Finally it is here. A vst that does the kind of bass sounds that I like. The presets kind of deceive you into thinking this is just a repackage of gladiator(another synth I love to death). I am very impressed with this VST.

Tone2 Saurus Modern by mastersongs

Mod Matrix: 9
VAst modulations can be done, 2 lfos, 2 envs and a ton of too and from modulations. The lfos have phase control and can sync to the bpm clock.

Interface: 9.7
Do not fear, this has one of the most clean and basic interfaces out there, so dialing in your own sound is very familiar and easy(if you know subtractive synthesis that is).

Presets:9.5
It comes with a lot of usable presets. Every kind of sound that I want can be done on this thing(in the analog realm). In fact the presets make this synth cooler than most all the other VA VST with the exception of sylenth1. If i only could have two vsts, I would pick saurus and sylenth1. YES EVEN OVER DIVA. I like tyrell nexus 6 more than diva as well. 563 usable presets!

The Filter: 8
I even like its filter modes more. Diva is good, but a processor hog, saurus has its own sound more so than diva. Saurus has 24 and 12 db multimode filter. The filter is smooth and i do like the resonance, it is in its own ball park, not quiet moog, not quiet roland, not quiet korg. Its hard for me to put my finger on it. The filter has drive which dulls the sound and makes a tad warmer and aggressive, fm and feedback to really muck up the sound, over all the effect is ok and not spectacular, very useful for sound shaping though.

Envelopes: 7
The envelopes can be really fast and snappy, and long and slow, this is my one complaint, they need a switch for fast and slow envs, that would really help because this thing would excel at slow evolving analog sounds if it had super slow envs. I did notice some weird noise on fast short env sounds on some modes, some anomalies in the sound some clicking and popping and noise bleed or something like i have on my mopho i can hear it on some sounds with the headphones(i think this has to do with feedback and drive, same issues on the mopho cause it has similar drive and feedback). In the mix though this is not a problem.

Tone2 Saurus Vintage by mastersongs

Aliasing: Decent
For leads though i still have to defer to sylenth 1 as it does not alias much at all, as to where if i play up high on saurus it does alias, not as bad as some other software though, and I did all my listening at 44khz, maybe at higher khz the aliasing is not as big of an issue.

FX: 9
I think tone 2 does great effects as well, warmverb is a great fx processor(i will review that soon as well) and this is where i think saurus really wins. The verb, chorus, and delay are great and add depth and dimension to the sound. Even without fx, the synth sounds amazing. These are icing on the cake.

The Osc: 9.2
The osc sounds amazing, the ample sub osc modes are great. Someone said this can cover the alpha juno sound, and i do not agree, the chorus is nothing like the alpha junos, and the osc’s are way more beefy and can do sync and fm. These osc are too creamy to be compared with the metallic plastic analog sound of the junos. The osc drift also puts it above and beyond juno territory. The osc have 8 shapes and the sub osc have 8 shapes. WOW.

Processor: 9.5
On some poly sounds I can get my quad core 2.66ghz intel processor to go to about 35 to 40% on some of the more complex patches, most of the sounds though only get my processor under 10% while sounding immaculate and great. Diva is a joke, i can only get most sounds to about 40 to 70% in its “great mode” not even the perfect mode on most poly sounds. Forget Diva, this synth sounds better to my ears, has better effects and does not eat your processor and force you to go blow thousands of dollars to get a machine that can run diva well.

Price: 9.5
For how this thing sounds, and what it can do, and how nice it is to your processor, $119 is a steal compared to other synths. I like this even more than gladiator 2. Click Here To Buy.

Over all score: 9.5
I like how this synth sounds even more than diva and tryell nexus 6. The sounds I like the most are the chiming type sounds. The pwm sounds, leads and pads are astounding. The bass is the best out of all the VST VAs on the market. This synth sounds warm. The presets are much more usable on saurus. To me this sounds like a poly moog meets a korg synth meets a roland. Because it covers so much ground it really can sound like a lot of things while sounding like its own thing. It can be aggressive and mean, pretty and lush, big and fat, or as thin and cutting as you like it. I must say this might be the perfect VST synth.Click Here to Try The Demo. THIS IS A MUST HAVE, BUY IT!! Click Here To Buy.

Video by Headcase! This is a cover I did about a year ago, was planning to put it on a single. Singles don’t sell. Opportunity to get it on a really cool compilation came up and that is what I went with. Dependence 2012 compilation with a lot of other cool acts on it like front line assembly, skold, informatik, decoded feedback, and kmfdm. Click here to hear a preview. Edward Kaspel is the front man of the Legendary Pink Dots and The Tear Garden. Those are my favorite bands over all. Kaspel is my favorite lyricist of all time. He has inspired me from the very beginning of my music career. I did this to help promote Kaspel and the dots. I really hope this gets my fans into their music and helps them out. Check out the Legendary Pink Dots official web page. Special Thanks to headcase for making the video, check out headcases’s other videos Click here. I can relate to the lyrics in this song so much, and has some power lyrical moments in it for me. Reminds me of failed relationships and missing people. Any how if you like this, please make it viral, spread it everywhere.

