Nothing borrowed or blue here, but a cracking collection of sounds for synths old and new from some of the best sound designers out there!
I love it when sound designers continue to produce presets for older synths, especially some of the more odd instruments of yesteryear. This week, we have sounds for the Yamaha QS300 and the E-MU Proteus, plus new sounds for a couple of modern classics by Scott McAuley and GEOSynths.
Sounds and Presets
Elixir Vol.1 for KORG prologue by Scott McAuley Sounds
It’s strange to think that the KORG prologue is eight years old this year! That probably explains the curious plastic-wrapped keyboard that KORG had on display at Superbooth 26, which many believe is a highly anticipated prologue 2.
One of its neat tricks is the third oscillator, called the Multi Engine. This offers extra options in the form of Noise, FM via KORG’s VPM and most importantly, 16 User slots where developers can insert their own oscillator designs.
Scott McAuley has created a new bank for the prologue and, as part of the package, he’s giving users three brand new custom Multi Engine oscillators, along with 5 wavetable oscillators, so not only do you get new sounds, but you can explore these new additions and create more of your own.
The three new custom oscillators have a distinct FM vibe going on, including a more traditional algorithmic FM oscillator and a Through-Zero FM oscillator. The third is a very clever beast that can step through the waveforms on a per-note basis.
As for the sounds, you get 146 new sounds that are used across 101 new custom patches. This is quite the package for prologue users and will certainly rekindle their affection for what is undoubtedly a modern classic.
Elixir Vol.1 is available now from Scott’s website for £39.99.
Matrix Vol.2 for Oberheim TEO-5 by GEOSynths
Another modern classic is Oberheim’s TEO-5, a small but mighty take on the Oberheim style and sound. It’s a hugely affordable way to get that classic sound and won’t take up much space in your studio, especially if you go for the desktop version.
Whilst the factory sounds tick ALL of the Oberheim boxes, Jamie Morden has decided to explore other sonic avenues to take the TEO-5 to pastures new. Matrix Vol.2 is his second attempt at doing just that.
Exploring a range of sound types, such as big basses, powerful leads, soundscapes and pads and big poly synth sounds, Matrix Vol.2 adds some serious clout to your TEO-5.
Every patch makes use of the TEO-5’s performance functions so each sound goes way beyond the original preset settings. Matrix Vol.2 is available now for $39 but if you don’t already own Vol.1, you can grab a bundle of both for just $69.
Golden Age for E-MU Proteus 2000 by Nick Klimenko
E-MU are probably best known for their classic sampling keyboards of the 1980s that made sampling more attainable to the masses with the Emulator and EMAX instruments.
The combined genius of Dave Rossum and his talented team managed to deliver the creative power of sampling in keyboards that were both sonically impressive and visually stunning.
However, as time moved on, sampling became infinitely more affordable and E-MU were facing stiff competition from Akai, Ensoniq and more. E-MU decided to make the most of their extensive sound library and technology.
In the late 90s and early 00s, E-MU released a range of 1U rack-mount modules that drew from that huge library and delivered it in a number of themed modules, along with the Proteus that had more of a broad palette.
The Proteus 2000 was part of their third generation of these modules and offered 128 voices of polyphony, 32-part multitimbrality and 32MB of ROM, numbers that are almost unheard of these days!
They still command a lot of love from users and whilst some of the sounds can be a bit dated, there’s still plenty of top quality content inside, so it is really nice to see the Proteus 2000 getting some love with “Golden Age”.
The pack contains 128 new presets covering a wide range of styles so if you have a Proteus 2000 sitting in your rack gathering dust, why not pick up this pack for just €25!
Analog Dreams for Yamaha QS300 by Nick Klimenko
Nick Klimenko has been a busy chap of late and this bank sees another 90s classic getting some 21st century love! The Yamaha QS300 was an odd little workstation from 1996 that made use of their extensive AWM2 sample and synthesis system.
32 voices, 16 track sequencer and around 1000 sounds built-in, the QS300 wasn’t quite up there with Yamaha’s W7 workstation, but certainly held its own in what was becoming a very saturated market.
The QS300 has 204 sampled waveforms which can then be layered to create some pretty powerful sounds. It would be a technique that Yamaha employed in synths like the SY85, TG500 and CS1x, CS2x and CS6x.
With the W series and SY family being seen as the more pro-focused instruments, the QS always seemed to be perceived as more akin to a arranger keyboard, rightly or wrongly.
But with the layering technique of creating patches, it meant that users could create their own combinations of layers, each layer being able to be treated individually, and this is what has allowed Nick to create Analog Dreams for the QS300.
There are 120 new sounds here, covering a healthy range of types and styles and will give any QS300 owners an excuse to revisit this quirky yet fun synth.
One word of warning… you will need to have a working floppy disk drive in both your QS300 and your computer as the sounds are delivered in a floppy disk format. The bank itself sells for €20 from the LFO.store.
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