Cherry Audio / Rhodes Chroma

[Piet De Ridder]

Cherry Audio has a new synth out: a virtualization of the early 80's Rhodes Chroma.

"The (...) Cherry Audio Chroma synthesizer is a virtual instrument that brings back the spirit and sounds of the iconic Rhodes Chroma polyphonic analog synthesizer from 1982 with the utmost accuracy. Due to its highly complex nature and sheer number of parameters, this has been among the most challenging virtual instruments Cherry Audio has ever created. We’ve painstakingly emulated every aspect with exacting precision while making the sound programming experience more intuitive with easy-to-use pop-up menus and informative real-time display directly built into the parameter buttons. Topping it off, switching the standard single instrument mode to double mode adds a Chroma Expander - an entire additional Chroma Synthesizer that can run in layer or split modes."

"With its launch, Cherry Audio not only aims to celebrate the legacy of the Chroma but also to make its unique sounds and capabilities accessible to a broader audience. The virtual instrument is offered at an exceptional price of only $69, making it an ideal choice for musicians and producers seeking to incorporate some of the rarest vintage synthesizer sounds into their projects.
In addition to bringing this iconic instrument to the 21st century, Cherry Audio has committed to giving back to the music community. The company will donate 5% of profits from its May website sales of Chroma to the ARP Foundation, supporting Alan R. Pearlman's legacy of innovation that ARP and the Chroma represented."




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[Jaap]

For some reason I put aside all the Cherry Audio releases so far as I have atm enough synths and work to focus on. But seeing all their new stuf, it really looks like I should go and explore them.
What's your take on them Piet?

[Guy Rowland]

Nice to see something that hasn't really been done in software. This is a useful no-nonsense showcase of the kinds of sounds it does:

[Piet De Ridder]

(...) What's your take on them?

Oh, I like what they’re doing, even if many of their synths, including this latest one, are not for me. My heartbeat doesn’t accellerate from synths and sounds (and design) that evoke the 80’s, I must confess. Musically and visually, not my decade at all. (The decade that precedes it, on the other hand, …)

Bought three Cherries so far: the Elka-X (good, but I don’t use all that often, partly perhaps because of its unmistakable 80’s-vibe), the GX-80 (which I don’t use a lot either, but that’s because it’s a synth that suffers, more than most in my opinion, from being reduced from a majestic beast of an instrument down to a virtual postcard, very clever and impressive though that reduction may be) and SINES which I really, really like and use A LOT — absolutely brilliant concept and definitely my favourite Cherry synth (of the ones I’m familiar with anyway).

I could continue doing what I’m doing just as well without Cherry Audio, but any announcement/release of theirs always gets my full attention.

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[Jaap]

Thanks for the insights Piet and beside having enough here at the moment, I am likewise not really an 80's man.
But they seem very consistent in what they pop out the last few years, I think it's time to give them a shot and for sure will checkout Sines then.

[Guy Rowland]

Out there in the rest of the interweb forums, Cherry doesn't enjoy a particularly good reputation - a quite large number of vintage clones that are perfectly fine but not the last word in sonics, so it's good to read your experiences Piet. Sines - an original synth - had totally passed me by, and it sounds too hard and cold for me. But knowing you love the Buchla I can totally see how you love Sines (good to know there's one Sine plugin you love...)

Chroma is a funny old thing, I wasn't even really aware of it until now. Reading around, it never found its place with a lot of artists on its original release, and obviously the UX was a horror show, which this version considerably improves upon. It does have a distinct sonic signature, it feels halfway between analog and digital. I think overall it's not quite enticing enough for me to buy, but one thing seems pretty clear to me - Cherry seem to have upped their game with vintage emulations. It feels like they're following a bit of an Arturia curve - people were once dismissive, but the company really upped their game over time.

[mickeyl]

I have to concur here. Where GForce, U-He, and Synapse Audio are sonically playing in the first league (with TAL and Softube being close contenders), for me, Cherry Audio synths all inherit a slightly plastic same-ish sound.

