Noisy 2 Review
Expressive E Noisy 2 is a sequel to their original Noisy synthesizer, Noisy 2 is a resonator based physical modeling synth with some built in MPE centered controls. The pastel UI is very lovely, I like seeing more UI like this. As much as I love metallic futuristic dark layouts, these, soft light pastel designs are a nice change of pace and bring a different world of visual inspiration. The resonator graphics fill in the intricate patterns with different values in a fun and pleasing way.
The synthesis engine is built around a noise oscillator that feeds into three resonators, each with six different modes. Two of the modes can be used as standard oscillators, the first mode is a traditional comb filter, and four modes are different modeling types. The basic resonator and oscillators are quite standard, the comb filter’s character is very plain and predictable, this of course is good for safe sweet pure sounds, but misses out on creative exploration.
The four modeled resonators are a nice addition, they have a more interesting sound, but most of their controls are either very subtle or can only toggle between a handful of values. There is no cross interaction between resonators, like you might find in Objekt or Modus. In addition to these limitations there’s only about 20 noise modes available, each being a static loop with no textural, tonal, or pitch controls. You can play with the volume of the resonator, but even a simple filter or some textural changes would do a lot for this engine.
The modulation is simple, you get one LFO, it has basic shapes and a smoothed random. In addition to this LFO there is some MPE configurations available. Pressure and aftertouch can be routed in many places on the UI, each target gets their own rise and fall smoothing controls as well. There’s a few different “trigger modes” for the MPE, these retrigger the envelope based on MPE motion even if you don’t lift up off the keys. Unfortunately there does not seem to be any release controls what so ever on this synth, if you lift a note, it is over.
The filter has basic curves and a subtle bandstop, and is followed by a pleasing distortion with some crunchy feedback. There’s a built in delay and reverb, a swell as two effects slots. There’s a few effects to pick from for each slot, the ring modulator is fun, there’s a static phaser filter for adding more tonality to your sound, and a nice “noisify” effect for adding some texture. Some of these effects would have been very nice as resonators or pre-resonator effects, they could really open up the Experimental potential of Noisy.
MPE is not necessary to use noisy, but it does open up some fun playability, the presets are all nice and take advantage of this MPE to some degree. The way Noisy is set up, MPE has a particular style here, it has less to do with morphing tones in most cases, and seems to be used as an additional “envelope” of sorts, to create expressive swells. The engine does allow for two layers, so a bit more creativity is available than what you could achieve with a single layer. Everything does sound nice, and again, I think the UI is lovely, but this is more of an instrument than a sound design tool, I suggest it is you have an MPE controller and want to expand your preset library with new sounds that can utilize this expression.
If you plan on purchasing NOISY 2 from Plugin Boutique, please consider supporting me by using my affiliate links
NOISY 2: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/4-Synth/12290-Noisy-2?a_aid=61c378ab215d5