Europe gets lucky! Rare unreleased Velvet Acid Christ Cover of Edward Kaspel’s EVEN NOW will come out on the Dependence 2012 compilation. I am so excited to be on a comp with Front Line Assembly, KMFDM, Skold, Informatik and more. Track List:

V.A. – DEPENDENCE 2012

01. Radioaktivists – Pieces Of Me *
02. KMFDM – Amnesia (Käpt’n K. Mix Edit) *
03. Mesh – You’ll Never Understand (Harder) **
04. SKOLD – Tonight (The Birthday Massacre Remix) *
05. Pride And Fall – Reborn *
06. Informatik – World Of Wonder *
07. Seabound – The Escape *
08. Dismantled – Whole Wide World *
09. Encephalon – The Transhuman Condition (Singularity) *
10. Front Line Assembly – Angriff (Project Pitchfork Mix) **
11. Stromkern – Ruin(ed) *
12. Acretongue – Violent Pale *
13. Ghost & Writer – Fraud (Decay Inc’s Fourty-Something Radio Mix) *
14. Velvet Acid Christ – Even Now *
15. Decoded Feedback – Another Loss *

* previously unreleased
** hard to find track

“Dependence 2012″ is to be released April 27 in Europe. I hope to get it out on a metropolis comp this year some time. SPREAD THE WORD..

By The WAY!!!!! *UPDATE*
You can hear a clip of it now by CLICKING HERE

The Contenders: I am a poor poor musician now. Thank you net pirates. Any how, I really need a new mono synth that delivers dark and bright tones, sync, fm, lots of waves, great filters, and snappy envelopes for bass and percussive sounds. There are a ton of new small monosynths coming out. So many choices. What Desktop box is getting your money this year? I can only afford one or two. Keep in mind this is an on paper battle, price, and specs.

Studio Electronics Boomstar, comes in 4 models, The Moog filter, The Arp Filter, The 303 filter, and the SEM multimode Filter. This thing is loaded. Two snappy analog envs taht are exponential that will offer the a trim pot on the side so you can dial in how much “HOLD” you want on the attack like the original minimoog model D had and no other synth offers to get that huge snappy thump in your face bass sound like you hear on old madonna tracks like burning up, borderline, luckystar. The Boomstar should deliver with its moog filter as well with its atc and code 6 octave vco osc that are being used here with sub osc, sine, tri, saw, pulse and pwm(pwm only on one osc)(wave mixer only on one osc). one lfo, Ring mod like on the old arp odyssey. Bi directional Sync, noise, filter with 1/3 or full keyboard tracking, osc to filter for filter fm, glide as well. Pros: sound quality, vcos, stable for 6 octaves, tons of modulations, pick your filter model, 2nd osc can be lfo 2 with lo mode. Cons: no wave mixer on osc 2, one dedicated software lfo only, no memory. $799.

Arturia Minibrute, This is a cool cheap new monosynth. It has the steiner parker multimode filter the same thing i had in my modular the frequensteiner, but i thought my modular sounded way better than the demos I have heard of this synth. 12 db filter. Has only one osc plus a sub osc that lets you mix in wave forms. It is a lot like the sh101 in that regard. It has a lot of modulations for the osc, saw gets a super saw unison sound with detune, pulse width with pwm, triangle with metalizer that is like a flange sync sound. It sounds ok from the demos, but not huge and fat like the moog stuff, more nasal quality. It has an arp, cv controls, audio in, two octave keyboard. Pros: VCO, unique sound unlike anything else outside of modular synths, arpegiator rocks, brute filter over drive, price point. Cons: No 2nd osc so no sync, fm. 12db only filter, not so great for bass, no memory. $499

Ken Macbeth Micromac, Specs are hard to come by but this is what I know, 3 x VCOs with multiturn pots, 1 x LFO, Mixing, X-Modulation, 24dB/O?ctave Filter, 2 x Transistor based EGs, MIDI. I have head demos and man it blew me a way! Pros: patch points modular capabilities, sounds amazing, 3 osc fat city. Cons: maybe the price a little, no memory but thats it. This will come in a eurorack formate and a desktop. the desktop is about $2400.

