Pretty cool. I've not heard of this one before.
I really wish they had a Linux option in the downloads.
Could probably get it working with one of my VST hosts or through Wine, but it can be a gamble sometimes.
Speaking of which, this sort of reminds me of the Bristol Linux Synths app that I tried out as part of KX-Studio. It's classic synths laid out as their hardware in a GUI.
I don't know how accurate the sounds are because I've not had much time on a lot of the old great synthesizers.
I only have a Korg Monologue, but I've been thinking of buying an Arturia Micro-Freak for a while now. I've played those, and I really like them in spite of their non-traditional keys.
The Bristol comparison is a good one, since those emulations lean more on the hardware-layout vibe than exact sound, and a Micro-Freak would make a nice companion to the Monologue with those capacitive keys.
Would you say that the Bristol sounds aren't accurate, then?
I don't know how accurate any software emulation of an analog synth is, but if you have the layout of the unit there in full; it stands to reason you're emulating the circuitry logic at the very least.
So the number of VCA, VCF, ADSR, the oscillators & all those derivatives.
With real analog hardware the exact same models' sound can even vary depending on the years due to the components changing.
You see guitarists argue about this with a Marshal JCM from one decade to the other, and it can come down to the provenance of the tubes.
I would not call Bristol inaccurate, it just models the panel layout and general voice behavior rather than chasing component-level detail the way Diva does. For free software covering dozens of classic interfaces, it gets the character close enough that the workflow becomes the real draw.
Have you ever used the AMsynth instrument?
It's not modeled on any actual synth that I know of, but it's a free/open instrument that I am personally a huge fan of.
I have, amsynth is a solid little workhorse for a Linux rig and I respect that it never pretends to be a clone of anything. For a free and open instrument, the filter has more character than it has any right to.
I would say they get the architecture right, but the exact sound of any one analog unit is a moving target since the same model can drift with age and component changes. Bristol nails the layout and behavior, which is honestly the part that makes them fun to play.