Forbidden Planet -- the new virtual synth from EASTWEST -- is an entire sound production studio in a single piece of software. Geared towards TV, film and video game composers, Forbidden Planet can generate sounds all over the sonic spectrum, from musical to ambient to SFX tones, making it equally suitable for scoring / composing as well as sound design and "foley" production.

EASTWEST wanted to create a virtual synth that had unlimited versatility without a steep learning curve while still garnering professional-sounding results. To that end, the collection offers more than 1000 presets, many of which were provided by leading sound designers [Troels Folmann, amongst others]. The presets are based on sampled analog waves, modulators and sampled filters recorded through a custom Neve 8078 console and vintage Fairchild 670 compressors. But this is just the [molten?] core of Forbidden Planet.

The system offers a number of parallel processing programs to allow for extensive sound manipulation:

• Q-Fusion™, the synth's convolution engine, can create unique sonic combinations such as a very detailed electric cello that is modulated by an electrical disturbance or a theremin that morphs into an ethnic (e.g.,Vulcan) vocalist.
• Riptide™, a cutting-edge wave sequencer that incorporates real acoustic waveforms, unusual custom sound design elements, as well as sampled analog waveforms.
• Q-Space™, a function that allows the user to manipulate the 3-dimensional audio image.
• Deja Vu™, a self-contained multi-fx sampling engine that gives musicians access to imaginative, sampled fx chains such as demonic effects and processors like tuned feedback, ring modulation and dozens of psychotic effects.
• An integrated, industry leading time and pitch machine (NOT a time machine).

For a glimpse at the expansive abilities of the Forbidden Planet, take a gander at this demo the developers put together for NAMM -- you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll gorge yourself on popcorn, you'll wonder how they got that amazing freaking cello sound:

Quantum Leap, the development team that built Forbidden Planet, is very pleased with how their [xenomorph] baby emerged. Producer/Proud Pappa Nick Phoenix: "With no other collection can a user have alien vocal phrases echoing inside of a giant bronze bell." I can think of only one other collection that could acheive the same effect . . . let's just call it my collection of "Contraband Romulan Ale."