Like a room getting furnished with exquisite interior design, I'm on a mission to collect a small, choice "family" of software synthesizers and sound libraries. I've browsed through hundreds, tried dozens, and decided many simply do not meet my needs or I already have these filled. (I'm well-covered in the saw wave and piano depts.!) As in other fields, I search for the eclectic:
not following any one system, as of philosophy, medicine, etc., but selecting and using what are considered the best elements of all systems.
especially that which takes a fresh, eminently usable approach to that is familiar and worn. That's why I was so pleased to play out Sonic Charge's Synplant.
In some ways, Synplant is more like a casual video game than your run-of-the-mill, knobs-and-sliders soft synth. It's not garden-variety, but does allow you to experiment with a type of "sonic DNA" by growing and mutating branches. In other words, innovative, lush sounds within seconds. Synplant boasts many potent features such as being able to give each chromatic key a different sound, and the mod wheel gives particularly excitable effects by growing all branches at once, in realtime. Watch!
These core ideas, implemented so well, both pay an underlying tribute to the expressive synth solos of 70s prog rock — of which we have far less in current electronic music styles where producers predominantly step-program and aren't acquainted with virtuosic improvisation — and the future, like a sci-fi landcape filled with marvelous devices that may be viewed as "sound toys" but are deliciously powerful. Will Wright might have something to say about this.
In an age where more sound designers are experimenting with using beautiful visuals and organic parallels to explore fascinating textures — take Electroplankton and Microsia, for instance — Synplant stands out. Some have likened it to Kai's Power Tools, which had a wild interface conducive to play but some didn't like all the embossiness. (It was so shocking in 1995!) However, Synplant throws no extraneous distractions: subtle animations like the branches waving when played and seeds growing add life and vigor, and serve as practical feedback.
Magnus Lidstrom, Synplant's creator, has let his personality shine: the Sonic Charge website is as beautiful as Synplant, and like a fine hotel where your whims and wishes are catered to, even anticipated (mindreading is a sport for the service-oriented!), you get the impression he really cares about his craft. Musicians tend to think of "craft" as, say, a luthier who's established a pedigree of guitars which stretches across decades, but here we have newer traditions emerging at an accelerated pace, consistent with thoughts about the singularity. And they are beautiful. One — including myself — might hope for a gestural system to sculpt these sounds.
How does Synplant sound? It has a unique character that I'd describe as "alternate aural reality". Much like its somewhat-Borg (if you recall the green electricity arcing over alcoves), alien appearance, Synplant can definitely sound warm and analogue-ish (especially if you add some atonality into the equation), but it can sound fierce and digitally STABBING, too!
I've taken both of those polar opposites in a single sound, a minor tweak of one of the presets, to jam atop this Dopplebanger remix of Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" + Vangelis' "Blade Runner End Titles". Here I show you both the light, airy droplets AND the brazen heaven-and-hell pads.
As fate would have it, after making these videos, I emailed them to Magnus and he expressed enjoying both of these songs by themselves very much. And to have this all combined, connected — even moreso! That's what I'm about, connections, and in my truest, purest creativity without inhibitions or preconfined thoughts, I strive to matchmake elements that've wandered the Earth, wondering "Is there anyone for me?" Of course there is.
Disclosure: Magnus gave me a complementary copy of Synplant following these videos and before I wrote this text; he didn't request this review, which I write solely because I enjoy sharing awesome stuff. Synplant has an unusually generous 3-week trial which is fully-functional — no audio watermarks (like Sylenth1) or intermittent fading-out of the sound (like V-Station), and on top of that, it only counts down on the days you actually use it. Making sure you have a chance to experience it and don't feel rushed (versus Antares' Auto-Tune 10-day countdown which keeps on descending no matter what). Give it a go, the $89 price is not only to be considered for its high-caliber sound exploration, but the emotional joy and fun you'll feel.
For more insights on Synplant, I highly recommend Ronnie's review @ Rekkerd. He in fact is who I originally heard of Synplant from, but I didn't have a virtual studio competently being assembled at the time.
Thanks also to Synthtopia, who posted about my performance as their Sunday Synth Jam. I now join a legion of forward-thinking cyberpunk enthusiasts who've played from Vangelis' Blade Runner, or as my little brother affectionately calls him, "Vangy".
Go on, explore! There's a world of sound waiting for each one of us.