Dash Synths for Reaktor
Ever since I bought my first synthesizer (a Yamaha AN1x) I had one goal. To recreate the main sound from Charlie by The Prodigy (also known as the 'Mentasm' or 'Hoover' stab). I found out that it was multiple detuned saw waves, and is a preset on the Roland Alpha Juno ... but I just couldn't recreate it on anything until now.....
Dash Synths for Reaktor is a group of Reaktor ensembles featuring some very close emulations of real syntheisizers from the 80's - including the Alpha Juno and the Korg Wavestation. The great thing about this is it fills in some gaps in the synthesizer lineup that other software on this site provides. Subtractive analogue synthesizer emulations seem to be two a penny these days, but this is the first Wavestation emulation I have seen. The Wavestation was a unique synthesizer - with a vector control that allowed you to move between multiple sampled waveforms. All this has been replicated in detail and so forms a great addon to Reaktor and to any studio (unless you already have a Wavestation of course!).
There are thirteen other ensembles which vary in quality. The Juno is superb, while the vocoder is lacking certain features - though it can produce some good effects. The System 2 is incredible - it illustrates that is is possible to create entire songs with Reaktor and the preset to be heard in it's entirety to be believed. I noticed that the filters were not just the standard Reaktor filters, but had some extra processing - which is a sign that the quality of these ensembles is above average.
Altogether this is a great addon to Reaktor and if you can afford the best part of $500 for Reaktor its worth parting with another $30 for this.....
Go to the Dash Synths homepage
