Beep Street is well known among VST and iOS users for classic plugins and apps like Sunrizer and Impaktor.
Dagger is their latest analogue modeled mono synth and claims to “capture the spirit of analogue synths”.
Now, before you say: ‘NOT ANOTHER MONO SYNTH’ bear in mind that there are plenty of sought after analogue mono synths and that IF its done well, a mono synth is all you need for many applications.
Bearing in mind that most people would kill for a Moog Model D or a Roland TB303, what we really need is a big sounding mono with the ability to get dirty without cracking up. Oh, and enough synthesis power to get something a bit different. Let’s see if Dagger will cut it….
GUI
First, let’s get a gripe out of the way: the GUI looks good but some of the controls are not grouped as they appear and I found it confusing to navigate without the manual. For example, the Modulator section has two rows of controls, one for envelope and one for LFO, except that the end control on the lower row belongs to the envelope. Would be nice if there were some kind of graphic help here, as there is in the manual.
For example, the Modulator section has two rows of controls, one for envelope and one for LFO, except that the end control on the lower row belongs to the envelope. Would be nice if there were some kind of graphic help here, as there is in the manual.
Control
What you get is: a pair of multiwave oscillators with a smooth transition between waveforms plus balance, a high pass filter followed by a low pass filter and an amplifier. What makes Dagger do its business is the modulation routings. Dagger has a single, velocity sensitive ADSR which can be assigned to filter cutoff and amplifier. When
What makes Dagger do its business is the modulation routings. Dagger has a single, velocity sensitive ADSR which can be assigned to filter cutoff and amplifier. When its sent to the amp only the release stage or the attack and release are active – this effect is switchable. There is an LFO, which has some unusual functions like sending a release envelope when triggered.
The oscillator has all the usual waveforms plus: hardsync, phase restart (switchable), Osc 2 phase/detune control, Osc 1 waveshape mod and more…
Sound
All this control is fab if it delivers. The raw oscillators sound good enough and, once you get used to it, there are enough control and modulation options to help get pretty close to spot on.
The hi-pass filter is evil. It is resonant and has a ‘spice’ switch for extra evil. The lo-pass filter has 4 modes, all of which are very useable and interact nicely with the hi-pass ‘evil’ filter, enabling some really nasty tones. Oh, the lo-pass filter has a really nice drive control too. The amplifier section also has a drive control for extra acid tones.
Conclusion
You can probably tell I quite like Dagger. It is warm enough and dirty enough in equal measure. It does cut through a mix well. It’s not too bad on CPU and has enough well thought-out control for something quite unique.
It reminds me of the old Teisco/Kawai mono synths in terms of control but with more bass. Good job, Beep Street!
For further details and sound demos, please visit the plugin page.
Price and compatibility
$35/40€
Mac/Windows, VST, AU.
