Synthesizers

As Roland revisit the Juno name once again, we look at whether their latest offering is a serious contender, or merely a bantamweight Fantom.

Korg's Triton LE series has evolved into the TR range, but does it deliver any more than a new paint-job?

Bob Moog's final project carries his visionary synthesizer design into the future.

An amazing new string-modelling synth is added to Korg's flagship workstation.

Arturia emulate both the classic Prophet 5 and the lesser-known Prophet VS synthesizers in their latest software instrument.

Can this in-depth software emulation of the ARP 2600 improve on Arturia's existing 2600V?

Having served up convincing hardware emulations of the legendary Minimoog and Prophet V analogue synths, Creamware turn their attention to the mighty Hammond B3 organ.

Like the analogue modelling of AAS's Tassman but don't need its complexity or fancy its price much? The far more affordable Ultra Analog could be right up your street...

The first product from developers Unitonic is an unusual TDM soft synth with plenty of hidden depths.

What could be more tempting than a sweet-sounding virtual analogue synth? How about that same synth bundled with a bunch of high-quality plug-ins targeted at music production?

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...