MusicRadar

The Unison function enables you to stack multiple voices for super-fat sounds.

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• Review

The OSCar hardware synth was launched by the Oxford Synthesiser Company in the early 80s. It's since become a classic and is a shining example of British technological innovation.

Used by FSOL, Underworld, Orbital and many other noteworthy dance acts, it featured two digital oscillators with monophonic or duophonic voicing. Upping the ante, the designers showed off a polyphonic successor at a trade show in the mid '80s, but alas, it never made it into production.

Picking up the baton in 2003, GForce Software released a software OSCar emulation, impOSCar. It was true to the original, but with the addition of polyphony and an effects section.

"16-note polyphony can result in some monster chords. The results are wide, deep and fat."

Key OSCar features were present and correct, including those distinctive digital oscillators (complete with user-programmable additive waveforms), dual filters with a novel separation control, and screaming overdrive.

Of course, it makes no particular sense to forever adhere to the restrictions of a time defined by physical limitations when so much more sonic trickery can be had in the virtual realm. To this end, GForce has combined feedback from impOSCar users with its own expert ideas to come up with a logical evolution, impOSCar 2.

It's currently Mac-only, in VST, AU and RTAS formats, but a PC version is coming soon. Some might argue that this furthering of an established classic represents irreverence and arrogance on a par with making Hendrix's next record. We beg to differ.

Unison, and on, and on...

The first thing you need to do to be convinced of this is listen to the unison mode patches, which cover bass, lead, pads and more.

This new unison mode stacks up to eight voices per note and spreads, staggers, detunes and pans them to create a huge sound.

You get up to 16-note polyphony, too, which can result in some monster chords. The results are wide, deep and fat, and not only that, but you can have differing glide times for each of the stacked unison voices, which helps in creating amazing textures for leads and pads.

Other sonic additions are a ring modulator – which has its moments – and independent pulse width control of the two oscillators. A second LFO has been added along with an Aux Mod section, enabling you to route either of the two modulators to a host of targets. LFO syncing has also been modified to allow slower modulations. Other sonic niceties for v2 are pink noise generation and new chorus modes.

It all adds up to a much more refined instrument, and that's reflected in the patch library, which shows a considerably fuller all-round complement of sounds.

It's still a synth and proud of it, so you don't get orthodox string/brass/piano-type patches. There is a folder of organ sounds, but this is perhaps the least impressive area.

What you do get is a wide range of synth sounds that are testament to the extended versatility of this new incarnation. In the past, you wouldn't have turned to impOSCar for a characterful pad sound, for example, but now you certainly would. And the same applies to wide bass sounds and textured leads.

There are now so many patches that the new Patch Browser is arguably a necessity. It gives direct access to banks and patches and you can map favourite sounds to Program Change numbers – great for live work.