Tone2 has released a new software synthesizer for Mac & Windows, Saurus.
According to Tone2, Saurus is ‘not just another synthesizer with character, but one that truly represents the analog sound.’
Here’s what they have to say about it:
We carefully measured and modeled the circuits of many classic performance synthesizers, including even single capacitors and resistors to provide an extremely accurate analog model, faithfully capturing the spirit and character of these old machines. All without placing heavy demands on your CPU or budget.
Highlights:
- True Analog Modelling Technology
- High-end sound quality
- Low CPU and high reliability
- Easy-to-use interface
- ‘Unique sounds which no other synthesizer can create’
- Huge sonic range
- Flexibility, expandability
- Ships with 563 presets from 21 sound designers
Features:
- Covers all important aspects of traditional analog synths
- Mono, Legato & Polyphonic modes employing analog voice management
- Two Syncable Oscillators and two Sub Oscillators
- Not just standard waveforms but also a large number of exotic ones
- Pulse Width Modulation and Oscillator Sync applicable to every waveform
- Oscillator Drift, Phase and Noise Modulation controls
- Noise FM, AM and Ring Modulation for Oscillators
- Analog filter with self-oscillation, nonlinearity, 6 filter types, FM and feedback
- LFOs and modulation capable of running at audio-rate
- Arpeggiator with extensive configuration possibilities
- Flexible Modulation Matrix with new features, including a filter
- Programmable gate
- 4x Stereo Unison modes with spread and panning control
- Analog modeled Distortion and Tube amp
- Optional Psycho-Acoustic processing
- High-end quality Effects
Tone2 Saurus is available now for US $119. See the Tone2 site for details, audio samples and a demo version.
The audio samples for the vintage organ are just mad in a good way, definitely grabbing a demo, Gladiator 2 was so good that its worth a look on that count. One question though, why call it Saurus?
guess it’s called Saurus because it emulates old gear, so old > dinosaur > saurus…
but it’s just a guess.
The most obvious competitor is U-He’s DIVA — which stands for “Dinosaur Impersonating Virtual Analog.” So “dinosaur” vs. “saurus” ?
I think it’s most likely an allusion to Moog’s recently released Minitaur / Taurus synth 😉
This ones different than all the others ’cause it truly represents the analog sound!
How does this compare to Diva…?
Diva sets a very high bar!
It definitely sounds convincing! Though the market is really getting crowded with analogue simulations…
Soooooooooooooooo bored.
“ships with 563 presets”
‘ships’ I guess meaning ‘download’… although ‘ships’ does sound more authentic and REAL.
“Covers all important aspects of traditional analog synths”
then where’s the goddam knobs n buttons, for a start.
hook up a midi controller, yeah right… 128 step resolution on a filter.. thats gonna be awesome.
by the time you’ve bought this and a midi controller you might as well have a juno 106 on your desk.
i wish clever folks like this would focus their brain power on cancer cures or something, and stop trying to convince people that buzz lightyear is a real fucking astronaut.
The Juno 106 is nice, but it’s a very limited synth – hardly a replacement for the Saurus in terms of versatility.
I think the killer feature of the Saurus is the low cpu-usage combined with a great sound. It may not challenge the Diva in terms of sound quality alone, but it will put far less strain on your computer.
C’Mon now, how is this beast not sexy? <3 eats the other Virtual Analog Emulations for lunch!!!
My brain is split on the issue of whether virtual analog is played out. I use virtual analog softsynths (notably subtractor, thor, sunrizer, NLog) all the time… in spite of (or perhaps because of?) my appreciation of the sound of subtractive analog hardware. I think it’s because I can’t always carry my P ’08 around with me. 😉 Actually, there may be a synergy here – I’m always trying to recreate my favorite hardware analog sounds on the soft synths.
On the other hand, I think some of the most interesting soft synths are digital synths – you get genuine digital sound!! 😉 I rather like Animoog (which is perhaps more of a “hybrid” softsynth), Addictive Synth, DXi (though it has some bugs unfortunately), SampleWiz, and Synthtronica. I’m greatly looking forward to the Waldorf iPad synth.
Perhaps an even stranger example is Sunrizer, which seems to be a softsynth which is trying to reproduce the sound of virtual analog synths like the JP-8000. This isn’t a bad trend – I would have no problem with a Virus clone, for example.
Just bought it, i love it, nice sounds. I use it in garageband
Look really nice. It’s hard to match plugins in terms of versatility and workflow, I don’t mind using a mouse to turn knobs at all, as long as everything laid out in an intuitive way. Not to mentions the good ones sound excellent to my ears.
I love all types of synths though. Software, hardware, analog, digital, VA etc. I try not to focus on the means (CEM/SSM chips. Discrete. Code. DSP chips. whatever). I worry more about the musical end results and the user experience while trying to achieve those end results.
To put it simple….. Hardware, software, real analogs, VA’s, FM, wavetables, 8bit soundchips, circuit bending, etc. I’m addicted to it all. That’s my 2 pennies.
This is really a nice synth. The only thing a miss is midi-learn.
You can MIDI map almost all paramters via your host. For example, in Live, just drop Saurus into a MIDI device rack, hit “Configure” touch knobs and they’ll all map to the Ableton rack. You can then MIDI map to your controller. I did this in this video http://youtu.be/-scMPERoIlQ.