Review: RAPID by Parawave Audio
Parawave Audio has really brought their A game with RAPID. The sounds are top-notch and the ease of use will help with the anxiety beginners often feel when approaching sound synthesis. With Parawave’s planned extensions and the fact that they seem to care
about user feedback, this will definitely be a synth to watch.
Jump to the Demos of Ostinato
Jump to the Videos of Ostinato
Review: RAPID by Parawave Audio
RAPID is the first product released by Parawave Audio since the company’s start up in 2013. It is an 8-layer morphing wavetable synthesizer that is capable of creating extremely fat sounds, complex rhythmic foundations, and some nice atmospheric textures as well. RAPID doesn’t exactly break new ground in the layered synthesis arena, but it’s definitely comparable to other synths in its price point, give or take a few features.
RAPID sells for $190 from Parawave Audio
The Electronic Energy extension sells for 49.99€
Thoughts
In this day and age, software synths are a dime a dozen. With so many options available, at a broad range of prices, one would think innovation to be necessary in order to make a product stand out, but this is not always the case and it is not the case with RAPID.
Parawave Audio did an excellent job with RAPID and it sounds fantastic, but it seems like they were playing it safe and decided to stick to the well-worn path. The safe bet does work here though because what RAPID lacks in innovation, it certainly makes up for in user-friendliness.
What RAPID lacks in innovation, it certainly makes up for in user-friendliness.
Upon launch, I was greeted with a GUI that is very streamlined for use and a well organized presets menu that serves as a hub for inspiration. Spending even a modicum amount of time in the presets and tutorial will inspire you to begin creating your own layers. My first foray into creating my own was a bigger success than I had initially anticipated.
I began by picking three random sounds to experiment with: Angry 1, Saw Square 1, and AC Bass. Encouraged by the sound, I adjusted the reverb, delay, added more layers, and within 20 mins had an amazing sounding braaam hit that only took up one track in my DAW.
I was really impressed with the whole process and how easy it was to get a great sound crafted from scratch.
Parawave Audio made the process very intuitive by putting the 1-8 layer tabs right next to the main menu. Each layer contains 3 oscillators and a host of useful, quality effects that are easily routable and can function independently of the other layers. All of these options are easily accessible on the GUI, which functions beautifully thanks to streamlined design.
The drag and drop routing is absolutely fantastic and is a feature that everyone from beginner to professional will appreciate. RAPID provides three macro knobs at the top of the interface and 32 routing blocks along the bottom to handle the many different routable options. This easy to use feature covers everything from the effects, to the 4 envelopes, LFO’s, and sequences.
All in all, RAPID is a valiant first effort by Parawave and hopefully it works out for them because they do promise a little innovation down the line, but it may be difficult to get users to further invest in extensions to a synth that doesn’t have an established track record.
Facts
Parawave Audio and has a download size of 2.2 GB.
650+ Sound Presets
250+ Wavetables
190+ Multi-Samples
210+ Modulator Presets
220+ Effect Presets
8 Oscillator Effects
20 Filter Types
7 Insert Effects
12 Layer Effects
Great sounding Synth Reverb
4 Envelopes, LFOs and Sequences per Layer
Trancegate and Sidechain
Intelligent Arpeggiator
3-Band Equalizer and Master Compressor/Limiter
RAPID sells for $190 from Parawave Audio
The Electronic Energy extension sells for 49.99€
