Cherry Audio has released Minimode: a stunning software emulation of the Minimoog Model D. This plugin kicks off their Bob Moog Appreciation Month throughout May.
Cherry Audio is a relatively new company that makes excellent software emulations of classics as well as their own brand of exciting virtual synthesizers. Today — Tuesday, May 3 — they have kicked off a month of appreciation to the late Bob Moog by releasing the Minimode: a painstaking recreation of the Minimoog Model D.
Cherry Audio have told us they focused on absolute authenticity, from the sound to the user interface, through to the resistance to add extra features (which might tarnish a classic). We got our hands on an early release: here are our thoughts.
Remaking a legend
Upon first opening the plugin you feel like you have opened a mint condition Minimoog Model D inside your DAW. Everything is in its right place as they have laid out the Minimode in exact replica. The Controllers, Oscillator bank, Mixer, Modifiers and Output sections and bottom left panel of Glide, Decay, Pitch and Mod wheels all represent what would be a mint condition 1971 synth. The top toolbar is packed with all the features you’d expect: load and save presets, settings, zoom sizes, MIDI and much more.
If you are new to the synth world there are over 250 presets — organised into categories and created by professional sound designers — to get you started. I opened up a preset from the Bass category called Solid Bass and tweaked it from there. I was instantly impressed by the responsiveness, and while I was making my way around the Glide, Noise and Mixer section I felt like I was controlling a hardware analog synth — there’s something about the user interface that just oozes authenticity.
Speaking of the user interface, it’s so easy to click and drag the bottom right corner of the plugin to increase or decrease the window — something a lot of other companies seem to make so much more complicated. Further to that, there’s a Focus button on the top toolbar that zooms right into the panel for ease of use.
The sound of a classic
Tweaking further, I was impressed by the smooth controls and the warm low end of this plugin — something I often struggle to hear in plugins. Skipping easily through presets to hear further sounds, I found some excellent starting points like Late Bloomer in the Pads category.
It’s a dreamy soft pad that could be very useful as a layer or high drone. Cherry Audio has made the Minimode with monophonic and polyphonic modes: 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 voices, and for that added flexibility and versatility, synth enthusiasts will be grateful.
We’re very excited to see what Cherry Audio might release throughout this month of Bob Moog Appreciation. Cherry Audio’s Minimode is released today at a special introductory price of USD $39 — about AUD $55.
For more information, head over to Cherry Audio’s website.
