Studio One: Lead Architect

The main Lead Architect page features at its heart a triangular vector control, with which you can balance the three source sounds.

We put Studio One v6.6's new Lead Architect synth instrument through its paces.

I’ve been reviewing Studio One for SOS since version 3, and in every review since, I’ve moaned about the fact that PreSonus haven’t come up with any new instruments since Mai Tai. That was nearly 10 years ago. Well, guess what they snuck into version 6.6? That’s right, it’s a brand‑new and sparkly virtual instrument. Let me introduce you to Lead Architect.

Lead Architect is a sample‑based virtual instrument with synth‑style filtering, modulation and effects. With a stylish, sci‑fi‑looking front end and a bit more depth hidden behind the scenes, it has the aroma of one of those Kontakt‑based instruments that comes with a large library of sampled sounds and the impression of synthesis. Lead Architect builds its sound through the combination of three parts, each with its own editable synth engine. There are over 140 presets, made from a selection of around 100 individual sound parts. The marketing tells us that the sounds come from sampled vintage synths, field recordings and more.

Presets

The presets themselves are very bold and full of crackling energy. The sounds are high‑velocity, dramatic and very, very loud. Designed, perhaps, to knock your socks off with aggressive hits, stabs, strikes and other acts of synth violence, underpinned with dirt and distress. The presets are quite dry and don’t have a whole lot of movement going on, but they certainly have an impact and throw you right into the melee if you’re coming up with your latest club banger. More liveliness can be found in the Arpeggiator section, and some of those pads are deep and pendulous in all the right ways. I expected a bit more mystery and spacey meanderings, but as a synth for being the architect of leads, it definitely does its job.

The instrument comes with a bunch of ‘musicloop’ files designed for specific presets. You’ll find them under Files / Sound Sets / Lead Architect. If you drag them into your project, Studio One will load the right preset and you have instant lead lines, bass lines and EDM‑style loops that you can arrange and edit into your own tracks. They are pretty funky and a great way to get to know Lead Architect.

Front End

On the Global page, most of the action revolves around the translucent triangular panels in the centre of the window. They form a sort of three‑sided X/Y pad where you can move a small floating white triangle to create a mix, in a vector‑synthesis style, between the three loaded parts. You get one part on each side of the triangle array, and they are colour‑coded yellow, red and blue. The triangular sections work really well in guiding you towards interesting ratios between the parts. There are also three small triangles at the points of the inner triangle that essentially solo the part they are pointing at. The triangles are definitely working for me.

To the left we have a macro filter control that globally controls the filter cutoff of all three parts. To the right is an envelope that affects the shape of the amplifier envelope for each part, either individually or globally. Both these controls are extensions of the part editors, rather than something applied over the overall sound. They provide some handy quick control without having to page through the parts. 

Sample Shift, next to the cutoff, is designed to fool you into thinking you’re shifting the pitch of the samples in semitones, except that the pitch stays the same and only the speed changes as if the pitch had been transposed, if you get me. Unfortunately, whenever you click on the up or down arrow it leaps 12 semitones in either direction, and doesn’t let you set anything in between. However, if you dig into the automation lanes, you can add an individual Sample Shift lane for each part and change it by semitone there. They do have quite an interesting tonal effect.

Under the main controls is the part selection panel, with all three parts accompanied by the same handful of useful‑looking controls. Clicking on the name of the part brings up the part editor page, which we’ll see in a moment. The colour coding is really helpful here to keep you aware of which part you are editing. Using the little down arrow you can bring up the part library and select another sound. Next to it is a tiny little padlock that, when locked, only loads the samples for the selected sound, rather than all the part parameters. It’s a brilliant way of trying out all the sound design and modulation you’ve been working on with one sound on a completely different one. Underneath you have a very wide panning slider, and alongside are send amounts for the global reverb and delay. Next to the effects sends is a button that’s initially labelled ‘FX’. You’d assume this would turn the reverb and delay effects on and off, but no: it actually refers to Note FX, which in this case sends the part to the Arpeggiator or Repeater in the Global FX section. 

The Arpeggiator lets you create your own patterns, with editable gate lengths and velocities.

