Audio Freeware Feature: Aciddose Xhip (VSTi)

Xhip is a subtractive synth with many features that tend to appear in "virtual analog"-style synths, though the author is very specific in pointing out that Xhip is not a VA on the website. That said, it can pull off analog-style sounds with the best of them in my opinion, but also takes things a little further. Though it is available for Mac and Linux as well as Windows the Mac and Linux versions are in alpha, and there is no GUI for the Mac yet.

As you can see above, the control style is also similar to many VA-type synths, and for the most part, anyone who has used a VA should be pretty comfortable here. You have familiar stuff such as envelopes, modulator/LFOs, a filter with multiple modes, two oscillators, etc. For the most part, these work as expected, though the oscillators in particular have some fun added features that you don't see every day.

For starters, you can load .wav files into the oscillators using the "PCM" item in the menu that appears in the top center display. Once loaded, these can be used in either osc. There is also an "XMOD" feature that allows you to cross-modulate the oscillators in several different ways, depending on the mode chosen in the "Oscillators" section. There is also three modes of osc sync available, plus a ring mod. Another nice feature is a waveshaper with detailed controls, plus its own filter.

Another cool feature that I haven't seen often in other synths is a "drum mode" that lets you map presets to keys, so that instead of playing one sound at different pitches across the keyboard, each key can play a different sound (think drum mapping in a sampler). There are also a bunch of other nice features that aren't specific to Xhip, but still nice to see, such as a unison mode, MIDI CC mapping, envelope keyboard tracking, etc.

All in all, Xhip is a very capable and great-sounding synth, and I think it's worth a try even if you have other stuff that shares a lot of these features.

Website: http://xhip.net/synth/

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