Rob Papen have announced the launch of eXplorer-9, a new software bundle which contains 30 of their virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, along with the option of adding legacy products such as the original SubBoomBass, RP-Distort and Blade. Alongside the release, the company have also launched Go2‑X and Albino‑3 Legend, a pair of new software synthesizers that update and resurrect a pair of old favourites.
Those who purchase a license for eXplorer-9 will also gain a copy of the company’s Prisma plug-in, which can be used to load up to four of the bundle’s instruments and layer them together to create a single, playable instrument with a collection of shared controls.
Go2-X
Go2-X's oscillators allow users to draw in their own custom waveforms.
The first of the two new instruments included in the bundle is the latest version of the company’s Go2 synthesizer. Expanding on the capabilities of its predecessor, Go2-X now allows users to draw in their own custom waveforms and use its Morph Mode to blend seamlessly between them. The arpeggiator section has also been kitted out with new ratcheting capabilities as well as the Magic Mode functionality from BIT-2, which makes it possible to quickly make musical alterations to the current pattern, whilst updates to the effects system mean that users can now run the Stereo Delay and Reverb effects simultaneously.
The instrument’s Filter section has been treated to an upgrade, too, gaining new filter types and an extended set of distortion modes. The company have also included a number of new presets that take advantage of the newly introduced features.
Albino-3 Legend
Rob Papen's programmers have been hard at work making Albino-3 compatible with modern computer hardware and operating systems.
The second release to launch alongside the new bundle isn’t a new instrument, but rather a re-release of Albino-3, a software synth originally released in 2006 as a result of a collaboration between Rob Papen and Peter Linsener. Thanks to the company’s in-house programmers, the software now boasts VST3 support, different GUI sizes and compatibility with the latest PC and Mac operating systems, making the popular instrument available to modern setups.
Albino-3 Legend is equipped with four oscillators per layer — there’s a mixture of digital and analogue-style variants, along with FM, AM and audio input types — with a total of four layers making it possible to create complex, rich-sounding patches. Four different filter types are joined by four different saturation modes, and a total of eight envelopes, and there’s plenty of modulation on offer thanks to four LFOs and a comprehensive modulation matrix. There’s a wealth of onboard effects, too, with each layer kitted out with four effects units that each contain a total of 12 stereo effects including choruses, delays, a filter, phaser, reverb, flanger and more.
Compatibility
The new products are supported on PCs running Windows 7 or higher, and Macs running macOS 10.13 and above. VST, VST3, AU and AAX plug-in versions are available.
Pricing & Availability
The new bundle and instruments are available now, with pricing as follows:
- eXplorer-9: $499€449
- Go2-X: $49€49
- Albino-3 Legend: $99€99
Upgrade discounts are available for existing Rob Papen users.
