Solcito Música Releases Free Crio 2.0 Virtual Synthesizer VSTi Plugin

Solcito Música has released Crio 2.0, an updated version of their freeware hybrid virtual synthesizer VSTi plugin (for 32-bit Windows based host applications) which was included as one of the entries in the KVR Developer Challenge 2014.

The original version of Crio was already an interesting synthesizer to begin with, sporting a somewhat unusual oscillator and filter sections and a simple workflow optimized for live performance situations. The new version of the instrument introduces a number of new features and bug fixes, making this freeware hybrid synthesizer even more worthy of your attention.

The highlights of the new updated version of Crio are the brand new ring modulation mode in the oscillator module and the “Eco CPU” mode which reduces the strain on the CPU without making any obvious trade-offs in terms of sound quality. There’s no specific info about what exactly the CPU saving mode does in order to achieve the performance boost, however the processor usage certainly drops from around 12% to 7-8% on my test machine when the CPU saving mode is switched on.

What I really like about this virtual instrument is its ability to generate raw and aggressive sounds with ease. Take a look at the demo video attached to this article for a quick demonstration of how extremely easy it is to get some wonderful noises and gritty sounds with Crio 2.0. By combining the FM or RM modes in the oscillator section with the comb filter module and the saturation effect on the output, you can get some truly wonderful growls out of this little beast.

Crio 2.0 works great for creating aggressive leads and bass sounds, however you can also use it to create trance style sequences and arpeggios by taking advantage of its powerful LFO section. The LFO can be synced to the host application’s tempo and you can get some really interesting movement by sending the LFO signal to various sections of the synthesis engine. The plugin is optimized for live performance in the sense that you can drastically manipulate the patches on the fly by using the mod wheel, without really having to dig too deep in order to set up the modulation options.

On the downside, the plugin’s graphical user interface leaves a lot to be desired. I’m not sure if this is a bug or not, however the on-screen keyboard didn’t work at all for me (as in, nothing happens when I click a note). The on-screen pitch wheel didn’t work at all either, where as the mod wheel worked sometimes. Also, there’s an obvious typo on the GUI, but that’s kinda cool. :)

Download

Crio 2.0 is available for free download via Solcito Música (3.3 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit VSTi plugin format for Windows, made with SynthEdit).