ECHT, THE NETHERLANDS: virtual instrument and effect plug-in developer Rob Papen Inspiration Soundware is proud to present eXplorer-9 as the latest incarnation of its inspirational bundle — boosted to take in 30 plug-ins with the inclusion of Go2-X as an upgraded version of its popular Go2 virtual instrument (itself set apart from its software siblings upon release as all of its controls and features are always in plain sight and always available to access onscreen so simplifying usage for the average user) and resurrecting Albino-3 (originally released as a groundbreaking virtual instrument many moons ago as the result of a collaboration between virtual instrument developer Peter Linsener and a certain Dutch sound designer and musician later lending his notable name to the well-respected Rob Papen Inspiration Soundware musical marque) as Albino-3 Legend, collectively representing eXplorer-9’s first new products — as of November 21…
eXplorer-9 exactly does as its inspirational bundle description implies — all the more so, in fact, with the upgraded Go2-X and resurrected Albino-3 Legend virtual instruments included as its first new products. Put it this way: when the original Go2 was under development, there was an obvious omission in Rob Papen’s ever-expanding lineup of inspirational virtual instruments — namely, a software synthesizer with all of its controls and features always in plain sight and always available to access onscreen. On the face of it, then, that ‘mission possible’ was well and truly achieved with the April 2018 release of Go2 to widespread critical acclaim; indeed, it instantly became popular worldwide with many musicians and composers attracted to both its ease and speed of use in their productions. Fast-forward to today, though, and Go2 has been upgraded to Go2-X, effectively enhancing what was already an appropriately-named, go-to software synthesizer with many more useful features and improvements. It is, however, fair to say that not all Go2-X parameters are always available to access on screen, “…because we could not resist offering the option to be able to draw waveforms and morph between them.” So says Rob Papen himself, adding: “Next to the ARP section you can select WAVE, and here you can draw two waveforms — with some very sophisticated features available to the way you can draw them — to be used in a preset.” It is well worth highlighting here that the ARP section itself has been expanded with RATCH (ratcheting) functionality while the MAGIC MODE — originally introduced in Rob Papen’s BIT-2 as the ultimate virtual analogue synthesizer — adds musical variation. But back to Rob Papen for a quick rundown of other notable new features and improvements included in Go2-X: “We added new filter types in the FILTER section and also expanded the distortion types — at the individual voice level, making them much more useable — in the AMP section; the effects section has also received a virtual makeover, and it is now possible to use the DELAY and REVERB at the same time; there are animated knobs, more modulation slots and options… many more new features and many new presets by both myself and other sound designers.” Many more new features ensuring that Go2-X will boldly ‘Go2’ where no other virtual instrument in this category went before, in other words!
But by resurrecting a legendary groundbreaking virtual instrument from the past and including it in eXplorer-9, Rob Papen is, in effect, going back to the future. For Albino-3 was originally released back in 2006 as the result of a collaboration between virtual instrument developer Peter Linsener and Rob Papen, but has now been resurrected as Albino-3 Legend. Launched with Rob Papen’s in-house programmers now at the helm, added features include VST3 support, adjustable GUI (Graphical User Interface) sizes, and compatibility with the latest Mac and PC operating systems, while retaining key features from the original, including high-quality presets in a wide range of styles, an easy-to-use UI (User Interface), highly-flexible oscillators, four stereo filter types, wide-ranging modulation and processing options, a powerful and flexible arpeggiator, and a layering system that allows for combining up to four layers in one preset.
And as if all that was not enticing enough, the eXplorer-9 bundle also comes complete with the option of adding nine legacy products — such as the original BLADE, offering cutting-edge additive synthesis while introducing a unique concept in controlling waveform harmonics using an XY pad; RP-Distort, taking distortion to a new level; and SubBoomBass, the ultimate bass synthesizer — to ensure compatibility with older song files, and also adding Rob Papen’s PRISMA plug-in — permitting users to creatively combine and layer up to four of its virtual instruments into a single so-called ‘prismatic’ sound source — that is available for free to owners after registering their bundle.
