Rob Papen B.I.T

The latest softsynth in Rob Papen’s ever-
expanding range is remarkable for being…
well, unremarkable – in a conceptual sense, at
least. You see, B.I.T. (which stands for ‘Back In
Time’) is a straight-up, “pure” virtual analogue
modelling synth – something that has never
existed in the Papen catalogue until now. All of
the great man’s previous synths have been
based on ‘digital’ oscillators, and while their
extensive sampled waveform libraries invariably
include single-cycle analogue shapes, it is
nonetheless surprising that it’s taken this long
for one of the industry’s most proliic developers
to get round to building the kind of back-to-
basics synth that the majority of the competition
cut their technological teeth on.
Analogue throughout
B.I.T. (VST/AU/AAX) is a two-oscillator virtual
analogue mono/polysynth with an additional
noise oscillator (white or pink) and a sub
oscillator slaved to Osc 2. The selection of 11
waveforms available to the main oscillators
includes eight standard shapes (square, sine,
triangle, HalfSine, SineSaw, etc) as well as white,
pink and tuned noise, while the sub can output a
sine, square or saw. The oscillators can be tuned
in octaves, semitones and cents, and run free or
retriggered; and the Symmetry knob adjusts
Rob Papen
B.i.t. £80
The Dutch master of software synthesis makes the move into end-to-end
analogue modelling with this approachable new virtual instrument
“The Feedback control
is an unusual inclusion
that serves as an
inspiring source of raw
tone distortion”
OSCILLATOR MOD
Apply PM, FM or
ring modulation of
Osc 2 by Osc 1
UNISON
Detune, spread and
harmonise up to four
stacked voices
OSCILLATOR
WAVEFORM
11 analogue
choices
including noise
PITCH LFO
A dedicated LFO
for vibrato, with ‘via’
mod input
SYMMETRY
Vary the pulse width and
skew the other waveforms
FEEDBACK
Dial in oscillator
self-modulation for
tasty distortion
AMP
Built-in envelope
modulation and
per-voice distortion
FREE LFO
Assignable in the
Mod Matrix, and
featuring Phase shift
EFFECTS
Five tasty
modules, all
of them
available
at once!
ARPEGGIATOR
Create sequences from held notes and
chords; design rhythmic modulations
MOD MATRIX
Assign up to
eight
modulation
sources
and targets
DUAL
FILTERS
A pair of
filters, routable
in series or two
parallel styles
pulse width for the square wave and skews all
the other waves in harmonically interesting
ways. There’s plenty of modulation potential,
too, with Osc 2 syncable to Osc 1, and open to
pulse (PM), frequency (FM) and ring modulation
from the same; and both oscillators able to self-
modulate via the Feedback control. The last is
an unusual inclusion that serves as an inspiring
source of searing raw tone distortion.
Each oscillator is visualised by an informative
dual oscilloscope, the left pane showing the
oscillator waveform in a single-cycle ‘window’,
the right monitoring the oscillator’s processed
output. Clicking the Advanced button between
the two panes switches them to a handy
modulation section, wherein one of a pair of
dedicated envelopes and LFOs can be applied to
each oscillator, independently modulating the
Volume, tuning, Symmetry and Feedback
controls. This is a particularly neat feature,
making it supremely easy to dial in a bit of
90 / Computer musiC / Autumn 2019
> reviews / rob papen b.i.t.
CMU274.rev_bit.indd 90 8/16/19 6:56 PM