10 of the Best Virtual Intruments released in 2023
by The Press Desk
Arturia Acid V
Arturia’s take on the acclaimed TB-303 Bass Line. This Roland’s bass synthesizer shaped numerous 1980’s hits and Arturia made sure that users not only would be able to grab all the nostalgia sounding of a classic but will also enjoy modern features such as an additional sub oscillator, drive saturation, an advanced sequencer and a complete modulation and effects interface with 3 modulators and 4 FX slots.
Drum Workshop Soundworks
Drum Workshop Inc., better known as DW made the dream of many bedroom drummers come true when they announced the release of their proprietary software. No one better to emulate the sound of a DW than the Californian company itself, right? Sold through Roland Cloud, the DW Soundworks features 30 active instruments (20 drums and cymbals, 10 X-pads) with 18 layers per articulation all sampled at 24-bit, 88.2 kHz and is available as a plug-in or standalone software.
FabFilter Twin 3
As with all FabFilter stuff, the Twin 3 is meticulously designed for out-of-the-box thinking and operation. This software synthesizer inherits all the award-winning features of its previous versions such as pristine analog-modeled oscillators, superb sounding filters and also brings many new improvements as the addition of a high quality effects section with reverb, delay, chorus, phaser/flanger, drive and compression; an arpeggiator with host tempo sync, groove/legato controls and transpose, note order and latch options and much more!
GForce Oberheim OB-X
The original Oberheim OB-X had a limited run of 800 units during the early 1980’s and still got to print its signature sound in countless hits from Prince and Madonna to Rush and Van Halen and as GForce proudly states in its website, this software version is ‘the world’s first officially endorsed emulation of this famous 80s synth’. That being said, this virtual instrument faithfully reproduces the original and brings up new controls such as individual voice panning, programmable macros, expanded detune controls and much more.
IK Multimedia Gran Concerto 278
IK Multimedia already proved itself capable of astonishing sounding virtual instruments and is a huge player in the modeling universe so it was about time they released something robust aimed at piano players and this year the Pianoverse series was released being Gran Concerto 278 its latest installment. This new release brings us the latest of IK’s Virtual Instrument modeling technology steered towards sampling a 9.5’ Fazioli F278 concert grand piano and the results speakers for itself.
Moog Mariana
Direct from late 2023’s oven came this new moog virtual instrument. The Mariana is a dual layer bass synthesizer designed for, according to the company: ‘intuitive audio layering and processing, merging the soul of Moog bass with user-friendly technology’ meaning that it can be played with its two engines interacting in a dynamic way or simply played duo-phonically. The instrument was rapidly embraced by the gearspace electronic music community and is a hot topic in our forums as moog is a bass synthesizer pioneer and Mariana is their latest baby in this segment.
Rhodes V8
As with DW Soundworks Rhodes V8 is another happy story of a original hardware emulated all ‘in-the-house’. The software is modeled after the latest Rhodes Model, the MK8, released in 2021 and has a total size of 60GB across hundreds of profiles and presets. Among other features the Rhodes V8 offers a VCA modeled compressor, an envelope control for auto-wah effects, a bucket brigade modeled delay, a 4-stage stereo phaser, stereo chorus and a mic/amp/cab simulator. Pretty much all you need to shape an authentic Rhodes sound.
Soniccouture AC-DR
Soniccouture AC-DR brings us the interesting concept of mechanised acoustic drums and the result is a creatively recorded acoustic drum capable of hybrid sounding and operated as a electronic drum hardware unit. The software has full flexibility in order to let users shape their own sound mixing drum parts that can go from flat to 808 style. An user-friendly UI intuitively navigates you through all of the software possibilities and creating a beat is a no-brainer by making use of AC-DR’s 3 unique drum sequencers.
Toontrack EZkeys 2
Toontrack’s highly anticipated EZkeys 2 arrived this year after ten years from the release of its predecessor. The software that helped so many producers and songwriters all around the world to compose, arrange and/or solo that lacking piano part is now back with many new features such as the incredible ‘bandmate’ function where users are able to drag and drop a MIDI or audio file into EZkeys so the software can suggest its own matchable MIDI patterns and the Tap2find feature that speeds up your workflow by serving grooves based on rhythm and notes you provided.
Universal Audio Electra 88 Vintage Keyboard Studio
If you think Electra 88 is just another Rhodes emulation you’re thinking wrong. Universal Audio’s Electra is the whole vintage electric piano mojo wrapped-up in one very cool plug-in, it’s no wonder that it’s called a ‘Keyboard Studio’! The centerpiece is a 1974 Rhodes 88 Suitcase Mark 1 and from that users are able to shape their sound by adding gear from a wonderful vintage collection of different amps, stompboxes and external processors modeled after the most notorious analogue hardware from the 1960’s and 1970’s.
