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 | | | | Aug31Written by:Bruce Richardson
Tuesday, August 31, 1999 6:00 PM 
Retro AS-1 is a fully programmable virtual analog synth. It runs on PC and Mac platforms, and is capable of 32 voice polyphony. AS-1 is nicely appointed for either live use or for multi-channel configuration with a sequencer.
Retro features a single-page mixer app that makes multitimbral operation a snap. Instruments are assigned in a familiar channel strip fashion, one strip per MIDI channel. Retro ships with a Cakewalk StudioWare console as well, for editing within the sequencing application.
The Retro synthesizer itself is a three-oscillator analog waveform synth, with the ability to sync any oscillator to any other, or to any of thirteen different filter types, two assignable per voice. CC implementation is very complete, with 12 hardwired controllers and 4 user assignable controllers. There is dual effects engine and a MIDI processing page that allows arpeggiation, a latch mode, and transposition. A nice touch is the "note list" for custom arpeggios that are triggered via an assignable root note.
All in all a very nice implementation. Another cool, but slightly weird feature: Retro loads its control panel into the Windows Control Panel, so it's right there with all your system settings.
Lots of Sounds
I found the 1000 + sounds that ship with Retro to be a very complete representation of the various classic synth sounds that have regained so much popularity of late. There is a representation of just about every make and model of synth you can imagine, and you can roll your own easily and quickly by using the included sounds as starting points.
However, I also found that I wanted to tweak many of them to get more "pop" out of the sound. As shipped, the sounds are a bit less responsive to velocity than I like. I also found this to be true of the other BitHeadz products, Unity and Black and White, so it's definitely a consistent approach by the resident sound designers at Bitheadz, and is not a problem, really. More of a personal preference on my part, and certainly correctable to my taste.
The thing that's NOT tweakable (which I disliked) is the way in which Retro tends to be rather Mac-like in use. It's not surprising, since the development at BitHeadz is a Mac-first, PC-later priority. Note that this has nothing to do with the synthesizer code base, simply the order in which the development occurs. I found it rather surprising that BitHeadz sees far brisker sales on the Mac platform. However, BitHeadz also told me that a change in that scheduling priority is under consideration, which may indicate a shifting trend in their sales ratios.
I have no doubt that BitHeadz will adapt more and more to the PC platform as time goes on. Little things like install routines that will allow you to route content to certain drives and directories, etc., are important to PC users. Also, invoking the "help" button pops up the PDF manual - not bad, but again, not standard. PC users are accustomed to targeted, context-specific help, and there's no use of this convention.
Other Issues
A big issue to DAW users, however, will be the lack of output control on multichannel audio interfaces. All the BitHeadz products want to take the first output pair of my Layla. There is a setting that says "stereo" and one that says "individual stereo" in the main control panel, however there's no easy way (actually no way that I have found so far) to globally assign stereo output to, say, channels 5 and 6 of my Layla. That is important functionality when the muses are calling, and you're trying to get a complex tracking situation under control.
The muses are also a bit upset about the fact that ANY changes at all to the Retro control panel require closing and restarting the program. This is simply too much, and if there's a DAW application involved, often it means closing and reopening more than one program to get everything working properly. EVERY time you make a change. BitHeadz needs to address this issue, and code the control panel in a fashion that allows it to apply its settings while the application is running. The other products in our roundup accomplish this task, so it is certainly possible to do. This is a time waster.
An Interview with Earl Sondreal
Director of Sales and Marketing, BitHeadz | 
Earl Sondreal |
People use soft-synths in different ways. Where do you see Retro and Unity fitting into the overall field of soft-synthesizers, and what specific groups of musicians stand to benefit most from these products?
The majority of our customers are using Retro and Unity in conjunction with their Sequencer / Digital Audio programs in their studio.
