‘logue SDK

If you have a minilogue XD, prologue or just the little NTS-1 you can run DSP code as oscillators or effects. The good thing is that anyone can create a plug-in. The bad thing is that anyone can create a plug-in. Actually most of the 3rd party plugs are pretty good, probably because hacks like me are too scared to even try.

Many of the plug-ins are free or donation. Some are paid. There’s no copy protection so they are really easy to steal. Maybe I’m just a sweet kind person for paying for them, maybe I hope to get some karma and have people buy my own shit. Anyway. I think they should be rated and reviewed. Here’s the ones I have bought/donated and am testing – the list grows as I get some time to try them out.

Let’s start with Oscillators. I’m not rating them on how clever they are. I’m rating them on how they will end up in the music. I am horribly biased towards stranger sounds. I can’t afford to own every single one of them.

• Sinevibes Bent – easy to use, tends to synch sweep/FM sounds. Different in texture, but not that different to the built-in FM for the casual listener. Pretty GOOD.
• Sinevibes Dense – easy to use, old wobbly stacks of oscillators, warm fuzzies. GOOD!
• Sinevibes Groove – drum machine sounds, a bit like TR-8s FM, I wouldn’t use it because I have the real thing. NOPE.
• Sinevibes Node – 4-op FM, could not get a sound I liked out of it after much fiddling, better off using Bent. There’s already a bunch of FM sounds. NOPE.
• Sinevibes Odds – like hitting an object repeatedly and getting something different each time, which is little specific but you can get subtle effects. GOOD if that’s your need.
• Sinevibes Tube – blowing through a pipe, it has its uses when mixed with the analogue. Pretty GOOD.
• Sinevibes Turbo – a relative of Bent, with a different haircut. Pretty GOOD.

• Cain Human – a synthetic voice with lots of character, perfect for your Krautrock. VERY GOOD!
• Cain CZ2 – if you weren’t very good at the CZ101 you won’t be much better at this. But I guess practice makes perfect. GOOD.
• Cain ++ – Karplus-Strong, not quite working for me, not getting quite the sounds I hoped. OK.
• Cain WTF2 – Yes. This. Don’t use it for babble use it for weird textures. GOOD!

• tsoniq Unity – Supersaws and their many friends, all kinds of different analogue style methods – a bit like Dense but more focussed and free. GOOD.
• tsoniq fusion and phase7 – (Paid versions) similar but different virtual analogue rigs that actually connect with the knobs on the front panel so you can easily tweak any combo of digital and analogue. The difference is roughly that fusion tends to offering filters, while phase7 offers up more control over the oscillator types. They are newer than most of the plugins and have more advanced development. Cost more, worth more, greatly upgrades the synth. VERY GOOD!

• Sound Mangling Digital Waveform – does the Korg DW-8000 and it sounds quite nice actually. GOOD.
• Sound Mangling Vector Synthesis – does the ProphetVS, not all of it – just 16 waveforms. The X-Y matrix is a bit tricky to set up but it essentially works. If you don’t have a wavestate then yeah sure. Pretty GOOD.

• Ghost Time Clang – shortwave bleeps, phone tones and hitting metal. Overly specific but there’s some causes for this. Pretty GOOD.
• Ghost Time Warped – it’s supposed to be for imitating Boards of Canada. You can find many other uses for warbling tones. OK.
• Ghost Time Lapse – modulation of the amplitude to give the feeling of poly-rhythmic echoes. It’s specific but could be really handy for your Kosmik Musik gigs. Pretty GOOD.

• Hammondeggs Shapes – morphs between different standard waveforms. This basic virtual analogue feature is welcome. Pretty GOOD.
• Hammondeggs Wave Creator – stuffs samples into the space available for an algorithm, which is very tiny and so the samples are Amiga 8 bit sized. I’m not really getting good results from this idea.