Synapse Audio

enhancements. Comprising separate Reverb
and Delay, both with Wet/Dry mix controls, the
efects section is intended for general polishing
and ‘spatialising’ of patches rather than intricate
or deep processing. To that end, the controls are
succinct and straightforward, with Time,
Feedback and Width (from mono to fully panned
ping pong) for the Delay, and Time, Color
(balancing low and high-frequency
reverberation) and Width for the Reverb. The
lack of an unsynced option for the delay time
sits at odds with The Legend’s retro nature, and
although we can understand Synapse Audio not
wanting to put the efects on the front panel in
the name of authenticity, we’d happily trade that
of against the convenience of being able to
tweak them without having to switch to the rear
view. They’re part of the sound design worklow,
after all, not ‘options’.
Pretty poly
More important than the efects in terms of
architectural transformation is The Legend’s
polyphony. Three modes are on ofer: Mono,
Poly 4 and Unison. Mono is traditional
monophonic Minimoog behaviour; Poly 4
enables up to four simultaneous voices; and
Unison is monophonic but with four stacked
unison voices, pitched away from each other
by the Unison knob. The stereo Spread knob
works in Unison and Poly modes, pushing
notes 1 and 3 out to the left and 2 and 4 to the
right in the latter.
With Native Instruments’ Monark being
the only high-proile Minimoog emulation
that doesn’t feature polyphony, its inclusion
here isn’t really remarkable, but nonetheless,
playing chords and pads on a Mini still feels
like a fresh experience every time. While we’ve
no idea what sonic issues Synapse had to deal
with in order to maintain that famous Moog
sound despite the synth doing something it
wasn’t designed to do – considerable ones,
presumably, since they’ve not ventured beyond
four voices – we can happily report that
The Legend pulls of polyphony totally
convincingly.
The other major architectural deviations
from the real Mini are the inclusion of the full
rack of seven waveforms and Semi/Fine tuning
controls for all three oscillators; a 12dB/octave
ilter mode; pre-ilter overdrive; and ‘upgrading’
of the Decay knob and On/Of switch into
discrete Decay and Release knobs, for extra
lexibility in the sustain department.
Legendary
The Legend both sounds and feels about as
close to a real Minimoog as we reckon it’ll ever
be possible to get without passing actual
electricity through a plugin. The oscillators
exude all the requisite bounce and low-
frequency energy, while the ilter is smooth, rich
and warm (and self-oscillates beautifully), and
the envelopes have every bit of that
characteristic snap and shape. Of course, no two
Minimoogs sounded exactly the same, so the
emulation target is somewhat movable, but
Synapse have captured the essence of this
seminal instrument perfectly, and only the most
resolutely software-phobic synthesist could
even begin to argue otherwise.
Web www.synapse-audio.com
Verdict
For Four voices of polyphony or unison
Sounds and plays just like the real thing
Built-in efects
Over 400 presets
Reason Rack Extension!
Against Delay can’t unsync from host
We’d rather the efects were at the front
A Minimoog with bells on, The Legend
is a stunning emulation of the most
important synth ever made, with a totally
legit sound and numerous handy extras
9/10
Alternatively
Native Instruments Monark
191 » 8/10 » £89
Lack of polyphony slightly lets
down this otherwise superb Mini
Arturia Mini V
141 » 9/10 » €149
Made in partnership with Bob
Moog himself, this one’s a beast
Above the efects section on the rear
panel are an array of global and
component tweaking controls. The
Global options begin with Up and Down
Pitch Bend Range, each of which can be
set in semitones from zero to two
octaves. Note Priority switches between
standard Last Note Prority voice
stealing and Round Robin, which cycles
through the four voices with each new
note. The Mono Mode switch toggles
the envelopes between retriggered
and legato action, and Model Revision
lets you choose one of two oscillator
board models: Early and Late, Early
primarily making the three pulse waves
a touch brighter and more upfront.
The Modulation and Filter sections
contain controls for restricting or
extending the full ranges of The
Legend’s pitch and ilter modulation,
and ilter cutof and resonance, as well
as response curve shaping for the mod
wheel. The Oscillators section’s Key
Tracking and Drift knobs dial in (or out)
random relative tuning discrepancies
between the oscillators when playing
up and down the keyboard and over
time. The Saturation knob applies rather
lovely distortion to the Ampliier stage.
Finally, Mains Frequency afects the
modelling of the power supply,
although the diference this makes
(50Hz or 60Hz) is negligible at best.
Under the hood
The Legend’s GUI mimics the layout of the Minimoog but
not so slavishly that it can’t also work in some additions
Get into the nitty
gritty of analogue
emulation with the
rear panel controls
“The Legend both
sounds and feels about
as close to a real
Minimoog as we
reckon it’ll ever be
possible to get”
January 2017 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 97
synapse audio the legend / reviews <
CMU238.rev_legend.indd 97 11/11/2016 13:02