2023 saw an overwhelming amount of exceptional new softsynths, from dexterous sound-shapers to meticulously crafted recreations of yesterday’s classics…
It’s been a year of continuing evolution for software synths, with many of the market leaders seemingly crafting future classics on a monthly basis. We’ve been particularly enraptured by the wares of Cherry Audio this year, a company which has grown from small beginnings to standing at the absolute forefront of recreating hardware legends in software.
Among a slew of impressive releases this year, the Mercury-6 is still blowing our proverbial socks off. This meticulous Jupiter-6 recreation invites enormous creativity. Its vibrant Unison mode and the ability to stack up to 32 oscillators, mean that – on a sonic level at least – it improves on the hardware in every conceivable way. It’s a big synth, and thankfully Cherry Audio’s focus mode allows you to zoom into each area to scrutinise in detail. It also features a useful standalone mode which enables you to work with Mercury-6 without any other distractions. Superb.
Another of our go-to synth titans, GForce Software were similarly productive, with both their Oberheim OB-X and M-Tron Pro IV leaving us buzzing. But, the one that we keep calling up the most has to be the MiniMonsta 2. This magnificent, 16-voice Minimoog resurrector instantly took the mantle of the being the most exacting sonic recreation (and there have been many) of that famed legend, whilst also providing a tonne of further software manipulation. The 800 patches and attractive sub-£50 pricetag make it one of the year’s finest softsynth packages.
Minimal Audio released its first synth, Current, as we entered Q4 of the year. Although the launch was somewhat overshadowed by the confusion around whether access was subscription-only or available outright (a situation later clarified by the company), the synth itself was an absolutely astounding piece of modern synth design, with deep modulation abilities and lush big-screen sounds easy to conjure. It’s certainly been one of 2023’s most eye-opening releases. We spoke to the company about the synth this issue, on page 10.
Effects-gurus (and regular CM giveaway contributors) Baby Audio released its very first softsynth this year. The BA-1 saw their appreciated ‘simplified’ aesthetic ethos to the often perplexing world of synthesis, and conjured something of an instant classic on its first go. The BA-1 was based on the Yamaha CS-01, so if you want ’80s retro nostalgia you’ll get it in spades, but it’s that welcoming UI that makes speed and instant results its watchword. We’re incredibly excited to see what Baby Audio does next in this domain.
Going back to the very start of the year (and technically, the very end of last year –
