MusicRadar

NAMM 2012: Rob Papen has been involved in the creation of some of the best virtual instruments of the past 10 years - including the all-conquering Albino 3 - so hopes are high for Blade, his latest, soon-to-be-released synth.

This is an additive instrument that's powered by the Harmolator oscillator, which comes with nine dedicated controls and a sub-oscillator.

More details and specs below and a teaser video above. Blade will cost £79, though we don't yet have an exact shipping date.

Rob Papen Blade official details

Borne of a synth fanaticism of epic proportions and forged in the darkest depths of a legend's mind, BLADE rises to rid the planet of mundane music…

At the heart of BLADE, ready to twist and transform your musical mind, lies the Harmolator. An additive synthesis system, which rather than using the system of changing additive partials, uses global controls which capture the essence of additive synth in an intuitive way making the creation of sounds much easier than using other additive synths. The nine Harmolator controls allow you to create a vast range of sounds so you get all the amazing sounds that additive synthesis can generate with the added simplicity of traditional subtractive synthesis.

The Harmolator allows oscillator spreading, fattening the sound and also square / sine wave sub-oscillator. What´s more, the sound can be modified further by the 21 per-voice distortions types and 14 filter types.

Blade offers total control of the sound over time using an array of different modulation controls. The most significant of these is the central XY screen. Here you can either alter things directly by moving the cursor around, or you can record paths which can be replayed, thus creating an incredibly advanced LFO.

Furthermore, Blade has the full range of other modulation sources, including dedicated envelope, LFO, XY knobs, velocity and any other modulation source for Harmolator controls, two free envelopes, two free LFOs and 4 modulation slots which allow all of Blade parameters to be changed.

Two FX units featuring all the FX from other Rob Papen products, plus the Arp / Sequencer and an Easy page which allows you to easily control sounds, all add up to an amazingly flexible and useful instrument at the cutting edge of today´s synthesizers!

Specifications

• 16 voices, operating in poly , mono 1/2 , legato 1/2 and arp modes
• Harmolator Oscillator with 9 controls + sub-oscillator
• 21 Distortion Units operating per voice
• 14 Filter Types including 6/12/18/24 low/high pass, 12/24 band pass / notch, vocal & comb filter
• XY Pad which can operating either directly or with recorded paths, in poly or mono modes
• Dedicated Harmolator envelopes, LFOs, velocity controls and modulation controls
• 2 Free Envelopes, 2 Free LFOs and 4 modulation sources. All of Blade´s controls can be used as modulation destinations, and there are a full range of modulation sources including midi controls and internal controls
• 2 FX units with 27 effects, including distortion, reverb and tape delay plus many more
• 16 Step Arpeggiator with each step having it´s own control which can also be used as a sequencer for modulation purposes.
• Easy Page allows control of the main parameters in a flexible and easy way
• Manager screen allows you to easily find and organize presets and banks
• Full midi control over all parameters
• Version for 32 / 64 bit PC vst , 32 / 64 bit Mac VST / AU / RTAS

Around the web:

• Alejandro SuazoBlade? sound like Razor... mmm nothing new... The developers and software manufacturers should cut off prices 60% of its products to finally defeat piracy. We want original apps and quality software!
• Kristopher SmithRazor copy?
• Eric McDonaldCutting prices by 60% won't defeat piracy it will just mean more people buy their products. Sadly it won't stop people from whining about how expensive software is either. You want cheap, original, quality software? Make it yourself or stop complaining. Even better, don't buy it if you don't like it. Papen isn't forcing you to buy his stuff or use it.