About two years ago Xenos Soundworks released a soundset by Bryan Lee for the most excellent Diva virtual analog synthesizer instrument by u-he.
Today I was checking it out and I liked it so much that I should write something about it.
Nostalgic Circuits is a collection of 130 retro styled presets for U-he Diva, suitable for anyone who loves the sounds of the 70s and 80s.
You’ll find plenty of buttery, vintage ear-candy in here, useful for a very wide variety of musical genres, but all sounds having that distinctive old school character.
The pack includes 32 basses, 9 bells, 8 brass sounds, 1 chord, 6 fx, 5 keyboard sounds, 37 leads, 15 pads, 5 strings, and 12 synth sounds.
All patches have the modwheel assigned, and most also have aftertouch.
Check out the demo by Irion Da Ronin below.
So what do I think?
Whenever I audition a soundset and I find myself messing around with a single patch for minutes, it is usually a good thing. What a great collection of sounds!
I really enjoyed the solid bass sounds, delicate pads, and many of the lead and synth sounds have that Boards of Canada feel to me. A lot of the modwheel assignments open or close the filter, which is really nice for dynamic playing.
It feels like every patch was thoughtfully designed, paying attention to get that vintage character and adding just the right amount of effects to get a bread and butter sound. As I was inspired to sketch out some ideas, I found the sounds to sit very well in the mix.
Nostalgic Circuits is currently on sale for just $9.95 USD, which is a total steal if you ask me. Go check it out!
More information: Xenos Soundworks / Nostalgic Circuits
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.