Published on September 26th, 2006.
Author: Devon.Brent
Category: Virtual Instruments.

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Linplug – Octopus

When I generally think of “monster” sea creatures, my mind brings up images of the giant squid from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. I guess I need to change that viewpoint with the introduction of Octopus by LinPlug. Monstrous in proportion, Octopus is a huge and versatile synthetic savage. But can you tame such a beast? Let’s find out!

Linplug – Octopus

What is Octopus?

Octopus is another software synthesizer thankfully breaking the rigid subtractive synthesis mold, falling directly into the “hybrid category.” Deriving its name for its 8 tentacle cousin, this synth proffers 8 oscillators that feature either additive synthesis or standard WAV/AIFF samples. With the capability of frequency modulation between any additive oscillator, 2 multi-mode filters, and 32 envelopes with up to 64 break-points, this synth sure has some flexibility.

Octopus is available in VSTi format for the PC (and amazingly is supported for Windows 95 and up, and not just Windows XP, which should make some users very happy), and VST and AU for Macintosh OSX 10.2.6 and higher.

Octopus is broken down into four sections; The Oscillator matrix and editor along the top, the envelope matrix and editor in the middle, the effects section below that, and the 2 32-step step sequencers along the bottom.

Enter the Oscillator Matrix

The Oscillator section is divided in half with the Oscillator Modulation matrix on the left, and the individual oscillator and filter details on the right.

The eight additive oscillator slots allow you to route the audio to any of the other 8 additive oscillator slots (including back into itself), to either or both of the multi-mode filters, and/or you can skip the filter altogether, and go directly out.

The sampler allows you to load in a single sample into a slot, up to the available eight slots. While you can’t load in multiple samples into a single slot, you can easily spread up to eight samples across the keyboard.

A parameter called LoKey sets the lowest note that can be played from a MIDI keyboard for that sample. That sample will play in the range up to the next lowest LoKey range from another oscillator selection.

For example, if OSC 1 had LoKey set to C1, and OSC2 was set to C2, then OSC1 would be triggered for any key played between C1 and B2.

OSC2 would be triggered for any note at or above C2. If there were only one sample, then that sample would play from the LoKey setting up to the highest key on your keyboard.

The right-hand side of the oscillator section allows you to create additive waveforms with 32 partials in one of two ways; you can either create them by hand (with the amplitude and phase generation graphs), or you can import your own WAV/AIFF files to be analyzed and converted into a single-cycle additive waveform.

With either method, you can save the resultant waveform to its own custom format, octwave, for later use.

The multi-mode filter provides 4 filter types; bypass, low pass, band pass and high pass. Do note that the low and high pass filters are only offered with -18dB slopes.

Matrix Modulation Mania

The modulation section is also divided in half with the graphical display of the envelopes on the left, and the modulation matrix on the right.

The graphical editor on the left displayed the currently selected envelope from the matrix on the right. You can create up to 64 break-points for your custom envelope.

Do note that each envelope can be additionally scaled by the keyboard and by velocity, can be set to host tempo, can be free running, or can be looped.

Awesome!

Who needs those lame standard LFO shapes when you’ve got this kind of flexibility at your fingertips?

The right had side is where the real modulation magic of this synth happens. Want to have individual amp envelopes for each oscillator? No problem. Want to apply the same envelope to half the oscillators, but the other 4 have individual amp and filter envelopes? No problem. The Octopus is up to the task.

This section is arranged with 8 slots with buttons along the top to access one of the four pages for a total of 32 slots.

Each envelope can be routed to a total of ten envelope type destinations; amplitude, amplitude multiplication, mix level, mix level multiplication, panning, pitch, frequency, phase, cutoff, and resonance.

Keep in mind selecting a destination only sets what it’s destined to affect, not what oscillator or filter you wish to affect. Once the envelope destination is chosen, then you can select which oscillator, filter, or sample you wish to modulate from the matrix.

Affects of Effects

While not as extensive as some other synthesizers, Octopus does provide 4 basic effects in that process in series; chorus, a stereo delay that can be synched to tempo, a simple reverb, and a +/- 24dB 4 band parametric equalizer.

Finally, at the end of the chain, there is a gain stage, distortion effect, and a lo-fi effect that lowers the overall “quality” of the signal path in various ways for that “authentic 80’s” sound.

The effects section is only applied on a per-patch basis. It would be nice if you could control this on a per oscillator basis with a synth this complex. Still, any included effects in a synth are a welcome addition.

Steppin’ Out

Two identical step sequencers are provided for each patch. The pattern length can range from 1 to 32 steps. Shuffle, random, ping-pong, and transpose can all be applied to the pattern sequence. Any step can range from 24 semi-tones lower to 24 semi-tones higher (a 4 octave range) than the initial note played.

Installation

Installing Octopus was quick and painless. Happily, I can report that Octopus belongs squarely in the hall-of-fame rather than the hall-of-shame with its serial number copy protection.

Thanks yet again to the few developers who listen and don’t punish their paying customers with downright intrusive copy protection.

Bring Me the Doc!

Octopus, I can merrily report, breaks the mold of abysmal documentation. The manual is littered with overviews, details of each parameter, and examples of how those parameters affect the synth.

It even includes a nice mini-tutorial at the end on how to create a basic 2 oscillator FM patch with a filter and an envelope.

While I wouldn’t consider this to be a literary masterpiece (there are a few typos here and there), it goes a lot further than most manuals I’ve had the displeasure of reading. This is a real bonus for a synth with this much programmability.

In Use

From reviewing eJ, Toxic 1 and 2, I can feel Maxx Claster’s influence all over this interface. While not as simple as Toxic to grasp at first, the synth is still well laid out.

I was a bit disappointed with the dark coloring of the GUI, as it made it difficult to read the dark blue (unselected) labels. I also wished the preset name display was wider to accommodate the longer named presets better. Not such a big deal, but would be nice.

Working the additive waveform section manually was, unfortunately, a laborious effort. The 32 partials for both graphs are too small and are a royal pain to select an individual partial.

Selecting any of the basic waveforms that are available requires a multi-step process (click the down arrow, select Import Spectrum, from the pop-up dialog box select the octwav file you want, and click OK.)

At least throw us a bone and offer sine, square, ramp up, ramp down, and triangle waveform selections as standard from a drop down menu. At least if you like making your own single cycle wave forms, or have a source for single cycle waveforms, you can import them into Octopus.

I was initially very excited to see two step sequencers, in hopes that individual oscillators could be applied to one or both of the sequencers at will. No such luck this time around. Still, the sequencers are always a wonderful and welcome touch, so I can’t complain too much.

CPU usage for a synth this feature-rich is surprisingly light. On my AMD 64 3800+ X2 dual core processor, patches ranged from 5-10% mostly, and got up into the 20% range with full fisted chords. Not bad at all. The manual also gives you some CPU tuning tips if you find that Octopus is hogging a bit too much of your processor though.

For a synth with so many oscillators and options, it’s nice to see the preset designers didn’t completely ignore its power. Big!Tone and Summa did a smashing job really using the feature-sets of the synth (although I wish Summa did a few Virsyn Tera-type evolving textures).

Tim Conrardy is really starting to show his FM maturity with this synth as well, and was the only one to provide sample content along with synthesis. I still wish Tim would spend a little more time ‘tweaking’ his presets to perfection, as some still feel a bit ‘rushed out the door.’ The Pro-Sounds presets were few and far between, and felt very ‘basic’ compared the rest of the work in this collection. Who puts reverb on every bass patch anyway?

Version 1.1.1 added another 130 presets from The Outsiderz, which really didn’t float my boat either, again feeling very ‘basic’. The Octopus just begs to have its power utilized, and I wouldn’t mind seeing more content from Big!Tone, Summa and Tim.

As a side note/rant on presets (not directly aimed at Octopus, but it does apply), I’ve been noticing a trend to offer tons of bass and pad patches, but light on the other categories. For example, Bell, I usually find 3-4 presets, but pads will be bursting at the seams.

To be fair, Tim did give several bell-type patches in the Pads section. Still, this is merely an example. If there is going to be a category, at least put in more than 4 presets, please?

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the presets prove that Octopus can go from that classic ‘FM’ synthesis, to big, bold, and beautiful. With the possibility to use samples as any one or all of the 8 oscillator slots, and the ability to import your own single cycle waveforms, the sound palette of this synth is limitless.

With such a deep love of Albino 1, 2, and Cronox 3, I was a very surprised I wasn’t as ‘wowed’ by Octopus as I was by the other LinPlug offerings.

This is not to say Octopus is a bad synth. With a few tweaks, like better handling of the manual additive section, an alternate skin to make it easier to read, individual oscillator destinations to the step sequencer, and a few more presets, this synth would go from great to fantastic in my mind.

Maybe in Octopus 2.0?

But don’t take my word for it. Check out the demo for yourself. It’s sure to give you a great taste of what the Octopus has to offer. Why don’t you get tangled up in for a little while?

Review brought to you by: Devon Brent.

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