WOK

Does what it's supposed to: Put a pitch shifter in the feedback loop of a delay.

You can get some really creative sounds with this, I just used it to make a regular snare drum extremely spacey by having its delays increase in pitch.

I like the design of the effect, it have a good sound too.

I used it in some several of my production.

Too bad it's only in 32-bits.

Wok is a great plugin designer, I always like their works:).

I like the design of the effect, it have a good sound too.

I used it in some several of my production.

Too bad it's only in 32-bits.

Wok is a great plugin designer, I always like their works:).

Have been looking for a simple way to get some sort of shimmer reverb effect... and I find this VST gives a beautiful sound and is inspiring to use. As well as the 'classic' shimmer effect, it has a few other presets (like the fed back pitch shifted signal continuously rises or falls, the interval is an octave or something else, etc). The developer say there is no support for this and other WOK VSTs these days, so that's the only reason I wouldn't give this 5 stars. It's well worth a download and experiment.

I was pretty surprised to see that this VST has NO reviews.

First... it's really not a poly synth. If you're trying to create some kind of beautiful melody with bell like tones - this isn't the plugin for you.

It's pretty much a one-trick pony - but what it does, it does VERY well. Dronos is designed to be a drone generator. Very simple controls, and any novice can quickly start sculpting tones. But remember, it's designed to create a drone tone. Dronos comes with portamento, so that by alternating two notes as a bass line, the tone gradually slopes up or down to the next note. I've used it with great results. It can function well against a gated synth line, as the framework for your nice stuttering rythym line and your incessant 1/4 note bass drum at 150 BPM... and if you switch to around C5 or so, it even works for your J. M. Jarre style breakdown.

Or if you're a metal head like me, it's almost fuel for the framework for a thousand songs - I almost think it shines best in this manner. But being a metal head, it was an immediate "Oh, i'm using THIS!" moment when I first heard it. That song you wanted to write about the four Vikings entering the Dragon's Lair? Crank out a nice D2 range drone, slide that up to F#, then back... your drummer should already be pounding on the toms by this point. Until Spinal Tap serves you with a cease and desist order... So that everyone is clear where I'm coming from musically, I write both Metal with a techno edge, and slower, ethereal music. This isn't perfect for everyone. But it's free, and I do recommend it.

I'm rating it at an 8 as it is indeed basically a one trick pony. But with that in mind, I love this synth.

I used it on several tunes, including this one... https://soundcloud.com/igrewsome/revelation-sixth-trumpet and this one https://soundcloud.com/igrewsome/the-seventh-vial-hail

Give it a try, and understand what it's designed for...to make a drone.

Cromina String Machine is one of the best budget string synth I've come across. The competing product, which is by a developer I respect greatly for his FX plugins, had considerable aliasing on the high notes - something that can get in the way of a soaring string section, no matter how nice the oscillators sound in the mid and low registers. Cromina does not noticably alias and sounds just as good if not better, despite being cheaper! Don't let the synthedit logo fool you!

Whilst I already own the excellent Synth Squad Amber, what drew me to this emulation was it's choice of three waveforms, and more mixable stops. The demo was super-annoying, not letting you tweak the important parameters (stops and footages), but I was sold on the strength of the presets. Take for example the patch "Warm Poly Strings", it's just flippin' gorgeous. The phaser, tremolo, and all the other details really come together to deliver the lush.

Speaking of effects, there's a switch to disable the bass registers from passing through the phaser and delay, very useful because that phaser can really blast some holes in the spectrum. Further tweakability comes from the back panel which is accessed by clicking the Wok logo. This lets you set LFO speeds, volume keytracking and advanced EQ settings, amongst others.

The three waveforms you can choose for the oscillator bank each have a distinctive character, two sawtooth types - one raspy and the other soft and fuller, plus a pulse-based waveform, which is naturally more nasal with a slightly hollow body. These waves filter down through the mixable stops giving each voice a distinct flavour, and when mixed they gel together beautifully creating a palette of sound that's interesting yet always constantly familiar (and after all, that's what we want from an emulation like this).

All in all, a really good purchase, and very playable!