[Geoff Grace]

I also wouldn’t put Cherry Audio in the same class as GForce and u-he; but I buy their products anyway, especially ones like this for which there is less competition. I find that the “Cherry Audio sameness” is less of a factor than it once was and that it can be altered by judicious use of effects that impart an analog sound.

I was interested in the Chroma at the time it came out, but I couldn’t afford to buy every synth that I wanted back then. At this price, it’s worth a serious look.

Best,

Geoff

[Geoff Grace]

As for the “80s sound,” does that reference the clichés of the decade, such as the gated snare, Lexicon reverb, or the DX7 electric piano patch? Otherwise, it becomes harder to pin down a sound.

Here in the US, In the early part of the decade, there was new wave, modern rock, Prince’s Minneapolis sound, Rick James’s “punk funk,” and rock acts like Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, etc. Later in the decade, rap (using sampled 70s tracks) started to dominate, along with new jack swing and to a lesser degree, rock acts like Bon Jovi. That’s a pretty diverse group, and I only touched on some of the highlights.

Best,

Geoff

[Guy Rowland]

Here in the US, In the early part of the decade, there was new wave, modern rock, Prince’s Minneapolis sound, Rick James’s “punk funk,” and rock acts like Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Billy Joel, Phil Collins, etc. Later in the decade, rap (using sampled 70s tracks) started to dominate, along with new jack swing and to a lesser degree, rock acts like Bon Jovi. That’s a pretty diverse group, and I only touched on some of the highlights.

You'll get me goin', Jeff. In the UK we had everything from The Smiths, Rough Trade and Goth at one end, Acid House at the other. Via Stock Aitken and Waterman. There was of course Synthpop. We ran through the Jupiter 8, Fairlight, Synclavier, DX7, D-50, TB303. Internationally we had U2 echo on guitars, dungerees folk with Dexys, RnB Soul, Two Tone ska, Euro Rock, Hip Hop, Celtic Rock, Italo House, Chicago House and Techno.

Prince!

I bloody love the 80s. It was all over the place. At some point I'm gonna do a thread on it (yes that's a threat).

Anyway, the Chroma doesn't over-much feature in any of that, it sort of seemed to pass everyone by. A quirk of history. That short teaser video has a patch that does remind me of OMD's Joan Of Arc, mind.

[Ashermusic]

(...) What's your take on them?

My heartbeat doesn’t accellerate from synths and sounds (and design) that evoke the 80’s, I must confess.

Me.

[Lawrence]

I know it’s a little OT, but it’s hard to overstate the dominance of Omnisphere in the synth market. For my purposes it has pretty much everything synth-oriented that I need.

I bought Repro and Zebra among others and use them all occasionally, but I’d be ok if I didn’t have them.

[Geoff Grace]

For anyone who wants to dive deeper, another forum I frequent is having a detailed discussion, which includes Dan from Cherry Audio and the forum member whose Chroma was modeled, Moe, who goes by "mate stubb" over there. Here's the link:

https://forums.musicplayer.com/topic/18 ... io-chroma/

By the way, there are just three forum sites I visit almost every day: this one, VI-Control, and The Keyboard Corner, which hosts the thread I just linked to and which I've been regularly posting at since 2001.

Best,

Geoff

[Geoff Grace]

I bloody love the 80s. It was all over the place. At some point I'm gonna do a thread on it (yes that's a threat).

I look forward to it, Guy.

Best,

Geoff

[Ashermusic]

I know it’s a little OT, but it’s hard to overstate the dominance of Omnisphere in the synth market. For my purposes it has pretty much everything synth-oriented that I need.

I bought Repro and Zebra among others and use them all occasionally, but I’d be ok if I didn’t have them.

I use the Repros and Cherry Audio Memorymode a lot on scoring when I am called on to do synth stuff, along with Omni. But I also still use all the old LinPlug ones: Octopus, Albino 3, and Crono X, as well as Logic's synths.

[wst3]

I had he good fortune to play a couple of Chromas, and it might be a fluke, but they did not sound the same, and this plugin is a third "flavor".

Not something I'd use often, but I might buy it anyway. It's fun, it has its own character, and it is reasonably priced.

For me it is u-He, gForce, and Softube for the most part. And Omni!