Cherry Audio - GX-80

GX-80 is Cherry Audio's synth plugin based on the Yamaha CS-80 and its giant predecessor the GX-1, for cinematic brass, soaring expressive leads and the Blade Runner-style pads the CS-80 is famous for.

The background

The GX-1 was the 1973 "Dream Machine": around 20 made, roughly $50,000 each, with four ranks of polyphonic voices. The CS-80 boiled much of that down into something you could (just about) lift. GX-80 combines the two. It's built on the CS-80 architecture but adds the GX-1's dual-layer structure, its high-passed resonant pulse and band-passed sawtooth waves, an octave-up triangle, filter envelope inversion and, most importantly, a model of the GX-1 filter. The DSP is by Mark Barton (MRB).

The sound

Huge. Each layer has 16 voices and can be panned independently, so stacked patches are wide and rich. The filters have that smooth, vocal quality, and with velocity and aftertouch driving brightness and vibrato, leads feel genuinely playable. There's a mode that simulates polyphonic aftertouch from a mono aftertouch controller, which matters on a CS-80 style synth. It's a deep instrument and rewards expressive playing more than step-programmed parts. MusicRadar readers voted it best software synth of 2022, and the 1,000-plus presets show why.

Features

• CS-80 architecture with GX-1 features integrated
• Dual-layer architecture with 16 voices per layer
• Modelled GX-1 filter
• GX-1 waveforms and filter envelope inversion
• Split and stacked layer modes with independent panning
• Polyphonic aftertouch simulation from mono aftertouch
• Studio-quality effects
• Over 1,000 presets
• Full MIDI control and DAW automation

System requirements

• Version: 1.0.13
• Mac: macOS 10.13 or later, native on Apple Silicon. AU, VST2, VST3, AAX and standalone (64-bit)
• Windows: Windows 7 or later, including Windows 11. VST2, VST3, AAX and standalone (64-bit)
• Quad-core CPU and 8GB RAM recommended
• Internet connection needed for activation

SOUND7 is an authorised Cherry Audio reseller. Digital delivery: licence activation code sent by email. See How to Activate Your Cherry Audio Plugins.

Demo