| Bundles
A
software developer can offer several virtual intruments in one pack, a bundle,
but rarely with the aim of making a same unique project. In that case,
all software are made to be complementary, which is a very
interesting approach. I open a special page for this, because, when all
the synths of a bundle are good, I do not want to give the same link to
the same web page 7, 8, 9 or 10 times in the list ! So, you will
find here such bundles, and the only one that I know for now is
the Elektrostudio bundle, which made a big noise when it appeared on
KvR in may 2009...
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| Elektrostudio | | | Initially, these 10 virtual instruments, made by a polish developer (musician and sound engineer in the real life), were intended to be commercial. But some administrative complications
in his country make the thing almost impossible. So the man decided to
give the whole pack to everyone for nothing... And it is a real bargain
for all of us, vst users, because all 10 softwares are very good
vintage emulations, better than most of other freeware synths... They
are carefully designed and really nice-looking. Many of them have midi
learn but are not velocity sensitive. | | 
| Davosynth
is an emulation of the Davoli Synth (1972, Italy), and, like the
original thing, it is limited to 37 notes (!). It is a simple synth,
with 2 square VCO, 1 LFO, 1 pitchbend and 1 portamento, but no
envelope... 1 chorus and 1 delay were added. Good for "old school"
leads, it sounds old-fashioned but nice, especially when you use the
lower octave with your left hand, to make some fat and juicy
sounds... | | 
| Micromoon is an emulation of the Micromoog, of course, the little brother of the Minimoog (and much cheaper). Unlike the real machine, Micromoon is mono and poly, with only 1 variable waveshape VCO, 2 contour generators, 1 envelope, 1 24 dB LP filter, 1 LFO, 1 noise generator, Sample and Hold, modulation routing, 1 pitch ribbon controller
etc... 1 chorus and 1 delay were added... The sound is typically Moog, fat, with thick basses... Very good for 70's leads. One of the best of the bundle. | | 
| Moon Sono Sx is an emulation of the
Moog Sonic Six, duophonic synth with 2 VCO (3 waveforms), 2 multimode
LFOs, 1 noise generator, 1 ring modulator, glide, pitchbend... 1 chorus, 1 delay, and 1 x/y pad controller added... Less fascinating than the Micromoon, IMHO, it sounds thiner, lighter, and less powerful... But it is interesting. | |  | ODSay, as its name says, is inspired by the Arp Odyssey. Duophonic synth with 2 sync VCO (6 waveforms), 1 noise generator, Sample and Hold, 1 sine or
square wave LFO,
2 filters (LP and HP), 1 VCA and
2 envelopes (1 ADSR and 1 AR), portamento and so on. Everything
is editable, tweakable and that gives many possibilities. 1 echo added.
The sound is excellent, easy to modulate, with a nice analogue touch.
From noises to fat and full leads, it is a must-have. | |  | Sixth Month June is inspired by Roland Juno-6, a 6 voices polyphonic synth, with 6 DCO (1 per
voice) and 3 waveforms, 1 sub, 1 noise generator, 2 filters (1 LP and 1 HP), 1 envelope, 1 chorus, 1 delay et 1
arpeggiator. The result is good, convincing and nice, and gives interesting sounds... | |  | Or2v
is an emulation of the Oberheim 2 Voice, a duophonic synth which has a SEM module per voice, each having
2 VCO, 1 filter, 2 envelopes, 1 noise generator,
1 Lfo, pan, Sample and Hold, portamento
etc. 1 echo added... There is also (and this is its main interest) a 8 step
sequencer with several destinations. The spirit of the original machine is kept and
gives something rather fascinating, like the ability to play a solo
with one module, while a sequence runs on the other one. An original and very nice synth. | | 
| Esline
is an emulation of the Arp
Solina string Ensemble, one of those specific machines intended to
play orchestral strings, and like the real synth, this one can be
played only on 4 octaves. Divided in cello, bass (with a separate
volume for each), viola, violin, trumpet and horn, its sound can be
modulated by 1 phaser, 1 echo and 1 simple AR envelope. It sounds good, convincing, and emulates this sort of things well...
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| Ocet
has the look of a rare beat box, the EKO Computer Rhythm (Italy, 1972),
but does not really emulate it, because it does not copy its features. 16 step sequencer, 6
instruments with rather basic sounds, but completely tweakable when the right zone is open (tune, pitch decay, pitch decay volume, phase modulation rate and level,
resonance, filter frequency and decay, noise decay, LP and HP), tempo,
of course, and a useful random button... The result is good,
full sounding, and will be appreciated by people who love this kind of
old things... |
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| Rhythmus
emulates perfectly the Korg Keio Minipops7, an old beat box. This
sounds exactly like JMJ old tracks (he used it a lot)... 16 tweakable
sounds with separate pan and volume for each, when the hood is open, 10 buttons for preselected and old fashioned rhythms (rumba, samba, mambo etc) that can be mixed,
general volume, tempo... Each sound and sequence can be played with
keyboard. Not the most useful thing, indeed, but nice and funny. |
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| Tapeotronic
is an emulation of the famous Mellotron, of course, but not the most
faithful. It contains the classical flute, strings and choirs,
tuning, tone and 1 simple AR envelope... You can adjust
bias, when the hood is open, and see the magnetic tapes running...
Unlike the real thing, sounds do not stop after 8 seconds (because of
the length of the tapes)... | | | This unique bundle can be downloaded there : http://elektrostudio.ovh.org/index2.php | |
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