MusicRadar Verdict
An extremely capable analogue synth with an attainable price tag.
Pros
- +
Sounds incredible. Comprehensive. Great price.
Cons
- -
No sequencer or apeggiator.
MusicRadar's got your back
Included with Cubase 6.5 and now available on its own, Retrologue is a virtual analogue synth that holds no major surprises but sounds superb.
Two oscillators (with up to eight unison voices each, PWM, hard sync and cross-modulation options), plus noise and a sub, feed into a 12-mode resonant filter with onboard distortion, while two envelopes and a pair of LFOs shake the basic sound up, and delay and chorus/flanger effects bring some polish.
"The Retrologue sounds incredible - every bit as good as many synths costing three times as much"
It's nothing particularly fancy, but clever touches like the fractional unison voice implementation, 'via' modifiers in the mod matrix and VST3 Note Expression make Retrologue deep and functionally comprehensive.
As we said, it sounds incredible - every bit as good as many synths costing three times as much. Basses bounce, leads scream and pads scintillate.
It's equally at home with modern urban/dance styles and more delicate electronic/hybrid material. A bit of onboard sequencing or arpeggiation wouldn't hurt, but you can't have everything for 40 quid.
Computer Music magazine is the world’s best selling publication dedicated solely to making great music with your Mac or PC computer. Each issue it brings its lucky readers the best in cutting-edge tutorials, need-to-know, expert software reviews and even all the tools you actually need to make great music today, courtesy of our legendary CM Plugin Suite.
"The Rehearsal is compact, does its one job well, and is easy to navigate without needing instructions": Walrus Audio Canvas Rehearsal review
“The EP635 delivers the unmistakable high-gain aggression and clarity that Engl fans love”: Engl packs its iconic Fireball head into a compact dual-channel stompbox with onboard noise gate and IR support
"There had to be some sort of telepathy going on because I've never seen spontaneous inspiration happen at that level”: The genius of Eric Clapton's controversial masterpiece, Layla