Recording - April 2011 - 60

XILS-lab XILS 3 and PolyKB II
Reviews by Mike Metlay

RECORDING'S

SHOWCASE OF SOUNDS

The sequencer is a modern take on the old EMS 256, with six different output signals for each step (say, pitch and velocity for three notes) and a slew rate control for glide effects. It can be programmed from a MIDI keyboard and there’s a graphic piano-roll data display/editing page; sequences can be transposed in real time by MIDI input; and sequences can be saved as self-contained presets. Audio Clip 1 features a three-voice sequence where I’m altering the slew rate on one voice at a time. Those modern conveniences I mentioned include tempo sync, keyboard triggering and unison modes with legato, glide, and glissando, a set of three extra modulation matrices on a hidden page that let you route MIDI controllers to parameters, and control an extra set of modules not found on the original VCS3: a Sample & Hold, gate, pitch and transient trackers, an envelope follower, chorus, delay... and of course a user-friendly patch browsing/sorting system with A/B compare.

XILS-lab (technically XILS Audio SARL) is a French audio software company that creates not only products under its own brand name but custom work for other firms. Its two flagship virtual instruments are the XILS 3 and the PolyKB II, emulations of two analog synthesizers, one famous and one elusive. As always, audio examples on our website are found at Resources > Magazine Extras > Audio and Music. XILS 3 And then there are the modern “extras” that simply come The EMS Synthi VCS3 was the United Kingdom’s first serious from adapting an old analogue design to software... up to commercial synthesizer. It was Brian Eno’s early favorite synth in his 18-note polyphony, oscillators that don’t drift, pitch and Roxy Music days, and created all of the electronic sounds on Pink mod wheels (not yet invented when the VCS3 came out!), Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon. and well-matched, unbreakable virtual “pins” that offer four The VCS3 looked more like a piece of precision scientific equipment different color-coded attenuations, plus signal-inverting verthan a musical instrument, with its vernier oscillator tuning knobs, VU sions (shown as triangles) as well. Try that with the real meter, and no hands-on controls besides a joystick and a dangerous- thing! (Audio Clip 2 has a simple patch with a pin routing looking red button labeled ATTACK. Because its notoriously unstable the keyboard to filter control, so the higher the pitch I play, oscillators made in-tune playing difficult, it was most often used for sound the brighter the sound. I then invert the pin connection, so creation without a keyboard, but EMS did make a dynamically sensitive the sound gets duller as I play higher.) keyboard and a touchplate keyboard/sequencer module for it. The XILS 3 is a tweaker’s dream, and once I relearned how The most quirky and powerful part of the Synthi was its modulation the matrix worked for signal routing (helped along by dozens routing setup: a matrix of holes where the user would insert metal pins of presets to study), I was off to the races. MIDI Learn let me to complete connections between parts of the synth. Unlike patch map knobs on my control surface to any parameter I wished, cables, the pins contained resistors, and different colored pins had and the attenuating and inverting pins let me replace tradidifferent resistances to attenuate signals in different ways. (This led to tional synth modules like inverters and mults with just a click. some of the machine’s unpredictability, because the resistor values The only downside to all this power was a huge CPU hit—I weren’t consistent from pin to pin!) EMS Synthis aren’t rare, but they could bring Ableton Live to its knees with a 10-note chord on fetch high prices on the used market; XILS 3 is designed to emulate a single fairly complex patch on my 2 GHz Core 2 Duo iMac. the VCS3 in look and sound, adding many modern conveniences. Fortunately, huge chords aren’t needed on this synth; you can Installation and authorization were simple (I used an iLok); I was get fantastic results from one or two voices, creating burbling up and running in no time. The first thing I noticed about XILS 3 was and looping soundscapes and sequences that sync nicely to how much it “felt” like a VCS3; the second thing was that it stayed your song tempo. That was the VCS3’s forte in “On The Run”, in tune a lot better than the units I’d worked with in 1980! and the XILS 3 continues the tradition beautifully. The XILS 3 has three oscillators, any of which can be tuned way down to act as an LFO. They offer sine, sawDelivery: Web download tooth, square, and triangle waves, with a Shape control Format: VST/RTAS/AU, Mac OS X 10.3.9+, Windows XP/Vista/7 that alters the base waveforms for many more timbral Copy protection: iLok or eLicenser USB key options. There’s a multimode filter with self-oscillation, an Licensing: No royalties on composition using these sounds; envelope shaper with original “trapezoid” and modern multiple installs permitted with single-key authorization. ADSR options, a noise generator with adjustable color Documentation: PDF manuals available from website (white through pink to low-frequency), ring modulator, Prices: $199 each; PolyKB II Player will cost $49 when released. spring reverb, static lowpass or highpass filters for the two output channels, and controls for feeding two input signals More from: XILS Audio SARL, www.xils-lab.com. to the plug-in for processing or modulation control.
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RECORDING APRIL 2011

http://www.xils-lab.com

Recording - April 2011

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