Synthesizers

Looking to create a more affordable keyboard version of their Motif range of workstations, Yamaha have pared back the spec of the Motif ES a little — though not much — to create the M06 and M08.

In these days of fast, flexible computers and powerful virtual instruments, has the hardware workstation synth had its day? Alesis's Fusion mounts the case for the defence, offering four synthesis types, sampling, sequencing and hard disk recording — for under £1000.

Cakewalk have taken the workhorse soft synth that was bundled with their Project 5 loop sequencer, put the sound library on steroids and made it available as a separate product on both Mac and PC.

Creamware's Minimax ASB (the company's hardware recreation of the Minimoog) won over the critics — can they repeat the winning ASB formula with Sequential Circuits' Prophet 5 synth? Synth wizard Dave Stewart is your guide...

The Radias is described by Korg as a synth and vocoder, but that's somewhat modest — it manages to cram analogue modelling, S&S, FM and formant synthesis into its stylish frame, plus a host of sound-shaping and triggering facilities. Plus that vocoder...

The new version of Steinberg's virtual sound module brings more and better instruments, without sacrificing convenience or ease of use.

Combining frequency and ring modulation with analogue-style resonant filtering, Image Line's Sytrus takes FM synthesis in new directions.

The Evolver began as a mono desktop unit, then became polyphonic, and now there's a polyphonic keyboard version. It's almost as if Dave Smith's latest synth is steadily evolving back into his earlier Prophet 5... We check it out.

I am trying to re-create the sound of old string synths like the ARP Solina or Elka Rhapsody on my Novation K-Station but I...

We test another group of hot plug-ins: Universal Audio Dimension D • Ugo Rez, Texture, String Theory & Motion • TC Electronic VSS3 Stereo Source Reverb.

I keep reading about different types of synthesis like 'wavetable', 'S&S' and 'vector' but I don't know what they are...

We conclude our look at synth pioneer Don Buchla's extraordinary new 200e modular synth.

Creamware's Minimax is certainly not the first digital emulation of a Minimoog to be released — nor even Creamware's first. But it bucks the recent trend for software recreations of vintage synths — by being hardware. Can it replace the real deal?

Sound designer Rob Papen may be best known to you as the man behind amazing sounds for the Access Virus or Alesis Andromeda. Now he's moved into producing software-based synths of his own. So how good is it?

The Virus TI promises to bridge the divide between hardware and software instruments, and create a world of Total Integration, while still offering the classic Virus sound. Is it a hard reality, or have Access gone totally soft?

Granular synthesis is the core technology behind the latest time-stretching and pitch-shifting algorithms, but it can also be used to generate extraordinary evolving soundscapes. We explain how the process works and show you how to get the best from the software that uses it.

We finish our in-depth examination of Korg's new mega-workstation, taking in the remaining synth engines, the sampler, the KARMA algorithms and the onboard sequencer, and draw our conclusions about it...

Alongside Bob Moog, Don Buchla is one of the founding fathers of synthesis, and yet much less is known of him and his instruments. With this two-part review of Buchla's latest synth, and a history of some of his pioneering work, we hope to redress the balance...

For over 15 years, Korg have produced the world's most successful workstation synths, and the OASYS is their new £5400 flagship, their attempt to take the concept to the next level. In the first instalment of our two-part in-depth test, we assess how they have fared...

We test two hot new plug-ins: Camel Audio's Camel Space (PC VST & Mac OS X AU) and TC Electronic's DVR2 (Mac/PC Powercore).

Basement Arts Frantic, Cakewalk Z3TA+, and Progress Software Soup get the install treatment.