Some may like this, but we found it slightly off-putting, preferring to stick to bold and simple patches, which it's pretty good at. "More than just fun, this is a highly expressive synth that lends itself very well to modern musical styles"Īlthough capable of many different flavours, there's an overall metallic edge to the sound whenever the oscillator waveform gets complex (often when, but not limited to, importing samples for resynthesis). In its most characterful moments, RayBlaster sounds similar to pre-existing wavetable, wavescanning, waveshaping and granular synthesisers, but a lot of the time it just doesn't sound as silky or pristine as the competition. Although the methods by which the sounds are achieved are somewhat novel, what we were able to produce with it - and the included presets - didn't do a great deal to radically differentiate it from other forms of digital synthesis out there. However, it's not really the game-changer that Tone2 have made it out to be. We really enjoyed getting into RayBlaster, and it certainly does offer a new way of working that stands apart from the more traditional synth plugins out there. That's not to say that RayBlaster sounds too much like Tone2's other products, but rather that they have something of a signature sound that will be immediately obvious to anyone well acquainted with their other plugins. There's a familiar Tone2 feel to RayBlaster, partly because of the interface design (which is consistent with the company's other products) and partly due to its subtle sonic nuances. The oscillator section might take a moment or two to take in on first use, but the modulation matrix, LFOs and envelopes don't prove challenging, offering a common enough framework to encourage usable results without a big learning curve. The bad news is that Tone2's documentation puts style before substance the good news is that it's a fun and intuitive synth to program anyway.Īfter thoroughly exploring the factory bank, we were soon able to cook up spooky drones, sharp leads and grimy basses with relative ease.
The presets cover a wide range of sounds (from chainsaws to pianos and dreamy pads), but to get the most out of RayBlaster, you're best off initialising it and hurling yourself at it with playful curiosity. "The presets cover a wide range of sounds, from chainsaws to pianos and dreamy pads"