The incredible Rob Papen has upgraded his Blade soft synth to version 2.0. The first incarnation of Blade allowed users to control the waveform harmonics using its recordable XY PAD, which was a very different approach to additive synthesis. Papen called this approach HARMOLATOR and it was the first Rob Papen soft synth to include this feature, facilitating flexible sound editing, recording, and tempo-based playback.

Rob Papen Blade2

The 16-voice software synthesizer, Blade2 expands on that original concept, while adding some enhancements. Blade2 features an all-new, Graphical User Interface to make the synth easier to use and showcase its unique parameters, including a new Oscillator section based around a virtual analog oscillator with selectable Sine, Saw, Square or Triangle waveform, plus a UNISON mode, which plays up to four unison voices for each note played, alongside an added Noise section with 96 partials. The Harmolator’s global controls: Base, Range, Symmetry, Timbre, Timbre Type (16 types), Timbre Waves, Even/Odd, Ripple, Ripple Width, Harmonic, Harmonic Volume, and Harmonic Shift are used to alter the general additive spectrum, rather than using sine waves of different frequencies to create more complex waves.

The XY pad now includes far more features and freedom with which to control the Harmolator, including an ability to control all other Blade2 parameters. Added alongside the Harmolator mode is an Additive mode, enabling mixing or morphing between four additive waveforms using the XY pad. Pushing the boundaries of sound sculpting still further, users of course can also create and edit their own additive waveforms by altering the partial volumes, phase, and tuning, or even change the waveform per partial.

The Jedi Power of Papen’s synths is his underrated Arpeggiators. They are super-musical and can take your productions to an entirely new level.

The pre-filter Distortion Section with 20 different distortion types found in the original are of course included, but the Filter Section has been boosted to include 36 different filter types alongside more visual enhancements, such as a graphical envelope.

The Jedi Power of Papen’s synths is his underrated Arpeggiators. They are super-musical and can take your productions to an entirely new level. For Blade2, an updated ARP page add a number of enhancements, such as controlling the X and Y position of the XY pad inside each step, while Ratcheting per step is also possible in various modes. The Harmmod page returns, allowing a direct modulation connection to the Harmolator, letting users to delve deeply into extra envelopes, LFOs, a Modulation Matrix, and an Advanced mode. New to Blade2 is its WAV page, enabling users to translate an audio sample into a static user wave, which can be used in the Harmolator or Additive Sections (when added to the Additive Section, users are able to edit this user wave yet again). The Play Mode page, Poly, Mono, Legato, and Arp modes, are accessible, plus Chord and Strum Speed. To cap it off, Blade2 contains three onboard effects units, FX1, FX2, and FX3, each offering a choice of 30 effects.

Rob Papen’s Blade2 is available now for €99 / $99.

Blade2 is included in the latest version of the eXplorer 6 bundle and SoundDesign-X bundle. Owners of the original Blade can crossgrade to Blade2 for €39 / $39.