Synthesizers

The Microwave synths are complex beasts, so here are some hands-on tips to help you get the creative results you're after, without spending all your time programming.

When trying to copy a real piano with an analogue synth, if one patch doesn't quite do it, two just might...

The latest version of the popular VAZ software synth combines the simplicity and low cost of a preset design with some advanced options from the full-fat VAZ Modular.

Host-based programs allowing you to build your own synthesizers from virtual modules have been around for a while. Thanks to DUY, Pro Tools TDM and HD owners can now join in the fun.

How did they make that sound on a subtractive synth? We continue to dissect the analogue 'Acoustic Piano' Performance from Roland's 1986-vintage JX10.

Finding an affordable keyboard with a good weighted action and a healthy selection of sounds suitable for studio and live use isn't as easy as you might think. Could Yamaha's S08 be the Holy Grail?

Designed to replace the JV1010 as Roland's entry-level synth product, the XV2020 is diminutive, affordable, and crammed with those great XV sounds. But what's it like to use?

As explained last month, synthesizing the sound of an acoustic piano is difficult, but it can be done reasonably realistically, as the 1986-vintage Roland JX10 shows. We find out how Roland managed it...

Hot on the heels of the recent Virus C comes the Virus Indigo 2, now upgraded to include the new Virus C synth engine. And what a difference it makes!

Surely the only convincing synth pianos are sample-based ones? A sound as rich and expressive as that of an acoustic piano is far too complex to be rendered by subtractive synthesis... isn't it? Let's find out...

The German team behind the inexpensive MARS have been responsible for several SOS-reviewed products in the past, although the MARS is the first under their own brand name Vermona. But is it more of a Trabant than an Audi?

Having learned last month how to synthesize tuned bells, we turn this time, in the last of this series on the subject of percussion, to untuned bells — in the form of the humble cowbell — and claves.

Access have managed to add some excellent features to their Virus synth in the past simply by upgrading its OS, but the march of progress means that a hardware revision is eventually necessary. Does the new Virus C do enough to keep up with the virtual-analogue crowd?

Elevata is a 16-voice polyphonic, eight-part multitimbral modelling synth from UK innovators Red Sound. But with a number of virtual analogue synths available at the same price point, does the Elevata offer enough to distinguish itself?

Having come up last month with a reasonably realistic cymbal patch, it's time to take the principles of synthesizing metallic percussion one stage further, and produce bell sounds. But there's more to this than you might think...

The Edirol SD90 combines Roland's Sound Canvas sound set with a USB audio and MIDI interface.

Korg's Trinity and Triton have led the workstation market for so long that updating the concept can't have been easy — after all, how do you improve the best? So what's new in the Triton Studio, and will it keep Korg ahead?

Virtual analogue plug‑in synths are now common, and as DX‑style FM was the next great leap forward for real synths, a virtual FM synth was only a matter of time. So how does FM7 measure up to the original DX?

Synthesizing realistic cymbals is complex, but not impossible — after all, over 20 years ago, Roland's TR808 drum machine featured synthesized cymbals. We look at how they managed it, and attempt to create cymbals on another affordable analogue synth.

The Apprentice — a keyboard-less wooden casing designed to house synth modules — is the latest addition to Analogue Systems' fully modular Integrator series of analogue synths. We test one fitted with some of the company's new modules...

Prior to taking over the sampling world, Akai launched a hybrid analogue/digital synth with a unique interface.