Blade Software

The initial idea for Blade was born out of the want to have more ˜human input™ into the sound. The classic synthesizer parts for modulation are LFOs and Envelopes. The ˜human input™ is the keyboard we play and controllers like pitch bend or modulation wheel. An XY pad is perfect for the human input, but it controls only the filter and volume. The Blade designers sought to control the harmonics of the oscillator by changing the waveform using the XY pad.

At the heart of Blade lies the Harmolator. This special oscillator system uses 9 global controls, which change the harmonic content (partials) of the waveform. The Harmolator allows oscillator spreading, fattening the sound and also the sound of the square / sine wave sub-oscillator.

The 21 per-voice distortion types and 14 filter types can modify the sound further. Blade offers total control of the sound over time using an array of different modulation controls, the most significant of which is the central XY screen. Here you can either alter things directly by moving the cursor around, or you can record paths which can be replayed.

The recorded path can then be looped, bi-directionally looped and tempo based as well. Even the speed of the XY recording can be modulated for dynamic changes! So the XY pad is also an incredibly advanced œhuman input modulation source. Furthermore, Blade has the full range of other modulation sources, including a dedicated envelope, LFO and velocity as modulation source for Harmolator controls.

Two FX units featuring all the FX from other Rob Papen products, plus the Arp / Sequencer and an Easy page which allows you to easily control sounds, all add up to an amazingly flexible and useful instrument at the cutting edge of today's synthesizers.