XILS-lab

ADSR with Upper/Lower Decay and Release
separation. While ADSR mode works as
expected, Legacy mode enacts the ‘continuous
decay’ of the hardware, which never becomes
particularly intuitive but is certainly capable of
creating some intriguing shapes.
Filter frenzy
The bottom half of the main interface houses
PolyM’s three main ilter sections and the Mode
ilterbank. First and perhaps foremost, the
Polymoog’s inaccessible 12dB/octave
polyphonic ‘brightness’ ilter has been opened
up for editing, with adjustable type (low-, high-or
band-pass), cutof, resonance, amount, key
tracking and ADSR envelope.
After that, the ‘main’ global ilter is a 24dB
low-pass zero-delay feedback, self-oscillating
ladder model, modulated by an LFO, a sample
and hold generator and an ADSR envelope. It
can be restricted to the Upper or Lower
keyboard range if required.
The central array of blue buttons call up all
eight original Polymoog presets (‘Piano’, ‘Organ’,
‘Vibes’, ‘Brass’, etc) plus ‘Vox Humana’ from the
Polymoog Keyboard (as famously used by Gary
Numan in Cars), each of which has an associated
uneditable polyphonic internal ‘Mode’ ilterbank
conigured to mimic the named instrument.
With the bottom right button depressed,
however, switching preset only changes the
Mode setting, bringing its particular colour to
any patch (the actual preset library is accessed
via the top bar menus, of course).
The Resonators section is decidedly unusual.
A three-band parametric ilterbank originally
used for acoustic instrument emulation – ie,
formant shaping – it operates in low-, high- or
band-pass modes, at a 6dB or 12dB/octave slope,
and is once again applicable to the Lower, Upper
or both oscillators/ranges.
The four iltered outputs – Direct (Polyphonic
VCF), Direct+VCF, Direct+Mode and
Direct+Resonators – are mixed in the Master
Gain Controls section, and it’s this blending of
ilter-modulated signals that’s key to PolyM’s
individuality. The ability to modulate the
Resonators (see Advanced Settings) is huge in
this regard, but factor in modulation of their four
level faders, too, and all kinds of strange and ear-
catching resonant interactions become possible.
Pretty Poly
Like XILSLab’s other vintage emulations, PolyM
feels almost corporeal in its authenticity and
vibe. It’s refreshingly diferent, too, with a
programming ethos that, although limited in
some respects (the oscillators) is remarkably
extensive in others (the ilters and mixer). The
‘divide down’ architecture gives it a voice all its
own, and the keyboard splitting concept makes
it both weird and entertaining to program and
play. The addition of efects and advanced
modulation routings lends it far more power
than its analogue ancestor, and our only beef is
that the GUI is quite iddly in places when
running on a high-res laptop screen.
Excelling at pads, strings, keys and other
sounds that beneit from being imbued with
complex movement, the wacky but wonderful
PolyM not only brings Moog’s ‘curate’s egg’ of a
synth back to life, but greatly improves it.
Web www.xils-lab.com
Verdict
For Very characterful sound
Groovy mixable ilters
Split keyboard for many parameters
Extra modulation and efects
Brilliant for strings and pads
Against GUI needs a ‘big’ mode
Not the most versatile oscillators
With its bonkers architecture and
idiosyncratic sound, PolyM is a fantastic
addition to the vintage soft synth pantheon
9/10
Alternatively
GForce Virtual String Machine
122 » 9/10 » £80
The Polymoog features among the
17 classic multisampled synths in
this lavish package
AfroDJMac Polymoog
Ableton Live Pack
NA » NA » $10
30 Instrument Racks for Live, made
from a sampled Polymoog 80a
Like any vintage synth emulation
worth its salt, PolyM adds signiicantly
to Moog’s original (40-year-old!)
formula. The polyphonic ilter,
described in the main text, is a big deal,
but there’s also a comprehensive
modulation scheme and a quartet of
efects, both revealed in the two-page
‘CRT’ strip at the top of the interface by
clicking the oscilloscope, bottom left.
The Modulations panel features 15
source/destination pairings. The irst
three source slots are hardwired to
pedal/aftertouch, mod wheel and
velocity, while the other 12 give free
access to PolyM’s various integral LFOs
and envelopes, and the expected MIDI
messages – mod wheel, velocity, note
pitch, pitchbend, polyphonic pressure,
etc. The destination menu contains the
majority of controls for the oscillators,
ilters, mixer, envelope and efects.
Switching to the Efects page brings
up the controls for PolyM’s bolted-on
Reverb, Delay, Chorus and Phaser
modules. Each one is fronted by a set of
editable parameters, including three
Reverb Size options, separate Left/
Right Time and Feedback Delay
controls, Phaser overdrive, and two
Chorus ‘thickness’ settings. All four are
very useful, but the phaser and chorus
are the highlights, with their splendidly
analogue sounds.
Advanced Settings
A massive library of factory and artist presets is
included, navigated using XILS’ proprietary ilters
PolyM includes a bank of four very useful efects
“Legacy mode never
becomes intuitive but
is certainly capable of
creating some
intriguing shapes”
January 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 93
xils-lab polym / reviews <
CMU251.rev_polym.indd 93 13/11/2017 11:47