shape the patterns according to some provided formats (saw, pulse, up/down or trance), but space is also made available for user settings here if needed.

The sequencer can be turned off, so one can also play the instrument as a regular synth.

To round off the instrument is an extensive effect section. The "vintager" effect is supposed to generate warmth to the sound, an interesting addition, but mostly a novelty, the 80's settings makes the sound a bit more metallic, not something I will use much I think, but a nice diversion nevertheless.

Elsewhere there is reverb, multifx (chorus, echo, delay) and distortion.

The LFO has also been placed among the effects, a little confusing, but it sounds great. Maybe the developer ran out of space and just needed to put it somewhere?

I've used the synth in FL Studio, have had no problems with it, no lag, and midi-learn works great with FL Studio's "last tweaked" option.

All in all this is as great a bargain as there ever was. I didn't know Berlin School was so well looked after "down under" in Argentina. But I'm happy to know now!