Review: Battersea Audio’s Polygrade Tape Synth
A chaotic, beautiful synth library from industry newcomers’ Battersea Audio
Every time we see a new VST synthesizer plugin does it beg the question - what more could possibly be done?
Everything from perfect analog emulations (Aka Diva synth by U-he) through to modern powerhouses like Serum, it can be a challenging concept to break new ground in the world of synth libraries & plugins. But after encountering POLYGRADE online via ads, our curiosity was once again peaked enough to give it a try.
Put simply, Polygrade is a bit of a hybrid synth plugin. While it has a lot of the regular controls and features you would expect from a regular VST synth, the power lies in it’s oscillators - which are really (hold for it!) analog synth waveforms, run through cassette and reel-to-reel tape, which are then distorted and damaged. So the key difference with Polygrade is it’s ‘baked-in’ unpredictability that comes with these really degraded source sounds. And this in itself is an unusual set of features for any digital synth. Also, unlike other synth libraries made for Native Instrument’s Kontakt platform, it actually has a fair amount of control over the sounds themselves - it feels like a synth rather than a ‘sound pack’ with limited controls, which is often the case with Kontakt 7 libraries.
On to the presets themselves. Polygrade comes with over 100 presets as standard, which range from classic analog, to electronica bliss, to straight-up wild. The tape distortion and warble is very noticeable even on the more subtle patches, with Polygrade’s ambient noise controls adding additional hiss and environmental background noise. The sounds themselves are beautiful, melancholy & chaotic - but need to be reined in to be used effectively - the ‘Noise’ module can often add too much, and the chaotic nature of Polygrade means ADSR times need to be carefully controlled.
Polygrade is a truly exceptional set of sounds which are inspiring, creative, and fill a gap unfilled by traditional ‘analog’ emulations like Diva or Repro-5. It can be dizzying, beautiful, and ultimately a great tool for any music maker, producer or composer.
5/5