ID8 is supposed to be Reason's preset device for General MIDI compatibility (for playback of standard MIDI song files). It only has 36 instruments so it's short of the 128 as in SoundCanvas' range (or even Korg M1). However, the quality of sounds is excellent.

ID8 has largely been superceded by individual devices like Reason Electric Bass, Layers, Kong, Radical Piano & Keys but bear in mind that ID8 is tiny by comparison. It's great for layering with synths and samplers. It's useful for instruments which are low in the mix -or- heavily processed by effects like distortion. Sometimes you just need that little bit extra... and ID8 might be it.

Get to know your ID8 (again). It's your friend.

Little LFO by Little IO gives you 4 Oscillators to assign as keyboard-controlled or as LFOs; selectable from from 15 waveforms. At the rear, you can use CV to patch-up, say, Osc-4 to modulate the other Oscillators' amplitude, pitch, phase and/or pulse-width. You get 1 ADSR envelope.

Little LFO is incredibly useful. Use it as just a simple sine-wave Sub-Bass Oscillator -or- enter the world of CV patch-cabling and build your own mono-synth.

kHs ONE is a polyphonic subtractive synth which has 3 Oscillators [2 Osc & 1 Sub] routed to the Amp Env and then to 2 Filters. In addition, ONE also has 2 LFOs, modulation matrix and Effects [Chorus & Delay].

The 2 main Oscillators can select Double-Saw, Square or Noise. Using the Shape ± knob alters Square wave to Pulse wave. For Double-Saw, the Shape knob alters the phase offset. The Sync knob increases the wave's frequency within the sync timing.

Sub-Osc has the flexibility to select Octaves from -5 to +5.

A Shaper has 4 modes including Overdrive.

Unison can stack of up to 8 slightly detuned voices per note played.

The user manual is very helpful.

Overall, kHs ONE is fast and easy to use. It can create wide variety of sounds like classic analogue synth as well as "digital" sounds.

Spectra is a polyphonic additive synth which comes with a detailed 133 page Reference Manual. Spectra basically has 2 additive Oscillators called Generators; each Oscillator is selected from 52 preset waves or from 10 user-defined waves.

Each Generator has Spectrum Modulators to modify the original wave's spectrum. The Spectrum Modulators have several processes "wired in series" as follows:-

• Morph into Target 1 (a separate wave)

• Morph into Target 2 (another wave)

• Boost/ cut sets/ groups of harmonics

• Modulate a single harmonic

• Apply Envelope to sets/ groups of harmonics

• Apply the other Generator's spectrum intensity

• Apply Unison detune, phase and pan spread.

User-defined Waves can be created by any of the following ways:-

• Drawing on the graphical display editor

• Output mix of Generator 1 & 2

• Drop in a Sample for Analysis

In addition, Spectra also has a separate noise generator; 2 separate Filters with morph capabilites and a Filter design editor; as well as a modulation matrix.

Overall, Spectra has many useful morphing & harmonic manipulation choices. Learning the processing possibilities might take a while but it was fairly easy to twiddle your way to good results. In addition, the "factory patches" are very impressive and a good place to start editing.

Nautilus was a paid synth but now it's free. It's a 3-Oscillator synth which can be monophonic or 8-note polyphonic. Designed with Bass in mind, it has an easy minimal lay-out for quick sound creation. Skrock didn't see the need for a user's guide because you can just twiddle your way to getting sounds.

I've added some information in the bottom-photo to help you get familiar quickly. The 3 Osc waves are preset as Saw, Square and Sine. The Saw-Osc is set 1 octave higher than the others. The "Shape" knob transforms the wave towards a Square. This is a quite useful; for example, the Saw-wave with Shape= 43% has a nice body to it.

Nautilus 2 by Skrock is the advanced bass synth version of Nautilus (1). The 3 Oscillators are now each selectable as Saw, Square or Sine. Each wave also has 12 variations to choose from. Overdrive distortion is also available as a "Drive" for Osc-1 as well as 2 types of added "Spice" for each Oscillator.

In general, it's easy to use and quick to get results. There are other added features too. In general, Nautilus 2 sounds like an "analogue bass synth" but with a wider variety of tones. I feel it has a clearer "defined" sound as compared to the old Nautilus; even without using the wave-variations or distortion.

Thermal is a polyphonic subtractive synth where you assemble your waveform in 4 parts (A, B, C, D). You can select from 8 different geometric wave-parts (see Chart). While you can adjust the relative amplitudes (volumes) of each part, you can also change their pan and tuning (semitones & fine).

The display size is huge; which makes programming a lot easier. Amp & Filter have their own ADSRs. For modulation, there's 2 LFOs and 2 ADSRs assignable to volume, pan, pitch or freq cut-off of the parts A, B, C, D or global.

