MusicRadar

The Future Retro XS sounds deliciously analogue.

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• Review

The XS is an analogue mono synth, with plenty of knobs and MIDI control. It's surprisingly light for its size, and the casing is made entirely of anodized metal, right down to the black side panels (or rack mount ears if you prefer).

At first glance, the XS is very reminiscent of some classic mono synths. The arrangement of knobs brings to mind the Sequential Circuits Pro-One, while the patch points offer the audio experimentation possibilities and modulation routings of the ARP 2600 and Korg MS-20.

The semi-modular nature of the XS is one of its most alluring features, opening up the possibility of using it with other modular equipment. However, this doesn't get in the way of using it as a straight up synth.

Architecture

The XS begins with two oscillators called A and B. A offers saw, square, noise and external input options, while B adds sine, triangle and pulse width modulation for the square wave.

Osc A has a master tuning knob labelled Fine Tune, while B has Frequency, which tunes +/- 9 semitones from A for playing pseudo chords etc. B also has a switch for Oscillator Sync, a rotary selector for PWM source and a final one for Wave C. This is considered a utility oscillator, and can provide three kinds of sub to thicken up the bottom end, add ring modulation, white noise or route external audio into the mix.

The oscillators themselves sound absolutely fantastic – thick, rich and vibrant. In a head-to-head comparison with some of the top soft synths, the raw sound is just more musically pleasing – smoother and harmonically richer.

Another upshot of the analogue design is that the mixer can be overdriven by cranking up the levels of the three oscillators before it hits the filter. Playing with the levels can alter the tonal character of the filter dramatically.

At high gains and resonance cranked all the way, the resonance begins to choke and gives the screaming filter a creamy, saturated quality. Very nice indeed, but that's not enough. There is a second overdrive knob for post filter saturation, which extenuates any scream into a wailing banshee.

Filters and modulation

So how about them filters then? The XS is loaded with the four classic types – low, band, high and notch. All are 12dB, which gives them mellower slope than a 24dB type, but as hinted at earlier, all can scream into self-oscillation.

Squelchy and juicy are two words that immediately spring to mind – warm and ripping are two more.

The modulation section has three sources hard-wired and immediately available. These are Key Follow, velocity and envelope 1, which can be dialled positively and negatively, like on the Pro-One. The fourth mod source can be chosen from the eight on offer - including the LFO, the oscillators and external sources - via the patch panel.