Product Reviews by KVR Members

Well...nobody has reviewed this EQ since it was released a million years ago and seeing as I've just reviewed the compressor and bus comp from this series, I thought I should give it a go and achieve the trifecta ...

Once again this is coded by Frank Filipanits and a few other technical wizards when NI was King...

It is a 4 band EQ with high and low pass filters, optional bell or shelving on the high and low bands and a sweepable Q on the low and high mid frequencies...

It is also switchable between the E and G curves of an SSL console...

It has separate mix controls for the wet and dry signal and a very low CPU drain with zero latency...

There's much more to say...

What I like about this EQ is that there is no metering, so you have to listen to what is happening and that can really be helpful and take us away from the prejudices of listening with our eyes...

Like I said in the compressor review, the effects that NI have released are often overlooked and denigrated to some degree, but if we open up our minds and our ears, we just might realise that these tools are very solid and they get the job done with the minimum of fuss...

Another shout out to Frank and Co. for a highly professional EQ to go with the other Solid Mix tools ...

This plugin has been around since the stone age and it is still as solid as a rock....

It was coded by Frank Filipanits and a few other wizards at the peak of NI's golden years..

It has a simple GUI with rather crude metering, a very low CPU drain with zero latency. and the bottom line is that it sounds great...

It has a switchable knee, linear or log release and a side chain on the compressor and a separate section with an expanded/gate...

There are much more sophisticated and "highly esteemed' compressors out there and I have a few of them, but one of the reasons I like this little guy, is that it forces you to listen and when it comes to music, that is never a bad thing.

You can really pull some transients down with this compressor and where it puts the sound in the mix is really special...

It works well on everything, but I find it especially nice on drums and electric bass...

The Solid Mix Series by NI is quite often overlooked, but these are solid tools that are well coded and have stood the test of time....

Thanks to Frank and the boys...

After all this time this plugin still gets used daily in the studio...

There is something about it that "just works" and with a minimum of fuss...

It does what it says it will do on the tin...

This was coded by Frank Filipanits and a few other wizards at the peak of NI's golden years..

It has a simple GUI with a very low CPU drain and zero latency....

I've tred them all and this guy is the one I prefer to use for that "SSL thing"...

Like I said...after all this time it is still a winner...

5 Stars for Frank and the boys.

Surge XT is a really versatile synth that covers a lot of sonic territory....

It's a solid workhorse and it's getting better with every revision....

A great deal of gratitude and appreciation is owed to the team behind this synth....

Thanks guys....

This one's a 5 Star winner.

Bulent has a passion for making great synths and it really shows in his work...

SynthMaster 2 is an indispensable workhorse for me after many years of use...

Recently, I started adding SM One to the mix and I'm embarassed that it has been sitting idle for so long, because this synth sounds great...

It has a lot of the goodness of SM 2 in a stripped down format but it is still very powerful, with each section having plenty of options...

The oscillators can load single cycle or WT, and it has two sub oscillators for AM, FM and PM etc...

The filters, modulation and effects sections are all very good and it's easy to program this synth because it's laid out so logically ..

One of the things I like about Bulent's synths is that you can save the modules as presets which makes it a dream to assemble your own programs out of the individual presets...

The best part about SM One is the sound and just like SM 2, it sounds beautiful...

Put all of the elements together and it can be anything you want - from analog to digital...

Some peeps tend to look down at the KV331synths and think that because of their lower price point, that they must be inferior to many of the other synths available...

But make no mistake...

SM One and SM 2 are killer synths that are as good as anything out there and the're easy to program and sound great...

And that folks, is the bottom line...

4.5 Stars for SM One and a gazillion stars for SM 2.

I have developed a deep appreciation for Massive and consider it to be one of the best soft synths ever created...

Initially, I didn't like the sound, but when I started programming it for the tracks, I realised just how powerful and flexible Massive really is...

It can run the whole tone spectrum from warm analog to harsh digital and the modulation options are extensive...

It feels like a "real" instrument to me and through the the use of modulation and the macros, you can get a lot of mileage out of just one program...

Perfect for a live synth....

