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You can use ACE without touching the patch cables, but plugging them in is fun...

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We see so many soft synths that it's sometimes hard for us to get excited by them. But u-he's new ACE - or Any Cable Everywhere - has managed to get a serious rise out of us.

Not only is it born of excellent stock (u-he's Zebra 2 synth and Uhbik effects bundle both earned five star reviews on MusicRadar), but it uses an approach that's actually quite uncommon in soft synths: it's a semi-modular design that doesn't differentiate between audio signals and modulation sources.

Overview

ACE offers a fairly standard set of core modules: two oscillators, two LFOs, two filters, two ADSR envelope generators, ramp generator, and all the requisite mixer-type modules. You'll also find a 'circuit bending' section, a mapping generator, an oscilloscope and built-in effects.

Modules are connected together using virtual patch cords, but even with none plugged in, you have a usable synth, because ACE's modules are pre-routed in a standard configuration. Using the cables is much more fun, though, as it's far more rewarding to craft your own patches.

In the spirit of the Any Cable Everywhere philosophy, module demarcation only really refers to the function each unit is streamlined towards - you can use an LFO to generate an audio signal just as readily as a VCO, for example. Just like a hardware modular synth, any of ACE's module outputs - whether it bears 'audio' from an oscillator or a 'control' signal from an envelope - can be patched into any module input.

In detail

Most modules have several inputs and one or two outputs, and you can run as many cables as you like from each output. For example, an ADSR envelope module with decay and sustain set low could control the cutoff and resonance of a filter, giving a plucked timbre.

You could take another output from that same ADSR generator and patch it to the mix control of the noise generator, for a more aggressive transient. It's quite a cool sound already and that's using only one module output - ACE has 24

"Most modules have several inputs and one or two outputs, and you can run as many cables as you like from each output."

Further routing flexibility can be had with the two Multiple modules, which can mix up to four signals, and by using the Mod input, can provide crossfading between signals, as well as ring and amplitude modulation. The latter options are useful not just for the expected metallic noises but for scaling control values.

The operation of Multiples is explained in detail in the manual, and from what could seem like quite a technical standpoint to less experienced users. This 'scientific feel' is a trait that runs throughout ACE, and you can't really get away with just tweaking and patching blindly until something cool happens, as you might on a typical VA synth.