Software Reviews Part 1

Today I'll be reviewing some VST plugins so you aren't forced to pick through the bad ones to find what you want.

Minimonsta - $160 (7/10)
As the GForce homepage says, this is "a minimoog on steroids". It has all the functionality of a classic minimoog synth (as far as I can tell) plus some extra features. There are a bunch of added envelopes and the ability to add a bunch of extra detuned oscillators to make some fat-ass sounds. This is fantastic for playing live and allows you to morph your sound on the spot. The only drawback is the fact that this really can't be your main all-purpose synth. It definitely has its place, but it's limited somewhat by it's likeness to the minimoog.

Successes
-Excellent minimoog emulation
-Added control over your sound.

Failures
-Limited waveform selection
-Can be CPU intensive at times.
-Has lots of freeware alternatives that do almost the same thing.

Pro-53 - $200 (7.5)
Native Instruments' Pro-53 is an emulation of the classic Prophet-5 synthesizer. It does an excellent job at that according to people who've used the original. The sounds are pretty old-school, so if you're going for an 80's kind of thing, this should do the job. The main thing I use it for is it's hardcore/hardstyle leads. If you copy my screenshot, it will give you a fantastic starting point for a hard dance lead. Also, using this lead never brought my CPU above 5, which is great for how fat the sound is.

Successes
-Warm, delicious emulation of 80's analog synth sounds.
-Low CPU usage
-Erection inducing Hard dance leads.

Failures
-The patches are limited (somewhat) to old-school synth sounds.