Waldorf Pulse 2,
The pulse +, i owned it years ago, i thought it was ok, decent, but for bass it just didn’t do it for me, i didn’t like it much, the osc was just not musical like roland osc. From what i have read, this is jsut a revamp of the old model with new features. 3 analog oscillators + 1 noise generator, Pulse width modulation, Hard sync, Filter FM from Oscillator 3, Ring Modulation from Oscillator 3, XOR Osc Mode
8/4 Voice Paraphonic modes, Cascade Filter, 24dB/12db Lowpass, 12db Highpass/Bandpass filter modes Powerful Arpeggiator, 8-slot Modulation Matrix, USB, , MIDI, External analog signal input, Stereo line out, Headphone out, Backwards compatible with classic Pulse, 128×64 character backlit LCD, 8 stainless steel knobs, 500 Sound Programs, Electron-absorbing black case. Pros: New multi mode filter modes, ring mod and lots of modulation routings, 3 osc, memory. Cons: DCOs not VCOs yuck. $730.

MFB Dominion X, This module looks very promising and some of the demos I have heard are sick. Still i did not care for the build quality of the synth lite i owned, or the mfb eurorack dco. This thing has sick specs. 3 VCOs with wave shaping and ring modulation, Dual-Sync and Dual-FM features, 6-fold multimode-filter including 3 low pass configurations with 12/18/24 dB, patch-section for external CV/Gate-control, Velocity routing matrix with 11 destinations, 3 LFOs with 2 LFOS offering one-shot-modes and reset. Pros: this thing sounds sick, tons of modulations, VCOs, 2 lfos, complex multimode filter, fm, sync, memory!. Cons: Suspect MFB build quality. $1040.

Moog Minitaur, Moog is a company I have grown to dislike. After buying their VCO pedals and not being able to make them track or stay in tune worth a damn I lost hope with that and the fact that the little phatty I bought and my friends voyager sounded so dark and dull when next to my micromoog and sh2. The high end VCA they use on the LP and Voyger do not allow the filter to open up all the way, so no bright leads and chimey sounds with top end fizz. That does not make these synths suck, it just limits them in a way that no matter what, you cannot get those classic fizzy vintage tones out of these boxes, and for how much they cost it is unforgivable. So with the minitaur I was skeptical, to my surprise it can get bright, the filter opens all the way. WTF. but at what cost? LOL moog shoots themselves in the foot yet again. Two oscillators with Sawtooth (Original Taurus) and Square wave-shapes for each VCO. Recreate sounds of the original Taurus with sawtooth waves, or create new sounds with square waves or a combination of both. 2 Mixer VCAs for VCO levels control of Oscillators 1 and 2., Moog Ladder Filter with adjustable resonance, designed to deliver ‘classic Taurus 1 and 3 bass and boom’. Two Minimoog style ADSR Envelope Generators for modulating VCF and VCA. The Decay and Release segments are controlled by the Decay knob, while the Release segment is enabled or disabled via Release On/Off switch. Midi-syncable LFO with Controls for Rate, VCO LFO Amount, and VCF LFO Amount DIN MIDI and MIDI over USB offer complete control of the Minitaur’s sound engine. Analog Control inputs for Pitch, Filter, Volume and Gate. Use an EP2 or CV to connect and control MInitaur with everything from Modulars to Moogerfoogers. External audio input for processing external audio through the Mixer and Filter section of Minitaur. Headphone output with 1/8? connection. So it lacks wave forms, sync, fm, ring mod, PWM, and cannot play high notes, so it cannot do high leads. Pros: It does fat bass, and the wave punch thing is great. Cons: WAY TO MANY LIMITATIONS. ARE YOU KIDDING? $649

Doepfer Dark Energy 2, The dark Energy 1 is no longer being made, due to a lack of CEM parts no longer being made. The new model changes lots of stuffs. 12dB multimode filter with lowpass, notch, highpass and bandpass (instead of 24dB lowpass of Dark Energy I), the previous LM control of the filter becomes the filter type control (continuous crossfade lowpass – notch highpass – bandpass), the LM function of the filter is no longer available, the waveform switch is used to select between saw and clipped/distorted saw (in the center position the saw is off)
the basic waveform of the VCO is saw (not triangle like the Dark Energy I), because of the pure analog circuit and the temperature control it takes about 30 minutes until the VCO is in tune, the VCA has a exponential scale (not the combined linear/exponential scale of Dark Energy I). Plus: Price, sound, multimode filter. Cons: 1 osc, 12db only. $570.

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Over All: I never personally liked the sound of the waldorf pulse, I had a pulse plus years back and thought the filter and osc were just not that musical or fat. Minitaur is too limited in modulations and waveforms, limited as a bass machine wont play high notes, it sounds good tho. Older moog stuff like the voyager and little phatty lack brightness because the vca prevents the filter from opening up all the way so no open osc bright sounds, say goodbye to the super bright leads of the 70s and 80s. Minibrute, I decided against because I would rather have the SEM Boomstar. Minimac is probably the best, but at 2300 us dollars i wont be picking that up any time soon. MFB Dominion X sounds promising, i’m not a fan of their build quality, bad luck with stuff I have owned from them in the past. Dark energy 2, one osc doesn’t cut it for me. None of the above suck, i think it’s amazing we have all these choices honestly. What a great time to be a mono synth freak. I can only hope that the Envs on these synths really give us the goods.

and the WINNER is?