Basically, the wave-parts are simple shapes (ie, not complex wavesamples) and they are at different octaves of the fundamental frequency (ie, ½F, F, 2F, 4F). This makes Iridium suited for "electric-organ type" sounds. That said, detuning of the separate parts reveals a different aspect to synth methodology. Thermal is useful when layered with, for example, light strings or electric piano.

Watch the YouTube review by PoohBear for a more in-depth look at Thermal.

Orbis is a polyphonic wavetable synthesizer using 4 Oscillators per voice. Each Oscillator can be assigned from 14 different Wavetables. Within that Wavetable, you assign start-points and how much to "play through" the wavetable; which can be modulated by their separate envelopes, LFOs and velocity. Each oscillator also has separate LFOs for modulating the pitch and filter. All this is then passed through the usual subtractive Filter and Amp.

Orbis was included in the top 5 budget synths for Reason by SOS magazine in 2016. Quite an accolade! With Wavetable synths, you only really need to use 2 Oscillators; so having 4 is very generous. Basically, Orbis is popular because (a) it's easy to use, (b) there aren't many wavetable synths available, and (c) the Wavetable collection in Orbis is well put together.

Iridium is a 2-Oscillator subtractive synthesizer which adds parametric EQ to manipulate the waveforms. The 2 Oscillators are selectable from 16 Waveforms, which are bold and bright. Each selected Waveform is then distorted by the keyboard-tracked Parametric EQ as follows :-

Imagine the frequency spectrum with fundamental at F and harmonics at 2F, 3F, 4F etc. Iridium can, for example, boost the harmonic content at 5F, 6F & 7F. This radically changes your starting waveform palette. There is also further waveshaping, which is selectable as Sine or Square.

This synth design solves the problem where high Resonance results in weak bass. By using a parametric EQ, you can tune the EQ to boost the higher content without losing the lower frequencies.

Iridium can produce quite deep growls; brash and raunchy sounds. The presets show off a lot of its "sound effects" capability. I'm surprised this synth hasn't attracted more attention.

Aurora by Skrock is a polyphonic subtractive synth designed with a matrix of modulation possibilities. Aurora has 3 Oscillators where 4 x LFOs and 4 x ADSRs can be assigned to modulate the oscillator's pitch, amp, pan, filter, resonance as well as "X-Mod" (cross-modulation) amount. What X-Mod controls will depend on the selected Waveform (see Table).

When Square wave is selected, X-Mod controls Pulse Width (P.W.). "Shape", "Morph" and "Index" effects are similar. "Shape" changes the wave into another variant wave. With BitRedux (bit-reduction), X-Mod will "Morph" from Saw to Sine to Tri waves. "Index" changes the wave but using a wave-table. "Organ" without X-Mod is just a Sine-wave. Each Oscillator also has its own Drive knob for adding distortion.

Not surprisingly, Aurora is ideal at long sounds which evolve over time; like strings, sweeps and pads. It is surprising how much timbral detail you can create using this matrix modulation system. Aurora evokes classy and ambient themes somewhat reminiscent of "OB Matrix meets CS80"... so I'm not sure why the presets took a different approach. The onboard reverb adds to its cinematic quality.

Blackpole Station by Turn2on is a polyphonic subtractive synth using 3 Oscillators where each Oscillator has a selectable waveform and each also adds an X7 Osc; with up to 7 unison detunable companion-oscillators. The selectable waveforms are pitched at various octaves. X7 Osc companion-oscillators have a mix of Saw wave and a Square wave: The Square is pitched 1 octave down so, in the harmonic spectrum, it is the odd-numbered harmonics; while the Saw would be the even-numbered harmonics (since it's pitched 1 octave up from the Square wave).

Blackpole has a plethora of Filters. Each Oscillator has it's own LowPass Filters plus additional BandPass Filters; also an assignable Comb Filter. There is also an overall post-Amp/pre-FX Filter as well as a post-FX/end Filter. The effects are Phaser, Limiter, Distortion, Chorus, Delay & Reverb.

Blackpole is quite an uncommon design. The control panel takes a bit of getting used to. There are not many modulation options. It is not trying to be an analog synth nor an emulator. It's emphasis is on the oscillator waveforms while boosting the fatness and depth. The selection of ROM waveforms is mainly for modern post 90's synth music. Overall, Blackpole seems to be good at one type of sound. Either you love it or you hate it.

