Ichiro Toda Synth 1 DXi

I've been a pro musician (bass guitar) for over 20 years and played with many Grammy-winning and legendary rock and fusion players through the years. I have a degree is multi-track recording and production and have extensive experience in all phases of composition, production and performance. I have been playing progressive rock, hard rock, fusion, electronica, and related genres of rock and jazz for the past 25 years, now playing mostly keyboards and guitar in my DAW home studio. I've owned and played scores of synths by Moog, ARP, Sequencial Circuits, Yamaha, Korg, Casio, Octave, Davoli, etc. I currently also use Albino, Vanguard, Absynth, FM7, P-53, Z3ta+, Crystal, Evol, Mellowsound, Tapeworm, STS-24, ProtoPlasm, and many more commercial and freeware VSTIs.

Synth1 is as easy and as complicated as you want it to be. On one level it is logically layed out and easy to get started. On the other hand, it has much to be explored for those looking to dig a little deeper. The biggest problem with its ultimate ease of use is the User Manual, which is only partially completed (English version). But it's still easy enough to figure out the basics if you have any experience with analog synths at all.

The sounds that Synth1 can produce are on a par with any other soft synth available with a similar configuration. It can not sound like a 4 oscillator synth, because it is not one. But for what it does, it does it better (in my opinion) than any other synth of its type. But don't judge this by its "factory" presets - either find some of the MANY patch banks on the net for this beauty, or even better - just create your own. The versatility of this synth is truly outstanding and this synth deserves a place in virtually every player's home studio VSTI rack!

From ambient pads to blazing leads to sophisticated strings and ensembles and organs to basses and the delightfully weird - Synth1 can do them all! Rickenbacker basses, Hammond organs, catherdral pipe organs, Emerson leads, e-pianos, lush strings, Jarre sweeps, Devo detunes, house stabs, new age and ambient pads, Kraftwerk leads, Numan leads, breath-taking choirs, and all the beeps and sweeps and aural oddities you could ever want - they're all here, if you know what you're doing and willing to spend a little time making it happen.

This really is my favorite soft synth of all time, due to it's ease of use, amazing sonic capabilities, very low CPU usage, and the overall fun and thrill of using such a solid and diverse audio tool. No, it won't do "everything", but then no one synth can! But it consistantly does more and does it better than anything currently available - commercial or freeware. After playing and creating with this jewel for nearly a year, I am still amazed at the variety of high-quality sounds this little tank can produce. Sure, I use all sorts of other synths, mainly for their presets and unique one-trick-pony effects, but Synth1 is the one I keep returning to and I am never disappointed with it's utility. If I could take only one soft synth with me into the bunker this would be my easy first choice!

make music for twenty years. electronic music for five years, mostly techno. i use only software but have experiences with access virus. used synth 1 in logic on a vaio 1.6 ghz laptop 512 mb ram.

very easy, even the poti labels are easy to read

well it looks red like a nordlead and maybe the gui structure is based on a nord lead and it is for free but the sound ...
you cannot compare it to high class softsynths as absynth or reaktor. in my opinion the price is a different thing than sound and there is no relation between. i don't know the nord lead but the virus is in the same range. if i wouls make a production and i had to decide between virus or synth1 or even reaktor and synth1 i would always prefer the first ones.

ppr is perfect.
i compared it to other softsynths.
it does not hog my cpu.
it has a lot of presets.
it never crashed.

the sound is cheap. i would hope that someone advances the dsp code.

I'm kinda new to the world of midi, but not new to the world of music latenights... Tonight is another latenight and I thought I should go out of my way to do a review on this thing. I love it... Better than anything I've stumbled across so far. Great preset system where you can easily set your own presets, rename them, etc... I've spent hours just going from one soundbank to the other.. Make sure you get the extra soundbanks from the same webpage (They're great)...

I'm an amateur who has a decent amount of experience with synthesizers, both software and hardware. Currently I'm running Cakewalk with the Synth 1 DXi (among other synths), Windows ME, 750mHz, 128 MB RAM and an M-Audio 24/96 soundcard.

This thing is amazingly easy to manipulate. Only one window, and everything's laid out very well. It's almost as if it was made by someone who was fed up with softsynths with a thousand windows (like the FM7).

No manual. Why would anyone need one? If you have any knowledge of synths at all, you can use this and you can use it well.