We also have a lot of pros using Retro and Unity live on stage- the Donna Summer tour is using Unity and Retro on their laptops - and no other synth gear except 2 controller keyboards! They tell us that they love the fast load times and excellent sound quality. Plus they can do sound design or sequencing on the bus or in their hotel rooms. Harry Sharpe, the keyboardist for Wynona has also replaced his hardware rack and Wurlitzer electric piano with a laptop and Unity on stage. We saw them play live - the sound was incredible and Harry tells us he loves using our products.
To answer the second part of the question I would say that musicians in the studio benefit by the fact that all of their sampler and synth sounds are always available right inside their computer, complete with patch names showing up on the sequencer tracks. The also benefit by the fact that editing on a large computer screen is much more intuitive than the tiny LCD's on the traditional gear. You also clean up your studio - less MIDI cables, boxes, heat and noisy power supplies. The benefit of using Retro and Unity on stage are: faster load times (up to 16 times faster than hardware samplers), faster set up and tear down, the ability to work with your sounds on the bus or the plane, and a much lighter and smaller rig (especially for those who tour overseas, or those who would do so if their keyboard rig was light enough)
You ship both Macintosh and Windows based versions of these products. The advantages of this are obvious, in that a pro user could conceivably carry his "instruments" on a few CDs. There are bound to be challenges as well. Can you discuss that a little?
The biggest challenge is convincing the public that it really is possible to use their computer to generate awesome sounding synth and sampled sounds. The next big challenge is that each combination of hardware and software needs to be configured differently. We have been working very hard to make sure our products integrate into the sequencers with little or no work required from the user. ReWire and MAS 2.0 support have really been a great thing for Cubase, Vision and Digital performer users. Companies like Emagic have also been really helpful by incorporating a direct driver for Retro and Unity into Logic. Every day we are working with the other software and hardware manufacturers to take advantage of any new technologies that become available. We are working on some exciting new things with Digidesign that will be announced at the AES show.
Synthesis has been at a relative standstill for years, with few really notable exceptions. Suddenly, software synthesizers have come to market that can not only imitate every synth ever invented, but also break down the traditional barriers of hardware-based units. We're hearing brand new sounds and getting new ways to control them. Where do you see yourself one version from today? Two years from now?
One of the most exciting things for us is the new faster processors. Our same code gives more voices every time you upgrade to a faster processor. We are also optimizing for new processors like the PIII and the new G4 and are expecting upwards of a 2X improvement in polyphony from these new processors. There are a lot of synthesis types that we are planning to do in the future... to be announced later. The other thing we are working on is the ability to import even more sample formats. We will have Roland support for our Osmosis conversion utility in the near future which will allow Unity users to import the Roland libraries.
Black and Whites is a cool product concept. I found myself wanting more information about the recording processes, instruments, mapping techniques, potential for customization. Could you discuss this concept, and will we be seeing more "instruments on a disc" in the future?
I agree that more information about the samples would be nice, and if you open the samples in the Unity Editor, you can see a lot more information like the mapping and synth settings. You can customize the sounds if you own Unity DS-1- since they are Unity formatted samples. We will be introducing more titles along the same line. We are currently working on a Classic Synths project in Unity format, as well as a world percussion project that will include Unity and Voodoo formatted content on the same disc.
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Cross-Platform Power
Now there is, of course, a silver lining to all this. Putting up with a few Mac conventions and inconveniences here and there is less annoying when you realize that you've pretty much got a synth-on-a-disc that can function in about any computer environment you'll encounter. This makes it possible to strap on your controller, throw a couple of discs in the pocket, and walk out the door for a session in any studio, Mac or PC. Not an insignificant bonus. I did not have an opportunity to do this during our evaluation period, but I see nothing that would indicate problems.
Another thing to consider is the overall BitHeadz offering, and the palette of tools they're developing. The fact that these tools are overwhelmingly cross-platform means that users may well find BitHeadz saving the day when no other app will open a file. Not a small issue at the eleventh hour, when a post house drops a weird Mac file in your lap and your deadline is tomorrow morning.
For more information go to http://www.bitheadz.comTags: | | | | | | | |
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