Something interesting is happening in software synthesizer design: after years of trying to boast more of ingredient “xx” (whether it’s modulation, eight-zillion-point envelopes or other whiz-bang features), the new challenge is to make the user experience itself different. The challenge: don’t just do more sonically — make it easier to actually make music. I’ve personally been a big fan of the elegant tabs in Cakewalk’s Rapture, the minimalist aesthetic of Ableton’s Operator, and the drag-and-drop routing in Native Instruments’ Massive. Now, could one instrument really leap forward in terms of guiding its design?

Circle is one of the most ambitious soft synth designs I’ve seen yet. Its core features read like a wish list for what a modern soft synth would do:

• On-screen routing designed for the computer screen, with color-coded circles, drag-and-drop, previews — and no silly virtual cables. (Sorry, Propellerhead.)
• OpenSoundControl support for the Monome, Lemur, Wacom tablets, whatever you’ve got — along wih easy MIDI learn.
• “Live performance”-optimized UI — actually very much a kindrid spirit with tools like Ableton Live or FL Studio in design aesthetic, workflow, and accessibility, but in a synth — just the thing if you’ve felt a gap between the sequencing workflow and the synth / sound design working method. And you can even swap presets with an Apple Remote if you’ve got one.
• Easy sound design (more on this soon)