It responds to MIDI, as expected.

Oh god. This thing will make you bleed from the ears if you abuse it - and that's no exaggeration; the Synth 1 is dangerously harsh sometimes, and its harshness occurs abruptly when you adjust certain pots. Don't even think about trying to roll off the treble - it won't do you any good. Avoid the demo song at all costs, as well!

As a lead this thing is lame. It sounds cheesier than the FM synths of yesteryear, but you can get some good basses and FX with this. If you tweaked it enough (there sure as hell are enough parameters to adjust), you can get some sounds that sound as good as a MinimoogV (the softsynth, not the real Voyager) in a mix.

The sounds get a seven because you can get some really cool FM-ish sounds from this (and I'm partial towards the sounds of the old Yamahas), but don't expect Access Virus quality here.

Great effort on the part of whomever made this. Despite what one reviewer said, this is NO alternative to a Nord or ANY hardware VA (or many softsynths, for that matter). It is, however, something to look into if you're interested in subtractive synthesis and are maybe short of cash or aren't sure if you want to shell out the money for a synth like the MinimoogV by Arturia. Just be careful - and I mean that. This thing is probably capable of causing some serious damage to your ears.

This Plugin is a good alternative to nord lead, $0.00 vs $1200,how about that?!! And even FX, something that nord doesn't have..

Very easy to use.

For me it worked as good or even better then some comercial plugins or even hardware.

It is a fantastic value. And it never crashed on me.

I've been producing music for 15 years,I now remix tracks for top acts.
I play keyboards.I downloaded Synth1 after hearing good things about it.I didnt get the version number.I use synth1 in cubase sx & now it's a permanent fixture in my vst rack.I use the synth for new sounds and because it's versatile,easy to use & sounds good.I produce Euro trance & progressive trance and always use it in my work.
I am running a PC,1.3Ghz with 640mb of ram with windows 2000.
I listen through studio monitors and DT100's.

yes
no
yes
yes
very easy
no manual

very good,sits well in the mix,add loads more sounds.
presets are fine.
yes it's expressive.
my use of synth1 is stereo,not noticed any problems.
Not tested it that far,the most I've had up is 6 instances at once.

It was FREE,well worth it.
I compared it to linplugs crono-x
i love its flexability,hate nothing,dont have a fave
it doesent hog cpu
its never crashed
More sounds

I've been playing guitar for ten years now, but I'm quite new to softsynths. And I really don't know how all the expensive gear sounds like, not that rich. I'd really like to see someone more experienced reviewing this product, because it sounds great to my ears. The plugin I've got is a Synth 1 v1.04 vst/dxi, and I'm using it with cakewalk home studio 2002. I'm making all kinds of experimental music.
My computer is amd duron 750, 256mb ram, m-audio audiophile 2496 soundcard, running windows xp. I'm using headphones with my soundcard.

Very easy to use interface, no need for any guides, allthough there is one in net. Sounds come out very clear, no disturning background noices. Easy to make it sound good, very good presets available on net.
Installing may be a bit mysterious, because of the japanese text used on installer. All you have to do, though, is to press two buttons, and very easy to guess which ones.
automation is supported only in vst-version, at least at this time.

I mostly just tried all the presets found on net, and they sounded great. Very wide range of different styles, from techno to orchestra. Lovely reverb. Sound is crystal clear. With little tweaking you can easily modify the sound, allthough I didn't feel it that much necessary. BEST SOUNDS I'VE HEARD.

Plugin has got:
2 oscillators, with FM, Ring modulation and Sync.
4 Filters (LP12/24/HP12/BP12) with Distortion.
2 LFOs.
EQ, Tempo delay, Stereo chorus, Flanger.
Mono/Poly/Legato modes.
Arpeggiator
16 voice polyphonic.
128 presets.
More presets downloadable in net. 10 banks = room for 1280 presets.
Not multi-timbral.

Worth the price? - more than that. there is no price!

At least compared to absynth demo, virtual sound canvas, dreamstation, triangle II... It beats the hell out of them. Try for yourselves, it costs nothing.
Easy using compared to magnificent sounds... -I don't need all that expensive gear, not after this... Takes very little CPU, never crashed on me.
The knobs are a bit slow to use, at least unless you resize the window a bit bigger.

I give it ten - because it's free, it's worth the try.