Review: RAPID Software Synthesizer by Parawave Audio

Parawave-Audio has released RAPID Synth for Windows (32/64 VST2 plugin). They provide a very nice demo trial taking around 300 MB, and the full product has a big library taking 2 GB disk space! There are up to 8 layers in real-time with an advanced synthesis inside.

After installing and finding the plugin in FL Studio, I have hundreds of presets available to get the first impressions:

I got a big surprise with the technical specifications of the RAPID synth, powered by a giant library and an advanced synthesis with a lot of effects available, all on this up to 8 layers! That’s a lot ! About the Oscillator, available on 1 to 8 layers for an ultimate mix at the stereo output, we have there:

Morphable Wavetables
Multi-Samples with velocity layer and/or Round Robin
up to 8x unison voices
Bass and Treble control per waveform
Phase Modulation, Phase Bend, Chaos Phase
Ring Modulation, Pulsewidth Modulator, Hard Synchronisation
Tube Distortion, Noise Generator with smooth Brown/White/Pink fading

Setting Modulators with the right mouse click on knobs! I choose a random on EQ and Resonance on the Eq part of the layer used for effects (inside layer or send to fx in another layer). You can see a sub-menus opening to create a new Modulator. Then it’s simple as setting the amount value of the modulation on the chosen knob.

Filter & Insert:

6, 12, 24 dB Lowpass and Highpass
12, 24 dB Bandpass and Peak
24 dB Multi-Bandpass and Multi-Peak
12 dB Notch and Multi-Notch
Acid, Analog, Legacy, and Vintage Lowpass
Feedback-Comb and Time-Lag
Bitcrusher and Exciter
Tube Distortion, Overdrive, and Tone-Fuzz

The RAPID Synth has powerful Modulators to modify Oscillators :

four ADSR envelopes with adjustable slopes
four LFOs with dual waveform and phase bending for complex shapes
four sequences with up to 32 steps, with loop and one-shot mode

The Arpeggiator is really powerful, with great features owned by major synths on the market. It features a 32 step pattern mode with up, down, random, queue, and chord mode. Also, you can import/export external MIDI files.

Effects: This is a big multi-effects part with routing that we can use inside this plugin :

Reverb with Room, Hall or Area mode
Delay with smooth delay time modulation
Dual Delay with Cross-Feedback and Ping-Pong mode
Chamber for very short reverb acoustics
Smooth Tube Distortion with dynamic EQ Boost
Bitcrusher, Rate-Reduction with Jitter
two band waveshaper with adjustable crossover
Phaser, Flanger, Chorus with precise modulation depth control
Ensemble Chorus
three-band Equalizer with low-pass, high-pass, low-shelf, high-shelf, and bell filter
Talker Filter with Male, Female, and Child vocal mode and internal crusher
Dynamic Compressor with Digital and Analog mode
syncable sidechain leveler with different shapes
32-step stereo Trancegate with shuffle-rhythm mode
Send Router, to mix the output parallel to other layers

The Master features 8-Channel Mixer, three-band Multiband Dynamic Compressor with different modes, an output level Limiter with automatic makeup gain, Modifiers for Volume, and Filter Envelope, to control all layers with only one knob.

Workflow is pretty intuitive with Drag & Drop Modulation. You can save each Modulator, Effect, or Arpeggiator Pattern as a separate Preset File and three easily accessible Macro Controllers.

Main Facts:

Factory Size : 2,0 GB
Delivery: Internet Download
Sound Presets: 650+
Wavetables: 250+
Multi-Samples: 190+
Modulator Presets: 210+
Effect Presets: 220+

Conclusion

Wow! I was not waiting for a small production when I saw that the full library takes 2 GB! I’m surprised by the amount of work, the quality of the effects, the Modulators. This 8 layers new synth is beautiful and awesome. It’s a pleasure to try the GUI and discover the provided content. It’s the first big product by this company, so I guess there will be a lot of musicians following Parawave Audio products.

At this moment the plugin is available only as a VST plugin for Windows in x86 or x64 versions.