At the 2014 NAMM Show, synth designer Rob Papen offered a sneak preview of Blue II ‘crossfusion’ synthesizer.
Here are the official details on Blue II:
BLUE-II remains true to that ethos with even more sound dimensions and features to its extended name, starting with six oscillators beating at its musically creative heart. These can be connected in various ways, together with two analogue-style modelled stereo filters with 27 different filter types, an enormous range of processing and modulation options, sequencer, and an incredibly powerful arpeggiator. A new range of specially selected waveforms based on samples have been meticulously fashioned for creating new and fresh-sounding synth sounds, so don’t go expecting acoustic pianos galore here. However, since choirs and strings are an excellent basis for so many synth sounds BLUE-II has them in abundance, with much more besides!
Moreover, BLUE-II takes the useful XY pad features from its popular virtual instrument sibling Blade, a cutting-edge additive synthesis powerhouse with a human touch, and transplants them into its own equally extraordinary workflow… perfect for time-based sound movements and vector pad-type sounds. Complemented by four top-quality FX processors, each offering 35 FX types, BLUE-II is a phenomenally powerful virtual instrument to behold.
But BLUE-II is also easy to use, thanks to its user-friendly user interface and an innovative Easy Edit page for speedy sound changes, while the Bank Manager allows whistle-stop navigation through thousands of inspirational Rob Papen presets and artist sound banks covering a wide range of musical styles.
All told, then, BLUE-II represents an amazing journey into ‘Crossfusion synthesis’ and, quite simply, sounds stunning!
Availability is TBA.
via sonicstate
I bought Rob’s Book last week.
I love this guy.
I don’t like vsti’s but after watching his dvd I gained some respect for (some) vsti’s ( blue ,Alchemy).
I don’t use them and I don’t think I ever will because I’m hooked to hardware stuff.
I wish he produced Hardware synths!
@fyou: What are your thoughts about the book? Worth its money? I.e., did you learn a lot, or did it just discuss simple concepts?
Bad Maxton
I use Blue. really great Synth . Looking forward to Blue II
I used more Papen stuff than anything else
Vote me down fanboy horse f^%ker
What does equine bestiality have to do with synthesis? Did I miss a meeting?
Is it more expensive than Animoog? On other hand it has more knobs, but on other hand it sounds like yet another Papen…
Animoog sounds better, and its interface makes the XY stuff, both in keys and XY-pads, musically controllable.
I would buy $9,99 for this, if it was in iPad.
Dumb or troll, this is a VST and standalone for Mac and PC not a pad app and a powerhouse synth.
10 bucks… ok troll
Fanboy or Papen himself.
VST means nothing. iPad has many VST ‘powerhouses’ as stand alone apps. Only enhanced with musically controllable interfaces and price tags, that are slashed into tenth of the VST version.
Very solid upgrade. I wonder what kind of CPU load this generates? Its doing a lot of crunching under the hood. You have to have serious intent and some hair on your chest to use it well. 6 oscillators sounds like a lot of muscle, but it can also lead to giant sonic car wrecks. OTOH, for wild panning and wave sequence thingies, 6 seems like a smart number. An added plus for the subtle yet practical GUI changes. Don’t buy it on a whim. Its a justifiably high-commitment synth.
The first one is great, it does a massive amount of sounds, the addition of the very complex x/y control and the wave sequencer is amazing for an upgrade cost.
It is a complex synth that does not take a whole lot of time to figure out like others.
Ok, it looks awesome. But its not that new. Virsyn has had Cube out since 2003 with the same four point morphing xy pad http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep03/articles/virsyncube.htm. And last year they made a lighter IOS version. Which also kicks as.
But by all means, Blue II seems like a powerhouse indeed. And is probobly more powerful than Cube. But still, nothing new.
Where did Papen say it’s something new? This is one of the only plugin release we see without the annoying ‘New technology/features not available with other synths’. Again, no one said it’s something new.
BLUE always finds its way into my sequences…I must say it’s my go to synth no matter how many times I say I’m gonna exclusively use my other AUs that don’t get as much of my attention. I cannot wait until this latest incarnation arrives. Mr. Papen, BRING IT!
This looks like a nice upgrade to the FM/Atmospheric Blue. I like the fact the FX Parameters can be modulated also the quantization in the XY controller sounds very cool..
Rob’s been around for years and years, so I would place lots of trust on him ‘kicking it out the park’ with this. Where do I sign?