As a bonus, there are a million and one presets available and there are some good ones that are an excellent starting point for research and development...

It has an excellent browser, so finding a few sounds amongst the million and one is quite effortless...

There are many reasons why Massive has become a classic and over the years, it has proven itself to be a real workhorse in so many styles of music...

I have a few nice soft synths in the toolbox and after all this time, Massive is still an indispensible part of the setup...

An oldie, but a 5 Star goodie...

I've been involved with playing and producing music for a very long time and I grew up in the analog world before a gradual progression to working ITB...

There's always a little hardware involved to get the signals into the DAW, but for many reasons, I much prefer the flexibility of the digital domain...

The two most important tools for me are EQs and compressors and I'm a fan of good channel strips...

Over the years, I've tried a lot of different effects plugins and there are some great choices out there...

So when I tried the new version of the SSL Channel Strip, I was expecting it to be good....

But not THIS good...

I dropped it into a few channels of an existing project and immediately felt an openness in the top end and a clarity in the bottom...

A few touches here and there and things were sitting in the mix like never before and it was quite a revelation...

Using this channel strip has been really inspiring and extremely productive...

I read up on the SSL 9000 consoles and everything I heard is what people like Michael Brauer have been saying for years...

The sound is more transparent and less compressed in the mids than the 4K and 6K consoles and the EQ is more like a Focusrite ISA-110 to me...but even better...

So what is the verdict here ?

Well...if I could only take two effect plugins to a desert island, this channel strip would be one of them...

A comprehensive EQ, compressor, expander and gate in a zero latency plugin with a sound that is so damn good that it feels like your ears have been unblocked...

It is 100% useful in every way and I have never been as inspired by any plugin as much as this one...

5 Stars and a million kudos to the guys at SSL...

I want to start by saying that this synth really is a DX7....

I played a few notes and was immediately transported back to DX7 land...

I had a few of those synths back in the day and OPS7 nails the sound and the feel exactly...

Being able to load all of the Sysex files is brilliant because there are so many banks of great sounds available that weigh in at just a few KB each...

The editing inside OPS7 is streets ahead of what was available with the hardware and having access to all of the parameters is an invitation to actually program FM sounds...something that was painstaking with the original miniscule LCD...

On a purely practical level, OPS7 is my sort of synth...

The install is only a few MB and it uses a minimal amount of CPU, but the sound is huge with a ton of attitude...

It sits great in the mix and blends and layers well with other instruments, yet it still maintains it's sense of character and definition...

One of the bonuses, is that you can layer two independent engines together a la DX1 and create some very interesting textures with the layers...

I like the focus that Plogue bring to their soft synths...

Their focus is on the sound engine and the dynamics of the instrument with a minimalist GUI and a straight foward interface...

I'm really enjoying using OPS7 and it was easy for it to slot into my existing workflow because it sounds so damn good...

Anybody looking for an FM synth should check out OPS7 because I believe that it is the best DX clone out there and with the improved editing fuctions, one of the finest FM synthesizers ever released...

Thanks for the OPS7 Plogue...

This one's a winner and it gets 5 Stars from me :).

I agree with J1000 that this is a great plugin and one of the most useful tools that you can have in your audio toolbox...

As an EQ it is complete, but when you add a touch of compression at the frequencies where it is needed, this dynamic EQ becomes a one stop solution so much of the time...

It's not the only game in town, but it has become indispensable in my workflow along with most of the other audio tools from Toneboosters...

EQ4 is highly recommended and it's a 5 star winner in my world...

Thanks Jeroen...

This is a really well designed synth....

Everything is laid out on one page so it's easy to drive once you get familiar with the setup...

There are lots of modulation options that bring a range of dynamics into play and help to give real character to the voices and the ability to load your own wavetables is a powerful feature...

One of the things I like about Bjorn's synths is that they have a slightly "raw" sound and this is a positive thing when it comes to the mix...

I got lost for a few hours playing with WhispAir and then used it in a track and it was all good...

Tightly coded with a small install size, a powerful sound and a resizable GUI, what's not to like ?

Thanks Bjorn....this one's a winner....