The Arpeggiator and Repeater functions are really good, and the confusingly named button means that you can turn the Arp/Repeater on or off for each part individually. This can create very dynamic textures, such as bold animated leads over brooding pads. The Note FX are taken directly from Studio One’s Note FX and have a comprehensive range of features. The arp can do every direction, with various timings and octave ranges. You can create your own patterns, adjusting the level and gate length per note along with overall velocity and swing. The Repeater not only ratchets notes but can also scale the pitch, scale the gates and be a step sequencer.

The reverb and delay are less impressive. Even with them fully dialled up I couldn’t get anything more than around a 60/40 dry/wet mix. It’s enough, certainly, in the context of the instrument, but it feels like the sort of synth that could lean heavily into effects. But then Studio One has plenty of other plug‑ins you could use for that.

Part Editor

Moving to the Part Editor, we get a modulation section, filter and effects that all seem very familiar. And then you realise it’s the synth engine from Presence XT. It’s identical except for one tiny difference, which is that the second envelope is called the ‘Filter Envelope’ in Lead Architect, whereas in Presence it’s called ‘Env 2’. It’s a slightly odd change because the Filter Envelope isn’t hardwired to the filter; you have to route it to the filter in the Modulation Matrix, and, oddly enough, in the Matrix drop‑down menu, it’s called ‘Env 2’.

One of the part editing pages, showing the synth controls at the top and modulation matrix below.

So, we’re in familiar territory, which means we already know our way around. We have two LFOs with multiple shapes and a rate that goes from 0.01Hz to 8Hz. The rate can be sync’ed, free or tied to the pitch of the note. The Delay knob is a favourite feature because it can be used to make the LFO come in after a period of time, adding vibrato to the end of a sustained note. The two envelopes have all four ADSR stages, and you can pull out up to 20 seconds’ worth of attack, 20 seconds’ worth of decay and 30 seconds of release. The ‘Filter Envelope’ also has a delay feature so you can time it to come in after the note has been struck.

Effects & Modulation

Beneath the editor, we have some effects and the modulation matrix. You can add chorus‑type effects, bit‑crushing and distortion, along with EQ, panning and a very cool Gater. The modulation matrix has eight slots, in which you can select up to two sources for one destination. So, you could combine an LFO and envelope into the filter cutoff in one slot rather than using up two. You have all the usual physical sources, like mod/pitch wheels, aftertouch, and some MPE inputs from poly pressure and note pitch, along with LFO and envelope outputs. Destinations are a little on the light side. You can modulate every stage of each envelope, but you can’t modulate the Drive or Punch of the filter, Sample Shift or any effects parameters.

There’s a temptation to be always trying to blend three sounds together, but actually there’s a lot of good stuff to be found fiddling with a single sound.

One thing worth pointing out is that the source material for the parts is pretty great. There’s a temptation to be always trying to blend three sounds together, but actually there’s a lot of good stuff to be found fiddling with a single sound. Some of the ‘Noise Sustaining’ recordings are amazing; you could build some brilliant percussive lines with ‘Transients’, and the individual synth sounds have a lot going for them.

I think the design, intention and general vibe of the front panel is really good. It sets the scene, gives you good information and lets you play with the most important parts of the patch. The triangular mixing system is fun and intuitive, letting you dance around the textures and find the sweet spots within the parts. What’s missing is modulation and control. You can’t modulate the vector pad. It feels like you should be able to set it spinning or weaving through the space. Maybe it needs the ability to record gestures and loop movements, or perhaps some kind of physics‑based system where you can bounce the white triangle around. Grabbing the mouse is the only way to interact with it, which is a bit hampering for a synth. You are able to modulate each part’s level in the part editor, but the movement is not reflected on the vector pad. One way around this is to record movements as automation in the instrument’s track. Lead Architect will draw three lanes of individual level control over the parts and take those back in on playback, which is reflected in the vector pad. It feels like a missed opportunity.

Conclusion

A lot has happened to software synths and virtual instruments over the last decade, and in terms of modulation and control, Lead Architect perhaps feels a little dated — which is hardly surprising given that it’s based on the very mature Presence XT synth engine. At heart, though, it is a thoroughly decent sampled instrument, which has a snazzy front end, some innovative controls, and sounds great.