Today, Cherry Audio introduced Synth Stack 4, the 2023 update to their virtual instrument collection, which now features 22 software synthesizers.
Synth Stack 4, available for macOS + Windows, includes 19 emulations of classic vintage synthesizers, three original synthesizers, a modular synthesizer platform, and nearly 8,000 presets.
Synth Stack 4 includes:
Voltage Modular Core + Electro Drums, a collection of modular madness including 120 modules and over 600 presets.
DCO-106, a recreation of the Juno-106 polysynth of the 80’s.
CA2600, a powerful, self-contained duophonic synthesizer inspired by the ARP 2600 synthesizer.
Surrealistic MG-1 Plus Synthesizer, a recreation of the Moog MG-1 synthesizer, sold in Radio Shack stores in 80s.
Polymode, inspired by the Moog Polymoog synthesizer, one of the world’s first polyphonic synthesizers.
Eight Voice, an emulation of the Oberheim Eight Voice, one of the world’s rarest and most desirable vintage instruments.
PS-20, a polyphonic take on Korg’s MS-20.
Memorymode, based upon the Memorymoog, one of the very best-sounding polyphonic programmable analog synthesizers of the 80s.
Mercury-4, an emulation of the Roland Jupiter-4.
Quadra, a reimagining of the 1978 ARP Quadra.
Dreamsynth, a “tribute to the celebrated hybrid analog/digital synthesizers of the mid-to-late 1980s”.
Miniverse, a virtual emulation of the granddaddy of all portable synthesizers.
Lowdown recreates the sounds of “the most legendary dual-oscillator bass pedal synth ever made.”
Elka-X, a virtual synthesizer based upon the Synthex, a rare Italian analog synth manufactured by ELKA in the early eighties.
Sines, an original polyphonic synthesizer that utilizes diverse waveshaping methods to bend pure waveforms into variable and complex shapes.
GX-80, Cherry Audio’s visionary flagship synthesizer that combines the sound and features of the Yamaha GX-1 “Dream Machine” and its descendant, the CS-80.
New! Mercury-6, a recreation of the Jupiter-6 analog synthesizer.
New! Novachord + Solovox, a collection emulating two early electronic instruments that were precursors of modern synthesizers.
New! Octave Cat, a recreation of The CAT duophonic synthesizer, by Octave Electronics in 1976.
New! Harmonia, an original from Cherry Audio, designed to easily create rich, evolving polyphonic tones.
New! PS-3300, an emulation of the rare semi-modular analog polyphonic synthesizer released by KORG in 1977.
New! Pro Soloist, an updated take on the preset-based analog synth, originally released by ARP Instruments in 1972.
Synth Stack 4 is available now at the introductory price of $299 through December 5th, 2023 (normally $399).
Universal Audio’s new plugin captures the sound of one of the most famous studios in rock ‘n’ roll history, where Nirvana, Metallica and Fleetwood Mac all recorded. The Sound City Studios plugin is a painstaking emulation of the space and the gear that gave rise to Nirvana’s Nevermind and countless other classic records.
Universal Audio has announced the Sound City Studios plugin, a software emulation of one of the most famous recording studios in musical history.
This Los Angeles studio played host to some of the biggest names in rock music, including Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac and Rage Against the Machine. This is the studio where Nirvana recorded Nevermind: after the studio shut down in 2011, Dave Grohl purchased its vintage 8028 console and made a feature-length documentary about the place.
UA says its new plugin recreates “every aspect” of Sound City Studios, from the sound of the room to its classic microphones, analogue outboard gear and its legendary mixing console.
Sound City was famed for the unique acoustics of its Studio A room, which UA have recreated using Dynamic Room Modelling technology, enabling you to move any sound source around a virtual model of the room and experiment with different placements of its emulations of classic microphones such as the AKG C414 and Neumann K54.
Guitarists will be able to imitate vintage guitar tones using various modelled cabinet and mic setups, while budding engineers can run their sounds through Sound City’s reverb chamber and its collection of analogue outboard gear, including the UREI 1176 compressor and Dolby A-style effects.
