Meat Beats delivers 80s synth nostalgia with the free HERA-ONE virtual synthesizer for macOS and Windows.
HERA-ONE isn’t the first Meat Beats release to deliver a healthy dose of nostalgia. Not too long ago, Micro Keys and Orbhits took us back to the 90s and the sound of classic House music.
This time, Meat Beats is going back one more decade to bring us some of that much-loved 80s analog synth character in all its “not quite right” glory.
HERA-ONE delivers the sound of 1985, to be exact, by recreating an obscure analog preset synth with a Juno-106-like engine.
Since Meat Beats refers to the desktop module in question as obscure, whoever names it first in the comments wins… the respect and admiration of your peers (possibly the worst prize ever).
The original hardware features sixteen presets plus eight hidden sounds, all of which are found in HERA-ONE. In addition to the original presets, HERA-ONE provides eight more variations on bass and synth sounds.
HERA-ONE offers a fairly wide range of sounds, from analog strings and brass to organs, pianos, clavs, synths, and basses. You can even find a flute or clarinet if that’s what you’re after.
So, it has 32 vintage presets with a decent variety of sounds from the 80s, and it’s free; I can’t complain about that.
In a departure from the original hardware, all HERA-ONE presets are polyphonic up to 32 notes, dramatically enhancing how you can use each sound.
The interface displays every preset front and centre with just a few available controls. To the left of the presets, you’ll find Volume, Attack, Release, and Vibrato sliders with Chorus, Reverb, and Brilliance knobs underneath.
HERA-ONE might not have many editing controls, but that’s in staying true to its hardware inspiration. However, the available controls, perhaps the Chorus in particular, are very handy.
In the music production world, we spend much of our time and effort trying to recreate the sound of yesteryear authentically, and anything that helps us succeed is bound to be appreciated.
When it comes to authentic nostalgia, Meat Beats clearly knows a thing or two! Once you lay down some 80s sounds, get to mixing with Free Suite (nine plugins) from Venn Audio.
HERA-ONE is available in AU and VST formats for macOS and Windows.
Download: HERA-ONE (FREE)
More:
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Last Updated on November 17, 2023 by Tomislav Zlatic.
