SOUND ENGINE
Like a twentysomething dude hopping up a Scion or a Subaru, Vir2 pulled Kontakt Player 2 into the service bay for a couple of custom enhancements not found in other Kontakt-enabled libraries: ScatterFX and StepFX. They’re sequencers, one of which (ScatFX) creates pulsing and stuttering effects by retriggering the amplitude envelope with programmable velocity per step; the other (StepFX) exerts control over pitch or the filter. In practice, they work much like the Matrix sequencer in Propellerhead Reason, and both sync to host tempo at every note value from whole-note to 128th. Swing isn’t supported, but the target audience for this library is those working in genres where swing is probably an uncommon requirement. If you need swing, you can sort of fake it in ScatFX by setting the note value to triplets and a zero velocity on every third step beginning with step 2.
SOUNDS
Naturally, since this library makes part of its claim to fame on the basis of analog sound, we want to know how close it gets. The answer is a little bit complicated. Unlike the analog synth presets in Vir2’s all-around library VI.One (reviewed Nov. ’07), very few of Syntax’s sounds are what most of us would think of as “straight analog.” My wife watches a lot of decorating shows (all right, we watch ’em together — we’re remodeling) and on many of them we see people “distressing” a finish to make a new piece look at home among antiques. There are all kinds of techniques; bleaching, acid washes, judicious applications of sandpaper, intentional gouging of the surface or edges, you name it. The sounds in Syntax give me a similar impression. These are well-programmed analog textures that have been intentionally abused a bit to add character and dimension. A bit too many of them suffer from wobbly pitch modulation for my taste, but you may absolutely love that. One possible annoyance is that the patch names are evocative and artistic rather than straight-up descriptive. For example, would you expect a sound called “Booze Cutter” to be a lead or a texture? It’s a texture. Among other excellent sounds with such names: “Blind Feet,” an effect/hit sound, and “Dipple Feeding Fact,” a polyphonic synth patch. Without belaboring the point, I felt that the overly creative names upped the fog factor when searching for patches appropriate to the musical part I had in mind.
On the substantial positive side, I had several immediate favorites, including “Frodo,” a monophonic bass sound that seems sourced from some monstrously fat synth with a subtle but bizarre pitch blip layered in at the onset. Frodo’s stereo width is in the CinemaScope league, and it wants to stay that way; it thinned out dramatically when panned much past ten and two o’clock towards mono. Another great one was “Bird Singing Hallway,” a pad with a whistle-like modulated element that gives the impression that a menacing, sentient gaseous vapor is about to come after you. [I remember that Star Trek episode. That means I’m as much of a geek as Ken! –Ed.]
Overall, I really enjoyed the sandblasted quality that’s spread liberally over the library, and I applaud Vir2 for realizing that there are a million analog-y plug-ins out there, so the last thing we need is another run-of-the-mill sampled-analog . . . thing. Overall this library has a vaporous, ghostly quality that would be excellent for soundtrack composers not yet lucky enough to employ their own sound designers, pop songwriters with an off-kilter bent, and weirdos like me who love Pink Floyd, Thomas Dolby, Mutemath, and Imogen Heap equally.
IN USE
As I plod on making a little “album project” of covers, I’m continually dropping in new parts and sounds and re-doing unsatisfactory previous work as I acquire new skills, new sounds, and new gear. That “Frodo” bass shoved aside a perfectly good bass guitar performance on Mike and the Mechanics’ “Silent Running” because its odd, unsettled quality meshed perfectly with the mood of the song and its lyrics’ story of a freedom fighter preparing his family for a coming battle and the possibility that he may not return. Plus, it was sonically more satisfying than the bass guitar had been, because it was bigger and fatter, and its stereo width kept it out of the way. I recast the song’s third verse in a quieter dynamic, as the lyric contains the moment of farewell and a call for hope for the next generation. Holding a fifth under the changes using “Bird Singing Hallway” perfectly complemented the looming menace conveyed in the lyrics. A little filter modulation with the mod wheel added further animation to the sound and enhanced the vibe even more.
I wanted an effect kind of like the gated and filtered organ Pete Townshend cooked up on the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” ScatFX gave me the “gate,” set to eighth-notes, and StepFX let me draw two measures of a rough sine wave. Sheesh, that was easy. Now, maybe I just lucked out, but when a library contains presets you can use as-is, out of the box, and they fit into what you’re doing so well, it deserves to be praised. When I wanted to edit a preset to better suit my purposes, the Kontakt Player 2 engine made it easy, although for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to access the distortion wherever it was employed. It certainly wasn’t sampled-in distortion I was hearing, as its character changed depending on the intervals I played, but the sounds weren’t using KP2’s distortion effect. Mysterious.
Disappointing, but debatable as a point of legitimate criticism, is the fact that Syntax doesn’t include any impulses for KP2’s convolution reverb. The ScatFX and StepFX sequencers perhaps don’t completely live up to the hype, because while you can place the note value under MIDI CC control, you can’t program patterns containing multiple note values without the help of your host program. However, they’re extremely cool and much appreciated as a way to get animation, motion sequences, and all sorts of effects not as easily created by other means. They’re particularly handy in any host app where creative MIDI tools are thin on the ground compared to, say, Apple Logic Pro, or perhaps more appropriately, Ableton Live. In this way, Syntax offers everyone a little bit of Live’s stock-in-trade. I appreciated it, as it allowed me to build little rhythmic sequences much more easily than drawing notes and automation curves in, say, the grid in Digidesign Pro Tools’ arrange window.
CONCLUSIONS
For just two hundred bucks, Syntax packs a pretty mean punch. It will certainly add new colors to your palette: rusty, ghostly, acid-dipped, thick, vaporous colors with lots of animation. Limitations aside, StepFX and ScatFX are deceptively simple but powerful tools that should completely seduce experimenters. That said, the patterns heard in the online demos don’t seem to be included in the factory library. It’s probably better that you build your own anyway. If you’re looking for something different in an analog synth plug-in, and you’re particularly excited about arpeggiators and sequencers under realtime (and obviously capturable) control, Syntax should be a bull’s eye for you. It’s really well done.
CLAIM CHECK
Vir2’s David Das says, “When we set out to do Syntax, we were aware that there were already numerous synth sample libraries as well as full-fledged software and hardware synths out there that could do all kinds of esoteric things. We were inspired by the Korg Karma and the way it could create animated and inspiring musical ideas on the fly. Syntax takes a core library of more than 2,000 patches, then gives you that kind of reach-out-and-touch creative power to mold and manipulate sounds in real time and multiple dimensions — not just the notes you play and how hard you play them, but also the sonic contour, the melodic animation, and the rhythmic stuttering, all controllable via MIDI or onscreen controls. It’s a powerhouse of inspiration for any synth enthusiast or sound designer looking for fresh approaches to electronic sounds.”