The Rumble K2 "Builder" is a polyphonic synth made of 3 widgets (i) a "Rompler" (wavetable oscillator) from the Kawai K1, (ii) a (keyboard tracked) sinewave oscillator cum modulator, and (iii) a Saw plus Square mix oscillator with unison detune. Oddly, both the Sine and the Saw/Sq mix are routed through the Rompler's volume control; which means the Rompler is the star oscillator and the other two widgets are supporting roles. The original K1 had 256 waves of which 50 were samples of acoustic instruments. Most of the waves in the Rompler are tuned referenced to C4 (the note) but some are not. Example: "Kalimba 3 C +48 cents" which then becomes "enharmonic content" when added to a referenced tone like a sine, saw or square wave.

Besides the 3-part wave mix, "Builder" has the double Filters and some unique modulation choices. The Envelopes also have a Hold (AHDSR) plus there are loads of effects including Rotary, Phaser, Delay.

The presets are good but, as with all Wavetable synths, the range of sounds is determined by the actual wavetable contents. Being a wave-set of hit sounds of 1988, it is still very useable but stylised to that era's sound.

RYM2612 is an emulation of the Yamaha FM sound-chip within the 1988 Sega Genesis/ MegaDrive game console. The sound-chip is a variant of Yamaha's computer-synth like the CX5M (1984) and FB-01 (1986) and it uses the 4-Operator, 8 Algorithm FM design with ADSDR style envelopes.

This is not quite a DX21/ DX27/ DX100 synth! RYM2612's Operators can tune the "Frequency Fine" to the nearest percent. Keyboard response is only Velocity and Envelope Rate Scaling.

Inphonik also give a RYMCast app which converts the legacy collection of music and sound patches into the RYM2612, thus giving access to a plethora of retro video-game sounds.

Apart from the obvious appeal to Sega enthusiasts, you can also use the RYM2612 to re-create CX5M & FB-01 patches. I tested a few CX5M patches and I was happy with the results.

Noxious is an 1-oscillator additive polyphonic synth capable of generating up to 200 partials (harmonic frequencies). You start by selecting from 21 waveforms and then manipulate the additive spectrum through a chain of 5 "modifiers". There are 15 different modifier types to choose from. These modifiers would affect either the Level (amplitude) of partials -or- the Pitch of the partials -or- both. Basically, you would use the controls "Center", "Spread" & "Falloff" to define a frequency range within which you would apply whatever modification. "Level Modifiers" sculpt the partials' amplitudes using EQ. "Pitch Modifiers" detune the group of partials allowing for enharmonic results. Beyond this, you have 2 Filters, Amp ADSR and, for modulation, there are 2 Envelopes and 2 LFOs assignable via a modulation matrix.

Noxious is good at creating digital-type sounds not found elsewhere. Using LFOs or ADSRs to modulate the Modifiers has very interesting and exotic results. I'm not sure if there is a shortcut to mastering this synth. The preset patches are good and do help when testing out using the different combinations of modifiers. Mind you, with 5 modifiers enabled, it's probably okay to have no idea what's going on.

Vibro is a polyphonic wavetable synth. The interface is "Fairlight style" where you click at "tabs" at the top of the device to open up different synth sections. Each voice can use up to 4 Oscillators. Each Oscillator can "morph" between up to 4 selected Waves. You can select from 64 pre-made Waves -or- you can make Custom waves by click-drawing on the harmonic spectrum. The "morphing" between Waves is controlled by a POS (Position) knob; which you can also modulate. This synth design is more like "Additive meets (Prophet) VS".

Vibro's Filters are found in the "Effects" tab. Vibro also has a modulation matrix with 24 source/ destination slots. Things like Velocity, Keyboard (tracking) and Mod Wheel are all managed in the modulation matrix.

Vibro is surprisingly easy and fun to use. Click-drawing partials in the harmonic spectrum is addictive. Morphing between Waves of "don't know" and "don't care" is liberating. Knowing that the LPF (Filter) can later fix your wild tinkerings is reassuring. Aah, the small joys in life!

Converting Voice Patches from CX5M (or FB-01) to RYM2612

Frequency conversion

The CX5M Frequencies which are integers are the same in RYM. CX5M's "IF number" (Inharmonic Frequency #) uses an Inharmonic Table to convert (see Miscellaneous for table).

Example:

CX5 F= 1 2 3 4

IF#= 0 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00

IF#= 1 1.41 2.82 4.24 5.65

IF#= 2 1.57 3.14 4.71 6.28

IF#= 3 1.73 3.46 5.19 6.92

Matching Parameters : Algorithm No., Feedback, Attack, Decay1, Sustain, Decay2, Release, Detune & Rk (Rate Key Scaling).

Velocity conversion (my best guess)

Output conversion

To convert CX5M Output to RYM Output, you need to reduce by the RYM Velocity amount.

If at max velocity, you are getting some break-up, them further reduce the Output by the CX5M velocity amount. In the above example, reduce the output or 80 by 3 to make it 77.