johannes_berthold

I should have gotten this synth back in 2005 when it came out. Instead I got it 2014. The factory patches are good, but it gets even better when you start making your own sounds and performances, especially when working with the Arp Manager program to create your own arpeggiators. The expandability with the PLG boards is another plus, even though it takes some time to get into how these boards are operated.

The acoustic patches of the synth are pretty much of its time. There are far more natural sounds nowadays, especially the guitars sound cheap. On the synth side again you can do great stuff. Creating wonderfully thick cold digital pads ain't a problem and yet the X5D manages to remain a certain warmth.

The An1x is probably one of the most underrated synths of the late 90s. And up to this point I haven't found a VA synth that makes it so easy to create fat analog sounds. Clean oscillators, crisp filter curves and even the effects are decent, even though sometimes limited.