The Legend has been replaced by: The Legend HZ

Notoriously the most accurate minimoog emulation, everything is dead easy to manipulate and it sounds beautiful, perhaps a bit short in feature by comparing with Minimonsta for instance, that is a bit outdated but has a bunch of presets from famous keyboardist of the area (like Rick Wakeman), but Legend shines for it silky, creamy, unique, accurate minimoog sounds ...and as somehow analog models, with their circuitry carefully emulated, have each of them their own character it even gives you as feature, the choice between two of them !!.

What a wonderful app! It's an oasis for beginners, and a time saver for the advance ones.

BTW: I'm using Linux, but the review form doesn't list Linux as a OS.

Amazing sound. One of the best VA synths out there in my opinion. Good sounding effects and low on CPU, say, compared to Diva or Repro.

Fantastic sounding VA synth that's also relatively low on CPU use.

Perfect addition to Reason's built in synths.

The presets are very good and the controls for tweaking the synth is laid out in a logical and understandable way. I really recommend this synth for anyone that lacks a VA synth in their arsenal or just wants a high quality, low resource synth in their rack.

This is a review of The Legend, a Minimoog emulation by Synapse-Audio. The software version I have is 1.06.

SOUND:

The low end has "oomph" without sounding boomy, and that filter sounds beautiful. She screams in extasy when you crank that resonance knob. There is an indescribable "dirt" to the sound I haven't heard on any other softsynth, which I personally like a LOT. As I've never played a real Moog, I don't know if that's supposed to be there, or if it's just part of the "Synapse Audio" sound. Either way, I like it.

These new analog emulations sound much warmer, dirtier and "alive" than what was available 10 years ago. Case in point: The Korg Legacy synths. LMAO! That company isn't serious about producing VSTi's, otherwise they would have stepped up their game a long time ago, either making a major update to overhaul the sound, or releasing brand new software. I love their MonoPoly and MS-20 plugins, but enjoy them strictly for what they are - modern synths for modern hip hop/dance music, with vintage looking GUI's slapped on them. The Korg VSTi's sound very plastic and cold compared to today's analog emulations.

EASE OF USE:

VERY easy and immediate. Legend has a more modern style interface that doesn't confuse like those purist GUIs often can. I would highly recommend Legend to people who are still new at creating their own patches and want to become proficient at the basics. You can just get creative and have fun with it without any extra clutter getting in the way.

FEATURES:

Personally, I like complexity and all the extra "clutter" mentioned above. Legend's feature set is more limited than the other Moog emulations I've played with. Like a real Minimoog, it isn't even velocity sensitive (yet?). You have monophonic, polyphonic and unison modes. The original Minimog was purely monophonic, so these extra modes are a welcome addition. You have 3 oscillators, 1 filter, and 2 envelopes. If you want an LFO, you have to use the 3rd oscillator instead of a dedicated LFO parameter. This allows for filter and oscillator FM, though, which is great for adding a rough and edgy character to your sound.

You get delay and reverb as onboard effects. I've asked the developer to add a vintage style chorus effect, which would be great for thickening up polyphonic sounds such as pads and keys.

PRESETS:

This is oldschool territory, and for the most part, the factory soundset sticks to the 70s/80s theme. You also have a folder with chord stabs, which have a strong deep/oldschool house flavor. A bit of self-promotion, but I have Legend soundset available at Xenos Soundworks, called 'RetroMania'.

OVERALL:

There's some tough competition out there, and each Moog emulation has it's own unique sound. 2 things really jumped out at me with Legend compared to other Moog emulations:

1) It's available in Reason RE format, and allows Reason users to fill that analog niche. The synths in Reason, while good in themselves, all have an obvious 'modern' quality to them. Legend is the perfect choise for Reason users seeking to add a retro flavor to their rig, especially when patching it up with Reason's included effects (chorus, phasing, etc).

2) The workflow is just perfect. On a more personal note, this was one of the few times a new plugin has _EVER_ inspired me to crank out a commercial preset bank in less than a week. There's just enough of a feature set to not feel constrained, yet it's limited enough that it really forces a more childlike and whimsical approach than with something like Massive or Serum. On those more advanced-level synths, there's always that "paralysis by analysis" factor which potentially slows things down.

Legend is my favorite Minimoog plugin, but that is only personal choice and preference. It is entirely up to the user to demo the various choices themselves and pick what they like best. There's also DIVA, Arturia Mini V, Minimonsta and Native Instruments' own Reaktor-based emulation (can't remember the name lol).