AudioThing RES-09: One of Roland’s Lushest Analog Synths Finally Gets an Emulation
4,2 / 5,0 | 
Roland’s RS-09 string machine becomes AudioThing RES-09, complete with per-note tuning, effects, and additional controls.
AudioThing RES-09
People may crow over the Roland RS-505 Paraphonic string machine, but I’d honestly rather have an RS-09. It’s simpler yet just as lush, with one of the best ensemble effects ever made. I even had one, restoring it over a long summer to something resembling its former glory. I sold it, which makes me sad. But today’s news about the AudioThing RES-09, a new emulation of the 1979 string machine, has me smiling again.
AudioThing RES-09: Organ and Strings
AudioThing is on an emulation tear as of late. The company recently put out the SX1000, a remake of the Jen SX1000 Synthetone, and now it’s turned its attention to the RS-09.
Originally released in 1979, the instrument combined synth strings and an organ section with a gorgeous ensemble effect that you could slather over both. With all sounds firing at once, it was capable of some truly heavenly sounds – no surprise then that The Cure used one, although ‘Just Like Heaven’ famously uses a Solina, not an RS-09.
The AudioThing RES-09 recreates that original Roland analog synth but adds a few extras, extending its usefulness considerably.
AudioThing RES-09: New Features
You can think of AudioThing RES-09 as an RS-09 Plus. It’s got almost all of the original parameters… plus. Both the string and organ sections are true to the original, with added volume and pan per section. Vibrato adds wave shape selection to the rate, depth, and delay time controls, while also throwing in overall velocity and bias dials, the latter to control the mix between the oscillators. Envelope likewise gains a new mode (now with standard, keep, and kill), plus an additional attack dial. The only control it seems to have lost is transpose, but with modern MIDI controllers, that’s no longer necessary.
And then there’s the famous BBD-based ensemble effect. As with the original, you get two modes. Unlike the hardware, however, there’s a new rate knob to adjust the speed of the internal LFO. There were two BBD chips used throughout the life of the RS09: noisier SAD512 BBD chips in the 1979 model and quieter MN3004 chips in the 1980 refresh. There’s no indication which one is modeled here.
AudioThing RES-09: Tuning and Effects
The tuning page is quite interesting. Along with the global settings, which let you dial in things like drift and randomness to artificially age the instrument’s sound, there’s also per-note tuning. The original RS-09 used divide-down oscillator technology, with a separate oscillator for each of the 12 top notes. By giving you control over each one, you can create microtonal harmonies much like on the Korg PS-3300.
Lastly, as with the SX1000, RES-09 has four effects, at least one culled from AudioThing’s own plugin catalog: Tape Echo (based on Outer Space), Spring Reverb, Overdrive, and Phaser.
AudioThing RES-09: Price and Availability
RES-09 looks like another winner from AudioThing. One of my favorite things about the original RS-09 was the audio in for sending external instruments through the ensemble circuit. Hopefully, they’ll add that in a future update or break it out into a separate effect plugin. It would be cool to have both BBD chips modeled as well.
AudioThing RES-09 is available now from AudioThing for macOS, Windows, and Linux (VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP, Standalone). The regular price is $59, but it’s currently on sale for $29. The iOS version is $8.99. If you happen to own SX1000 or Philicorda, you can access a special upgrade price in your AudioThing user area.
More Information
- AudioThing RES-09 product page
- All about AudioThing
- All about synthesizers
*Note: This article contains advertising links that help us pay for this site. Don’t worry: the price for you will always be the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
This might also interest you
2 responses to “AudioThing RES-09: One of Roland’s Lushest Analog Synths Finally Gets an Emulation”
Who did that demo? It’s incredible!
Italian musician Manuele Montesanti.
I only know him from the Audio Thing demos. The one he’s performing for their Wurly emulation plugin is also amazing.