The star of the plugin is UA’s emulation of Sound City’s famed console, which is equipped with a 3-band EQ and bus compressor. The studio’s Neve 8020 was custom-built by Rupert Neve in 1973; legend has it that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were the first artists recorded through the board as they tracked 1973’s Buckingham Nicks at Sound City, a recording that later persuaded Mick Fleetwood to join the duo and record Fleetwood Mac’s debut in the same room.
Listen to Demo:
UAD Sound City Studios is available now for a discounted price of $299 or can be accessed through UA’s Spark subscription service. Find out more at Universal Audio website.
Cherry Audio today introduced Pro Soloist, a virtual instrument based on the ARP Pro Soloist from 1972, for macOS + Windows.
They say that Pro Soloist goes far beyond the original design, by making the synth fully programmable, and expanding it with full polyphony, splits and layers, an arpeggiator, a mod matrix, integrated studio-quality effects and more.
Cherry Audio has added a dual-layer voicing architecture, with 16 polyphonic voices per layer, that enables two different presets simultaneously, with independent panning for rich stereo timbres and complex sounds. Pro Soloist also includes a split keyboard mode and a “Last Note” option that they say simulates polyphonic aftertouch using monophonic-aftertouch controllers.
Official video intro:
Features:
Virtual instrument based on ARP’s 1972 preset-based monophonic analog synth
Reproduces the controls and 30 presets, and surfaces the unique underlying analog synthesis architecture to make it fully programmable
Dual-layer voicing architecture with 16 polyphonic voices per layer: two different Pro Soloist style sounds simultaneously playable, in either a keyboard split or stacked layer mode, with discrete controls for layer volume and panning
Three-panel interface: Performance mode, with the original paddle presets; Edit mode, revealing all of the original’s unique analog synthesis architecture parameters; and Arp/FX mode
All Pro Soloist voicing parameters reproduced and exposed, including the five parallel 2-pole bandpass filters of the Resonator Bank, expanded with individual frequency curves
Touch Sensor Effects controls to apply aftertouch to volume, brilliance (filter), and portamento, with adjustable touch sensitivity
Mono (retrigger or legato, low or high-note priority) and polyphonic modes, with a “last” note option to simulate polyphonic aftertouch with a monophonic aftertouch controller for more expressive performance possibilities
Voltage-controlled oscillator with sawtooth and pulse waves, plus a “Super Wave” option for fatter tones
VCO modulation with ADSR PWM, AR PWM, LFO PWM, and LFO FM
24dB/oct Voltage-controlled filer (VCF) with filter invert and modulation with ADSR, AR, LFO, Growl (a specialized low-frequency oscillator), velocity, and keyboard tracking
Voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) with modulation by ADSR, AR, LFO, and velocity, and independent per-layer control over volume and panning
Tempo-syncable LFO with sine, ramp, sawtooth, and square waveforms
Resonant highpass filter with cutoff frequency from 20 Hz to 1300 Hz
Resonator Bank with five parallel bandpass filters with continuously variable frequency and resonance controls, all individually modulatable via the Mod Matrix. The frequency curves of the originals are provided and any of the resonators can be set to individually to any of the curves, in any combination.
ADSR (attack/decay/sustain/release) and AR (attack/release) envelope generators
Powerful but easy-to-use Modulation Matrix with six slots and simple click-to-assign functionality: 22 sources and 58 destinations, including Pro Soloist’s integrated effects
Arpeggiator with MIDI tempo sync with Down, Up, Up/Down, and Random
Panel Control for selecting layer controls, including utility functions for duplicating and exchanging synthesis and effects parameters between layers and presets
Preset Paddles includes each of the 30 original Pro Soloist factory presets
450 presets, accessible in a preset browser
12 studio-quality integrated effects: distortion, 2/4/6/8 stage phaser with sync, flanger/chorus with sync, three types of stereo echo/delay with sync, and five types of reverb, with easy-to-access global or layer settings
Complete MIDI control and DAW automation for all controls, with easy-to-use MIDI learn and mapping (Preset and Global)
Cherry Audio’s Focus zoom-in feature, as well as standard UI zoom and resize via drag
Complete documentation available directly online from the instrument or in downloadable PDF format
