Review: Synapse Audio Orion 7.5 (Win)

Nov 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Allan Metts

           
 

AN INTUITIVE ALTERNATIVE TO A FULL-FLEDGED DAW

BONUS MATERIAL
Synapse AUdio Orion 7.5 Sound Generators

Synapse Audio's Orion has roots as a software synthesizer workstation offering pattern-based MIDI sequencing, a few software synthesizers, and a basic set of effects. The application has continued to evolve over the years and now provides multitrack audio recording, more than a dozen sound generators, and compatibility with other software instruments and effects using VST, DirectX, and ReWire.

EM reviewed Orion in the January 2003 issue (available at emusician.com), so I'll cover the basics here only briefly. The program is no longer offered in multiple versions with different price points and features; the lone offering now is what Synapse Audio previously called the Platinum version. Though Orion isn't intended to replace a high-end DAW, you get a remarkable amount of music-making power for the money.

Musicians' Intuition

FIG. 1: Orion provides more than a dozen sound generators, lots of effects, and capabilities for sequencing, audio recording, and mixing.

Orion is remarkably intuitive (see Fig. 1). You insert sound generators (software instruments) into your project and create patterns for each generator to play. You can record patterns in real time or step time, or enter them with the mouse in a piano-roll display. Each generator gets a channel in the mixer and a track in the Playlist. The Playlist determines which patterns play as your song progresses.

Orion is a bit more “hardwired” than some of the other offerings out there. To change the generator associated with a pattern, you have to cut the pattern data out of one generator and insert it into a new one. Your options for mixer routing are also fixed; each channel supports two insert effects, four effects-send buses, and routing to four mixer subgroups in addition to the master channel. You cannot add or delete effects buses or subgroups.

In practice, though, I found it extremely refreshing to have fewer menus to dig through and fewer choices to make. Orion's simplicity is arguably its greatest strength, because it allows you to focus more on making music and less on dealing with the configuration settings.

Effects Everywhere

Orion furnishes many more slots for plug-in effects than its configuration of channels and buses might imply. The send buses, subgroups, and master channel can each accommodate four effects (as opposed to the two slots available in the mixer channels). What's more, two of Orion's effects are actually holders for other effects.

Orion has two types of effects holders, BandFX and MultiFX. MultiFX can accommodate four effects in either a parallel or serial configuration; when used in a parallel configuration, a convenient x-y controller lets you determine how much of each effect will be applied. The BandFX holder splits your signal into three frequency bands and provides two effects slots for each band. The frequency breakpoints are configurable, and each band has a dedicated gain control. Orion's effects holders provide an intuitive and powerful mechanism for adding just the right effects to your project. I was even able to put one effects holder into the slot of the other effects holder without any complaints from the program.

FIG. 2: Orion’s convolution reverb is a relatively new addition to the program. Several other reverbs are available if you’re short on CPU and don’t need the convolution capabilities.

More than 40 effects are available. Some of the newest include virtual analog distortion, a saturation effect, convolution reverb (see Fig. 2), and a peak limiter modeled after the Universal Audio 1176LN. Also new are autotracking EQs, which can boost or cut as many as four partials of the input signal's frequency (obviously, an effect like this works best on monophonic source material). The autotracking EQs can save you from having to instantiate multiple EQs to address problem frequencies relating to a moving bass or lead line.

The effects sounded great, and I appreciated the inclusion of processors — such as the pattern- and sidechain-controlled filters — that can automatically infuse some movement into your audio. Orion covers all the bases, with one notable exception: when trying to dial up a good guitar sound, I had to resort to a third-party VST-based amp and speaker simulator. Orion has tube-based and analog distortion but nothing that can make your guitar sound just like it's coming from a Fender Twin.

In addition, many of the effects aren't as graphically detailed as those you'd find elsewhere. You often see only knobs to set the configuration, as opposed to flashing indicators with moving graphs and meters. I didn't miss them too much, though, and I appreciated the extra screen real estate (with fewer distractions).