For me, easy: BOOMSTAR. The one with the most bang for the buck. It has great sound as well, its the studio electronics code sound with snappy analog envelopes, so i know it sounds great from the demos I have heard of the CODE and ATC. Boomstar Moog. 2 osc + sub, tri, saw, pulse, sine, pwm, ring mod, xmod, filter fm, sync. The works. I also plan on getting the SEM model as well. The ATC sounds great, i just didn’t likes its ENVs, so they promised that this will be fixed on these boxes. Snappy envs, fast. Knobs galore. Who could ask for more? If you buy two you can link them together with their cv patchbay so you could have a monster 4 osc mono like the monopoly and it would still be less than the Macbeth Micromac. It is a steal at $799.

PS: This is just my personal opinion, yours may vary. Please post who you think the winner is in your opinion? Comment. Thank you.

^This is the original. Mine has a beat, and is very dancey.

I did the vocals. Going to try to sing the female part myself. Doubt i can pull it off, but sometimes I can. not kidding, but i will sound like depeche mode when martin gore sings lol when i go into my head voice and falsetto. I turned this track into a spaced out psychedellic dance outer space sci fi sounding track. I slowed it down to 90 bpm too. Now I am unsure on how to release it. Should i put it on the lp as a hidden track, put it out for free, or put out a single for it. I dont know, but i love my version of the track. I love the lyrics so fucking much, the meaning, it means so much to me. suicide attempts, lost love, hate, regret of people, relationships, rekindling, death.

lyrics:
Mistakes were made and prices paid – The scars across your wrists. The twist inside – I know you’re hiding. Even now. Have you changed? Do you forget? you still regret the day you met me – even now? You feel the bandage itching as you’re sweating in the white light – feel the stethescope press down, even now? (Don’t you think I feel it too, even now?) It had to be, and now I’m missing you and want to start again – we’ll start with flowers and a row, even now! We’ll never settle down… No never… even now…But still the fire’s burning. It’s burning just for you. Is it burning for me too, even now? We’re locked-up for eternity.. locked together, even now…

PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!

Very cool video about the universe we live in. I an so honored to be used in the sound track of this youtube clip.

Imks80 Ipad edit. This program replaces your need for any of the expensive Roland PG programmers for the mks 50, 30(with upgraded 30 roms), 7, 70, and 80. These are going for mad money on ebay now for example you would spend up to $1100 us dollars on one of these just to be able to program your mks80. Even the mks70 hardware editor is expensive now along side the mks50 and mks30 hardware editors. I am a roland synth freak, so these Ipad apps are a godsend.

In use: II had to setup apple bonjour and rtpmidi For windows 7, and i could use this inside of ableton, cubase and most other daws on the market for windows. What I really liked was being able to use the Ipad wireless over the wifi network into my daw. I could play the synth and edit at the same time, or record a midi seq and play it back in loop mode while i edit the sound. This is something I could not do with other apps. I tried booting up old emagic sound diver, and had all kinds of trouble using my usb midi controller and my pci midi at the same time. I had trouble with midiquest software that was supposed to work as a vst plugin, it never worked and had a horrid interface. I was pulling my hair out. I read about rekon’s editors and read about all the bugs in the mopho and mks80 editors. I have tried ther Itetra and the Imks80 editors from iControlMIDI and it worked. No hiccups, and installing the wireless stuff was not all that hard once I found the rtp midi instructions.

The interface on these apps are very simple. The look and feel is strange as well. edting the sliders from left to right dragging motions, with plus and minus buttons to edit incrementally. You have to jump around some pages to get to the different controllers, there is the osc page with lots of osc related stuff, then the filter page with the filter env and filter settings etc etc. It just works. It loads super fast as well. This is way cheaper than buying the hardware to edit these synths, and i love that its wireless, i can put this on my lap while i play my keyboard or mess with the sequencer. Convenient.

Things I would like to see added: Being able to control the synths save functions from the app. The app should have memories to back up your patches and store the ones you make on the app on the ipad’s memory, so if something happens to your synth, you can recall your edits. Would also like to see a resend all current parameters to the synth, because in real world usage, sometimes the sequencers will reset the synth you are using when you stop the sequencer and you will lose all your edits.

Final thoughts: This saved me a lot of money, I had an ipad, spend 20 or 30 bucks on the editor, and wow you have a programmer for your old analogs. If you were to buy the hardware editors they can break, and cost a small fortune. This app has really saved the day for my knob-less analogs. I give it a 4 out of 5!

Click here to buy this application!