XILS 3: Modular Analog-Style Synth by XILS Lab

The synthesis core includes six oscillators grouped in three pairs, with waveshaping on sine, saw, triangle and square waves, plus a noise oscillator with selectable color. The multimode analog filter offers 12, 18 and 24 dB low-pass modes. The developer says the 18 and 24 dB modes can self-oscillate and that the filter is modeled on the zero-delay behavior of real analog circuits.

The plugin also includes a polyphonic ring modulator, three trapezoidal envelope generators that can switch to ADSR, and two polyphonic LFOs, one of which can run at audio rate. Two output filters feed the stereo bus.

XILS 3 provides five pin matrices, including a main 256+225 point grid for audio synthesis, a trigger matrix and a sequencer matrix. An extended matrix adds two more envelopes, a tempo-syncable LFO, a tempo-syncable sample and hold, and a voltage processor. The developer notes that hundreds of additional connections are possible per patch.

The polyphonic sequencer has three independent lines with slew rates and three recording modes: live, step and edit. Its lines can also act as modulation sources. A joystick vector controller can target up to 32+32 modulation destinations.

XILS 3 suits producers who want to work deeply with modular-style patching and enjoy building sounds from routing rather than presets alone. The developer also includes a preset database with tagging, plus hundreds of presets made by sound designers, so you can start from a finished patch and reshape it.