Rob Papen
SYNTHS
UNDER £50
Cheap and cheerful or cacky and dismaying?
Are these full-version plugins up to the job?
A simple one-oscillator synth with all the basics of
synthesis and a sound that’s hard to argue with, FabFilter
One gives you a choice of four waveforms: triangle, saw,
square (with pulse width) and noise. These lead into a
fi lter (cutoff and resonance) and an HADSR envelope.
Simple, but effective – and yes, that fi lter is indeed fab.
The modulation is where it’s at, with the same envelope
signal and a ‘Modulation Generator’ (an LFO) being
applicable to the osc’s frequency (for vibrato), the fi lter’s
cutoff, and pulse width. Global controls include velocity
and keyboard tracking, plus portamento and polyphony.
One is a very basic synth that feels like the base for a
whole bunch of synth patches. If you’re just looking for
super-simple tones or to add an extra layer to an existing
line for some stability, it’s a great option. There’s more
bang for your buck elsewhere in this round-up though.
fabfi lter.com
VERDICT 8.8
An excellent resource for chiptune
sounds, miniBit offers up
(appropriately) a single oscillator
from a choice of 18, with the ability
to construct new oscillators in the
Editor (eight slots are available). The
oscillator’s control set gives you
tuning, fi netuning and volume, and
you can dial in a sub oscillator at a
level of your choosing. Those 18
sound sources alone should put you
in mind of your favourite classic
console as soon as you crank down
the downsample and Bits knobs, and
there’s basic envelope and LFO
controls to get things moving.
miniBit’s fi lter is another simple
affair with cutoff and resonance
dials, plus a high-pass/low-pass
switch. There’s a delay effect and
that all-important crusher effect to
bring the sound down in quality.
There’s also an eight-step sequencer
that can take command over pitch,
volume, resonance, wave,
downsampling, etc.
miniBit is great for crafting
chiptune-style sounds, with enough
control for the synthesist to dial in
exactly what they’re after. Some
niggles in operation, such as
modulation and glide not resetting
until you note-off all notes then
note-on one again, make it a little
pernickety, but it’s a great source of
tweakable low-bit fun!
audiothing.net
VERDICT 8.2
FabFilter One £44 AudioThing miniBit €20
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