BLUE II

It’s really hard not to like the virtual instruments and effect plugins created by Rob Papen. Though I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone who has just started to learn the basics of music production, I consider them ideal for someone who is looking to define their sound. From this point of view, the instruments come off as surprisingly intuitive.

Even when you get used to the programs being somewhat unconventional, they may still take you by surprise in many ways. But to say that I was surprised by the capabilities of BLUE II would be an understatement.

Don’t let the name or the color fool you; this isn’t a synth you can use to compose music that makes you “feel blue”. I mean it can be, but it can also be the synth that Satan uses to create music for his troops to march on when they conquer the whole of Existence. The preset that you get to play with when you first load the plugin is proof of that. I admit that I haven’t tested that many super synths, but I honestly didn’t think that such a complex soundscape could be achieved by only one instrument.

Actually, it can be achieved by six powerful oscillators that can generate almost anything: from the classic analog waveforms to those created through additive synthesis, from samples of all kinds to all sorts of sound effects. Papen has incorporated so many methods of synthesis into this one instrument that he even coined the term “cross-fusion synthesis” just provide a proper description.

To create the soundscapes that you need for your music or for your sound design projects you can use tools such as filters, waveshapers, envelopes or multi-envelopes, LFOs, a sequencer, an arpeggiator, an XY pad, and up to four effects simultaneously.

In BLUE II, there is no lack of features or presets to explore, and it’s a bit hard to be disappointed by any of them.