Review: VPS Avenger from Vengeance Sound
I have been involved in reviewing many plug-in software synths and effects in the past few months. I have to start writing about it for the people out there that are into soft synths and plug-in effects.
This one will be a quick review on the latest “next best synth” from Vengeance Sound, VPS Avenger. So is VPS Avenger really “The Last Synth You’ll Ever Need?”
I always look at 5 things when I evaluate soft synths.
- First thing I always check are the Filters (Do they sound good?)
- Next I check how bad the aliasing is in certain frequency areas
- How easy is it to navigate to manipulate or create new sounds?
- What are the things I can modulate, and how many?
- Is the sequencer more than note off/on, but can it modulate?
So of course, that is what I did. I usually have 2 other filters to compare it to. A hardware filter(s) that is/are very close to what the software is emulating, and I usually use Serum or Synth Master’s filters as a comparison. The good news with VPS Avenger, is that it is very close to Serum and Synth Master, however, I heard zippering effect or artifact no matter how much I tried when I used the hardware knob assigned to cutoff and resonance. Then, I tried moving it with a mouse and it was still the same. Then, last but not least, I modulated it using internal modulators, and a sequencer to modulate a parameter. The zipper effect was gone once I did that. What that tells me is that hardware mapping of the knobs causes the zipper effect. That was kind of annoying as a performance soft synth. Maybe it was the MacBook Pro we were using is not powerful enough, and maybe the newest PC (with the most recent Intel processor) running Windows would have better performance, but I really doubt that. I did make the zippering effect disappear with an external controller by shutting off the effects inside of the plug-in and using external effects. In comparison to a hardware filter, it was not close enough for my taste.
Next I looked at any aliasing, in comparison to Serum as it has the least amount of aliasing. Great news, VPS Avenger had less aliasing in certain frequency bands, and it had less artifacts than Serum. That was mind blowing. When recorded, in the mix, I heard no artifacts in Serum nor VPS Avenger.
Navigation was a bit annoying, but that is what happens when you have such a powerful synth. Let’s break down the synth details.
- Up to 8 Oscillators, with V-Saw (Supersaw — we’ll talk about comparison with the JP-8080), each with its own vibrato LFO, note stacker and unison, sub OSC per OSC
- Lots of sound transformation tools
- Up to 8 ARP modules
- Up to 8 Step Sequencer modules
- Up to 8 Mod Envelope modules (very shapeable)
- Up to 8 Pitch Envelope modules (very shapeable)
- Up to 4 Amp modules
- Up to 4 Filter Modules (47 filter types)
- Up to 4 Shapers
- Up to 4 Additional LFOs (remember each OSC has an LFO too)
- 6 FX busses
- Wavetable editor (and I was able to import Serum and other wavetables)
- And there is so much more, I can write over 10,000 words for the review, but I won’t
Because of how powerful it is, you have to dive into different screens. However, I was able to create wonderful sounds in minutes. Takes a bit to get used to how things are laid out, but it’s not so difficult to learn. I like EDM and other dance music genres, however, you get somewhat bored of the same types of sounds that every software synth comes with…wobbles, basses that buzz, the plucks, etc. This synth can do so much more if you know how to program. I was able to program very metallic sounds, great woodwind type of sounds and so much more.
It comes with so many choices of wavetables, oscillator shapes, etc., that you can create just about any sound with this. Then again, I can do the same with Serum and Synth Master. Oh, and before I forget, how does the V-Saw compared to Beepstreet Sunrizer or the actual Roland JP-8080 hardware? Very close, but I prefer Beepstreet and definitely the JP-8080 has that special magic when it comes to SuperSaw that software has not been able to replicate. Don’t get me wrong, the V-Saw addition in the choice of OSC type is wonderful, especially when I take 4 OSCs that are V-Saw, and each OSC has unison turned on. It does consume a lot of CPU power when you do that, but hey, you pay the price for a great sound.
Last but not least, the drums and the fact that you can divide the OSCs to have different sounds, I can create a song with just a single instance of VPS Avenger. The drum sounds are very nice right out of the box, and the sequences are pretty good for sample/example of what it can sound like.
To conclude, I really like the VPS Avenger. I would say, if Serum, Massive, and Synth Master did not exist, it would probably be “The Last Synth You’ll Ever Need.” There are additional sound packs you can purchase, but they come at a price of $70 each (currently there are 6 expansions.) It starts to sound like reFX Nexus 2, which I have not been a fan of just for the price alone…Somewhere in the neighborhood of $4000 for everything bundle. Synth Master was a steal at a couple of hundred dollars.
This is one powerful software synth, and it’s definitely something to put into your bag of tricks. The price is $220 USD so that initial purchase is not too bad. I’ll wait for it to go on sale before I buy it, because I already have Serum, Massive, and Synth Master. But if you don’t have those synths, it is a MUST BUY for a soft synth. It’s definitely a “Good Synth That You’ll Want.”
Cheers!
