For some musicians and creators, everything begins with a synth. For everyone else, getting amazing sounds out of these sometimes complex beasts used to be daunting. Until now…
Technology Before Music
Beginning the middle of last century, the early synth pioneers created machines whose sounds were yet to find a home in music, much in the same way that electricity was around for quite a while until somebody invented the lightbulb. In the following period, synth technology not only changed how music was made, but also spurned a whole subset of genres that simply wouldn’t have existed without it.
In the following years, there was sometimes a gap between the engineers who developed the technology and those who used it, and there are many examples of synths on ground-breaking records where both the artist and engineer would work together to achieve the sound in the artist’s head.
Music Before Technology
By the 1980s, the early room-filling monoliths of the previous decade had given way to instruments that could be transported and programmed by the same person. Towards the start of this century the soft synth arrived and found a place alongside the familiar hardware gear that musicians the world over continue to use today. With modern tools, synths have gone from being an exotic luxury to being a natural part of the musical lexicon for electronic artists the world over.
For some musicians, finding an accessible way to incorporate synths into their sound can seem daunting, especially to those who have spent their careers using more conventional instruments. Up until very recently, anyone hoping to enjoy a slice synth action for the first time could find themselves sticking to the presets or up against a very steep learning curve to get the sounds they wanted. For any artist, contenting with the esoterica that many synths present can be a barrier to their use.
UJAM Usynth
Understanding the need to give artists a powerful synth with an inspiring immediacy and flow, UJAM’s Usynth bundle is designed from the ground up to get you great sounds fast. Comprising three instruments, each gives you 100 synth modes, 80+ Finisher modes, up to 50 sequences, and 100 global presets.
Usynth 2080 Makes it faster and easier than ever to create a diverse range of synthwave sounds. No knowledge of digital audio theory or sound design principles are needed to get a fantastic-sounding result with little to no hassle.
Usynth Euphoria Makes it faster than ever to create raging and lyrical EDM lead synths alike, without filtering through tons of context menus, waveforms and shaping tools that are far too complicated for you to fully use. Anything in Electronic Dance Music is fair game!
Usynth Caramel Comes with all the rich, lush pad sounds you could ever want. Creating dreamy ambient soundscapes is easy, with the heavy lifting done behind the scenes (wavetable selection, unison, effects and far more), meaning less time spent on sound design and more time spent finishing songs!
UJAM add: “Under the hood, Usynth is a very complex synthesizer. Each instance consists of 2 individual layers per voice, with Virtual Analog, Wavetable, FM and Multisample Synthesis, Multi-mode Filter, 5-stage envelopes, LFOs, 12-way modulation matrix and much much more. But why would you care!”
Synths The Easiest Way?
As a lifelong musician for whom the synth always presented a challenge when trying to get ‘that’ sound, I found Usynth to be everything I was hoping for. In front of impressive functionality is a simple, clean, GUI with a control set that hands satisfying broad-brush control to the artist without the clutter. After some unashamed preset-bashing it will give you great sounds within minutes. The easiest way so far? Absolutely.