MusicRadar

• Review

Off-the-wall plug-ins are par for the course for Audio Damage, so it's hardly surprising that their very first 'proper' synth is based on a vintage model that was pretty peculiar in its day and only seems more so nowadays.

The alphaSyntauri was perhaps ahead of its time, requiring, as it did, a computer to run - specifically, an Apple II. Released in 1979, it could play up to 16 notes via a set of synthesis cards installed in the computer, with a software front end for editing patches and more.

Like the alphaSyntauri, Phosphor uses additive synthesis as its sound source. In a nutshell, we're talking two oscillators, each with 16 partials.

"Whether Phosphor is being used for fake bass guitar plucks, FM bells or wonky leads, it's unmistakable."

One of the nice touches in this section is the waveform display, giving a visual representation of the result of what is naturally a dizzying number of permutations.

There are a number of clever features that aren't standard soft synth fixtures. One is the ability to adjust the curve of the attack, decay and release segments of the envelope.

Another is the Vintage button, which switches the sound quality of the oscillators between a lo-fi mode (complete with harsh aliasing to mimic the sound of the original device) and a cleaner one, which makes a huge difference to the sound.

A similar vintage option is available to the noise generator, giving plain old white noise. If you don't dig that, flip the switch and you'll hear gritty digital noise that responds to note pitch, akin to old video game systems.

Getting cross

Audio Damage's recent Axon instrument featured frequency modulation, and this appears in Phosphor too. Oscillator 1 can modulate the frequency of oscillator 2, and vice-versa. In fact, you can make them both modulate each other at the same time, known as cross-modulation.

Cranking this up and enabling the Vintage mode gives you waveforms you're unlikely to get any other way, lifting Phosphor above and beyond a vanilla additive sound.

LFOs come next, with two on offer that can modulate pitch, pan, level or noise amount for each oscillator, as well as the delay line lengths. LFO waveforms are pulse, sine, saw and random, and they can be further warped with the Waveshape slider.

The simplicity of the LFO section belies some nice touches, while the malleable waveform system is best explained by the manual.

The remaining section is the stereo-filtered delay. This will be recognisable from a number of other Audio Damage plug-ins, enabling tempo-synced or manually-set delays for left and right channels, each of which has its own filter section that's applied to the delayed signal.

The filters are a combination of high and lowpass, which can act as either, or be combined to create band-pass filtering. The presets ably demonstrate how well delays work with the types of sounds Phosphor offers.

However, the plug-in falls foul of one of our pet peeves: the lack of a master effects off control. You have to turn off the delays each time you change preset to hear the dry sound.

Control-wise, that just leaves some global options, two of which are a portamento control, and the ability to set the destination for the modulation wheel (LFO 1, LFO2, both or neither). If you find inspiration lacking, there are buttons to randomise the oscillator partial sliders or even the entire synth, and both can turn up some terrific results.