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| Retail Price: |
$129.95 |
| You save: |
$105 |
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Features:
RgcAudios Pentagon I is an analog-style software synthesizer available in standalone as well as VSTi and DXi plug-in formats. It features four multiwaveform oscillators, a pair of multimode filters that can work in series or parallel, and a full complement of effects, including a frequency-response simulator for modeling various speaker and amp configurations. The software also provides a Formant Filter for creating vocal effects and a Voice Modulator that turns it into a 24-band vocoder. Pentagon I is one cool synth thats inexpensive and easy to use and has enough features to keep you busy for a long time.
For this review, I used Cubase VST/32 as a VSTi host running on a Pentium III/700 MHz laptop with an Emagic EMI 2|6 USB audio interface. Under those conditions, Pentagon I sounded great. With many of its patches, I easily got ten-note polyphony without pushing the CPU meter over 20 percent. (More complex patches can quickly run the CPU up into the red zone, however.)
I also tried the DXi version of Pentagon I (which is version 1.22) with Cakewalk Sonar 2.0 XL and got similar results. By the time you read this, the DXi version should support DirectX 8 automation. You can download a demo version (on which the volume drops every few seconds) in either plug-in format from the rgcAudio Web site (www.rgcaudio.com). While youre there, pick up Triangle II, a free monophonic software synth that offers some of the same features as Pentagon I.
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