Greynote Music has announced the release of VASP, a freeware sample-based virtual instrument in VST and AU plugin formats featuring the sounds of hardware analog synthesizers.
The idea behind VASP is simple. Instead of trying to model the behavior of analog synthesizers through coding, Greynote Music decided to sample some of their favorite analog synth sounds and provide them as-is (no additional processing applied) in a virtual instrument made with Maize Sampler. The instrument doesn’t provide any parameters for shaping the original sounds apart from the envelope attack and decay adjustments.
But don’t be fooled by the simplicity of VASP’s user interface. The included samples sound very good and they truly capture the character of the sampled instruments as each individual note was sampled separately. This means that you won’t hear any digital artifacts when playing higher-pitched notes and the sound quality should, at least in theory, be identical to what you’d get when playing the actual hardware synth that was sampled. Unfortunately, there’s no information on which particular hardware synthesizers were sampled for use in VASP.
And that’s pretty much it, a simple plug-and-play instrument to add a bit of authentic analog synth vibe to your projects or jamming sessions. The user interface doesn’t allow for any advanced tweaking, but VASP makes up for this lack of programmability by sounding true to the source material. What I’d love to see is a sample library consisting of the samples that were used to create VASP, as this would allow the users to load these sounds in their favorite sampler and adjust the tone, envelope and any other parameters where necessary. Either way, VASP is worth checking out if you’re a fan of simple virtual instruments that are easy to use and sound good.
The product links for different versions of VASP are available on the KVR Audio page linked below. The instrument is separated into two ZIP archives. Please note that you’ll need to share the VASP product page on Facebook or Twitter to gain access to the free download link. Alternatively, a minimum donation of $4 will unlock the download.
VASP is available for free download via KVR Audio (1.5 GB download size, ZIP archives, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plug-in formats for Windows & Mac OS).
Last Updated on May 1, 2017 by Tomislav Zlatic.
