This is not a deep dive rating, more like first impressions and I must say that the first thing I noticed was how solid built this synth is. And after some some testing of factory patches, I can say 100% this is a real musical instrument, that sends out some real good vibes this far, and it's clearly designed for those who want to be creative, like building some awesome sound patches and textures. For a digital sound system that Modal calls extended virtual-analogue, I can confirm that I hear this speak for itself out of my KRK studio monitors, and playing the great Fatar keybed is just part of the pleasure with this thing!
I like to mention that before I decided to go for the Cobalt8, I had been looking for a synth with some real capabilities for a long time. First I was focusing on the Poly Brute from Arturia, then it was Matriarch by Moog, for a moment the Wave2 from Clavia Nord, Juno X Roland etc., watching numerous Youtube synth reviews... But as I looked closer and did my math, I found out that Modal Cobalt8 was my guy. Of course this is the price value vs. quality/musical needs. All these famous names are no doubt over all great instruments but when you have already in your setup: a drum machine, mono analogue synth, guitar w/effects etc., there is not much more to add other than a powerful virtual analogue synth that in my case happens to be the Modal Cobalt8 because this thing has got “something” that I fell for!
Just want to add, that out of the box, it was playable almost instantly, just get the Modal app, connect to android or iOS device via USB and the app takes you straight to firmware update, after that you are good to go!
Happy sounds!
