Blade 2

Many music producers pick up sound design when they feel like they need to take their compositions to the next level. By using your own carefully crafted sounds, you may succeed in making songs that will stand out because they bear your distinctive signature. It takes a lot of work to get there, and it’s also important that you use the right set of tools for this very purpose.

Choosing a synthesizer is a very important part of the process and one that you should give at least a bit of thought. So today we’re going to take a look at a versatile instrument called Blade.

Many of the amazing instruments designed by Rob Papen have a specific musical purpose, and Blade is no different. This synth allows you to focus on the harmonic content of a waveform and adjust it according to your taste and needs. It’s safe to say that if you don’t know too much about frequencies, fundamentals, and harmonics, then this isn’t really a synth that you should pick up until you study a bit more about sound and music theory.

Not that the instrument itself is hard to use; the sounds are generated by the “harmolator”, a complex oscillator that allows you to adjust a wide variety of parameters such as range, timbre, ripple width, or harmonics volume. At the core of the instrument is an XY pad that is typical for many Rob Papen instruments, and allows you to approach modulation in a playful way.

You can further modulate the sound with the help of the synth’s amp, LFO, and envelope, while the velocity section is there to add a more “human input” to your music. You get a filter and a special section for distortion, but you can add two additional effects, and use the arpeggiator to add rhythm to your soundscapes. Most importantly, the Spec section allows you to have a good look at the waveform and its harmonics.

Blade is great for creating pads, basslines, unusual leads, and unique sound effects, among many other things. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an easy-to-use synth for sound design.