If including PRISMA (available for free after registering), eXplorer-9 is available — as an all-encompassing 30-product inspirational bundle of 64-bit AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible virtual instrument and effect plug-ins for Mac (OS X 10.13 or higher, M1/M2 ARM processor compatible) and 64-bit VST- and VST3-compatible virtual instrument and effect plug-ins for PC (Windows 7 or higher) with 64-bit AAX compatibility available for PT 12 or higher (PC) — at a consumer price of €499.00 EUR/$499.00 USD from authorised Rob Papen dealers worldwide or as a download directly from Rob Papen for those same prices via its dedicated webpage, which also features more in-depth information, here: https://www.robpapen.com/explorer-9.html (Owners of earlier eXplorer editions can upgrade to eXplorer-9 for €74.00 EUR/$74.00 USD, while other options for upgrading to eXplorer-9 are also available to owners of other Rob Papen products.)
Go2-X is available — as a 64-bit AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for Mac (OS X 10.13 or higher, M1/M2 ARM processor compatible) and as a 64-bit VST- and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for PC (Windows 7 or higher) with 64-bit AAX compatibility available for PT 12 or higher (PC) — at a consumer price of €49.00 EUR/$49.00 USD from authorised Rob Papen dealers worldwide or as a download directly from Rob Papen for those same prices via its dedicated webpage, which also features more in-depth information, here: https://www.robpapen.com/Go2-x.html (Owners of Go2 can upgrade to Go2-X for €25.00 EUR/$25.00 USD.)
Watch Rob Papen’s inspirational introductory Go2-X video — featuring a voice-over from Rob Papen himself — here:
Albino-3 Legend is available — as a 64-bit AAX-, AU-, VST-, and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for Mac (OS X 10.13 or higher, M1/M2 ARM processor compatible) and as a 64-bit VST- and VST3-compatible virtual instrument plug-in for PC (Windows 7 or higher) with 64-bit AAX compatibility available for PT 12 or higher (PC) — at a consumer price of €99.00 EUR/$99.00 USD from authorized Rob Papen dealers worldwide or as a download directly from Rob Papen for those same prices via its dedicated webpage, which also features more in-depth information, here: https://www.robpapen.com/albino-3-legend.html (Owners of Albino-3 can upgrade to Albino-3 Legend for €49.00 EUR/$49.00 USD.)
Watch Rob Papen’s brief but informative Albino-3 Legend video — featuring a voice-over from Rob Papen himself — here:
About Rob Papen (www.robpapen.com)
Self-confessed synth freak and world-renowned sound designer Rob Papen started working with synthesizers at the tender age of 15 when purchasing an analogue Korg MS-20 semi-modular monosynth and accompanying analogue SQ-10 sequencer. Suitably inspired, he subsequently released several albums as part of Dutch electronic music groups Peru and Nova — the latter featuring the same members as Peru, but with a more commercial slant — with whom he enjoyed number one hit singles in The Netherlands (Nova) in 1982 and Austria (Peru) in 1988. Though Peru disbanded in 1993, Rob Papen had already established himself as a sought-after sound designer, creating presets for the likes of Access, E-mu, Ensoniq, and Waldorf, subsequently founding his namesake company in pursuit of creating a sound designer’s dream synth. Since that software dream became reality — starting in 2005 with BLUE as an exciting-sounding, self-styled ‘Crossfusion Synthesis’ affair (combining FM, Phase Distortion, Wave Shaping, and Subtractive synthesis into one powerful dream synth) upon forming the RPCX (Rob Papen ConcreteFX) partnership with music software developer Jon Ayres to develop new Rob Papen-branded virtual instrument and effect plug-ins, today Rob Papen’s products define cutting-edge contemporary music production: powerful virtual instrument and effect plug-ins that intermix innovative design, uncompromising sound quality, and musical-plus-production-grade presets to make tracks truly shine, whatever the genre… Inspiration Soundware, indeed!
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