IK Multimedia Syntronik
A dream team of 38 vintage synthesisers makes a play for your plugins folder
Vintage synth emulations are nothing new – but how about 38 synths in one? That’s the deal with Syntronik, which IK Multimedia say “raises the bar in sound quality and flexibility.”
The package comprises 17 instruments, each based on one or more classic synths, with its interface resembling the emulated gear. For example, Minimod apes the Minimoog Model D, Modular Moog and Moog Voyager. Other virtualised goodies include the Oberheim OB-X/OB-Xa; Roland Jupiters, JXs and Juno-60; Sequential Circuits Prophets; Yamaha CS-80, GX-1 and CS-01 II; ARP 2600; Roland TB-303; PPG Wave 2.3; Oberheim SEM; and a whole bunch of further Moog classics, including Taurus pedals, Polymoog, Opus 3, Rogue and Prodigy. String Box emulates string machines from ARP, Elka, Hohner and Roland. There are even recreations of Yamaha’s epic SY99 digital power-synth from 1991, and Alesis’ 2000 masterpiece, the all-analogue Andromeda.
So is it samples or synthesis under the hood? A bit of both, actually. The oscillators are sampled – “the only way to ensure truly authentic sounds," say IK. This involves deep multisampling and capture of oscillator combinations like FM and sync sweeps. IK’s new Drift technology then varies phase, pitch and ‘colour’ with each note, “to keep them moving just like real analogue oscillators.” This amounts to 50GB of sound content.
The seven filter styles include circuit-level models of the Moog transistor ladder, Roland IR3109 (Juno-60, Jupiter-8), Curtis CEM3320 (Prophet-5, Oberheim OB-Xa) and Oberheim SEM state-variable. These are all “mix and match”, allowing, for example, Minimoog oscillators to be combined with Oberheim filters.
Other features include four available synth layers per patch, ‘dynamic’ arpeggiators, 2000 presets, compatibility with IK’s SampleTank 3 package, and 38 AmpliTube/T-RackS-derived effects (with a few Syntronik exclusives like Ensemble Chorus).
Syntronik is available for $50 per instrument, or $300 bags you all 17.
URL www.ikmultimedia.com