I grew up in the 80’s. As a young teenager I was into rock and metal music, but I also heard pop music on the radio and I watched a lot of TV shows like Miami Vice, Airwolf, and Knight Rider.
Later in life, I found that the synth sounds of the 80’s were solidly printed in my brain, so for me the synthwave genre brings about a good amount of nostalgia.
Synthwave Diva features a total of 128 patches for the Diva virtual analog synth by u-he.
Soren (Luftrum) and Matt (The Unfinished) deliver 64 patches each, including arps, bass, keys, leads, pads, sequences, sfx, and synth sounds.
Chunky bass, smooth pads, flickering keys and lush leads, with that unmistakable synth cool. Matt and Soren have taken their love for the genre and given it their very own contemporary twist, providing all the sun-kissed retro joy necessary, but with an added touch of their own inimitable imaginations.
If your head is full of thoughts of Amigas, betamaxes and white men doing kung fu; the music of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream; films such as Breakfast Club and Beverly Hills Cop; and if you’re writing synth pop, outrun music, or just want a hint of that retro, analogue magic in your music, then Synthwave Diva is for you.
The soundset is split up into two folders, one for each sound designer. All patches have useful information in the description, including the various assignments for modwheel, velocity, and aftertouch where applicable.
Check out Matt’s walkthrough video below to get an idea of what kind of sounds are included in this pack.
So what do I think?
Synthwave Diva is exactly what you would hope for when you have two incredibly talented sound designers sit down with what I would say is the very best virtual analog synthesizer around.
The sounds suit the synthwave genre perfectly, and of course they will do great in any music that needs some vintage synth sounds as well.
I am normally not really a big fan of arps, but I have to say some of the arp, bassline and sequence patches are so well designed and musical that I quickly got lost in playing with them. The pad sounds from both designers are great, but I wouldn’t expect anything else really. Some of my favorite patches are in the keys, leads, and synths, which completely nail that 80’s synth vibe. I’m particularly fond of the drifting, detuned patches by Matt.
Even though this soundset was done by two guys, the overall feel of the collection is very consistent. The soundset delivers top notch quality patches, in which you can hear the passion for classic synth sound design.
In short, if you are looking to get the synthesizer sounds of the 80’s, Synthwave Diva is an excellent choice. Customers can use promo code REKKERD at the checkout to get a 10% discount on any purchase at the Luftrum store.
More information: Luftrum / Synthwave Diva
Hey there, I'm Ronnie and I run Rekkerd.org. I'm a bedroom music producer and guitar player, and I love chicken vindaloo & all things glitch.
