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

A Creature with Features

Orion's software instruments use a variety of synthesis techniques. Check out the online bonus material at emusician.com for descriptions of my four favorite generators and a link to an audio clip created with the program.

The Plucked String generator provides numerous variations, including approximations of nylon and steel strings. If you're looking for realistic instrument emulations, you'll probably have more luck with a good set of samples in the sample player, but I found the plucked-string module's sounds to be quite pleasing (albeit slightly electronic sounding).

Screamer specializes in saturated, sometimes distorted, lead sounds. It's a 2-oscillator monophonic synth with extra settings for Saturation and Rage. Also available is a monophonic bass synthesizer with a basic set of oscillator, filter, envelope, and portamento settings.

If you're looking for something a little less realistic than the sample-based drum synth, you have two alternatives. XR-909 emulates a Roland device with a similar-sounding name, and Tomcat creates excellent-sounding renditions of electronic kicks, toms, handclaps, and rim shots.

Two more sample-based synths round out Orion's collection. Wavefusion offers wavetable synthesis using three oscillators, three LFOs, a filter stage, and three envelope generators. And Ultran uses four oscillators to provide wave morphing using a variety of transition techniques. Both synths are great for evolving pads, textures, and arpeggiated passages.

A MIDI Out generator provides a convenient interface for linking external MIDI gear into Orion. Here you have access to the same sequencer window and arpeggiator as the software synths, but the synth parameters are replaced with port and channel assignments for the external connection. You can also specify patch and bank settings, and automate as many as eight MIDI controllers using the same parameter event recording and editing capabilities that the generators have.

Orion's arpeggiators are powerful indeed. Each generator gets its own, with complete control over the direction, speed, notes, rhythm, and duration of the arpeggiated passages. You can specify a total of eight different chords (root and chord type), and the arpeggiator will cycle through them as it generates notes. The arpeggiator's output can be written to the pattern in case you'd like to edit it (or have more control over what gets played).

Audio Additions

Audio recording is straightforward in Orion. You begin by inserting the Audio Track generator into your project. Audio tracks don't have property pages and piano-roll pattern editors like the synths, but they do appear in the mixer and song Playlist. Once it's in place, you can arm the track and record in a manner similar to DAW applications. And you can apply effects in the mixer just as you can with the other generators.

Recording isn't the only way to bring audio into Orion. You can also import WAV files into audio tracks, or use the sample-player generator to trigger audio phrases as you need them. Orion supports sampling rates up to 192 kHz and bit depths as high as 32 bits.

Once your masterpiece is complete (or ready for refinement in a full-fledged DAW), you can stream everything to one or more files. In addition to setting the export format (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, or WAV), you can choose whether to generate a single file, a file for each generator, or a file for each mixer channel (some generators, such as the drum machines, can send their output to multiple mixer channels).

To the Stars

Orion is an excellent environment for music composition and recording. If your work is primarily MIDI based and you're comfortable building your projects as a collection of generators and patterns (keeping in mind that patterns store a maximum 10,000 steps), Orion may be all you need. Other users will eventually need the extra features that a more complete DAW application provides. But even if you already use a major sequencer, Orion can be a terrific tool for composing your song's initial tracks. There's much to be said for its intuitive environment, which lets you compose quickly without getting in the way (unlike some DAWs I've used).

The program's documentation is adequate, though it isn't searchable or context sensitive and a few of the newest features aren't yet covered. I'd certainly appreciate a PDF-based alternative to the help file.

Overall, though, I found Orion a joy to work with. Download the demo today and experience it for yourself.

Allan Metts is an Atlanta-based musician, software/systems designer, and consultant. Check him out at ametts.com.

PRODUCT SUMMARY