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VST Virtual Synth plug-in
The cool VST synths keep comin'! The idea behind the Mercury is a little different than the other virtual synths that we have reviewed so far. First of all, it isn't a replica of an existing classic synth design (although it is clearly influenced by several famous ones....notably, the Roland SH-2 and SH-101). This is good, because it stakes out its own unique sonic terrain. Secondly, it's Monophonic. (I can hear screaming and hissing reverberating throughout the web.......but hold on, don't write this off simply because it isn't polyphonic.) Here's why: IT WILL BLOW YOUR FREAKIN' HEAD OFF!!! The idea here is that TC Works is shooting to be the greatest Bass and Lead synth ever......and they have radically succeeded. The sound is like a cross between the Minimoog, the SH-101 with the aggressiveness of the Virus! If your familiar with any of those synths, you'll realize that this is high praise indeed! The layout is simple, yet quite powerful. Two standard oscillators with full waveform complement, Sync, Ring Mod AND with an awesome sub oscillator ala Juno 60/SH-101. The filter and resonance are outstanding with loads of character. The finishing touch is supplied by an amazing, speaker cone-ripping Drive parameter (Soft Saturation Distortion) on the Amp.....whoa...baby! Legato and Glide play beautifully too. DOWNSIDES Polyphony would be great of course, and it would be significantly more powerful with a selection of filter types (24db Low-pass is all that is offered). Be kinda nice if it had Last Note priority instead of only High Note, too. Here's the kicker though....those are the same downsides you could level at a Minimoog. My precious Mini ran me more than two grand, the Mercury totally holds its own side by side with it and cost less than two hundred! Plus, you've got four mono Mercurys per plug in. You can use them multitimbrally, or layer them for killer Oberheim Four Voice/Expander type stacks! Techno kids start drooling now.... If you ever have a need for synth Bass or Lead sounds, you absolutely must check this out. You can even download a trial demo of it at the TC Works site! For more info go to TC Works Hey.. have you heard about 
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