CetoneSynth2

Modern music relies a lot on modulated sound, and this can easily be done through different plugins which process sound from MIDI devices, or any other instrument connected to your PC. In this regard, CetoneSynth2 comes as a polyphonic virtual analog synthesizer with support for multiple voices, and different effects.

On the one hand, you can store the plugin on a thumb drive along with your entire collection to use on other computers as well, since no installation is required to make it work. On the other hand, you do need a suitable host program like energyXT to be able to grab sound, process it, and output it.

There’s quite the variety of knobs, and effects to go through. Multiple of the same type can be found, each with its own set of configurable attributes. Oscillators count as three, with knobs to fine tune, and morph. Oscillation type can be normal, addition, multiplication, super, or noise, with additional filters for sawtooth, AM, sync, pulse, and a few more.

Filters are also found as stand-alone components, with two LFO routers, and a general filter. Multiple types can be used, such as low pass, band pass, high pass, or routing through sync, pulse, sawtooth, triangle, noise, and others. Speed, delay, gain, and cutoff knobs provide the necessary controls over effects.

Additional knobs help define a pair of modulation envelopes, global options for voices, and glide, up to six custom modulators, as well as an arpeggiator, which takes care of 8 notes. Preset configurations can be stored, but only one slot is at your disposal. For an element of surprise, the Chaos function shuffles all knobs for a random effect.

On an ending note, CetoneSynth2 manages to live up to expectations, providing a wide variety of modulators, oscillators, and routers you can use to create, or enhance music compositions. Although it can feel a little cluttered, it’s easy to figure out what each knob does, while the Chaos function makes sure you always have new effects.