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Silen Audio Infinite Flow captures the ‘sonic imperfection’ of vintage analogue synths in software.

Silen Audio has announced the release of its first ever plugin. Infinite Flow is a virtual analogue synth designed for capturing the unique sonic character of classic polysynths and recreating the sonic imperfection of vintage analogue  instruments.

The designers of Infinite Flow tell us they carefully captured the character of 12 different analogue polys in developing the plugin; by the looks of the preset names they’ve taken inspiration from the Yamaha CS-80, the Oberheim OB-4 and the Roland Jupiter-8, among others.

You can choose between these 12 models, dial in the desired amount of ‘Slop’ (Silen Audio’s term for analogue modelling), randomize the voice variance parameters or even create your own models to be used with Infinite Flow.

The synth is equipped with eight voices and seven oscillators, each of which can be individually detuned and panned to create rich, full-sounding patches. There’s two multimode filters onboard with built-in overdrive, and five effects including delay, reverb, saturation, flutter and chorus.

You’ve also got three envelopes for tone-sculpting and three LFOs for modulation, which can be applied on a per-voice basis using the modulation matrix by those looking to design complex, evolving sounds.

Infinite Flow No Talking & Play Demo:

Infinite Flow is available for Windows and Mac in VST3 and AU formats. The plugin will set you back $179.99, or it can be purchased on a $9.99/month rent-to-own plan.

Find out more on Silen Audio website.

Synthesist Matt Johnson – in his latest video – is joined by Native Instruments founder Stephan Schmitt to talk about his unique hardware synth design, the Nonlinear Labs C15.

The C15 is a polyphonic instrument with a digital sound synthesis architecture. The goal of the audio engine is not to model analog machines of the past or to play back samples or complex waveforms, but to focus on creating sounds that can be dramatically influenced by how you play.

Details on the C15 are available at the Nonlinear Labs website.

Roland updates its software JX-3P and now you can make it sound pristine or battered.

The words ‘Roland has just updated the JX-3P’ probably haven’t been muttered since about 1983 when the original hardware synth was launched.

But, now we’re talking about the software version of this synth, and with v2, Roland says the JX-3P not only looks better, but can sound as good as the original, in any condition that may be.

The original JX-3P arrived at what you might call an ‘odd’ time for synthesisers. Analogue machines had ruled the charts and keyboard rigs but this newfangled digital technology was coming in to make everything more stable and deliver features like presets and effects.

The JX-3P was one of the models of the time – and you can count Korg’s Poly 6 in similar company – where the heart of the synth was analogue but there was digital control meaning a distinct lack of rotary controls, and everything starting to be hidden behind buttons and menus. Consequently a Roland PG-200 was released bringing back some rotary control. To spin a popular phrase: First Roland taketh away, then it giveth.

“You can dial in everything from a factory-primed JX-3P to a road-worn synth that hasn’t seen a tech bench in decades”

Back to the software version, and the JX-3P models both the original 2-oscillator synth and its controller – although ironically an external MIDI controller would be nice to get the best from both – and v2 of the synth adds better looks, sounds and realism.

The better looks come by way of an updated hi-res screen – which again goes for both the keyboard and controller – which Roland says is completely overhauled. The sounds, meanwhile get a four-pronged update. First the ACB (Analog Circuit Behavior) model has been improved to give a more realistic sound, and of these, new presets have been added. Plus you can now home in on them better with universal patch browsing.

Most interesting is the addition of Circuit Mod. This is a little like the Vintage knob found on an increasing number of synths that allows you to make the synth’s sound more unstable, and has recently been introduced into more Roland synths like the Juno-60.

Roland explains it well: “Vintage synths like the JX-3P had internal trim controls that allowed technicians to tweak various analog components when they drifted out of spec. But sometimes, ‘out of spec’ created a sound that was unique, interesting, or extraordinary.

“Through our latest ACB advancements, Circuit Mod lets you sweep through multiple trims using a single control. A Condition parameter simulates the effects of ageing, so you can dial in everything from a factory-primed JX-3P to a road-worn synth that hasn’t seen a tech bench in decades.”

The updated Roland JX-3P is available through a Roland Cloud subscription, available for $19.99/month.

And we’ll end this by mentioning some famous original JX-3P users like Harold Faltermeyer, The xx and Future Sound of London, not least because it gives us a an excuse to link to this beauty…