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The XILS 3 adds some new features of its own.

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• Review

Matrix

You may have noticed the pin matrix at the bottom of the synth section, which appeared on the original EMS instruments as a clean and flexible alternative to patch cables. Presented as a grid, the user may connect any of the 16 sources (vertical axis) to any of 16 destinations (horizontal) by inserting a pin at their intersection – this is not only for shaping sounds but is necessary to get any sound at all.

Wisely, XILS-lab's matrix takes after the initial VCS3, with outputs for each oscillator's wave. This is a nice touch, since it means you can set up a patch wherein Oscillator 1's sawtooth is sent to the filter, while its sine wave is routed to the ring modulator.

Finally, there's an 11x10 matrix with additional synthesis modulation possibilities, sharing the same destinations as the sequencer matrix. As you'll appreciate, this all makes for ridiculous flexibility.

One of the great joys of the EMS instruments comes from shoving pins into the matrix willy-nilly just to see what happens. XILS 3's matrices are not without their problems, however, as while there are mouse-over crosshairs to make your patching clearer, it's all too easy to hit the wrong spot due to the small size of the matrix area.

Additionally, the VCS3 could accept pins of different resistances, so that you could alter the modulation amount – it would have been great to have that level of control implemented here.

Summary

There's more to XILS 3 than we can possibly cover here, but we'd like to make special mention of the factory patches. They are, almost entirely without exception, beautifully crafted and cover a wide range of genres and needs, plus the patch designers have whipped up an impressive selection of thick, juicy basses and evocative leads, as well as some exquisite pads, sequences and FX. Nice work.

In summation, XILS-labs has come charging out of the gate with an absolute winner, for XILS 3 is a terrific synthesizer that sounds gorgeous and is great fun to program. Sure it is, at its very core, yet another virtual analogue entering a saturated market, but like the instruments that inspired it, it presents familiar tools in an intriguing way, which begs the synthesist to dive right in and get their hands dirty.

It isn't for everyone and it might leave greener synthesists perplexed, but it offers inspiration, especially for those who think they've heard enough analogue synthesis to last a lifetime. XILS-lab is going to have a tough time topping this one!

Hear what the XILS 3 can do: