Computer Music: GForce impOSCar 2! See it, hear it, pull funny faces!

For us Computer Music lot, one of the sweetest surprises of this year’s NAMM show is the announcement of GForce Software’s impOSCar 2. The original was a soft synth smash upon its release in 2003 and this update looks set to reaffirm its status.

Although it’s still in an unfinished state, GForce’s Dave Spiers gave us an extensive tour of the new version’s features (although these are subject to change before release), not to mention an earful of its fantastic analogue-esque tones – we were very impressed by what we hard. Click the following link to hear Dave rocking out on impOSCar 2: gforce_imposcar2_poly_at_bliss

The final featureset is yet to be set in stone, but new features will hopefully include an aux mod section with comprehensive routing; an extra LFO; improved LFO sync options; PWM control of all oscillators; a much-improved arpeggiator; pan spread modes; unison modes and voice spread; new chorus modes; ring modulation and release velocity response.

A sneak peek at GForce impOSCar 2

Some of our favourite new features are a wicked chord mode, and the possibility of using polyphonic aftertouch, if your keyboard supports it. There’s also a portamento spread function when using unison voices, where each voice glides at a different speed, which can result in some seriously heavyweight analogue-style swoops and dives.

We’re already quite excited about this synth – GForce have a great reputation, and the sounds we heard were extremely lush. Just check out the kind of uncontrolled gurning it inspires in GForce head honcho Dave Spiers as he gets heavy with the aftertouch:

GForce's Dave Spiers playing impOSCar 2. He doesn't normally look like this - honest

If impOSCar 2 can cause this kind of extreme reaction in the man who made it, it’s safe to say the rest of us will be enthusiastically chewing our own ears off too once we can get our hands on it.

Price and release date are currently unconfirmed, although we gather that it should be ready for public consumption in a few months.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 18th, 2009 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.